Isaia 10:26 Commento

The prophet, in this chapter, is dealing, I. With the proud oppressors of his people at home, that abused their power, to pervert justice, whom he would reckon with for their tyranny (Isa 10:1-4). II. With a threatening invader of his people from abroad, Sennacherib king of Assyria, concerning whom observe, 1. The commission given him to invade Judah (Isa 10:5, Isa 10:6). 2. His pride and insolence in the execution of that commission (Isa 10:7-11, Isa 10:13, Isa 10:14). 3. A rebuke given to his haughtiness, and a threatening of his fall and ruin, when he had served the purposes for which God raised him up (Isa 10:12, Isa 10:15-19). 4. A promise of grace to the people of God, to enable them to bear up under the affliction, and to get good by it (Isa 10:20-23). 5. Great encouragement given to them not to fear this threatening storm, but to hope that, though for the present all the country was put into a great consternation by it, yet it would end well, in the destruction of this formidable enemy (Isa 10:24-34). 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.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 10 This chapter contains denunciations of punishment, first on the governors of the Jewish nation, and then upon the Assyrians; a woe is denounced on the makers and imposers of bad laws, whereby the poor and the needy, the widows and the fatherless, were deprived of their right, Isa 10:1 which woe or punishment is explained to be a desolation of their country by the Assyrians, that should come afar off, and which they could not escape; under whom they should bow and fall; and yet there should not be an end of their punishment, Isa 10:3 next follows a prophecy of the destruction of the Assyrians themselves, for the comfort of God's people; in which is observed, that the Assyrian monarch was an instrument in the hand of the Lord to chastise his people, and therefore is called the rod and staff of his wrath and indignation, Isa 10:5 the people are described against whom he was sent, and the end for which is mentioned, Isa 10:6 though this was not his intention, nor did he design to stop here, but to destroy and cut off many other nations, Isa 10:7 which he hoped to do from the magnificence of his princes, who were as kings, and from the conquests he had made of kingdoms, and their chief cities, Isa 10:8 wherefore, when the Lord had done what he designed to do by him among his people the Jews, he was determined to punish him, because of the pride of his heart, and the haughtiness of his looks, and his boasting of his strength and wisdom, and of his robberies and plunders, without opposition; which boasting was as foolish as if an axe, a saw, a rod, and a staff, should boast, magnify, move, and lift up themselves against the person that made use of them, Isa 10:12 which punishment is said to come from the Lord, and is expressed by leanness, and by a consuming and devouring fire; for which reason his army is compared to thorns and briers, to a forest, and a fruitful field, which should be destroyed at once; so that what of the trees remained should be so few as to be numbered by a child, Isa 10:16 and, for the further consolation of the people of God, it is observed, that in the times following the destruction of the Assyrian monarchy, a remnant of the people of Israel should be converted, and no more lean upon an arm of flesh, but upon the Lord Christ, the Holy One of Israel; even a remnant only; for though that people were very numerous, yet a remnant, according to the election of grace, should be saved, when it was the determinate counsel of God, and according to his righteous judgment, to destroy the far greater part of them, for their perverseness and obstinacy, Isa 10:20 wherefore the people of God are exhorted not to be afraid of the Assyrian, though chastised by him; since in a little time the anger of the Lord would cease in his destruction, which should be after the manner of the Egyptians at the Red sea, and as the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; whereby they would be free from his burden and yoke, because of the anointed King that should reign, or the King Messiah, Isa 10:24 and then follows a description of the expedition of the king of Assyria into Judea, by making mention of the several places through which he should pass with terror to the inhabitants, until he should come to Jerusalem, against which he should shake his hand, Isa 10:28 and then, under the similes of lopping a bough, and cutting down the thickets of a forest, and the trees of Lebanon, is predicted the destruction of his army and its generals by an angel, Isa 10:33.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder,.... The tax or tribute imposed upon Hezekiah by the king of Assyria, Kg2 18:14, and his yoke from off thy neck; the same with the burden; unless it means also the subjection of the cities of Judah, which were taken by the Assyrian; and indeed it may be extended further, and be considered as a prophecy not merely of deliverance from the present distress, but from the future captivity in Babylon; and which was a type of the deliverance and redemption by Christ, when the Lord's people were delivered from the burden of sin, the guilt and punishment of it; from the yoke of the law, the yoke of bondage; and from the tyranny of Satan, and out of the hand of every enemy; and this seems to be hinted at in the next clause: and thy yoke shall be destroyed, because of the anointing; or, "be corrupted, because of fatness" (u); through the multitude of riches and honours, with which the Assyrian monarchy abounded; which fill with pride, introduce luxury, and so bring ruin, on a state. Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the anointing of Hezekiah, the anointed king of Israel, for whose sake the Assyrian yoke was destroyed. The Rabbins say, that this deliverance was wrought on account of the large quantity of oil which Hezekiah consumed in the schools and synagogues, for the study of the law, and the explanation of it; but the Targum much better refers it to the Messiah, "the people shall be broken from before the Messiah;'' who was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, and for whose sake, and by whom, the yoke of sin, Satan, and the law, has been destroyed. Vitringa interprets it of the Spirit of God, and his powerful operations, whose gifts and graces are often compared to oil and ointment; and makes the words parallel to Zac 4:6. (u) "et corrumpetur jugum propter oleum", Cocceius; "prae pinguedine", Quidam in Munster.

(v. 24 seqq.) Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: Do not fear, my people who dwell in Zion, from Assyria, who shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, as the Egyptians did. For yet a little while and my indignation will be fulfilled and my anger will be directed towards their wickedness. And the Lord of hosts will raise a whip against them, as he did against Midian at the rock of Oreb, and his staff against the sea, and he will lift it up in the manner of the Egyptians. And it shall come to pass in that day: his burden shall be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil. Regarding the stone, which in Hebrew is interpreted as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion put the Hebrew word Sur Oreb. Regarding this, the LXX interpreted as the place of tribulation, about which we will say in its proper place. It seems difficult to you, O inhabitant of Zion, that while all the surrounding nations are subjugated by the Assyrians, you alone would be liberated from their hands. Listen to what I say: do not be afraid, my people, because you will be captured by Assyria when it conquers. For in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign (2 Kings 18), Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, will come to attack all the fortified cities of Judah and capture them. He will send his commander-in-chief, Rabshakeh, to terrify the besieged people of Jerusalem. However, you should know that he will not strike you with a sword, but with a rod. He will march against King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, the Egyptians, and the Red Sea by way of Egypt. He will only raise his staff against you, and he will not be able to strike you. For a little while longer, I will return from Egypt with an infinite multitude of army and wishing to besiege you, I will immediately strike with my indignation, and I will raise that whip, which once I used against the Midianites under Gideon (Judges 7), who was also called Jerubbaal. When Oreb and Zebah, the leaders of the Midianites, were killed on a very hard rock, that is, flint, which is called Sur in Hebrew, so that from the rock and from the king who was killed on it, the place received the name Rock of Oreb. So he shall lift up his rod over the Red Sea, going against the Ethiopians, and he shall lift it up again on his return to you by the way of Egypt; but as soon as he comes from Egypt, the burden shall be taken away from your shoulders and the yoke of his rule shall be removed, and you shall cease to serve. This yoke, that is, the power of the Assyrians, will decay in the presence of oil, that is, the mercy of God. We can also understand what he said: 'He shall strike you with a rod and shall lift up his staff over you on the way to Egypt.' And again: 'He shall lift up his rod over the sea and he shall lift it up on the way to Egypt.' This can also be understood as why he struck many from the tribe of Judah and captured cities around the kingdom of Jerusalem, because they had put their trust not in God, but in the Egyptians. Then Rabsaces taunts them, saying: Behold thou trustest upon the reed upon Egypt; upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it. (IV Kings 18:21) So is Pharao king of Egypt to all that trust in him. The history also of the Madianites is written in the book of Judges (Judges 7), which we read also in the psalm: Make their princes like Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebbee, and Salmana (Psalm 82:11-12). Therefore those who believe that it signifies the time when in the book of Numbers (Chap. 25) the Midianites killed by Israel are referred to from the desert of Sur to the mountain of God, Horeb, with which time they were not on Mount Horeb, but in the desert of Shittim. According to the anagoge, it is commanded to the people dwelling in the Church not to fear their adversaries, who are always ready for battle, and have overturned many souls with their disputes. For this reason, they can receive only a little power against the people of God, and not strike with a sword, but with a rod, that is, not to kill, but to threaten, because they have walked in the way of Egypt and have not trusted in the Lord. But when they have returned to God and have left the path of Egypt, then the scourge of God is to be raised up by judgment against the adversaries. For Midian is interpreted as meaning 'by judgment,' so that with the breath of his mouth and the oil of mercy the yoke of the enemies may decay.

Third, the ease of punishing, my < . . . > (Judg 7:25); and over the sea, the Red Sea: and he shall lift it up (Exod 14:21–29), against you, first, in the way of Egypt, because you trusted in the Egyptians.

The Jews, about to be carried into captivity, are here warned against the superstition and idolatry of that country to which they were going. Chaldea was greatly addicted to astrology, and therefore the prophet begins with warning them against it, Jer 10:1, Jer 10:2. He then exposes the absurdity of idolatry in short but elegant satire; in the midst of which he turns, in a beautiful apostrophe, to the one true God, whose adorable attributes repeatedly strike in view, as he goes along, and lead him to contrast his infinite perfections with those despicable inanities which the blinded nations fear, Jer 10:3-16. The prophet again denounces the Divine judgments, Jer 10:17, Jer 10:18; upon which Jerusalem laments her fate, and supplicates the Divine compassion in her favor, Jer 10:19-25.

And as his rod was upon the sea "And like his rod which he lifted up over the sea" - The Jewish interpreters suppose here an ellipsis of כ ke, the particle of similitude, before מטהו mattehu, to be supplied from the line above; so that here are two similitudes, one comparing the destruction of the Assyrians to the slaughter of the Midianites at the rock of Oreb; the other to that of the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Sal. ben Melec.

Fourth strophe. (Isa 10:1-4) them that decree--namely, unrighteous judges. write grievousness, &c.--not the scribes, but the magistrates who caused unjust decisions (literally, "injustice" or "grievousness") to be recorded by them (Isa 65:6) [MAURER], (Isa 1:10, Isa 1:23).

slaughter of--"stroke upon." Midian-- (Isa 9:4; Jdg 7:25). as his rod was upon the sea--rather, understanding "stroke" from the previous clause, "according to the stroke of His rod upon the Red Sea" (Exo 14:16, Exo 14:26). His "rod" on the Assyrian (Isa 10:24, Isa 10:26) stands in bold contrast to the Assyrian used as a "rod" to strike others (Isa 10:5). after the manner of Egypt--as He lifted it up against Egypt at the Red Sea.