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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Isaiah 10 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/isaiah/10.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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The formula with which the section opens reminds us of that of <a href="/isaiah/5-8.htm" title="Woe to them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the middle of the earth!">Isaiah 5:8</a>; <a href="/isaiah/5-11.htm" title="Woe to them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!">Isaiah 5:11</a>; <a href="/isaiah/5-18.htm" title="Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:">Isaiah 5:18</a>; <a href="/isaiah/5-22.htm" title="Woe to them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:">Isaiah 5:22</a>, and suggests the thought that the prophet is speaking not only or chiefly of the northern kingdom, as in <a href="/isaiah/9-21.htm" title="Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.">Isaiah 9:21</a>, but of Israel as including Judah. The evils the prophet denounces are, it will be noted, identical with those in <a href="/isaiah/1-23.htm" title="Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.">Isaiah 1:23</a>; <a href="/isaiah/5-23.htm" title="Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!">Isaiah 5:23</a>. For the second clause of the verse, read, “<span class= "ital">and the scribes who register oppression.” </span>All the formalities of justice were observed punctiliously. The decision of the unjust judge was duly given and recorded, but the outcome of it all was that the poor, the widow, and the fatherless got no redress. The words for “prey” and “rob” are those used in the mysterious name of <a href="/isaiah/8-1.htm" title="Moreover the LORD said to me, Take you a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz.">Isaiah 8:1</a>. They occur again in <a href="/isaiah/10-6.htm" title="I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.">Isaiah 10:6</a>. It would seem as if the prophet sought in this way to impress the thought of the great law of divine retribution. Men were reaping as they had sown.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-3.htm">Isaiah 10:3</a></div><div class="verse">And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation <i>which</i> shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?</div>(3) <span class= "bld">And what will ye do in the</span> <span class= "bld">day of visitation . . .</span>?—The question was not without a certain touch of irony. Had those corrupt judges asked themselves what they would do when the Supreme Judge should call them to account? Had they an ally who could protect them against Jehovah? Or had they found a hiding-place for the treasures which they had made their “glory”? Had they made a covenant with Hades and with death? (<a href="/isaiah/28-18.htm" title="And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing whip shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.">Isaiah 28:18</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-4.htm">Isaiah 10:4</a></div><div class="verse">Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand <i>is</i> stretched out still.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Without me they shall bow down . . .</span>—The Hebrew text is obscure, but these words were probably intended as the answer to the taunting question that had preceded them. Dropping the direct address, and passing to the third person, the prophet seems to say as with a kind of ominous “aside,” “No, there is no ally, no hiding-place but this, <span class= "ital">except they bow down among the captives or fall among the slain.” </span>Exile or death, that was their only alternative. When that sentence has been uttered, the doom-bell, as we have called it, “For all this <span class= "bld">. . .</span>” tolls once more. If we adopt the Authorised version we have the same fact asserted, with the suggested thought that there was a refuge to be found in God.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-5.htm">Isaiah 10:5</a></div><div class="verse">O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">O Assyrian.</span>—The words open, as has been said above, a perfectly distinct section. Assyria had been named in connection with the Syro-Ephraim alliance against Judah (<a href="/context/isaiah/7-17.htm" title="The LORD shall bring on you, and on your people, and on your father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.">Isaiah 7:17-20</a>; <a href="/context/isaiah/8-7.htm" title="Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up on them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:">Isaiah 8:7-8</a>); but this is the first prophetic utterance of which it is the direct subject. Anticipating the phraseology of <a href="/isaiah/13-1.htm" title="The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.">Isaiah 13:1</a>, we might call it the “burden of Assyria.” In the judgment of the best Assyrian scholars, some years had passed since the date of the alliance and invasion. Tiglath – pileser had taken Damascus and reduced Samaria to submission. Pekah and Ahaz had met at Damascus to do homage to their common suzerain. In B.C. 727 Salmaneser succeeded to the throne of Assyria, and began the conquest of Samaria and the deportation of the Ten Tribes in B.C. 722 (<a href="/context/2_kings/17-3.htm" title="Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.">2Kings 17:3-6</a>). On his death, in B.C. 721, the throne was seized by Sargon, who had been his Tartan, or commander-in-chief (<a href="/isaiah/20-1.htm" title="In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;">Isaiah 20:1</a>). The achievements of this king are recorded at length in an inscription discovered by M. Botta at Khorsabad (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, vii.</span> 28. Lenormant’s <span class= "ital">Manual, </span>1 p. 392). In it he says:—“I besieged, took, and occupied the city of Samaria, and carried into captivity 27,280 of its inhabitants. I changed the form of government of the country, and placed over it lieutenants of my own.” In another inscription discovered at Kouyunyik, but unfortunately incomplete, Sargon speaks of himself as “the conqueror of the far-off land of Judah” (Layard, <span class= "ital">Inscriptions, </span>33:8). It was probably to this king, exulting in his triumphs and threatening an attack on Judah, and not (as was commonly thought prior to the discovery of the inscription) to his son Sennacherib, who succeeded him B.C. 704, that the prophet now addressed himself. The first words proclaim that the great king was but an instrument working out the Divine intent, the “rod,” and the “staff,” the “axe” and the “saw” (<a href="/isaiah/10-15.htm" title="Shall the ax boast itself against him that hews therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shakes it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.">Isaiah 10:15</a>). So in <a href="/isaiah/7-20.htm" title="In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.">Isaiah 7:20</a>, the earlier king of Assyria is as “the razor that is hired.” So Nebuchadnezzar in <a href="/jeremiah/51-20.htm" title="You are my battle ax and weapons of war: for with you will I break in pieces the nations, and with you will I destroy kingdoms;">Jeremiah 51:20</a> is the “battle-axe” or “hammer” of Jehovah. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/37-26.htm" title="Have you not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you should be to lay waste defended cities into ruinous heaps.">Isaiah 37:26</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-6.htm">Isaiah 10:6</a></div><div class="verse">I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">I will send him against an hypocritical nation.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">impious. </span>The verb admits of the various renderings, “I will send,” “I did send,” and “I am wont to send.” The last seems to give the best meaning—not a mere fact in history, nor an isolated prediction, but a law of the Divine government.<p><span class= "bld">To take the spoil.</span>—The series of words, though general in meaning, contains probably a special reference to the recent destruction of Samaria, walls pulled down, houses and palaces turned into heaps of rubbish, the soldiers trampling on flower and fruit gardens, this was what the Assyrian army left behind it. Judah had probably suffered in the same way in the hands of Sargon.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-7.htm">Isaiah 10:7</a></div><div class="verse">Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but <i>it is</i> in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Howbeit he meaneth not so.</span>—The thoughts which Isaiah puts into the mouth of the Assyrian are exactly in accord with the supreme egotism of the Sargon inscription, “I conquered,” “I besieged,” “I burnt,” “I killed,” “I destroyed”; this is the ever-recurring burden, mingled here and there with the boast that he is the champion of the great deities of Assyria, of Ishtar and of Nebo.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-8.htm">Isaiah 10:8</a></div><div class="verse">For he saith, <i>Are</i> not my princes altogether kings?</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Are not my princes altogether kings?</span>—So Tiglath-pileser names the twenty-three kings (Ahaz and Pekah among them) who came to do homage and pay tribute at Damascus (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, v.</span> 5-26).<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-9.htm">Isaiah 10:9</a></div><div class="verse"><i>Is</i> not Calno as Carchemish? <i>is</i> not Hamath as Arpad? <i>is</i> not Samaria as Damascus?</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Is not Calno as Carchemish?</span>—The six names obviously pointed to more recent conquests in which Sargon and his predecessors had exulted. One after another they had fallen. Could Judah hope to escape? (1) Calno, the Calneh of <a href="/genesis/10-10.htm" title="And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.">Genesis 10:10</a>, <a href="/amos/6-2.htm" title="Pass you to Calneh, and see; and from there go you to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?">Amos 6:2</a>. That prophet had held up its fate in vain as a warning to Samaria. It has been identified by Kay with Ctesiphon on the east bank of the Tigris, by Lenormant (<span class= "ital">Manual, </span>i. 80) with Ur of the Chaldees and with the ruins known now as the <span class= "ital">Mugheir, </span>by Rawlinson (<span class= "ital">Five Great Monarchies, </span>i. 20) with <span class= "ital">Nipur. </span>The Assyrian form, Kil-Anu, means the “house” or “temple” of Anu, an Assyrian deity). Sennacherib (Lenormant i. 398), speaks of having reconquered it after a Chaldean revolt, and sold its inhabitants as slaves. The LXX. version, which instead of naming Carchemish, gives “Calanè, where the tower was built,” seems to imply a tradition identifying that city with the Tower of Babel of <a href="/genesis/11-4.htm" title="And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach to heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth.">Genesis 11:4</a>. (2) Carchemish. Few cities of the ancient world occupied a more prominent position than this. Its name has been explained as meaning the Tower of Chemosh, and so bears witness to the widespread <span class= "ital">cultus </span>of the deity whom we meet with in Biblical history as the “abomination of the Moabites” (<a href="/1_kings/11-7.htm" title="Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.">1Kings 11:7</a>). It has been commonly identified with the Circesium of Greek historians, but the inscriptions found by Mr. George Smith at <span class= "ital">Tarabolos </span>(the Hierapolis of the Greeks) on the banks of the Euphrates, at its junction with the <span class= "ital">Kyabur, </span>prove that this is the true representative of the great commercial city of the old Hittite kings (<span class= "ital">Times, </span>Aug. 23, 1876). Its importance is shown by the frequent occurrence of the name, in its Egyptian form of Karakumusha, in the record of Egyptian kings. Thothmes I. (<span class= "ital">circa </span>B.C. 1600) conquered it, and, as a result of his campaign, strengthened the forces of Egypt with the chariots and horses for which it was afterwards conspicuous (Lenormant, <span class= "ital">Manual, </span>1 p. 229). Thothmes III. built a fortress there to guard the passage of the Euphrates (<span class= "ital">ibid. </span>1 p. 232), the ruins of which, with Egyptian inscriptions and works of Egyptian manufacture, have recently been found there (<span class= "ital">ibid. </span>1 p.,263). It revolted against Ramses II. (the Sesostris of the Greeks), with the Hittites and Phœnicians, and other nations, but was subdued by him in the expedition in which the victorious issue is recorded on the monument on the <span class= "ital">Nahr-el-Kelb </span>near <span class= "ital">Beyrût. </span>Shalmaneser IV. (contemporary with Ahab) records that he demolished and burnt it (<span class= "ital">ibid. </span>1 p. 380). Tiglath-pileser II., the king to whom Ahaz paid tribute, received tribute from its king in B.C. 742 (<span class= "ital">ibid. </span>1 p. 389). The last two victories are probably referred to in the boast now before us. At a later period it was conspicuous for the great defeat of Pharaoh Necho’s army by Nebuchadnezzar (see notes on <a href="/jeremiah/46-2.htm" title="Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.">Jeremiah 46:2</a>). Its commercial importance is indicated by the fact that the “<span class= "ital">mana </span>(Heb., <span class= "ital">manah</span>) of Carchemish” appears in numerous cuneiform inscriptions as the standard weight of the time, just as that of Troyes, in the commerce of the Middle Ages, is shown by the survival of the name in the “Troy weight” of our arithmetic books (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, vii.</span> 114).<p><span class= "bld">Is not Hamath as Arpad</span>?—(1) Hamath on the Orontes, the capital of an Aramæan kingdom, was prominent in the history of the East. Under its kings Toi and Joram it paid tribute to David (<a href="/context/2_samuel/8-9.htm" title="When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer,">2Samuel 8:9-10</a>). It fell under the power of Jeroboam II. of Israel (<a href="/2_kings/14-25.htm" title="He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath to the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.">2Kings 14:25</a>). In conjunction with Damascus it revolted against Shalmaneser IV., and was subdued by him (Lenormant’s <span class= "ital">Manual, </span>1 p. 380). Its king was first among the tributary princes under Tiglath-pileser II. after having joined with Pekah and Rezin in their revolt (<span class= "ital">ibid. </span>1 p. 389). Lastly, to come to the date of the present prophecy, it again revolted, in conjunction, as before, with Damascus and Samaria, and was again subdued by Sargon (<span class= "ital">ibid. </span>1 p. 393). (2) Of the early history of Arpad we know less, but it appears as having sustained a three years’ siege from the forces of Tiglath-pileser II. It joined Hamath in its revolt against Sargon, and was again, as this verse implies, subdued by him. It is always united in the Old Testament with Hamath (<a href="/isaiah/36-19.htm" title="Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?">Isaiah 36:19</a>; <a href="/isaiah/37-13.htm" title="Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?">Isaiah 37:13</a>). Under the name of <span class= "ital">Erfad </span>it is still traceable about nine miles from Aleppo (Lenormant, 1 pp. 389, 393).<p><span class= "bld">Is not Samaria as Damascus?</span>—These cities, which under Rezin and Remaliah had, as we have seen (Isaiah 7) revolted against Tiglath-pileser, and the latter of which had sought to strengthen itself by an alliance with the Egyptian king So, or Sabaco (<a href="/2_kings/17-4.htm" title="And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.">2Kings 17:4</a>), of the Ethiopian dynasty, against Shalmaneser IV., close for the present the list of Sargon’s conquests.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-10.htm">Isaiah 10:10</a></div><div class="verse">As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;</div>(10) <span class= "bld">As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols.</span>—The word “idols” seems hardly appropriate as a word of scorn in the mouth of an idolatrous king; but Isaiah probably puts into his lips the words which he himself would have used. It is, however, quite in character with the Assyrian inscriptions that Sargon should ascribe his victories to Asshur as the Supreme God, before whose sovereignty all local deities were compelled to bow. To the Assyrian king the name of Jehovah would represent a deity whose power was to be measured by the greatness of the nation that worshipped Him, and inferior, therefore, to the gods of Carchemish or Hamath. The worship of Baal, Moloch, and other deities, in both Israel and Judah, had of course tended to strengthen this estimate. (Comp. Rabshakeh’s language in <a href="/context/isaiah/36-18.htm" title="Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, the LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?">Isaiah 36:18-19</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-11.htm">Isaiah 10:11</a></div><div class="verse">Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Shall I not, as I have done . . .</span>—The verse gives the occasion of Isaiah’s utterance. Sargon was threatening Jerusalem, probably in the early years of Hezekiah’s reign. The inscriptions show, as <a href="/isaiah/20-1.htm" title="In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;">Isaiah 20:1</a> also does, that he made war against Philistia and besieged Ashdod (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, vii.</span> 40).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-12.htm">Isaiah 10:12</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore it shall come to pass, <i>that</i> when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Wherefore it shall come to pass . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">And it shall come to pass </span><span class= "bld">. . .</span> The boast of the proud king is interrupted by the reassertion of the fact that he is but an instrument in the hand of Jehovah, and that when his work was done he too will be punished for his pride. The “fruit” of the “stout heart” includes all the words and acts in which his arrogance had shown itself.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-13.htm">Isaiah 10:13</a></div><div class="verse">For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done <i>it</i>, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant <i>man</i>:</div>(13) <span class= "bld">For he saith, By the strength of my hand . . .</span>—Another reproduction of the style of the royal inscriptions of Assyria. (Comp. <a href="/context/isaiah/37-10.htm" title="Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.">Isaiah 37:10-13</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">I have removed the bounds of the people.</span>—The practice has, of course, more or less characterised the conquerors of all ages in their attempts to merge independent nationalities into one great empire; but it was pursued more systematically by Assyria than by most others. To be “a remover of boundaries and landmarks “was the title in which an Assyrian king most exulted. (Comp. inscription of Rimmon-nirari, in Smith’s <span class= "ital">Assyrian Discoveries, </span>pp. 243, 244. <span class= "ital">Records of the Past, xi.</span> 3).<p><span class= "bld">I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">I have put down those that sat firmly. </span>The Hebrew word for “valiant man” means primarily a “bull,” and then figuratively, as in Isa xxxiv, 7; <a href="/psalms/22-12.htm" title="Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.">Psalm 22:12</a>, a “mighty one.” The fact that the bull appears so frequently in Assyrian monuments as a symbol of sovereignty, mates it probable that the word is used in that symbolic sense here. In <a href="/psalms/78-25.htm" title="Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full.">Psalm 78:25</a>, the “mighty ones” to whom it is applied are those of the host of heaven, the angels of God.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-14.htm">Isaiah 10:14</a></div><div class="verse">And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs <i>that are</i> left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">My hand hath found as a nest.</span>—The inscription of Sargon presents an almost verbal parallelism (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, vii.</span> 28). In other documents the king looks on himself as a colossal fowler, and the kingdoms are but as birds’-nests for him to spoil, and the nests are left empty.<p><span class= "bld">There was none that . . . peeped</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., chirped. </span>See Note on <a href="/isaiah/8-19.htm" title="And when they shall say to you, Seek to them that have familiar spirits, and to wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek to their God? for the living to the dead?">Isaiah 8:19</a>. Not a fledgling was left in the nests which the royal fowler had despoiled.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-15.htm">Isaiah 10:15</a></div><div class="verse">Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? <i>or</i> shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake <i>itself</i> against them that lift it up, <i>or</i> as if the staff should lift up <i>itself, as if it were</i> no wood.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Shall the ax boast itself . . .?</span>—The words spoken by the prophet as the mouthpiece of Jehovah remind us of the way in which Christian writers of the fifth century spoke of Attila as “the scourge of God.” There was comfort in that thought for the nations that were scourged. The man’s lust for power might be limitless, but there was the limit of the compassion and longsuffering of God.<p><span class= "bld">As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">As if the rod should shake them. </span>The plural is used either as generalising the comparison, or more probably as suggesting the thought that Elohim (God) is the true wielder of the rod. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/10-5.htm" title="O Assyrian, the rod of my anger, and the staff in their hand is my indignation.">Isaiah 10:5</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">As if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.</span>—The multiplied italics show that the translators found the clause difficult. Better and more simply, <span class= "ital">As if the staff should lift that which is not wood, i.e., </span>the living arm that holds it. Was it for the king of Assyria to assume that he could alter and determine the purposes of Jehovah? Did the man wield the rod, or the rod the man?<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-16.htm">Isaiah 10:16</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Therefore shall the Lord . . . send among his fat ones leanness.</span>—The overthrow of the Assyrian is painted in the two-fold imagery of famine and of fire. (<a href="/isaiah/17-4.htm" title="And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.">Isaiah 17:4</a>; comp. Pharaoh’s vision in <a href="/context/genesis/41-18.htm" title="And, behold, there came up out of the river seven cows, fat and well favored; and they fed in a meadow:">Genesis 41:18-24</a>.) The “fat ones” are the warriors of the Assyrian army. The fire that burns the glory of the king is explained in the next verse as the wrath of Jehovah.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-17.htm">Isaiah 10:17</a></div><div class="verse">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 briers in one day;</div>(17) <span class= "bld">And the light of Israel shall be for a fire.</span>—The Divine glory, which is as a consuming fire (<a href="/isaiah/27-4.htm" title="Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.">Isaiah 27:4</a>) to the enemies of Israel, is to Israel itself as the very light of life. The “briars and thorns” (we note the recurrence of the combination of <a href="/isaiah/9-18.htm" title="For wickedness burns as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.">Isaiah 9:18</a>) are the host of the Assyrian army (comp. <a href="/2_samuel/23-6.htm" title="But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:">2Samuel 23:6</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/2-6.htm" title="And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.">Ezekiel 2:6</a>), as “the glory of his forest” in the next verse are the captains and princes. The emphatic “in one day” points to some great catastrophe, such as that which afterwards destroyed the army of Sennacherib.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-18.htm">Isaiah 10:18</a></div><div class="verse">And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Both soul and body.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">from the soul even to the flesh. </span>The metaphor is for a moment dropped, and the reality is unveiled.<p><span class= "bld">As when a standardbearer fainteth.</span>—The Authorised version represents the extremity of misery and exhaustion. The “standard-bearer” was chosen for his heroic strength and stature. When he “fainted” and gave way, what hope was there that others would survive? A more correct rendering, however, gives <span class= "ital">As a sick man pineth away.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-19.htm">Isaiah 10:19</a></div><div class="verse">And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few.</span>—To number the host of an army, to count killed and wounded after a battle, was commonly the work of the royal scribe, who appears so often as in that employment in Assyrian sculptures. Here the survivors (the “remnant” as before) were to be so few (literally, <span class= "ital">a number</span>) that even the boy who could hardly count but on his fingers would be skilled enough to number them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-20.htm">Isaiah 10:20</a></div><div class="verse">And it shall come to pass in that day, <i>that</i> the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">The remnant of Israel . . .</span>—For the remnant of Assyria there is as yet no word of hope. (See, however, <a href="/isaiah/19-23.htm" title="In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.">Isaiah 19:23</a>.) For that of Israel, the prophet, falling back on the thought embodied in the name Shear-jashub (see Note on <a href="/isaiah/7-3.htm" title="Then said the LORD to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field;">Isaiah 7:3</a>), predicts a brighter future.<p><span class= "bld">Shall no more again stay upon him that smote them.</span>—The smiter is the king of Assyria, whose protection Ahaz and his counsellors had courted instead of trusting in the Holy One of Israel. Their experience of the failure of that false policy should lead them to see that faith in God was, after all, the truest wisdom.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-21.htm">Isaiah 10:21</a></div><div class="verse">The remnant shall return, <i>even</i> the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">The remnant shall return . . .</span>—The very form of the words (<span class= "ital">Shear-jashub</span>) shows that the prophet had the “Immanuel promise in his thoughts, just as “the mighty God” (the same word as in <a href="/isaiah/9-6.htm" title="For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.">Isaiah 9:6</a>) must have reminded men of the Child who was to bear that name in the age to come. (Comp. Hezekiah’s proclamation in <a href="/2_chronicles/30-6.htm" title="So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, You children of Israel, turn again to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.">2Chronicles 30:6</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-22.htm">Isaiah 10:22</a></div><div class="verse">For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, <i>yet</i> a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea.</span>—The word “remnant” has, however, its aspect of severity as well as of promise. Men are not to expect that they, the hypocrites and evil-doers, shall escape their punishment. The promise of restoration is for the remnant only. (Comp. St. Paul’s application of the text in <a href="/context/romans/9-27.htm" title="Esaias also cries concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:">Romans 9:27-28</a>).<p><span class= "bld">The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">a finished </span>(or <span class= "ital">final</span>)<span class= "ital"> work, decisive, overflowing with righteousness. </span>A like phrase meets us again in <a href="/isaiah/28-22.htm" title="Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined on the whole earth.">Isaiah 28:22</a>; <a href="/daniel/9-27.htm" title="And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured on the desolate.">Daniel 9:27</a>. The “finished work” is that of God’s judgment, and it “overflows with righteousness” at once punitive and corrective.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-24.htm">Isaiah 10:24</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">O my people . . . be not afraid of the Assyrian.</span>—The practical conclusion of all that has been said is, that the people should not give way to panic as they had done in the days of Ahaz (<a href="/isaiah/7-2.htm" title="And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.">Isaiah 7:2</a>), but should abide the march of Sargon, or his successor, with the tranquillity of faith. They were not to faint beneath the blows of the “rod” and “staff,” even though it were to reproduce the tyranny of Egypt. In that very phrase, “after the manner of Egypt,” there was a ground of hope, for the cruelty of Pharaoh was followed by the Exodus. As the later Jewish proverb had it, “When the tale of bricks is doubled, then Moses is born.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-25.htm">Isaiah 10:25</a></div><div class="verse">For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">The indignation shall cease . . .</span>—The “indignation” is the wrath of Jehovah poured out upon His people. That wrath is to cease, and His anger <span class= "ital">shall be for </span>the destruction of their enemies.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-26.htm">Isaiah 10:26</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and <i>as</i> his rod <i>was</i> upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">According to the slaughter of Midian.</span>—The historical associations of <a href="/isaiah/9-4.htm" title="For you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.">Isaiah 9:4</a> are still in the prophet’s mind. In the history of Judges (<a href="/judges/7-25.htm" title="And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb on the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the wine press of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.">Judges 7:25</a>), Oreb and Zeeb are the names at once of the Midianite chiefs and of the places where they were slain.<p><span class= "bld">As his rod was upon the sea.</span>—The italics spoil the sense. Better, <span class= "ital">His rod upon the sea <span class= "bld">. . .</span></span> <span class= "ital">He shall lift it up after the manner of Egypt. </span>The ambiguous formula which had been taken as primarily of evil boding in <a href="/isaiah/10-24.htm" title="Therefore thus said the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt.">Isaiah 10:24</a>, is repeated as an augury of good. There was another rod prominent in that Egyptian history besides that of the oppressor, and that rod had been wielded by the deliverer.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-27.htm">Isaiah 10:27</a></div><div class="verse">And it shall come to pass in that day, <i>that</i> 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.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing . . .</span>—The English, as it stands, is scarcely intelligible, but suggests the idea that the “anointing” was that which marked out the kings and priests of Judah as a consecrated people, and the remembrance of which would lead Jehovah to liberate them from bondage. Most commentators, however, render “by reason of the fat,” the implied figure being that of a bullock which grows so fat that the yoke will no longer go round his neck, as the symbol of a people waxing strong and asserting its freedom. Comp. “Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked” (<a href="/deuteronomy/32-15.htm" title="But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: you are waxen fat, you are grown thick, you are covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.">Deuteronomy 32:15</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-28.htm">Isaiah 10:28</a></div><div class="verse">He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:</div>(28) <span class= "bld">He is come to Aiath . . .</span>—There is an obvious break between this and the preceding verse, and a new section begins, connected with the former by unity of subject, both referring to Sargon’s invasion of Judah. That such an invasion took place at or about the time of that king’s attack on Ashdod (<a href="/isaiah/20-1.htm" title="In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;">Isaiah 20:1</a>) the inscriptions leave no doubt. The Koujunyik cylinder names the king of Judah as having joined with the king of Ashdod; and in another, Sargon speaks of himself as “the subduer of the lands of Judah” (Layard, <span class= "ital">Inscriptions, </span>xxxiii. 8). There is nothing in the passage itself to determine whether <a href="/context/isaiah/10-28.htm" title="He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he has laid up his carriages:">Isaiah 10:28-32</a> are predictive or historical, or when they were first uttered. Assuming that the Messianic prophecy of chap 11 is in close connection with them, it seems most probable that now, as in the earlier attack of Pekah and Rezin (Isaiah 7), as in the later invasion of Sennacherib (Isaiah 37), the bright vision of the future came to sustain the people when they were at their lowest point of depression. This would obviously be when Sargon’s armies were actually encamped round the city, when they had reached the last halting-place of the itinerary which Isaiah traces out. We may infer accordingly that the Assyrian armies were then at or near Nob, and that the prophet, supplied, either by human agency or supernaturally, with a knowledge of the movements of the Assyrian armies, describes their progress to a terrified and expectant people, and fixes the final goal. That progress we now have to trace. (1) Aiath is probably identical with the Ai of <a href="/joshua/7-2.htm" title="And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.">Joshua 7:2</a>, the Aija of <a href="/nehemiah/11-31.htm" title="The children also of Benjamin from Geba dwelled at Michmash, and Aija, and Bethel, and in their villages.">Nehemiah 11:31</a>, in the tribe of Benjamin, not far from Bethel. (2) Migron. The route taken was not the usual one, but passed over three valleys, probably with a view to surprise Jerusalem by an unexpected attack. The modern name, <span class= "ital">Bure Magrun, </span>survives, a short distance from Bethel. (3) Michmash. Now <span class= "ital">Muchmas, </span>on the east side of the Migron valley. Here the carriages, <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>the <span class= "ital">baggage </span>(<a href="/acts/21-15.htm" title="And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.">Acts 21:15</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/17-22.htm" title="And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brothers.">1Samuel 17:22</a>), the <span class= "ital">impedimenta, </span>of the Assyrian army was left behind that the host might advance with greater rapidity to immediate action. (4) Geba, in the tribe of Benjamin (<a href="/1_chronicles/6-60.htm" title="And out of the tribe of Benjamin; Geba with her suburbs, and Alemeth with her suburbs, and Anathoth with her suburbs. All their cities throughout their families were thirteen cities.">1Chronicles 6:60</a>). Here, after defiling through the “passages,” probably the gorge of <span class= "ital">Wady Suweinit </span>memorable for Jonathan s adventure (<a href="/context/1_samuel/14-4.htm" title="And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.">1Samuel 14:4-5</a>), the army halted and encamped. (5) The panic spread rapidly to Ramah, memorable as the chief residence of Samuel (<a href="/1_samuel/7-17.htm" title="And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar to the LORD.">1Samuel 7:17</a>). (6) The inhabitants of Gibeah, still retaining in its name its old association with the hero-king of Israel (<a href="/1_samuel/11-4.htm" title="Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.">1Samuel 11:4</a>), left their town deserted and undefended. (7) Gallim, not now identifiable, but mentioned in <a href="/1_samuel/25-44.htm" title="But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.">1Samuel 25:44</a>. (8) Laieh, not the northern city of that name (<a href="/judges/18-29.htm" title="And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel: however, the name of the city was Laish at the first.">Judges 18:29</a>), but near Jerusalem. Read, <span class= "ital">Listen, O Laish, </span>as if to the tramp of the armies as they passed. (9) Anathoth; about four miles north of Jerusalem, the birth-place of Jeremiah (<a href="/jeremiah/1-1.htm" title="The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:">Jeremiah 1:1</a>). There is a special pathos in the prophet’s accents, a<span class= "ital">nîyah Anathôth. </span>A various reading adopted by many critics gives, <span class= "ital">Answer, O Anathoth. </span>(10) Madmenah, or Madmen, appears in <a href="/jeremiah/48-2.htm" title="There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also you shall be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue you.">Jeremiah 48:2</a>, as a Moabite city. The name (“dung-hill”) was, however, not an uncommon one. It is named (<a href="/joshua/15-31.htm" title="And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah,">Joshua 15:31</a>) as one of the south-eastern cities of Judah. (11) The people of Gebim (“water-pits;” locality not identified) <span class= "ital">gather their goods for flight. </span>(12) At last the army reaches Nob, memorable as having been one of the resting-places of the Tabernacle in the time of Saul (<a href="/1_samuel/21-1.htm" title="Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no man with you?">1Samuel 21:1</a>). The site has not been identified with certainty, but it was obviously a position that commanded Jerusalem, between it and Anathoth, probably not far from the hill <span class= "ital">Scopos </span>(“watch-tower”) where Titus and his troops encamped during the siege of Jerusalem. The prophet’s narrative leaves the invader there shaking his hand, as with defiant menace, against the holy city. For “that day,” read <span class= "ital">this very day, </span>fixing, as it were, the very hour at which Isaiah spoke.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/10-33.htm">Isaiah 10:33</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature <i>shall be</i> hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.</div>(33) <span class= "bld">Behold, . . . the Lord of hosts . . .</span>—The sudden change of tone indicates another pressure of the “strong hand” of Jehovah (<a href="/isaiah/8-11.htm" title="For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,">Isaiah 8:11</a>), another burst of intensest inspiration. So far shalt thou go, the prophet says to Sargon, as he said afterwards to Sennacherib (<a href="/context/isaiah/37-28.htm" title="But I know your stayed, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me.">Isaiah 37:28-32</a>), and no farther. In the “boughs” that are to be lopped, and the “thickets of the forest” that are to be cut down, we have the same imagery as in <a href="/context/isaiah/10-17.htm" title="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 briers in one day;">Isaiah 10:17-19</a>. The constant boasts of the Assyrian kings that they cut down the forests of the nations they conquered, gave a special fitness to this emblem of the work of the Divine Nemesis. High as the cedars of Lebanon might rise in their majesty, the “Mighty One” of Israel (better, <span class= "ital">Glorious One; </span>comp. <a href="/isaiah/10-18.htm" title="And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standard-bearer faints.">Isaiah 10:18</a>, <a href="/isaiah/33-21.htm" title="But there the glorious LORD will be to us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.">Isaiah 33:21</a>; <a href="/psalms/93-4.htm" title="The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yes, than the mighty waves of the sea.">Psalm 93:4</a>) would lay them low.<p> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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