Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 10

“His Hand Is Stretched Out Still,” Concluded (9:8—10:4)

This section concludes the collection of prophetic oracles begun in 5:24-30 which was interrupted by the special scroll 6:1— 9:7. Four prophecies in 9:8—10:4 (9:8-12, 13-17, 18-21; 10: 1-4) all end with the same refrain, to the effect that God’s action in the judgment of Israel is not yet at an end. The prophecies, therefore, date before the final destruction of Samaria in 724-21 b.c. The first (vss. 8-12) speaks of God’s raising up adversaries against Ephraim and Samaria, though we do not have sufficient information in detail to be sure of the exact historical reference. The second prophecy (vss. 13-17) speaks particularly of the leaders of Israel, both the elders and the popular prophets who teach lies. These will be cut off in the judgment. The third prophecy (vss. 18-21) suggests the inner social and political chaos then existing inside the nation of the north during the last days of its earthly life. Finally, 10:1-4 is a prophetic lament comparable to those in 5:8-23 about the leaders of the nation who used positions of power and trust, in particular the law, as a means of defrauding the poor of the country of their right so that the latter became a prey.

Verses 5-19

“Assyria, the Rod of My Anger” (10:5-19)

The greatest imperialistic power of the world in Isaiah’s time was Assyria, with its capital at Nineveh. The dreadful use of the military power of the Assyrians was felt in every country in the ancient Near East from Persia to Egypt for a period of nearly three hundred years, until it decayed from within and was conquered from without by the Medes and the Babylonians in the period between about 630 and 609 b.c. In these verses Isaiah reveals God’s purposes in using this mighty military force. It was inconceivable to a Hebrew prophet that the Assyrian empire could have been created and maintained had not the sovereign Lord of the universe so decreed. It was thus the prophet’s task to explain to his people what God’s intention was. In so doing, Isaiah by implication gives in brief statement the prophetic view of history.

The passage begins in verses 5-6 with a lament, introduced by the Hebrew term which is translated “woe” in 5:8, 11, 18, 20, 21, and 22. In the ancient world, at the time of a death or of any national or local disaster it was felt to be proper to utter a lament over the sad event. The prophets in using this form turned it into an effective way of announcing the coming of God’s judgment upon the people or nation thus lamented. The only clue to the date of this lament over the future fall of the Assyrian empire is in verse 9. Damascus was destroyed by Tiglath-pileser III in 733-32 b.c. The Assyrian conquest of the other cities mentioned in the verse was probably in the period between 722 and 717 b.c., that is, early in the reign of the emperor Sargon II (722-705 b.c.). An Assyrian army was investing Samaria in the winter of 722-21 b.c. when Sargon came to the throne. The Syrian cities revolted and were reconquered by Sargon in the succeeding years. It is not unlikely, therefore, that this passage also derives from the early period of Isaiah’s prophecy. It interpreted to the people of Judah the meaning of these Assyrian conquests and the future of Assyria herself shortly after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel.

Verses 5-6 assert that the Assyrian military power is the instrument of God’s judgment, for so the “anger” of God should be understood. The use of the human emotions of anger and jealousy in relation to God is the Hebrew way of expressing most vividly the active displeasure of God against that which thwarts his will. In no case, however, are these terms to be understood as suggesting that God is ever acting outside the bounds of his righteous and redemptive purpose.

Verses 7-11 explain the problem and essential idolatry of the great militaristic power. He does not have the intention of being an agent of God. He has one thing in mind, and one only: to destroy and strike fear into the hearts of Jerusalem and Samaria. His threat, then, is that he will do to Jerusalem what he has done to Samaria (vs. 11).

An editor seems to have supplied verse 12 as an explanatory comment on the text of the poem. Isaiah’s meaning, he correctly states, is that when the Lord has finished the punishment of Jerusalem he will then turn on the arrogant boasting of the kin g of Assyria. Verses 13-14 continue verse 11, where the Assyrian monarch is explaining what he is doing. He says that by his own strength and by his own wisdom he has removed boundaries and gathered the treasures of the earth. Isaiah sharply draws the conclusion in verses 15-16. Shall the axe deem itself greater and more important than the person who uses it? Quite the contrary! Because of the self-idolatry of the great power, the Lord of the armies of the world will in due time strike down the conqueror. In verse 17 the “light of Israel” and “his Holy One” are to be understood as names for God, who will become a fire which will burn and devour the Assyrian army until there remain so few that a child could enumerate them (vss. 18-19).

Assyria and similar world powers of course do not understand that they are simply agents. They are interested only in world domination, and for their own iniquities in due time they will be punished. God’s use of a historical instrument for the accomplishment of his purpose does not confer righteousness upon that instrument. Not even the greatest of the militaristic powers of history have done their work outside the context of God’s purpose and control. Empires have risen and empires have fallen, and the Lord’s will has both been done and violated.

This is a realistic view of history in relation to the sovereignty of God. The meaning of history and man’s hope do not lie in the possibilities within the human soul to expand and develop for itself a glorious future. Neither do they lie in the Marxist supposition that the inexorable movement of history toward the classless society in a conflict of the “haves” and the “have-nots” is somehow built into the very constitution of things, so that the ideal age will inevitably come about as soon as the capitalist class is removed. To the biblical writer such views would be idolatrous. The meaning of history and the hope of man lie only in the consistent purpose of God himself, a purpose which always stands over history as it is being unfolded within history. For this reason, in the darkness of any particular moment of time one can live by faith and hope in the providence of God.

Verses 20-34

“A Remnant Will Return” (10:20-27b)

At this point an editor has placed some prose fragments derived from original prophecies of hope. The kingdom of Israel has been destroyed. Isaiah has foretold this event, and one of his sons, Shear-jashub (7:3), was a further prediction of it in the meaning of the name, “[Only] a remnant will return.” Now that the disaster has fallen, this prophecy becomes a ground of hope. Indeed a remnant will return. In verses 22-23, however, the original oracle against Israel is preserved and consequently the original meaning of the teaching regarding the remnant. Verses 20-21 and verses 22-23, when put together in this manner, make explicit the two uses of the doctrine of the remnant. Yet they surely come from different periods in the prophet’s ministry.

Verses 24-27 are addressed to the people in Zion, that is, Jerusalem. They are not to be afraid of the Assyrians, for in a short time the oppressors will be destroyed and the yoke removed from the neck of the Judean people. It is possible that this prophecy comes from the end of Isaiah’s ministry and belongs with a group of sayings which announce that God is going to deliver Judah and Jerusalem from the hands of the Assyrians and that the Assyrians will meet disaster. It is possible that they refer to a disastrous campaign of the emperor Sennacherib about 690 b.c. (see Introduction).

The Enemy Is at Hand (10:27c-34)

This is a vigorous portrayal of the advance of an enemy through the tribal area of Benjamin just north of Jerusalem to the village of Nob, which was probably located on the high ridge directly east of Jerusalem, known in the New Testament as the Mount of Olives. The investiture and siege of Jerusalem is about to begin.

Commentators have generally taken this to be a picture of the advance of the Assyrian army on Jerusalem. Yet the Assyrians usually came down the coastal plain, and in 701 b.c. they attacked Judah and Jerusalem from that area. The Babylonians did the same in 598-97 b.c. and again in 588-87 b.c. It is quite possible, therefore, that the attack pictured in these verses is that of the combined forces of Israel and Damascus in their attack on Judah in the attempt to force Ahaz into their coalition against Tiglath-pileser III in 734 b.c. (see Introduction and 7:1-17).

Verses 33-34 do not belong with verses 27c-32 but are an independent prophecy of judgment against either Israel or Judah or both. In this case the Lord is represented as a forester who cuts down great trees, as, for example, those on the Lebanon Mountains to the north.