Chapter Ten

1–4. The fate of unrighteous judges of Israel. 5–11. The arrogance of Assyria, 12–19. and God’s judgment upon it. 20–27. Consolation to Israel. 28–34. Assyria before Jerusalem.

Isa 10:1-4 The judges of Israel violate the law of God’s righteousness by their decisions and sentences and show no mercy toward widows, orphans, and the poor. These wicked men face either captivity or death; but even so God’s wrath against Israel will not be satisfied.

Isaiah 10:1. Woe to those who enact unjust laws and who write cruel decrees, Isaiah 10:2. to turn aside the poor from justice and to rob the rights of the weak among My people, that they may make widows their prey and rob the orphans. The speech is not only about judicial decisions but also about laws newly introduced into the state life of the kingdom of Israel. These new laws are unjust and oppressive for weak and poor people, such as widows and orphans.

Isaiah 10:3. And what will you do on the day of visitation, when destruction comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth? Exodus 34:7. “The day of visitation” – the day of punishment (as in Ex.34:7). “Destruction from afar” – is undoubtedly referring to the invasion of the Assyrians, who lived at a relatively great distance from Palestine. “Wealth” – in the Hebrew text: glory (kevod). It is clear that the contemporaries of Isaiah put all their strength and glory in the wealth they had accumulated in fortunate and peaceful times. When enemies attacked, wealthy people usually tried to hide their treasures somewhere far away.

Isaiah 10:4. Without Me you will bend down among the captives and will fall among the slain. In all this His anger will not turn away, and His hand is still stretched out. “Without Me” – without the help of God, deprived of it through their sins, nothing remains for them but to humbly bend under the weight of chains among captives or to submit their neck to the enemy’s sword. Yet even this will not limit the Judge in punishing Israel. Isa 10:5-11 And God threatens Assyria with judgment for its arrogance. Assyria did not understand the mission entrusted to it toward the chosen people. It was to punish only the kingdom of Judah, yet instead it imagined it could completely conquer it.

Isaiah 10:5. O Assyria, the rod of My anger! and the staff in his hand – My indignation! “Assyria” – this name belonged to one of the sons of Shem (Gen 10:22), and later was transferred to the people descended from him, who dwelt along the eastern bank of the Tigris, roughly in its middle course, specifically between the Tigris, its tributaries, and the first ridges of the mountain chain. This region was very advantageous from a military and internal development perspective, and there a young people over many years strengthened their independent spirit, gradually developing the bold and energetic character that would later distinguish them, passing through a military school in frequent but petty wars with wild mountaineers and nomads around them. Later Assyria expanded and extended its territories to the Euphrates, occupying no less than 75,000 square miles (Ragozina Z.A. History of Assyria. 1902, p. 6–7). Until 608 BC (the year of the fall of the Assyrian capital, Nineveh) the Assyrian kingdom was considered the most powerful kingdom in the world, and Assyrian armies more than once even occupied Egypt. The cultural significance of Assyria for the ancient world was also enormous, and its influence extended even to Egypt, which itself possessed ancient culture. From Assyria much remains – remnants of its palaces, temples, entire libraries, state archives, which are studied to this day (detailed and excellent descriptions of all these monuments can be seen in the aforementioned work of Ragozina). “The rod of My anger” – an instrument by which God punished His people who had sinned against Him. (Critics consider the words “in his hand” an insertion, and the second part of the verse is read in new translations as: “the staff of My indignation”).

Isaiah 10:6. I will send him against a godless nation and against a nation under My wrath; I will give him command to plunder with plundering and to take spoil and to trample it like mud in the streets. Which nation is referred to here is unclear. But from the connection of the discourse, it is most likely to see the Hebrew people here. This people aroused the wrath of the Most High through their godlessness, and the Lord sends Assyrians against them, who must humble it, cause it considerable harm, although not destroy it completely.

Isaiah 10:7. But he does not think thus and his heart does not plan so; it is on his heart to destroy and to blot out not a few nations. The Assyrians will not be satisfied with the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, its devastation. They will want to destroy, that is, completely annihilate both this kingdom and many others.

Isaiah 10:8. For he will say: “Are not all my kings princes? The period from 900 to 650 BC was the most flourishing period in the history of the Assyrian monarchy, and Isaiah, living in the eighth century, was of course a witness to this flowering of Assyria. The Assyrian kings subdued to themselves all the “western land,” including Phoenicia, the Philistine land, Edom, and the kingdom of Israel. King Esarhaddon conquered all of Egypt, and under Ashurbanipal (668–626 BC) the Assyrian kingdom included in its borders all lands from Media and Persia to the Mediterranean Sea and from Armenia to the Arabian desert. Foreign lands, after their conquest by the Assyrians, were left in the same position as before, but the kings of these lands became vassals of the Assyrian king and paid him tribute (to this the expression “my princes” refers). Therefore, the Assyrian kings called themselves by the titles: sarru rabbu (great king) and sar sarrani (king of kings).

Isaiah 10:9. Is not Calno the same as Carchemish? Is not Hamath the same as Arpad? Is not Samaria the same as Damascus? The Assyrian king does not consider it impossible for himself to take the strongest enemy fortress. Calno, or in Hebrew kalno – a city that is unknown. Some consider it identical with ancient Ctesiphon, which was on the eastern bank of the Tigris south of Baghdad; others identify it with the city of Kullani, which apparently belonged to the territories of Hamath. This latter city was indeed taken in 738 BC by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser (in Assyrian monuments this city is named Kunulua or Kinalia). “Carchemish” – a city in the land of the Hittites on the right, western, bank of the Euphrates. It was annexed to Assyria by Sargon (in 717 BC), – but even earlier Tiglath-Pileser may have taken it during his campaign to the west. “Hamath” – in Hebrew Hamath – the chief city of northern Syria, on the river Orontes. Not far from it, to the north, was the city of Arpad (now Tell-Erfad), taken in 740 BC by Tiglath-Pileser, while Hamath was annexed to Assyria only in 720 BC under Sargon. “Damascus” was taken by the Assyrians in 732 BC, and Samaria – at the beginning of Sargon’s reign, in 722 BC.

Isaiah 10:10. Since my hand has overcome the kingdoms of idols, whose idols are more numerous than those in Jerusalem and Samaria, – Isaiah 10:11. shall I not do the same to Jerusalem and its images as I did to Samaria and her idols? From the “idols,” according to the belief of the ancients, depended the prosperity and strength of the kingdom. Whose idols or gods were stronger, that state was to prevail in the struggle. The Assyrian king therefore wants first of all to take the idols, whose existence he assumes also in Jerusalem. By seizing the idols of the Judeans, he will thereby hold the Judean people in submission. But which king does Isaiah have in mind here? The tone of speech of this king (v. 8–11) is very similar to the boastful tone of one inscription in which Tiglath-Pileser claims that he took the gods of the subdued Philistines (Palestine) in such multitude as bird-catchers capture birds (cf. Hos 8:5; Hos 10:5). Besides, v. 10 of ch. 10 presupposes the still-existing Samaria – alongside Jerusalem; – from which it follows that Isaiah apparently is not speaking of its final destruction (v. 11), which was accompanied by the relocation of Israelites to Assyria, but of its seizure by Tiglath-Pileser in 734 BC. Isa 10:12-19 Having given Assyria the right to punish Jerusalem, the Lord will repay the king of Assyria for his arrogance and the kingdom of Assyria will weaken, and primarily the number of the Assyrian army, by which indeed this kingdom was strong, will decrease.

Isaiah 10:12. And it will come to pass that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, He will say: “I will look upon the success of the proud heart of the king of Assyria and upon the boasting of his haughty eyes. “His work” – that is, the judgment over Judah and, in particular, over Jerusalem, which did not wish to submit to the will of God; which the prophet Isaiah was proclaiming to it, for example, in chapter 7. “I will look” – The Hebrew verb standing here (pha kad) often has the meaning of punishing. “The success of the proud heart” – in translation from the Hebrew the fruit of pride, that is, proud and arrogant words, which are the fruit of the inward arrogant disposition of the Assyrian king. “And the boasting” – more correctly and simply: “and his boastful pride.”

Isaiah 10:13. He says: “By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom I have done this, for I am intelligent; I have removed the borders of peoples, and have plundered their treasures, and have cast down the mighty as one enthroned; “Removing the borders of peoples,” established by God Himself (Deut 32:6), – is a clear sign of impiety and pride of the Assyrian king, who imagined himself the wisest being in the world. “As one enthroned” – in Hebrew keabir, that is, like a bull. Here there may be an allusion to the figures of mighty bulls that adorned the entrances to Assyrian palaces. The powerful Assyrian bull rushes through enemy lands and with its horns overturns royal thrones.

Isaiah 10:14. and my hand has seized the wealth of the peoples like a nest; and as one gathers abandoned eggs, so I have gathered all the earth, and no one fluttered a wing, and no one opened a mouth, and no one chirped. “No one fluttered a wing” – these words indicate the panic that seized everyone when the Assyrian hosts drew near.

Isaiah 10:15. Does the ax boast itself against him who cuts with it? Does the saw pride itself against him who moves it? As if a rod managed him who lifts it; as if a staff raised itself against him who is not wood! Assur is but a blind instrument in the hands of God. “Managed” would more correctly be said: directs the hand that lifts it. “Raised” more correctly; cause to move the hand.

Isaiah 10:16. Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send wasting upon his fat ones, and among his honored ones He will kindle a flame, like a blazing fire. “The fat ones” – evidently a synonym for the following expression: the honored ones. Here are meant first of all the mighty Assyrian warriors, and then all the noble and wealthy Assyrians, whose strength will be destroyed – they will waste away. “Wasting and flame” – also synonyms, indicating different calamities which, by God’s judgment, will fall upon the Assyrians.

Isaiah 10:17. And the light of Israel will become fire, and his Holy One – a flame, which will burn and consume his thorns and his briers in a single day; “The light of Israel... and his Holy One” – synonyms denoting the Most High – the Protector of the Israeli people. The Lord – is fire consuming the ungodly (Deut 9:3), and in particular the Assyrians, who here are called thorns and briers for Israel because of the countless misfortunes they caused it. “In a single day” – that is, once and for all the Lord will destroy the Assyrian kingdom and indeed in the shortest span of time. This prophecy was fulfilled in the rather swift fall of the Assyrian state in 608 BC.

Isaiah 10:18. and the glory of his forest and his garden, from soul to body, shall be destroyed; and he will be like a wasting and dying man. Isaiah 10:19. And the remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few in number that a child will be able to write them down. “Forest... and garden” – these refer to the Assyrian army. From this army so few warriors will remain that a small child, who can count only to ten or twenty, will be able to count all the remaining Assyrian soldiers. Of course, here the expression is hyperbolic (exaggeration). Isa 10:20-27 Israel, or properly the kingdom of Judah, from this conflict with Assyria will emerge enlightened and will cease to seek help from anyone but the Lord. This correct path will be taken, however, only by a few of the Judeans (the remnant). These will be saved from the universal ruin that will soon fall upon the peoples; judgment for them will be but a transition to salvation.

Isaiah 10:20. And in that day the remnant of Israel and those saved from the house of Jacob will no longer rely upon the one who struck them, but will trust in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, faithfully. Isaiah 10:21. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob – to the mighty God. “In that day” – evidently after the destruction of the Assyrian state. “The remnant of Israel” – Of course, here one must understand only the kingdom of Judah, for the kingdom of Israel was already destroyed before the fall of Assyria. “The one who struck them” – that is, the Assyrians. The Assyrians will themselves be struck by the Most High, who is therefore called here the mighty God (El gibbor).

Isaiah 10:22. For though your people, O Israel, were as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of it will turn; destruction is determined by righteousness overflowing; Isaiah 10:23. for the determined destruction the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will carry out throughout all the earth. From Israel (the Judean people) only a remnant will turn or return (from Babylonian captivity), a small part of all the people, while the other Hebrews, unworthy of God’s mercy, are destined for destruction. They, like all other peoples living on earth, will suffer punishment in the full severity of God’s Judgment, that is, will perish in those lands to which the conquerors will move them.

Isaiah 10:24. Therefore thus says the Lord, the Lord of hosts: O My people, dwelling on Zion! do not fear Assyria. He will strike you with a rod and will lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did. “Therefore” – that is, having in mind the approaching fall of the Assyrian kingdom. “As Egypt did” – that is, as the Egyptian pharaoh once did, who resolved to destroy the descendants of Jacob living in Egypt.

Isaiah 10:25. Yet a little, very little, and My indignation will pass away, and My wrath will turn to their destruction. Isaiah 10:26. And the Lord of hosts will lift up a scourge against him, as in the time of the plague of Midian at the rock of Oreb, or as He stretched out His rod over the sea, and will lift it up against Egypt. In these verses the smiting of Assyria is predicted, which will follow in a very short time. Therefore it is best to see here a prophecy of the plague by the Angel of the Lord upon the Assyrian army under the walls of Jerusalem (Isa 37:36). “The plague of Midian” – under the judge Gideon was accomplished in a single night (Judg 7 and following). “The rock of Oreb” – that rock where the Midianite prince Oreb-raven perished (Judg 7:25). “Or as He stretched” – more accurately to translate: and as His rod upon the sea. The Most High will therefore destroy the Assyrians as He once drowned in the Red Sea the pharaoh and his army.

Isaiah 10:27. And it will come to pass in that day: the burden will be taken from your shoulders, and the yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of fatness. “The yoke will be broken because of fatness.” The Hebrew people is evidently compared here to beasts of burden, which will become so fat from good free life that the yoke, by which their neck was bound, will not hold and will crack. Isa 10:28-34 But before its ruin Assyria will cause much harm to Judea, the passage of the Assyrian armies through which the prophet depicts. In the end the Lord will put an end to this invasion!

Isaiah 10:28. He comes to Aiath, passes through Migron; at Michmash he stores his supplies. The prophet begins to enumerate those Judean cities which the Assyrians will seize in their invasion of Judea. “Aiath” – the same as Ai (Gen 12:8), which lay to the southeast of Bethel, in the tribe of Benjamin. “Migron” – probably that city whose ruins are now called Makrun. This city apparently was located on the path between Ai and Michmash. “Michmash” – a city in the tribe of Benjamin, now bearing the name Mukhmasa. Here the Assyrians leave their baggage train, because the road ahead becomes very difficult and also because they soon hope to reach Jerusalem, where they expect to find sufficient provisions.

Isaiah 10:29. They pass through the defiles; at Geba is their lodging; Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled. “The defiles” – a narrow passage from Michmash (1 Sam 13:23) through Wadi Suweinit (valley), by which the Assyrians pass to reach Geba (now Jeba) and stop there for the night. The next morning they go to terrified Ramah (in the tribe of Benjamin), past Gibeah of Saul the highest point in the tribe of Benjamin.

Isaiah 10:30. Cry out with your voice, O daughter of Gallim; listen, O Laish, O poor Anathoth! Of the three cities mentioned here, Anathoth is well known, the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah. The prophet speaks of it in Hebrew anija anatoth! Evidently here a word is chosen that is similar in sound to the name of the city. Anathoth was located three-quarters of an hour’s journey north of Jerusalem and east of Gibeah.

1 Samuel 25:44. “Gallim” is mentioned in 1 Samuel 25:44. Isaiah 10:31. Madmenah has fled; the inhabitants of Gebim hurry away. “Madmenah” (dung hill) and Gebim (wells) – localities located north of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 10:32. Yet for one day he will stand at Nob; he threatens with his hand the mountain of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. “Nob” (1 Sam 22:19) – to the north-east of Jerusalem, from which Jerusalem is already visible from the heights on which Nob (an elevation) is located.

Isaiah 10:33. Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, with terrible might will break down the branches of the trees, and those exalted in stature will be hewn down, and the high ones will be laid low to the ground. Isaiah 10:34. And He will cut down the thicket of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall before the Almighty. The Lord like a furious whirlwind will break mighty trees (the Assyrian army) and “Lebanon will fall,” that is, the Assyrian hosts, resembling a mighty and impenetrable Lebanon forest. It should be noted that the Assyrian monuments present otherwise the campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib against Judea. First he went to Phoenicia, then descended along the sea road to the Philistine land, and finally attacked Judea from the southwest. But Isaiah did not at all intend to give an exact depiction of the entire route of the Assyrian troops, and he of course represented this campaign in his own way, because the details of future events were not revealed to the prophets in full detail. The main thing – the suddenness and terror of the Assyrian invasion are depicted by the prophet with striking power and relief. Recent critics find in Chapter 10 not a few insertions of a later time belonging to the editor of Isaiah’s prophecies. Thus Marti points out that Isaiah could not put into the mouth of a pagan king the expression: “kingdoms of idols,” “idols” (v. 10 and 11). Cheyne and Marti consider verses 16–19 a “mosaic of diverse images,” and verses 20–23 not authentic because they contain reasonings unexpected from Isaiah. Verses 24–27 according to Cheyne also do not belong to Isaiah, because their meter is very heavy and also because they lack rhythm. All these objections are based on purely subjective views and therefore do not have sufficient convincing force. For example, in verses 20–23 we find in fact not only thoughts wholly consistent with Isaiah’s general worldview, but even his own expressions (cf. for example v. 20 and ch. 9 v. 12; v. 21 and ch. 1 v. 27; v. 23 and ch. Isa 6:12). And that Isaiah sometimes speaks in prose here – was this impossible or forbidden for him?