Comentarios bíblicos

This chapter Isaiah 10 is composed of two parts: the first Isaiah 10:1-4 closes the prophecy commenced in Isaiah 9:8, and should have been connected with that in the division into chapters; and the second part commences an entirely new prophecy, respecting the destruction of the Assyrians; see the Analysis prefixed to Isaiah 10:5. The first four verses of this chapter constitute the fourth strophe, or part of the prophecy, commenced in Isaiah 9:8, and contains a specification of a crime, and its punishment: "the crime," prevalent injustice ann oppression Isaiah 9:1-2; "the punishment," foreign invasion, Isaiah 9:3-4; see the note at Isaiah 9:8.

At Isaiah 10:5, there is evidently the commencement of a new prophecy, or vision; and the division into chapters should have indicated such a commencement. The prophecy is continued to the close of Isaiah 12:1-6. Its general scope is a threatening against Assyria, and the prediction of ultimate safety, happiness, and triumph to the people of Judah. It has no immediate connection with the previous vision any further than the subjects are similar, and one seems to have suggested the other. In the previous vision, the prophet bad described the threatened invasion of Ephraim or Israel, by the Syrians; in this, he describes the threatened invasion of Judah by the Assyrians. The result of the invasion of Ephraim would be the desolation of Samaria, and the captivity of the people; but the result of the invasion of Judah would be that God would interpose and humble the Assyrian, and bring deliverance to his people. This chapter is occupied with an account of the threatened invasion of Judea by the Assyrian, Isaiah 10:5-7; with, a statement of his confident boasting, and defiance of God Isaiah 10:8-14; with encouraging the people to confide in God, and not to be afraid of him; and with the assurance that he would be discomfited and overthrown, Isaiah 10:15-34. The mention of this deliverance gives occasion for the elevated and beautiful statement respecting the future deliverance of the nation by the Messiah, and the glorious triumph that would attend his reign, which occurs in Isaiah 11; Isaiah 12:1-6.

When the prophecy was uttered, and in regard to whom, has been a question. Vitringa supposes that it was uttered in immediate connection with the foregoing, and that it is in fact a part of it. But from Isaiah 10:9, Isaiah 10:11, it is evident that at the time this prophecy was uttered, Samaria was destroyed; and from Isaiah 10:20, it is clear that it was after the ten tribes had been carried into captivity, and when the Assyrian supposed that he could accomplish the same destruction and captivity, in regard to Jerusalem and Judah, that had taken place in regard to Samaria and Ephraim. As to the remark of Vitringa, that the prophet anticipated these future events, and spoke of them as already passed, it may be observed, that the structure and form of the expressions suppose that they were in fact passed at the time he wrote; see the notes at Isaiah 10:9, Isaiah 10:11, Isaiah 10:20. Lightfoot (Chronica Temporum) supposes that the prophet here refers to the threatened invasion of the land by Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, after he had destroyed Damascus, and when, being about to advance upon Jerusalem, Ahaz stripped the temple of its valuable ornaments, and sent them to him; 2 Kings 16:17-18.

Lowth supposes that the threatened invasion here refers to that of Sennacherib. This is, probably, the correct reference. This took place in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, 725 years before the Christian era. Hezekiah, alarmed at the approach of Sennacherib, sent messengers to him to Lachish 2 Kings 18:14, to obtain a cessation of hostilities. Sennacherib agreed to such a peace, on condition that Hezekiaih should pay him three hundred talents of silver, and thirty of gold. In order to meet this demand, Hezekiah was obliged to advance all the silver and gold in the treasury, and even to strip the temple of its ornaments. Having done this, he hoped for safety; and on this occasion, probably, this prophecy was uttered. It was designed to show that the danger of invasion was not passed; to assure them the king of Assyria would still come against the nation (compare 2 Kings 8:17, ...); but that still God would interpose, and would deliver them. A further reference to this is made in Isaiah 20:1-6, and a full history given in Isaiah 37; 38; see the notes at those chapters (37); (38).

Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees - To those who frame statutes that are oppressive and iniquitous. The prophet here refers, doubtless, to the rulers and judges of the land of Judea. A similar description he had before given; Isaiah 1:10, Isaiah 1:23, ...

And that write ... - Hebrew, 'And to the writers who write violence.' The word translated "grievousness," עמל ‛âmâl, denotes properly "wearisome labor, trouble, oppression, injustice." Here, it evidently refers to the judges who declared oppressive and unjust sentences, and caused them to be recorded. It does not refer to the mere scribes, or recorders of the judicial opinions, but to the judges themselves, who pronounced the sentence, and caused it to be recorded. The manner of making Eastern decrees differs from ours: they are first written, and then the magistrate authenticates them, or annuls them. This, I remember, is the Arab manner, according to D'Arvieux. When an Arab wanted a favor of the emir, the way was to apply to the secretary, who drew up a decree according to the request of the party; if the emir granted the favor, he printed his seal upon it; if not, he returned it torn to the petitioner. Sir John Chardin confirms this account, and applies it, with great propriety, to the illustration of a passage which I never thought of when I read over D'Arvieux. After citing Isaiah 10:1, 'Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers that write grievousness,' for so our translators have rendered the latter part of the verse in the margin, much more agreeably than in the body of the version, Sir John goes on, 'The manner of making the royal acts and ordinances hath a relation to this; they are always drawn up according to the request; the first minister, or he whose office it is, writes on the side of it, "according to the king's will," and from thence it is sent to the secretary of state, who draws up the order in form.' - Harmer.

To turn aside - Their sentences have the effect, and are designed to have, to pervert justice, and to oppress the poor, or to deprive them of their rights and just claims; compare Isaiah 29:21; Proverbs 27:5.

The needy - daliym - דלים dalı̂ym. Those of humble rank and circumstances; who have no powerful friends and defenders. "From judgment." From obtaining justice.

And to take away - To take away by violence and oppression. The word גזל gāzal, is commonly applied to robbery, and to oppression; to the taking away of spoils in battle, etc.

That widows may be their prey - That they may rob widows, or obtain their property. This crime has always been one particularly offensive in the sight of God; see the note at Isaiah 1:23. The widow and the orphan are without protectors. Judges, by their office, are particularly bound to preserve their rights; and it, therefore, evinces special iniquity when they who should be their protectors become, in fact, their oppressors, and do injustice to them without the possibility of redress. Yet this was the character of the Jewish judges; and for this the vengeance of heaven was about to come upon the land.

And what will ye do - The prophet here proceeds to denounce the judgment, or punishment, that would follow the crimes specified in the previous verses. That punishment was the invasion of the land by a foreign force. 'What will ye do? To whom will you fly? What refuge will them be?' Implying that the calamity would be so great that there would be no refuge, or escape.

In the day of visitation - The word "visitation" (פקדה peqûddâh) is used here in the sense of God's coming to punish them for their sins; compare Job 31:14; Job 35:15; Isaiah 26:14; Ezekiel 9:1. The idea is probably derived from that of a master of a family who comes to take account, or to investigate the conduct of his servants, and where the visitation, therefore, is one of reckoning and justice. So the idea is applied to God as designing to visit the wicked; that is, to punish them for their offences; compare Hosea 9:7.

And in the desolation - The destruction, or overthrowing. The word used here - שׁואה shô'âh - usually denotes a storm, a tempest Proverbs 1:27; and then sudden destruction, or calamity, that sweeps along irresistibly like a tempest; Zephaniah 1:15; Job 30:3, Job 30:14; Psalm 35:8.

Which shall come from far - That is, from Assyria, Media, Babylonia. The sense is, 'a furious storm of war is about to rage. To what refuge can you then flee? or where can you then find safety?'

Where will ye leave your glory - By the word "glory" here, some have understood the prophet as referring to their aged men, their princes and nobles, and as asking where they would find a safe place for them. But he probably means their "riches, wealth, magnificence." Thus Psalm 49:17 :

For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away;

His glory shall not descebd after him.

See also Hosea 9:2; Isaiah 66:12. The word "leave" here, is used in the sense "of deposit," or commit for safe keeping; compare Job 39:14. 'In the time of the invasion that shall come up like a tempest on the land, where will you deposit your property so that it shall be safe?'

Without me - בלתי biltı̂y. There has been a great variety of interpretation affixed to this expression. The sense in which our translators understood it was, evidently, that they should be forsaken of God; and that, as the effect of this, they should bow down under the condition of captives, or among the slain. The Vulgate and the Septuagint, however. and many interpreters understand the word bore as a simple negative. 'Where will you flee for refuge? Where will you deposit your wealth so as not to bow down under a chain?' Vulgate, Ne incurvemini sub vinculo. Septuagint, Τοῦ μὴ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς ἀπαγωνήν tou mē empesein eis apagōnēn - 'Not to fall into captivity.' The Hebrew will bear either mode of construction. Vitringa and Lowth understand it as our translators have done, as meaning that God would forsake them, and that without him, that is, deprived of his aid, they would be destroyed.

They shall bow down - They shall be subdued, as armies are that are taken captive.

Under the prisoners - That is, under the "condition" of prisoners; or as prisoner. Some understand it to mean, that they should bear down "in the place of prisoners;" that is, in prison, But it evidently means, simply, that they should be captives.

They shall fall under the slain - They shall be slain. Gesenius renders it, "'Among the prisoners, and "among" the slain.'" The Chaldee reads it, 'You shall be east into chains out of your own land, and beyond your own cities you shall be cast out slain.' Vitringa supposes that the prophet, in this verse, refers to the custom, among the ancients, of placing prisoners in war under a yoke of wood to indicate their captivity. That such a custom obtained, there can be no doubt; but it is not probable that Isaiah refers to it here. The simple idea is, that many of them should be taken captive, and many of them slain. This prediction was fulfilled in the invasion of Tiglath-pileser; 2 Kings 15; 16.

For all this - Notwithstanding these calamities. The cup of punishment is not filled by these, but the divine judgment shall still be poured out further upon the nation. The anger of God shall not be fully expressed by these minor inflictions of his wrath, but his hand shall continue to be stretched out until the whole nation shall be overwhelmed and ruined; see the note at Isaiah 10:12.

O Assyrian - The word הוי hôy, is commonly used to denounce wrath, or to indicate approaching calamity; as an interjection of threatening; Isaiah 1:4. 'Wo sinful nation;' Isaiah 10:8, Isaiah 10:11, Isaiah 10:18, Isaiah 10:20-21; Jeremiah 48:1; Ezekiel 13:2. The Vulgate so understands it here: Vae Assur; and the Septuagint, Οὐαι Ἀσσυρίοις Ouai Assuriois - 'Woe to the Assyrians.' So the Chaldee and the Syriac. It is not then a simple address to the Assyrian; but a form denouncing wrath on the invader. Yet it was not so much designed to intimidate and appal the Assyrian himself as to comfort the Jews with the assurance that calamity should overtake him. The 'Assyrian' referred to here was the king of Assyria - Sennacherib, who was leading an army to invade the land of Judea.

The rod of mine anger - That is, the rod, or instrument, by which I will inflict punishment on a guilty nation. The Hebrew would bear the interpretation that the Assyrian was, an object against which God was angry; but the former is evidently the sense of the passage, as denoting that the Assyrian was the agent by which he would express his anger against a guilty people. Woe might be denounced against him for his wicked intention, at the same time that God might design to make use of his plans to punish the sins of his own people. The word "anger" here, refers to the indignation of God against the sins of the Jewish people.

And the staff - The word "staff" here, is synonymous with rod, as an instrument of chastisement or punishment; Isaiah 9:4; compare Isaiah 10:24; Nahum 1:13; Ezekiel 7:10.

In their hand - There has been considerable variety in the interpretation of this passage. Lowth and Noyes read it, 'The staff in whose hand is the instrument of my indignation.' This interpretation Lowth adopts, by omitting the word הוא hû' on the authority of the Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint, and five manuscripts, two of them ancient. Jerome reads it, 'Wo to the Assyrian! He is the staff and the rod of my fury; in their hand is my indignation.' So Forerius, Ludovicus, de Dieu, Cocceius, and others. Vitringa reads it, 'And in the hands of those who are my rod is my indignation.' Schmidius and Rosenmuller, 'And the rod which is in their hands, is the rod of mine indignation.' There is no necessity for any change in the text. The Hebrew, literally, is, 'Wo to the Assyrian! Rod of my anger! And he is the staff. In their hands is my indignation.' The sense is sufficiently clear, that the Assyrian was appointed to inflict punishmerit on a rebellious people, as the instrument of God. The Chaldee renders it, 'Wo to the Assyrian! The dominion (power, ruler) of my fury, and the angel sent from my face, against them, for a malediction. Septuagint, 'And wrath in their hands.'

In their hand - In the hand of the Assyrians, where the word 'Assyrian' is taken as referring to the king of Assyria, as the representative of the nation.

I will send him - Implying that he was entirely in the hand of God, and subject to his direction; and showing that God has control over kings and conqueror's; Proverbs 21:1.

Against an hypocritical nation - Whether the prophet here refers to Ephraim, or to Judah, or to the Jewish people in general, has been an object of inquiry among interpreters. As the designs of Sennacherib were mainly against Judah. it is probable that that part of the nation was intended. This is evidently the case, if, as has been supposed, the prophecy was uttered after the captivity of the ten tribes; see Isaiah 10:20. It need scarcely be remarked, that it was eminently the characteristic of the nation that they were hypocritical; compare Isaiah 9:17; Matthew 15:17; Mark 7:6.

And against the people of my wrath - That is, those who were the objects of my wrath; or the people on whom I am about to pour out my indignation.

To take the spoil - To plunder them.

And to tread them down - Hebrew, 'And to make them a treading down.' The expression is drawn from war, where the vanquished and the slain are trodden down by the horses of the conquering army. It means here, that the Assyrian would humble and subdue the people; that he would trample indignantly on the nation, regarding them with contempt, and no more to be esteemed than the mire of the streets. A similar figure occurs in Zechariah 10:5 : 'And they shall be as mighty men which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in battle.'

Howbeit he meaneth not so - It is not his purpose to be the instrument, in the hand of God, of executing his designs. He has a different plan; a plan of his own which he intends to accomplish.

Neither doth his heart think so - He does not intend or design it. The "heart" here, is put to express "purpose, or will."

It is "in his heart to cut off nations - Utterly to destroy or to annihilate their political existence.

Not a few - The ambitious purpose of Sennacherib was not confined to Judea. His plan was also to invade and to conquer Egypt; and the destruction of Judea, was only a part of his scheme; Isaiah 20:1-6. This is a most remarkable instance of the supremacy which God asserts over the purposes of wicked people. Sennacherib formed his own plan without compulsion. He devised large purposes of ambition, and intended to devastate kingdoms. And yet God says that he was under his direction, and that his plans would be overruled to further his own purposes. Thus 'the wrath of man would be made to praise him;' Psalm 76:10. And from this we may learn

(1) That wicked people form their plans and devices with perfect freedom. They lay their schemes as if there were no superintending providence; and feel, correctly, that they are not under the laws of compulsion, or of fate.

(2) That God presides over their schemes. and suffers them to be formed and executed with reference to his own purposes.

(3) That the plans of wicked people often, though they do not intend it, go to execute the purposes of God. Their schemes result in just what they did not intend - the furtherance of his plans, and the promotion of his glory

(4) That their plans are, nevertheless, wicked and abominable. They are to be judged according to what they are in themselves, and not according to the use which God may make of them by counteracting or overruling them. "Their" intention is evil; and by that they must be judged. That God brings good out of them, is contrary to their design, and a thing for which "they" deserve no credit, and should receive no reward.

(5) The wicked are in the hands of God.

(6) There is a superintending providence; and people cannot defeat the purposes of the Almighty. This extends to princes on their thrones; to the rich, the great, and the mighty, as well as to the poor and the humble - and to the humble as well as to the rich and the great. Over all people is this superintending and controlling providence; and all are subject to the direction of God.

(7) It has often happened, "in fact," that the plans of wicked people have been made to contribute to the purposes of God. Instances like those of Pharaoh, of Cyrus, and of Sennacherib; of Pontius Pilate, and of the kings and emperors who persecuted the early Christian church, show that they are in the hand of God, and that he can overrule their wrath and wickedness to his glory. The madness of Pharaoh was the occasion of the signal displays of the power of God in Egypt. The wickedness, and weakness, and flexibility of Pilate, was the occasion of the atonement made for the sins of the world. And the church rose, in its primitive brightness and splendor, amid the flames which persecution kindled, and was augmented in numbers, and in moral loveliness and power, just in proportion as the wrath of monarchs raged to destroy it.