Isaiah 10:1-23

Cross-references For Better Understanding a Related Topics b Additional Materials c

Summary

• Judgment on Israel, because of all the injustice in the land. (These verses are part of a section that focuses mainly on the northern kingdom of Israel, rather than on Judah - Isaiah 9:8 through 10:4.)

• Judgment on the nation that punishes them (Assyria), because they do so with evil motives.

Details and/or Comments

• This is a specific situation from the past ... but it demonstrates a principle that we would be wise to learn. Israel wasn't the only nation that was punished or destroyed because of their sin.

See: Destruction of Wicked Nations.

• This passage demonstrates that God does not show favoritism - favoring one wicked nation over another. Justice is given in both cases. (So was grace - undeserved kindness - because neither was totally annihilated.)

• Two of the ways God accomplished his judgment against the Assyrians:

1. When he put to death 185,000 of them, after they insulted and blasphemed God - Isaiah 37:36. (See also chapters 36-37, as well as parallel passages in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.) (This occurred in 701 B.C.)

Isaiah 37:36 Isa 37:36 The angel of Yahweh went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

2. When Babylon conquered Nineveh (the Assyrian capital) - prophesied about in the book of Nahum. (This occurred in 609 B.C.)

• Both Israel and Assyria will have survivors, after the judgments; but the end of this passage focuses mainly on the survivors in Israel, because they will repent and turn back to God.

• (Observation) This pattern occurred at other times in Israel's history, and will probably occur again in the future. God uses wicked nations to judge Israel. Then he judges those nations, because they had their own evil motives for attacking Israel.

Scripture

Isaiah 10:1-23

• See also: Judgment Examples.

Judgment on Israel - the northern kingdom

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Isa 10:1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees; Isa 10:2 to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!	Concerning those who make unjust laws (applied to Israel). Injustice Oppression Some of the specific groups they exploited: The Poor Widows and Orphans
Isa 10:3 What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth? Isa 10:4 They will only bow down with the prisoners, and will fall with the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.	The judgment of God would come against them. Just as they refused to help the poor and needy, so also, nobody would help them, when the judgment came.

Judgment on Assyria - who destroyed the northern kingdom (Israel, with Samaria as its capital), but also attacked the southern kingdom (Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital)

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Isa 10:5 Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! Isa 10:6 I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.	God will send Assyria to judge Israel. This demonstrates that God can use nations that do not acknowledge him, to accomplish his purposes.
Isa 10:7 However he doesn't mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations. Isa 10:8 For he says, "Aren't all of my princes kings? Isa 10:9 Isn't Calno like Carchemish? Isn't Hamath like Arpad? Isn't Samaria like Damascus?" Isa 10:10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Isa 10:11 shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?	But since Assyria does so with evil motives/intents (and refuses to give God the glory he deserves), Assyria will also be judged. God's use of Assyria, as well as their judgment because of their evil motives, is a demonstration of how sovereignty and responsibility work together. Sovereignty and Responsibility
Isa 10:12 Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks. Isa 10:13 For he has said, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. Isa 10:14 My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, have I gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped."	An example of Assyria's proud, arrogant attitude. At this time, God's "work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem" would be to punish, but not to destroy. (Only the northern kingdom would be destroyed by Assyria. Jerusalem would be destroyed at a later time, by the Babylonians.)
Isa 10:15 Should an axe brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood. Isa 10:16 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. Isa 10:17 The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. Isa 10:18 He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. Isa 10:19 The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.	Once God is done using Assyria, he will judge them for the sins they committed during the process. This includes their pride - their refusal to humble themselves before the God who sent them. The Need for Humility The concept of ecological destruction is used as a picture of what the nation would experience. (The "trees," etc., were the soldiers.) Ecological Disaster - (used to illustrate what would happen to the Assyrians). There will be few survivors.

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Isa 10:20 It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. Isa 10:21 A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. Isa 10:22 For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return.	Ironically, those who were originally judged (Israel) will someday return to God and be blessed! But it will only be a remnant of the original number. The Concept of A Remnant - Though perhaps focusing on the northern kingdom, in this passage, this prophetic concept has been fulfilled (to varying degrees) several times, and ultimately applies to both northern and southern kingdoms (Israel and Judah). They will trust God, not the Assyrians. (At different times in history, both kingdoms put their trust in Assyria for protection. Every time, the benefits were short-lived. Both kingdoms suffered at the hands of the Assyrians, and the northern kingdom was destroyed by them.)
A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. Isa 10:23 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, in the midst of all the earth. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. Isa 10:23 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, in the midst of all the earth.	In all this, God will be shown to be righteous in his judgments. This is quite the opposite of what the people were like! God's Glory in Judgment Considering what Israel deserved, the fact that there were survivors is a demonstration of God's grace - his undeserved kindness. Consider what God said about Judah (the southern kingdom), in Isaiah 1:9: Isaiah 1:9 Isa 1:9 - Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom; we would have been like Gomorrah. God's Grace Expressed in Judgment

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—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——

The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.

Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.