Isa. 10 The woe of unjust oppressors, Isa. 10:1–4; of Assyria for their pride and ambition: his folly in it, Isa. 10:5–19. A remnant of Israel shall be saved, and that speedily, Isa. 10:20–27. Sennacherib marching toward Jerusalem, Isa. 10:28–31. His judgment, Isa. 10:32–34.

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees! unto those magistrates who make unjust laws, and give unjust sentences. That write; either, 1. The scribes, who were assistant to the magistrates, and ofttimes did promote or execute such decrees; or, 2.

From judgment; or, from their right, as it is in the next clause; or, from obtaining a just sentence, because they either denied or delayed to hear their causes, or gave a wrong sentence. From the poor, whom I have in a special manner committed to your care. Of my people; of Israelites.

What will ye do to save yourselves? In the day of visitation: when I shall come to visit you in wrath, as the next words limit it, and as this phrase is oft used; although sometimes it signifies a visitation in mercy, as Luke 19:14, and elsewhere. From far; from the Assyrians.

Without me they shall bow down: the words thus translated seem to contain an answer to the foregoing questions: In vain do you seek for a refuge and help from others; for without me, without my favour and help which you have forfeited, and do not seek to recover, and which I shall withdraw from…

O Assyrian: so it is God’s call or invitation to him to take the charge, and set upon the work. Or, Woe to the Assyrian! because though he do my work, yet he doth it in a wicked manner, and for wicked ends, as we shall see. The rod of mine anger; the instrument of mine anger.

I will send him, not by express commission, but by the secret yet powerful conduct of my providence, giving him both occasion and inclination to this expedition. Hypocritical: See Poole “Isa. 9:17”. The people of my wrath; the objects of my just wrath, devoted to destruction.

He meaneth not so; he doth not at all design the execution of my will. and the glory of my justice, in punishing mine enemies; but only to enlarge his own empire, and satisfy his own lusts; which is seasonably added, to justify God in his judgments threatened to the Assyrian, notwithstanding this…

Equal for power, and wealth, and glory to the kings of other nations, though my subjects and servants.

Is not Calno as Carchemish? have not I conquered one place as well as another, the stronger as well as the weaker? Have I not from time to time added new conquests to the old? Calno seems to be the same with Calneh, Gen. 10:10, Amos 6:2, a great and strong city.

Hath found, i.e. hath taken, as this word is used, Prov. 1:13, and oft elsewhere, the antecedent being put for the consequent, because what men find they commonly take to themselves.

I shall certainly do it, and neither God nor man can hinder me.

Wherefore; because of this impudent blasphemy. Hath performed his whole work, of chastising his people so long and so much as he sees fit and necessary for them. Punish, Heb. visit, to wit, in wrath, as before on Isa. 10:3.

He saith, not only within himself, but before his courtiers and others. By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; I owe all my successes to my own power, and valour, and wise conduct, and to no other god or man.

Hath found as a nest; as one findeth young birds in a nest, the nest being put for the birds in it, as Deut. 32:11. No less easily do I both find and take them. Eggs that are left; which the dam hath left in her nest.

Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? How absurd and unreasonable a thing is it for thee, who art but an instrument in God’s hand, and canst do nothing without his leave and help, to blaspheme thy Lord and Master, who hath as great a power over thee, to manage thee as he…

The Lord of hosts; the sovereign Lord and General of thine and all other armies. Send among his fat ones leanness; strip him, and all his great princes and commanders, of all their wealth, and might, and glory.

The light of Israel, that God who is and will be a comfortable light to his people, shall be for a fire to the Assyrians who shall have heat without light, as it is in hell.

Of his forrest; of his great army, which may not unfitly be compared to a forest, either for the multitude of their spears, which, when lifted up together, resemble the trees of a wood or forest; or for the numbers of men, which stood as thick as trees do in a forest.

The rest of the trees of his forest; the remainders of that mighty host. That a child may write them; that they may be easily numbered by the meanest accountant. A child may be their muster-master.

The remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob; such Jews as shall be preserved from that sweeping Assyrian scourge, by which great numbers both of Israel and Judah were destroyed, and from their succeeding calamities.

The remnant; or, a remnant; or, but a remnant; or, a remnant only; which particles are oft understood, as hath been formerly and frequently observed, and may be here supplied from the following verses. Unto the mighty God; unto the Messiah, expressly called the mighty God, Isa. 9:6.

Israel; or, O Israel; to whom by an apostrophe he directeth his speech. A remnant; or, a remnant only, as before; for that this is a threatening in respect of some, as well as a promise in respect of others, is evident from the rest of this and from the following verse.

Shall make a consumption, even determined; the same thing is repeated in other words, with some addition; God will execute his own decree concerning the destruction of Israel, which he is well able to do, because he is the Lord of hosts.

Therefore: this is an inference, not from the words immediately foregoing, but from the whole prophecy. Seeing the Assyrian shall be destroyed, and a remnant of my people preserved and restored. In Zion; in Jerusalem, which is frequently called Zion, as Ps. 48:12, Ps. 87:2, Isa. 1:8, Isa.

The indignation; mine anger, as it is explained in the next clause; either, 1. Towards my people; which shall weaken the Assyrian, whose great strength lay there; of which see above, Isa. 10:5. Or, 2. Towards the Assyrian, with whom God was very angry, Isa.

Shall stir up a scourge; shall send a destroying angel, Isa. 37:36. According to the slaughter of Midian; whom God slew suddenly, and unexpectedly, and in the night, as he did the Assyrians.

His burden; the burden of the Assyrian: for so it was actively, because imposed by him; though passively it was Israel’s burden, as being laid upon him. Because of the anointing; out of the respect which I bear to that holy unction which I have established amongst you.

He is come to Aiath: here the prophet returns to his former discourse concerning the Assyrian invasion into Judah; which he describes, after the manner of the prophets, as a thing present, and sets down the several stages by which he marched towards Jerusalem.

The passage; some considerable passage then well known, possibly that 1 Sam. 14:4. The people fled to Jerusalem for fear of the Assyrian.

O daughter of Gallim: Jerusalem was the mother city, and lesser towns are commonly called her daughters, as hath been oft noted.

He shall shake his hand, by way of commination. But withal he intimates that he should be able to do no more against it, and that there his proud waves should be stayed, as it is declared in the following verses, and in the history.

The bough; the top bough, Sennacherib; or, the boughs, his valiant soldiers or commanders of his army, which he compareth to a forest, Isa. 10:18, Isa. 10:34. With terror; with a most terrible and amazing stroke by an angel.

With iron; or, as with iron, as the trees of the forest are cut down by instruments of iron. And Lebanon; or, his Lebanon, the pronoun being oft understood in the Hebrew text; the Assyrian army, which being before compared to a forest or wood, and being called his Carmel in the Hebrew text, Isa.