Isaiah 10:12-19

SMITING OF THE SCOURGE

TEXT: Isaiah 10:12-19

12

Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

13

For he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and like a valiant man I have brought down them that sit on thrones:

14

and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped.

15

Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? shall the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? as if a rod should wield them that lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood.

16

Therefore will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory there shall be kindled a burning like the burning of fire.

17

And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.

18

And he will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and it shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.

19

And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may write them.

QUERIES

a.

Why does the Lord turn and punish the king of Assyria?

b.

How does the Lord punish him?

PARAPHRASE

After the Lord has used the King of Assyria to accomplish His purpose of chastening the covenant people, then He will turn upon the Assyrians and punish them toofor they are proud and haughty. They boast, We in our own power and wisdom have won these wars. We are great and wise. By our own strength we broke down the walls and destroyed the people and carried off their treasures. In our greatness we have robbed their nests of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs; and no one moved a finger or opened his mouth to peep against us. But the Lord says, Shall the axe boast of greater power than the man who uses it? Is the saw greater than the man who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand is moving it? Can a cane walk by itself? Because of all your evil boasting, O King of Assyria, the Lord of Hosts will send a plague among your proud troops, and strike them down. God, the Light and Holy One of Israel, will be the fire and flame that will destroy them. In a single night He will burn those thorns and briers, the Assyrians who destroyed the land of Israel. Assyria's vast army is like a glorious forest, yet it will be destroyed. The Lord will destroy them, soul and body, as when a sick man wastes away. Only a few from all that mighty army will be left; so few a child could count them!

COMMENTS

Isaiah 10:12-15 BRAGGING BULLY: The King of Assyria, like so many ruling tyrants before and after him, refused to acknowledge Divine Providence in his military success. He would not even avail himself of logic and reason to consider that there might be a Divine Ruler of the cosmos and man's affairs by whose permission he conquered and prevailed against other nations. He magnified himself as a god like so many other rulers have done. Recall rulers like Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:28 ff) and Belshazzar (Daniel 5:1 ff).

God rules in the affairs of earthly governments to carry out His divine purposes of redeeming all men who are willing to be redeemed. He permits nations and rulers to govern the earth as a terror to the evil doer and a rewarder of those who do good (Cf. Romans 13:1-7). God permits even evil rulers to exercise their tyrannybut only so far! There is always a point, in the wisdom of God, beyond which He will not permit evil to govern (Cf. Jeremiah 27:1-15). When evil reaches that point the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe intervenes!

When Sennacherib's army had overpowered most of the northern kingdom, Israel, and had besieged Jerusalem, God spoke through Isaiah the prophet (2 Kings 19:20 ff), and promised to defend the city (2 Kings 19:34; Isaiah 37:35). The angel of the Lord went forth and smote the Assyrian army, leaving one hundred eighty-five thousand dead corpses (2 Kings 19:35; Isaiah 37:36). Sennacherib returned to Nineveh without capturing the city of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:36).

To the rationalist and unbeliever, this story of the angel's smiting an army and causing a great king to return to his native land without capturing a city seems beyond the realm of historical possibility. However, confirmation of the fact that Sennacherib did not take Jerusalem was found in an inscription on a prism called the Taylor Cylinder, discovered at Kouyunjik, the site of ancient Nineveh, in 1830 by J. E. Taylor. An almost identical inscription is found on the Oriental Institute Cylinder in the University of Chicago. In the inscription Sennacherib tells that he made other Palestinian cities yield, but when he comes to describe his campaigning against Jerusalem he fails to tell of the capture of that city and its king Hezekiah. Rather the text of the inscription tells of King Hezekiah in these words, As for himself, like a bird in a cage in his royal city Jerusalem, I shut (him) up. Since Sennacherib did not capture Jerusalem (as indicated in the Bible), he made as good a story out of the siege as possible, and reported that he had shut up poor Hezekiah like a bird in a cage. Actually, Hezekiah was reposing quite safely in his cage.

Isaiah 10:16-19 BROKEN BRAGGART: There is no evidence in the archaeological records that Sennacherib ever returned to the region of Palestine. The Bible gives us an adequate reasonthe loss of his army before the walls of Jerusalem. The slaughter of 185,000 soldiers in one night, even with our modern death-dealing weapons would be considerable defeat to any army!

The Bible tells us that Sennacherib finally met his death at the hands of his own sons (2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38). Esarhaddon (681-668 B.C.), Sennacherib's son and successor, tells of this very event in the following inscription: In the month Nisanu, on a favorable day, complying with their exalted command, I made my joyful entrance into the royal palace, the awesome place, wherein abides the fate of kings. A firm determination fell upon my brothers. They forsook the gods and turned to their deeds of violence, plotting evil. To gain the kingship they slew Sennacherib, their father.

In 625 B.C. the Assyrians were driven out of the Mespotomian-Babylonian area by the Chaldean prince Nabopolassar, founder of the Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean empire and father of Nebuchadnezzar. He had joined forces with the Medes in 614 B.C. and attacked the city of Ashur. Two years later in 612 B.C. they again joined forces to bring about the destruction of Nineveh, captial city of Assyria. With the fall of Nineveh (see Nahum for a graphic prediction of the fall of Nineveh), the Assyrians were reduced to chaos and retreated westward to set up a government at Haran under Ashur-uballit II (612-609 B.C.). Assyria awaited help from Egypther one time enemyagainst the new danger from Babylon, but help did not come. Josiah of Judah marched his armies to Megiddo to prevent Necho II of Egypt from passing through the valley of Esdraelon en route to Haran. Josiah was killed at Megiddo (2 Kings 23:29-30), but he probably succeeded in delaying Necho long enough to permit Nabopolassar to strike the death blow to the Assyrian Empire. And so about all that was left of Assyria, that great forest were a few scattered treesso few that a child may write them.

QUIZ

1.

Why did the King of Assyria brag so?

2.

How could God, on the one hand, use the King of Assyria to punish the covenant people, and on the other hand, turn and punish Assyria?

3.

Is there any confirmation that the King of Assyria considered the besieged Hezekiah as one that could not move the wing, or. chirp?

4.

What happened to the army of the King of Assyria?

5.

What happened to the King of Assyria?

6.

What happened to Assyria?