12 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stoutness of heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will visit the king of Babylon and his land, like as I have visited the king of Assyria.
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, And out of mount Zion they that escape: The zeal of Jehovah [of hosts] shall do this.
And the multitude of all the nations that war against Ariel, even all that war against her and her fortifications, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as when the hungry dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; and he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when the thirsty dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; and he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul craveth: so shall the multitude of all the nations be that war against mount Zion.
For the time of having the judgment begin from the house of God [is come]; but if first from us, what [shall be] the end of those who obey not the glad tidings of God?
For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies;
Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of the heavens, all whose works are truth, and his paths judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, nor set their top amidst the thick boughs, and that none of them that drink water stand up in his height by himself; for they are all given over unto death in the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.
your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith Jehovah, who have burned incense upon the mountains, and outraged me upon the hills; and I will measure their former work into their bosom.
Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and among the sparks [that] ye have kindled. This shall ye have of my hand: ye shall lie down in sorrow.
declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
And an angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies. And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and abode at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
As birds with outstretched wings, so will Jehovah of hosts cover Jerusalem; covering, he will also deliver, passing over, he will rescue [it]. Turn unto him from whom ye have deeply revolted, ye children of Israel; for in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your sinful hands have made unto you. And Asshur shall fall by the sword, not of a great man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become tributary; and for fear, he shall pass over to his rock, and his princes shall be afraid of the banner, saith Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
And Jehovah will cause the majesty of his voice to be heard, and will shew the lighting down of his arm with indignation of anger, and a flame of consuming fire, with waterflood and storm and hailstones. For through the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be broken down: he will smite [him] with the rod. And wherever shall pass the appointed staff, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, it shall be with tambours and harps; and with tumultuous battles will he fight with it. For Topheth is prepared of old; for the king also it is prepared: he hath made it deep and large; its pile is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
Cast abroad the ragings of thine anger, and look on every one that is proud, and abase him: Look on every one that is proud, bring him low, and tread down the wicked in their place:
For Jehovah will rise up as on mount Perazim, he will be moved with anger as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and perform his act, his unwonted act. Now therefore be ye not scorners, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of hosts a consumption, and [one] determined, upon the whole land.
By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit of the taking away of his sin: when he shall make all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are crumbled in pieces, -- the Asherahs and the sun-images shall not stand.
Ha! a tumult of many peoples! they make a noise as the noise of the seas; -- and the rushing of nations! they rush as the rushing of mighty waters. The nations rush as the rushing of many waters; but he will rebuke them, and they shall flee far away, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a whirling [of dust] before the whirlwind: behold, at eventide, trouble; before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
Jehovah of hosts hath sworn saying, Assuredly as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, it shall stand: to break the Assyrian in my land; and upon my mountains will I tread him under foot; and his yoke shall depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the counsel which is purposed concerning the whole earth; and this is the hand which is stretched out upon all the nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall frustrate [it]? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
for yet a very little while, and the indignation shall be accomplished, and mine anger, in their destruction. And Jehovah of hosts will stir up a scourge against him, according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and his rod [shall be] upon the sea, and he will lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck; and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. ... He is come to Aiath, he hath passed through Migron; at Michmash he layeth up his baggage. They are gone through the pass; they make their lodging at Geba: Ramah trembleth, Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, daughter of Gallim! Hearken, O Laish! -- Poor Anathoth! Madmenah is fugitive; the inhabitants of Gebim take to flight. Still a day of halting at Nob; he shaketh his hand [against] the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. ... Behold the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, shall lop the boughs with violence; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be brought low; and he shall make clearings in the thickets of the forest with iron; and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
Therefore shall the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness, and under his glory he shall kindle a burning, like the burning of a fire: and the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day, and it shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a sick man fainteth. And the remainder of the trees of his forest shall be few: yea, a child might write them.
Ah! the Assyrian! the rod of mine anger! and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge; to take the spoil, and to seize the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
And the mean man shall be bowed down, and the great man brought low, and the eyes of the lofty shall be brought low;
The lofty eyes of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.
For the fury of man shall praise thee; the remainder of fury wilt thou gird on thyself.
Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 10
Commentary on Isaiah 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
The prophet, in this chapter, is dealing,
And this is intended to quiet the minds of good people in reference to all the threatening efforts of the wrath of the church's enemies. If God be for us, who can be against us? None to do us any harm.
Isa 10:1-4
Whether they were the princes and judges of Israel of Judah, or both, that the prophet denounced this woe against, is not certain: if those of Israel, these verses are to be joined with the close of the foregoing chapter, which is probable enough, because the burden of that prophecy (for all this his anger is not turned away) is repeated here (v. 4); if those of Judah, they then show what was the particular design with which God brought the Assyrian army upon them-to punish their magistrates for mal-administration, which they could not legally be called to account for. To them he speaks woes before he speaks comfort to God's own people. Here is,
And yet, for all this, his anger is not turned away, which intimates not only that God will proceed in his controversy with them, but that they shall be in a continual dread of it; they shall, to their unspeakable terror, see his hand still stretched out against them, and there shall remain nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment.
Isa 10:5-19
The destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser king of Assyria was foretold in the foregoing chapter, and it had its accomplishment in the sixth year of Hezekiah, 2 Ki. 18:10. It was total and final, head and tail were all cut off. Now the correction of the kingdom of Judah by Sennacherib king of Assyria is foretold in this chapter; and this prediction was fulfilled in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, when that potent prince, encouraged by the successes of his predecessor against the ten tribes, came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them, and laid siege to Jerusalem (2 Ki. 18:13, 17), in consequence of which we may well suppose Hezekiah and his kingdom were greatly alarmed, though there was a good work of reformation lately begun among them: but it ended well, in the confusion of the Assyrians and the great encouragement of Hezekiah and his people in their return to God. Now let us see here,
Isa 10:20-23
The prophet had said (v. 12) that the Lord would perform his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, by Sennacherib's invading the land. Now here we are told what that work should be, a twofold work:-
Isa 10:24-34
The prophet, in his preaching, distinguishes between the precious and the vile; for God in his providence, even in the same providence, does so. He speaks terror, in Sennacherib's invasion, to the hypocrites, who were the people of God's wrath, v. 6. But here he speaks comfort to the sincere, who were the people of God's love. The judgment was sent for the sake of the former; the deliverance was wrought for the sake of the latter. Here we have,