Bible Commentaries

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness [which] they have prescribed;

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees. — Having denounced woe to wicked of all sorts, the prophet here threateneth wicked princes in particular, as the chief causes of God’s judgments by their misgovernment. Periculosissimum prophetae factum, et cui seditionis dica scribi poterat! Scultet. This was boldly done of the prophet, and there wanted not those doubtless that would say it was sedition. Luther, for like cause, was called the trumpet of rebellion; sc., for declaring against the Pope’s decrees and decretals, though never so unrighteous and vexatious; not much short of that made by Nero, Whosoever confesseth himself a Christian - so a Protestant - let him, without further defence of himself, be put to death as a convicted enemy of mankind!

And that write grievousness. — Or, And to the writers that write grievous things - viz., the public notaries, registrars, and other under officers; such as were those Persian scribes and posts, Esther 3:12-13 who should, in such a case, have obeyed God rather than men.

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To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and [that] they may rob the fatherless!

To turn away the needy from judgment. — To put them beside their right, because indigent, and overweighed by the wealthy ones: Quorum aureae literae apud tales iudices possunt omnia.

And to take away the right. — Heb., To tear it away by force.

And that they may rob the fatherless. — Rob the spittle, as we used to say. Unrighteous ruledom is but robbery with authority. Iudex iniustus latro cum privilegio est. - Columel., lib. i.

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And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation [which] shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

And what will ye do in the day of visitation. — That is, of vastation by the Assyrians.

To whom will ye flee for help. — Who have denied help to the poor that fled unto you; but sped no better than the sheep that flee to the bush for defence in weather, where he is sure to lose part of his fleece.

And where will ye leave your glory? — Where will ye betrust or bestow your wealth, power, and worldly pomp, purchased by you at too dear a rate? who paid your honesty to get it - O magno emptas, et parum proficuas divitias! - and must now lose not it only, but your liberties and lives also, in the next verse.

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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 [is] stretched out still.

Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, — i.e., Without any fault of mine. Hosea 13:9 Or, as some render it, Ne corruat inter vinctos, et inter occisos cadant; that it, your glory, should not bow down under the prisoners, and they fall under the slain; i.e., that ye be not some of you captivated, and others slain by the enemy. And yet behold a worse matter.

For all this his anger is not turned away. — Endless torments will follow, unless ye prevent them by repentance, and all your present sufferings are nothing else but a typical hell. Hac oratione vir sanctus impios crueatat, et vulaerat. - Osor. Ecce quot mala a contemptu Dei proveniunt.

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O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger. — Or, Woe to the Assyrian; or, Heu Assur, Alas, the Assyrian! q.d., Alas, that I am forced by this sharp and iron rod to correct my people, whom I have bred so choicely! Dolentis vocem assumit Deus, saith Oecolampadius.

The rod of mine anger. — Or, My rod of anger. A rod of anger to beat the little ones, and a staff of indignation to bastinado the bigger and more stubborn. So Nebuchadnezzar is called the "hammer of the whole earth." Jeremiah 50:23 Tamerlane called himself, The wrath of God, and the desolation of the world, Ira Dei ego sum, et orbis vastitas. Attilas styled himself, King of Huns, Medes, Goths, Dacians; "The terror of the world, and God’s scourge." The wicked are God’s rod, said that martyr, whom, when he hath worn to the stump, he will cast into the fire. Acts and Mon., fol. 1544.

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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.

I will send him … I will give him a charge. — Non patefacta quidem voluntate, sed arcana providentia, I will stir him up by a secret providence, which, being nothing else but the carrying on of the divine decree, is that helm that turneth about the whole ship of the universe.

Against an hypocritical nation. — Pretenders only to religion, see Isaiah 9:17 qui toti ex hypocrisi sunt conflati, such as are wholly made up of hypocrisy: God was near in their mouth, and far from their reins. Jeremiah 12:2 Nemo tam prope proculque Deo. Matthew 15:8 Hot meteors they are. saith one, shooting, yet showing like stars; shaming goodness by seeming good; Virtutis stragulam pudefaciunt, as Diogenes said to Antipater, who, being vicious, wore a white cloak, the ensign of innocence. These are little better than devils wrapped up in Samuel’s mantle; odious therefore to God, whom they would cozen of heaven, if they could tell how.

And against the people of my wrath. — Who are therefore the worse, and shall fare the worse, because they ought to have been better. Indignation and wrath shall he upon the Jew first, because of his privileges, and then upon the Gentile. Romans 2:9

To take the spoil, and to take the prey. — As had been foretold in Maher-shalal-hash-baz’s name. Isaiah 8:1

And to tread them down like mire in the streets. — To make mortar of them, as we use to say: Gens simulatrix tota terrena, Is trodden under foot as unsavoury salt, which is not good enough for the dunghill.

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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.

Howbeit he meaneth not so. — He is otherwise minded and affected than I am, and doeth my will merely beside and against his own will. As in applying of leeches the physician seeketh the health of his patient, the leech only the filling of his gorge, so is it when God turneth loose a bloody enemy upon his people; he hath excellent ends, which they think not on.

But it is in his heart to destroy and cut off. — This was to exceed his commission, which was only to "take the spoil, and to take the prey," Isaiah 10:6 not to cut off nations, and to make havoc of all. How much better our King Edward the Confessor, who, when his captains promised for his sake they would not leave one Dane alive, thought it better to lead a private and unbloody life than to be a king by such bloody butcheries. Camd. Rem., p. 214. Of Charles V, emperor, we read, that when Antonius Leva, and other of his chief commanders, commended Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar for their great exploits in overrunning and destroying nations not a few, to their great renown; and, on the other side, complained that Charles made not the like use of his power and victories as he might and ought to do for such a purpose, he gravely replied, that Alexander and Julius had, in waging wars, nothing else to aim at besides honour and glory, but that Christian princes were in all their enterprises to mind the glory of God and the salvation of their own souls. Parei Hist. Prof. Med., p. 895.

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For he saith, [Are] not my princes altogether kings?

For he saith. — Sennacherib saith. See Isaiah 36:9 ; Isaiah 36:15 ; Isaiah 36:18 ; Isaiah 36:20 ; Isaiah 37:10 ; Isaiah 37:13 ; Isaiah 37:24-25 . A great part of this whole book of Isaiah concerneth Sennacherib.

Are not my princes altogether kings? — Behold a right Pyrgopolynices, Perhaps he had made some of his chief commanders kings. Our Henry VI crowned Henry Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, King of the Isle of Wight. whenas he was set to work by God, exalting himself both against God and man. And saith not the Pope the same when he claims to be Dominus feudi? lord paramount in spirituals and temporals; and when, in creating his cardinals, he useth these words, Estote confratres nostri, et principes mundi, Be ye fellow brethren to us and princes of the world? The Assyrian styled himself king of kings, and accounted his commanders equals to Hezekiah. Isaiah 36:9 So Cardinal Bellarmine held himself King James’s mate.

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