Isaiah 10

may best be rendered, He shall take them away (the thorns mentioned just before) both green.and dry. (See the like expression, Ezek. xx. 47.) chcmish, 2 Chron..xxxv. 20. Others, as Hamaih, were upon tho confines of the Jewish territories, towards Syria, and therefore called the entrance ofllamath, Amos vi. 14. (Comparo this place with 2 Kings xviii. 33— 35. which fully explains the sense of this and tho following verses.) The consumption decreed.shall overflow with righteousness.] God’s judgments are said to overflow, when they spread universally; the metaphor being taken from an inundation that sweeps all before it. (Compare viii. 8. xxviii. 15. Dan. ix. 2G. xi. 10. 22. 26.) The y;ox& righteousness signifies here the severity ofjustice. (See note on v. 1G.)

Isaiah 10:1

W OE unto them that decree unrighteous decrees. A continuation of the subject treated of in the foregoing chapter, wherein the prophet reproves the sins of the ten tribes, particularly their injustice and oppression, and denounces the judgments they should suffer for the same.

Isaiah 10:3

And what will you do in the day of visitation, mid in the desolation which shall come from far?. God is said to visit when he punishes, (Jer. v. 9.) and the time of punishment is called the day of visitation, (Jer. x. 15. xi. 23.) The punishment here threatened is said to come from far, viz. from Assyria. (See note on v. 2G. compared with viii. 4.) The prophets elsewhere mention this as an aggravation of God’s judgments upon his people, that he would suffer them to be subdued by foreigners, with whose language they were unacquainted, so that it would be in vain to try to soften them by arguments or entreaties. (See Deut. xxviii. 49. Jer. v. 15.).And where will you leave your glory?] Where will you deposit your honours and possessions? To whose keeping or protection will you entrust them, that they bo not exposed as a prey to your enemies?

Isaiah 10:4

Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they sliallfall wider the slain. The Septuagint and Vulgar Latin join these words with the foregoing verse, vol. in. to this sense, Whither will this people fly for refuge to pre* serve themselves, that they may not bow down, or be subdued among the captives, or destroyed among the slain?. This seems the easiest and most natural sense of the words, taking the particle bilti for lebilti; which word is used in this sense, Jer. xxiii. 14. If we follow our own translation, the words import that it is in vain for the Israelites to trust in their own strength or in the assistance of their allies, such as the Syrian^ were, since it is from God alone that they must expect deliverance from the impendent evils, who for their sins is justly displeased. $

Isaiah 10:5

O Assyrian, tlie rod of mine anger. Here begins a new prophecy which reaches to the end of the chapter, and instructs us in this great and important truth, That God often prospers wicked and tyrannical governments to be his scourge, and the instruments of his vengeance upon, others; and when they have done the work which God allotted them, he then punishes them for those very oppressions which they have exercised towards their neighbours, and to which they were carried on purely by their own ambition and covetousness, although Providence, made them serviceable to better ends and purposes. The prophet directs this discourse to Sennacherib, king of Assyria. (See ver. 9, 10.) x And the staff in their hand is mine indignation.] Or, Tlie staff of mine indignation is in their hand. So the wicked are called a sivord of God, Psal. xvii. 13. and his weapons of war, Jer. li. 20.; v )

Isaiah 10:6

J will send him against a hypocritical nation. Or, a profane nation, as the word haneph signifies. (See note on ix. 17.) The like commission God gives to Cyrus, (xli. 2G. xlv. 1.) and to Nebuchadnezzar, (Jer. xxv. 9.)

Isaiah 10:7

Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. The Assyrian’s design was purely to extend his conquests,. and thereby gratify his own ambition: although God, that can bring good out of evil, made him instrumental in carrying on the designs of his providence. For which reason God justly punishes those very princes for the cruelties they commit, notwithstanding that they are the instruments of his vengeance in committing them; because that is beside their o>vn intention, the wickedness of the facts being altogether their own, and the good ends served by them to be wholly ascribed unto God. Thus God punished Jehu for his cruelty towards the house of Ahab, although he* himself gave him a commission (see 2 Kings ix. 7.) to put those very judgments denounced against Ahab’s family in execution. (See Hosea i. 4. and the note on Isa. xlvii. 7.)

Isaiah 10:8

For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?. He makes his boast that kings are his tributaries, and obey his commands. Upon this account Nebuchadnezzar is styled a king of kings, (Dan. ii.37. Ezek. xxvii. 7.) The same title is given to Artaxerxes, (Ezra vii. 12.) And this very king of Assyria, Sennacherib, is called a great king in this prophecy, (xxxvi. 4.)

Isaiah 10:9

Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not; Samaria as Damascus?. Have I not been equally successful against all these cities? some of which lay at a greater distance from Judca, upon the river Euphrates, as Calno, called Calneh, Amos vi. 2. and Char-

Isaiah 10:10

As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols. My power hath subdued them, thoy have not been able to escape out of my hand. (Compare ver. 14. and Psal. xxi. 8.) Vejr. 11. Shall I not ) as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do io Jerusalem and to her idols?] The prophet speaks in the person of the king of Assyria, -who looked upon the God of the Jews, to be no better than the other gods of the countries round about: (sec 2 Kings xviii. 35.) which deities, as he thought, sufficiently discovered their weakness innot being able to deliver their own countries and votaries.

Isaiah 10:12

Whei*efore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole tvork upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria.] Thus Jeremy foretells the destruction Of tho king of Babylon, as soon as ever the seventy years 6f the Jewish captivity are ended, ( Jer. xxv. 12 — 14.) And here, in like manner, God saith, he will punish the fridt of the stout heart of the king of Assyria; L e. those deeds and achievements which were the effects of his pride and ambition; The word fruit is equivalent to work. (See Prov. xxxi. 16. 31.) So the fruits of the Spirit are the effects of the Spirit, (Gal. v. 22.)

Isaiah 10:13

For he saith, By the strength of my hand. I Juzve done it; and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people. He ascribeth all his success to his own prowess and wisdom, according to. the usual pride of such haughty tyrants. (Compare Ezck. xxviii. 3 — C.) • This success of his appeared in the new modelling the governments of his new conquests, and destroying many of those -cities which were formerly frontier towns, and transplanting the people from one country to another, a common practice of conquerors. (See, 2 Kings xvii. G. 24.) r

Isaiah 10:14

And my hand hath found, as a nest, the riches of the people, &c. I have made myself master of their substance and treasures, as cosily as one takes away a nest of young birds, neither the dam nor tho young ones daring to complain. Or peeped.] It means the same &s chirped. (See Viii. 19.)

Isaiah 10:15

Shall the nxe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? &c. Men are Only second causes and instruments in the hands of Providence: (see note on ver. 5.) therefore the glory ought to be ascribed to-God alone. Ver. 1C. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness.] Shall consume his principal men for strength and courage. (Compare Psal. lxxviii. And under his glory he shall kindle a burning tike the burning of afire.] A sudden destruction is often compared to fire. (Secix. 5.) The expression here denotes that sudden stroke which destroyed the whole Assyrian army, 2 Kings xix. 35.* (Compare Isa. xxx. 33.)

Isaiah 10:17

And the light of Israel shall be for afire, and his Holy One for aflame. God is called the light of Israel, perhaps in allusion to the pillar of -fire which conducted them in tho wilderness, and he will nov be a consuming fire to devour their adversaries. Ibid, and

Isaiah 10:18

And it shall burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day, and shall consume the glory of his forest, &c. It shall destroy both small and great. (Sec noto on ik. 18.) And they shall be as when a standard-bearer fahdeth.] Losing (he colours is both a dishonour and discouragement, and causcth great confusion in an army.

Isaiah 10:19

Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened. Compare v. 30. viii. 22. And the rest of (he trees of this forest shall be few, &c.]Few men of strength or note in his army shall cs-* cape that general destruction: so that a child may be ablo to keep the muster-roll.

Isaiah 10:20

And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shallnot be satisfied-. They shall plunder and devour one another without ever being satisfied or giving over. They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm.’] i. e. Those of his own country, and even those of his own blood. (Compare xlix. 2G) This was literally fulfilled, when they were reduced to that extremity, as to eat the flesh of their own children: (see 2 Kings vi.28. Jer. xix. 8.) a judgment denounced for their sins by Moses, (Deut. xxviii. 53.) And it shall come to pass in’ that day.]’ The expression, in that day, is not always confined to the timo last spoken of, but often signifies some time that shall be very remarkable for God’s mercy towards his people. (See note on iv. 2.) And here it seems to point at that signal time, w r hen there shall be a general conversion of the Jews to God. It is usual with the prophets, when they foretell some extraordinary event in or near their own times, to carry their views on farther, and point at some greater deliverance which God shall vouchsafe to his pca^ pie in the latter ages of the world. (See the notes upon xxiv. 14. xxx. 19.) Tlie remnant of Israel.] The same remnant mentioned xxxvii. 32. Concerning the general notion of a remnant, see note on i. 9. vii. 3. And such as are escaped, of the house of Jacob, shall mo more stay vpon him that smote them.’] As Ahaz did on the king of Assyria: (see 2 Kingsxvi.7. compared with 2 Chron. xxviii. 20.) who afterward proved the worst enemy the Jews had. They are often blamed for trusting ihan arm of flesh, and making alliances with idolatrous nations. (Sce.uote on ii. 7.)

Isaiah 10:21

Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Jitdah. When those of the ten tribes had preyed upon one another as long as they could, they should turn their rage upon Judab, whom they looked upon as their common enemy, upon the account of their own separation from God’s public worship, established there. (See vii. G.) C H A P, X.; ARGUMENT The four first verses of this chapter should have been joined to the foregoing, as has been already observed in the Argument of the ninth chapter. The remaining part of the chapter is a denunciation of God’s judgments upon Sennacherib, whom God had made the instrument of his vengeance upon others: but when that end of Providence was served, he himself should suffer a more remarkable punishment than that which. he had executed upon his neighbours. The remnant shall return.] The explication of the name Shcar-jashub, given as a token of the perpetuity of God’s promises to one of Isaiah’s sons. (See vii. 3. and the notes there.)

Isaiah 10:22

For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant shall return. The remnant so mira* culously preserved in; Jerusalem from Sennacherib’s in r vasion, (see xxxvii. 31, 32.) were a type or figure of that small number of converts under the gospel,. styled mZoiievoi, Acts ii. 47. (an equivalent expression to that which is used ver. 20. and xxxvii. 31.) viz. such as should.escape the vengeance which fell upon the main body of the Jewish nation, for their sin in rejecting Christ. (See.Rom. ix. 27.), And there will be another remnant of them that shall be saved in the latter times of the worlds us we shall have occasion often,to take notice of in explaining the succeeding parts of this prophecy. (Sec the notes uponxxvii. 12, 13. xlv. 20. lxvi. 19.) Concerning the •gradual fulfilling of several prophecies, see the Preface-, and the notes on ii. 2. vi.ll. Mr. White, according to his usual manner, inveighs very freely against those who refer the words to sonic future conversion of the Jews; but I leave it to him to explain how the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who, according to •his own interpretation, were, cooped vp by their enemies within that city, can be said to return home upon raising •the -siege;. t * • •

Isaiah 10:23

For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the /land. Determined is the same with decreed; or pronounced.by the sentence if God, the supreme judge: the word likewise implies that this destruction shall be but for a limited" time, not to endure for ever. (Compare xxviii. 22. Dan. ix. 27. xi. 3G.) This consumption relates immediately to that desolation which Sennacherib should make. over the whole land of Judea; (see 2 Kings xviii. 13.) none but Jerusalem escaping that judgment; but it hath, a farther aspect upon that. universal desolation which should overspread that country and people after their rejecting the Messias.

Isaiah 10:24

O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. The promises of deliverance from Sennacherib’s invasion are made only to the inhabitants of Zion and Jerusalem: (see xxxvii. 32, 33.) a type of the elect among the Jews, in whom God will fulfil the promises made to their fathers. (See Rom. xi. 7. 28.) He shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.] He shall come against Jerusalem with all his force, to make an entire conquest over the Jews, as the Egyptians endeavoured to do, Exod. xiv.‘O. The use of the word staff is explained before, (ix. 4.)

Isaiah 10:25

For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger, in their destruction. It shall appear.by their destruction that mine anger is turned away from thee. Ver. 2G. And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him,] And shall.Uft up his rod, as it follows, in oppotion to the rod of the Assyrian, mentioned rer. 24. According to the slaughter ofMidian at the rock ofOreb.] See ix. 4. And as his rod was upon tlie sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.] God shall give, as 1 evident tokens of his power interposing for the deliverance of his people, as Moses did when he lifted up liis rod for a signal of the Egyptians* overthrow, (Exod. xiv. 2G.)

Isaiah 10:27

His burden shall be takenaway from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck. Compare ix. 4. xiv. 25., And the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anoint’ ing.] For the sake of God’s chosen people, (especially the remnant mentioned ver. 20, 21.) called his anointed, Psal. cv. 15. and. likewise for the preservation of the kingdom and priesthood, both which offices were conferred b$ the ceremony of anointing. But without question the Messias, the Anointed in an eminent sense, (as the word signifies) and described as such, Psal. xiv. 7. is principally intended here, who was to rise from the stock of Judah, and whose coming is directly foretold in the following chapter. God preserved the kingdom of Judah from utter destruction, because the Messias was to come from. that tribe. (See note on vii. 13.)

Isaiah 10:28

lie is come o Aiath, lie is passed to Migron; &c. In these verses the prophet describes the inarch of Sennacherib’s army, and the consternation which is raised in all the towns and countries through which it passed in its way towards Jerusalem.

Isaiah 10:32

As yet he shall remain at Nob thaVday, &c. Or, to-day: the prophet describes the army as coming within sight of Jerusalem, so that after one day’s march they might sit down before it. Thus the king of Assyria did literally shake his hand against it, as it follows, and stood in a threatening posture, as just ready to assault it. Ver. 33/ TlieLord of hosts, shall lop the bonghwitliler* ror; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down:] The prophet here, as before, (ver. 18.) describes the destruction of the Assyrian army by the metaphor of Cutting down* a forest. Princes and great ones are commonly represented by the tallest trees, as the mean people are by the lowe* shrubs, or the thickets, (vex. 34.) Compare xiv. 8. xxxvii; 24. Ezek*. xxxi. where the same metaphor is pursued throughout the whole chapter, Dan.iv.10. Jer. xxii.6.

Isaiah 10:34

And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. The,flower of the Assyrian, army shall fall by the stroke of a mighty angel, (2 Kings xix. 35.) Might is often ascribed to angels, (Psal. ciii. 20. 2Pet.ii.il. Rev. xviii. 21.) Lebanon was famous for its tall cedars, to which the cap*- tains and principal commanders of the Assyrian army are here compared. (See xxxvii. 24.)