Isaiah 10

Notes on the verses

Chap. X. Ver. 3. Leave your glory?—Lowth, “Deposit your wealth?”
Ver. 5. O Assyrian!—[Bishop Lowth renders, “Ho to the Assyrian.” This is a distinct prophecy concerning the invasion of Sennacherib, delivered, as appears from ver. 9—11, after the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser.]—Bagster.
Ver. 5. Calno.—[Caino is probably the same as Calneh, a city built by Nimrod, which the Jerusalem Targum, Jonathan, Eusebius, Jerome, Ephraim the Syrian, and Abulfaragius, say is Ctesiphon, a noble city on the eastern shore of the Tigris, about three miles below Seleucia, (now Bagdad,) and sometime the winter residence of the Parthian kings. The district around it, according to Pliny, had hence the name of Chalonitis; and Ammianus says, that Pacorus, a Parthian king, changed its name into Ctesiphon. It is now called Modain; and the remains which still exist indicate it to have been of some extent.]—Bagster.
Ver. 11. As I have done.—From this and preceding verses, Lowth infers, that this prophecy was delivered after the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, and before the invasion of Sennacherib, in the fourteenth.
Ver. 14. Opened the mouth, or peeped.—Lowth, “Opened the beak, or chirped;” i.e. he gathered the riches of the nations, almost without oppo-
Ver. 25. For.—Lowth, “But.” Gesenius remarks, Ki is so rendered, (Genesis 45:8). (Exodus 16:8). (1 Kings 21:15).
Ver. 27. Because of the anointing.—Heb. “Before the oiled.” The word is used (Judges 3:19). for lusty, powerful men. Some, however, apply it to Hezekiah, as a type of Messiah.
Ver. 28. Aiath.—This is a prophetical description of the march of Sennacherib’s army approaching Jerusalem in order to invest it, and of the terror and confusion spreading and increasing through the several places as he advanced; expressed with great brevity, but finely diversified. Aiath, or Ai, was situated a little east of Bethel, about twelve miles north of Jerusalem; Michmash, about three miles nearer, where there was a narrow pass between two sharp hills; Geba and Ramah, about three miles more to the south; Gibeon, a mile and a half more southward; Anathoth, within three miles of Jerusalem; to the westward of which, towards Lydda, was Nod, from which place Sennacherib might have a prospect of Zion, and near which, it would appear, his army was destroyed.
—Bagster.
Ver. 29. Gone over the passage.—Lowth, “They have passed the strait;” viz. passes a very narrow passage between two sharp hills. See (1 Samuel 4:4-5).
Ver. 32. Remain at Nob.—Probably within two or three miles of Jerusalem, and Lowth thinks Sennacherib’s army was destroyed very near this.