ISAIAH CHAPTER 10

GOD’S JUDGMENT ON ASSYRIA

 

One look at our world today and we see unfairness, injustice, and poverty everywhere. “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer” and no one seems to do anything about it. You hear people comment, “If there is a God, why doesn’t He do something about it?” Well, there is a God and He will definitely do something about it! God works according to His timing and not ours. Let’s look at this section of Isaiah to get a clearer idea of that.

Even after the disastrous invasion of the Northern Kingdom by Tiglath-pileser in 732 BC (the year in which he also destroyed King Rezin of Syria), the Ephraimites (Israelites) still blindly ignored God’s last warning. They boasted that they would rebuild their devastated country and make it stronger and more glorious than ever before (9: 9,10). But the time was soon coming when even their former allies of Syria and Philistia would join the besieging armies of Assyria to bring about Samaria’s final extinction. (10:14,15). All the leading classes, who had failed to repent and return to God and who had been unfaithful to their trust, would be totally destroyed, with all their children (9:18-21). Sin bears in itself the seeds of its own retribution and destruction. Along with the agonies of famine there would arise the horrors of civil war between Ephraim and Manasseh, the two main tribes composing the Northern Kingdom (doubtless involving the other tribes as well).[fn]

Isaiah 10:1-6 NRSV:
1 Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes,
2 to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey!
3 What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth,
4 so as not to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain? For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still.
5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger— the club in their hands is my fury!
6 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

In these opening verses we see Judah’s sad condition requiring judgment on the part of the God they claimed to serve but whom they had so grievously dishonored. Verse 2 explains verse 1. Those in positions of authority in Judah were manipulating the legal system in such a way as to favor their own interests, particularly in matters of land and property ownership. In a society where the poor were not represented in the legislative body, their rights had to be protected by the leaders. Exodus 22:21-24 provided protection for the underprivileged in Israel and also outlined the severe penalty for not providing such provision for them. To further their own self-interest these leaders were issuing unrighteous laws and judgments in order to make themselves wealthy at the expense of the poor. This is particularly hateful to God.

Verse 3 assumes that punishment is a certainty. All the defeats and disaster brought upon Israel by the Assyrians had been part of God’s plan. The mighty army of Assyria is but a tool in His hands. The Assyrians were the first to invade Judah, then Babylon and other foreign powers followed. National disaster can be the result of God’s will. He will at times use suffering to educate and discipline His people. We should be aware of that and not resent the discipline. An example of this is found in Job 5:17,18:

17 “How happy is the one whom God reproves; therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
18 For he wounds, but he binds up; he strikes, but his hands heal.

The rod in God’s hands stands for something painful but life giving. Proverbs 23:13,14:

13 Do not withhold discipline from your children; if you beat them with a rod, they will not die.
14 If you beat them with the rod, you will save their lives from Sheol.

God permits people and nations to go just so far in their own willful way. Then He sweeps away their ill-gotten wealth causing them to lose all the luxuries they have cherished in His place. God has no objection to people being wealthy as long as they put Him first and are generous toward those less fortunate.

Isaiah 10:7-12 NRSV:
7 But this is not what he (the king of Assyria)[fn] intends, nor does he have this in mind; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.
8 For he says: “Are not my commanders all kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols what I have done to Samaria and her images?”
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride.

Sennacherib, the leader of Assyria, didn’t realize he was being used by God to punish Judah. In his arrogance he felt he would sweep through Judah on his way to conquering other nations. Verse 9 lists some of the cities that already had fallen before Assyria. Verses 10 and 11 compare idolatrous kingdoms like Syria with Israel and Judah. Even in the eyes of an outsider like the king of Assyria, there was supposed to be a distinction between Israel’s religion and that of her neighbors. Yet Israel and Judah were both idolatrous as well and the Assyrians thought they would capture the city of Jerusalem as easily as they had Israel and the rest of Judah. However, God’s temple was in Jerusalem and he was not yet ready to allow that to be destroyed.

In time Sennacherib  would descend on the land of Judah like a Tsunami, his army rolling over everything before that army was destroyed by pestilence (a contagious epidemic disease) in one night while attacking Jerusalem.[fn] This is the same type of enemy that in the last days will attempt to bring Israel under control, only to be destroyed by Jesus who will then establish His thousand year reign upon the earth.

Isaiah 10:13-19 NRSV:
13 For he (Sennacherib)[fn] says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and have plundered their treasures; like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.
14 My hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing, or opened its mouth, or chirped.”

Then Isaiah says:

15 Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it, or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it? As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up, or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!
16 Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.
17 The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.
18 The glory of his forest and his fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down.

Not understanding the use that God was making of him, the Assyrian puffed himself up as if he himself had won all these victories and accomplished all of this on his own wisdom and strength. He is calling himself wise and powerful because he had invaded the people and robbed their treasures. He had robbed and oppressed the nations, including Israel and Judah. To him all people were like eggs in the nests of birds that were helpless before his picking. But God cautions the leader of the Assyrians not to feel arrogant and proud about his victory because it is God’s doing, not his. And it is always a dangerous game to take credit or glory for oneself when the credit and glory belong to God.

Not knowing God and how he was being used by God as one would use an ax to cut down trees in a forest, Sennacherib boasted as if all the power and might were his. In reality God was simply using him to punish Israel and Judah. Therefore, beginning in verse 16, God says that He will punish Assyria in the same manner He punished all the other nations. After the Lord is all through with the Assyrian army, there will be so few left that a child could count the number and write it down. The burning referred to in verse 16 probably refers to a fever burning like a fire. We will discuss this battle further in Isaiah 37. The boasts of the king of Assyria in Isaiah 37:24,25, are similar to those we encounter here in chapter 10. However, in chapter 37 there is a reference to a sudden catastrophe that sent the Assyrians hightailing it back home to Nineveh. Then there is this verse in Isaiah 37:36:

36 Then the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies.

Is this the plague predicted in Isaiah 10:16? What do you think? I believe it is. But I also believe it could be that as well as a reference to what will happen to Israel’s enemies in the end times.

Isaiah 10:20-23 NRSV:
20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22 For though your people Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.

In spite of judgment on Israel, a remnant will return to the land and trust in  (rely on) the Lord, not on Assyria. While pagan empires would have their day and pass away, the Lord declared, the weak and despised people of God were to live on down through history. By divine discipline, as we see in these verses, they would be taught to trust in the Lord alone for their salvation. Again the hope of Israel is here placed in the remnant of true believers who would return from captivity. No matter how small a group they might be, after the judgments of God had befallen the entire unfaithful nation, the future would lie with the small remnant of people who were faithful.[fn]

“In that day” often refers to the last days when the Lord will punish the wicked and set up His righteous kingdom (Isaiah. 4:2). However, here it seems to refer to the more immediate judgment on the Northern Kingdom by Assyria (10:27) and the return of a remnant from that empire. Though Israel had many people “like the sand of the sea,[fn]” only a few would return. Destruction, though overwhelming, would be fair (righteous) and would be on the whole land, both Israel and Judah. But things will also be the same in the “Last Days” just before Jesus returns. When the judgments of God are being poured out upon the earth in the dark days of the Great Tribulation, a remnant of Jews at that time will turn to the Lord in repentance and faith. These few will prove the greatness of His mercy and the unfailing nature of His promises. They will no longer rely for help on such powers as Assyria and Egypt as Ahaz did in his time of desperation, but will find the only protection they need in God. We need to remember that the Bible tells us that not all people who live in Israel or are descendants of Abraham are Israel (Romans 9:6). This simply means that those that are saved are only those who trust and have faith in God and the work of His Son, Jesus.

The great majority, “like the sand of the sea,” in verse 22 will not believe and not be saved. But a remnant will believe and be acknowledged by God as His people. And so as we learn in Romans 11, “All Israel shall be saved.” This remnant will be the true Israel in that day. Finally, the enemy will be totally destroyed; no part of the earth will ever again be overrun by the king of Assyria, and in the end times no part of the earth will ever be overrun again by anyone.

Isaiah 10:24-27 NRSV:
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: O my people, who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did.
25 For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.
26 The Lord of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.
27 On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck. He has gone up from Rimmon.

Isaiah then assured his readers that the constant attacks by Assyria against Judah would end. They need not be afraid of the Assyrians. After God had used the Assyrians to accomplish His purpose against Israel, He would turn His anger against Assyria and punish her (37:36-37). This would be like His destruction of the Midianites by Gideon (Judges. 7:1-24). God would destroy Assyria (figuratively called the waters; (Isaiah. 8:7) as He destroyed Egypt. God promised to lift the Assyrian burden and yoke from Judah (9:4).[fn] The thought in verses 27-32 seems to be that the threat of defeat for Judah will approach the very hills surrounding Jerusalem, but at the last moment will fall apart. Verse 27 predicts this in general terms and the next five verses give the details.

This approaching army is understood to be the Assyrians led by Sennacherib in the year 701 B.C. (36:1).We have seen in each previous chapter, scattered among the prophecies of judgment, promises of hope. We will see the climax of those promises in Isaiah chapters 11 and 12.

Isaiah 10:28-34 NRSV:
28 he has come to Aiath; he has passed through Migron, at Michmash he stores his baggage;
29 they have crossed over the pass, at Geba they lodge for the night; Ramah trembles, Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud, O daughter Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! Answer her, O Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight, the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32 This very day he will halt at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mount of daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Look, the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the tallest trees will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.
34 He will hack down the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon with its majestic trees will fall.

The route the Assyrian invaders would take in trying to defeat Judah in 701 b.c. was from the northern boundary of Judah at Aiath (another name for Ai), about eight miles north of Jerusalem, southward to Nob, about two miles north of Jerusalem. Assyria would not succeed in its plan to take Jerusalem. The Lord Almighty is the One who cuts down the lofty trees (the Assyrian soldiers and leaders; verse18). Isaiah had already reminded the people that they need not worry about the Assyrian aggression because God was on their side (verses 24-27). Even Lebanon, known for its thick forests of cedar trees, would fall before God. Certainly, then, Assyria should not think it could escape.[fn]

The fate of Assyria is described as the destruction of a great forest of majestic trees. God will take an axe and cut down the powerful leaders of an empire that had survived for centuries and had spread all over the world. Even her most magnificent and precious achievements, Her “cedars of Lebanon,” will be destroyed. As we read in verses 16-19 there will be no remnant for Assyria. Not even a stump will survive from that forest.

We see here a great lesson of faith, even for today. It is not true that the side with the greatest armies wins. God stands ready to protect and make victorious all who put their confidence in Him and who rely, not upon the power of humankind, but upon His power and unchanging love for those who trust

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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© Ron Teed - Used by permission. All rights Reserved.