10:1 Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations,
Isaiah 7-12 contains the Book of Immanuel. Isaiah 9:8-10:4 contains the third book of Immanuel. Isaiah was not a seeker-friendly preacher. He pronounced the death penalty upon those who were making unjust policies. Israel’s leaders were guilty of five unjust policies. First, they were making unjust laws.
10:2 to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans.
Second, they were issuing oppressive decrees against the poor. Third, they were depriving the oppressed of justice. Fourth, they were stealing property from widows. Fifth, they were stealing from orphans.
10:3 What will you do on judgment day, when destruction arrives from a distant place? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
Isaiah reminded these evil leaders that they will have no place to run when the Assyrians arrive with their army. Their wealth will do them no good.
10:4 You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners, or to fall among those who have been killed. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.
When the Assyrians arrive at the Northern Kingdom with their armies, then the wealthy will either kneel down with the poor or be slain. However, this wrath poured out upon Israel will not appease Jehovah's wrath against the Northern Kingdom. Jehovah will clench His fist and strike Israel once again.
10:5 Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish.
Isaiah 10:5-35 is the fourth Book of Immanuel (Isaiah 7-12). In this book, Assyria will be judged for violating the Abrahamic Covenant. God used the evil Assyrian Empire as His club to smash Israel. However, Assyria took the destruction too far, so they will be judged. Their judgment will be extinction.
10:6 I sent him against a godless nation, I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, to take plunder and to carry away loot, to trample them down like dirt in the streets.
God sent the evil Assyrian Empire to plunder Israel’s cities and ruthlessly trample her people. Ambassador Rabsheka of Assyria made mention of this call in his speech to the armies of Jerusalem on the wall.
10:7 But he does not agree with this, his mind does not reason this way, for his goal is to destroy, and to eliminate many nations.
Assyria did not understand that God was using her to discipline Israel.
10:8 Indeed, he says: “Are not my officials all kings?
Assyria conquered nations and placed puppet kings over them. The King of Assyria liked to called himself the "King of kings." He regarded his conquered kings as princes (officials).
10:9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus?
These six cities all fell to Assyria one by one with little resistance:
Calnah was conquered in 738 B.C.
Carchemish was conquered in 717 B.C.
Hamath was conquered in 738 B.C.
Arpad was conquered in 740 B.C.
Samaria was conquered in 722 B.C.
Damascus was conquered in 732 B.C.
The Assyrians arrogantly thought that Israel was weaker than the other nations that they had conquered. He is expecting little resistance from Jerusalem.
10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s or Samaria’s.
The King of Assyria boasted that he had defeated gods who were more powerful than Jehovah.
10:11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.”
The King of Assyria boasted that he would easily defeat Jehovah. He felt that he had already defeated Jehovah as a god of the Northern Kingdom. The King of Assyria possessed bad theology. The Northern Kingdom worshiped Jehovah in a form of syncretism (equally alongside the calf god from Egypt). The Northern Kingdom was guilty of worshiping a corrupted form of Jehovah. The King of Assyria did not understand the difference. This was his big mistake.
10:12 But when the sovereign master finishes judging Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays.
God was using Assyria, but her motives were purely political, secular, and expansionist. Jehovah always disciplines His own first. After He finishes spanking Israel and Judah with the rod of Assyria, then He will destroy Assyria. Assyria was an arrogant rod of discipline, so she deserved to be punished.
10:13 For he says: “By my strong hand I have accomplished this, by my strategy that I devised. I invaded the territory of nations, and looted their storehouses. Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers.
The King of Assyria boasted that his own strength and wisdom (not Jehovah's) had planned and won victory over these other nations.
10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest, as one gathers up abandoned eggs, I gathered up the whole earth. There was no wing flapping, or open mouth chirping.”
The King of Assyria took other nations and their wealth as easily as a person takes eggs from a bird's nest. No one was able to stop his military force.
10:15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!
Assyria was simply a tool in Jehovah's hand. The ax, saw, and scepter is not above the one who uses it.
10:16 For this reason the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. His majestic glory will go up in smoke.
Jehovah is the Sovereign King who commands the angelic army. He has decided to end the arrogant and boasting Assyrian Empire.
10:17 The light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One will become a flame; it will burn and consume the Assyrian king’s briers and his thorns in one day.
Jehovah will send one angel to wipe out 185,000 Assyrians in one day.
10:18 The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, as when a sick man’s life ebbs away.
The Assyrian army was compared to a forest and orchard which will be completely destroyed by a forest fire. Just as a sick man dies, so will Assyria grow sick and die.
10:19 There will be so few trees left in his forest, a child will be able to count them.
After the Angel of Jehovah kills 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night, then there will not be very many soldiers left to defend Nineveh from the Babylonians. A child will be able to count Assyrian's soldiers.
10:20 At that time those left in Israel, those who remain of the family of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. Instead they will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah looked into the future and saw the condition of Israel during the Millennial Kingdom. During the Millennial Kingdom, Israel will be so strong, that she will never rely on foreign leaders to save her from extinction. Instead, all of Israel will trust in Jehovah to protect her and save her.
10:21 A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
One third of the Jews who survive the Great Tribulation will become this believing remnant which will return to Jehovah. The Hebrew for "Mighty God" is אֵ֖ל גִּבֹּֽור (el gibbor). This was one of the names of Immanuel. The believing remnant who survive the Great Tribulation will return to Immanuel. Immanuel is one of the names of Jesus the Messiah, meaning "God with us." During the Millennial Kingdom, the Lord Jesus Christ will be "God with us" on earth.
10:22 For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. Destruction has been decreed; just punishment is about to engulf you.
According to the Abrahamic Covenant, Jehovah will greatly increase the population of Millennial Israel.
10:23 The sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land.
Jehovah is the Sovereign King who commands the angelic army. He will carry out His program of genocide on Assyria.
10:24 So here is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says: “My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.
Isaiah assured his future readers who will live in Jerusalem that they do not have to fear Assyria. It is important to note that Assyria did conquer all of the Northern Kingdom and 42 cities of the Southern Kingdom. However, Assyria was not be able to take Jerusalem.
10:25 For very soon my fury will subside, and my anger will be directed toward their destruction.”
King Sennacherib lost 185,000 soldiers attempting to take Jerusalem.
10:26 The Lord who commands armies is about to beat them with a whip, similar to the way he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will use his staff against the sea, lifting it up as he did in Egypt.
Jehovah is the Commander of the angelic army. He is about to whip the Assyrians into shape, just as He struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. Jehovah is going to perform a miracle against the Assyrians, just as Moses lifted his staff, parted the Red Sea, and killed all of the Egyptian soldiers.
10:27 At that time the Lord will remove their burden from your shoulders, and their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large.
The yoke around the neck of Jerusalem was too tight. Syria overstepped her boundary with Judah. After Jehovah kills the 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, then He will remove the tight yoke from Jerusalem’s neck.
10:28 They attacked Aiath, moved through Migron, depositing their supplies at Micmash. 10:29 They went through the pass, spent the night at Geba. Ramah trembled, Gibeah of Saul ran away. 10:30 Shout out, daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah! Answer her, Anathoth! 10:31 Madmenah flees, the residents of Gebim have hidden. 10:32 This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion’s mountain—at the hill of Jerusalem.
Isaiah looked into the future and saw the exact attack route which the Assyrians would take against Judah. All of these cities were within three hours of Jerusalem. Aiath was 30 miles away. Migron was 15.5 miles. Micmash was 7.5 miles. Geba was 7 miles. Ramah was 6 miles. Gibeah was 5 miles. Gallim was 3 miles. Laishah was 2.75 miles. Anathoth was 2.5 miles. Madmenah was 2 miles. Gebim was 1 mile. Nob was .5 of a mile. Nob was so close to Jerusalem, that one could shake their fist and it would be seen in Jerusalem. The sites of 8 of the 12 towns are all known (except for Gallim, Laishah, Madmenah, and Gebim).
10:33 Look, the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power. The tallest trees will be cut down, the loftiest ones will be brought low.
Jehovah is the Sovereign King who commands the angelic armies. He will cut down the Assyrian Empire just as an axeman cuts down the tallest of trees. Assyria was a large and powerful empire, but she will suffer a hard fall in which there will be no recovery.
10:34 The thickets of the forest will be chopped down with an ax, and mighty Lebanon will fall.
Lebanon was world famous for her cedar trees. The Assyrian invasion would eventually be cut off like the “cutting down” of a mighty cedar tree of Lebanon.