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The Prophets · Old Testament

Isaiah 10

Isaiah 10: the Assyrian as the rod of the Lord's anger

General context

A woe falls on those who write unrighteous decrees that rob the poor, and the refrain of the stretched-out hand closes it. The Lord addresses the Assyrian as the rod of his anger, sent against an hypocritical nation to take spoil. But the Assyrian means to cut off many nations and boasts that Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria and Damascus fell alike and that Jerusalem will follow Samaria. When the Lord has finished his work on Zion he will punish the king of Assyria's stout heart and high looks, because the king claims his own strength and wisdom, gathering the earth like eggs from a nest. Shall the axe boast against him that hews with it? The light of Israel will be a flame that devours his forest in one day, leaving trees so few a child may write them. In that day the remnant of Israel will stay on the Lord rather than on him that smote them; though Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall return, and a determined consumption will fill the land. The Lord tells his people in Zion not to fear the Assyrian, for the indignation will soon cease as at Oreb and at the sea of Egypt, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing. An advance is traced through Aiath, Migron, Michmash, Geba, Ramah, Gibeah of Saul, Gallim, Laish, Anathoth, Madmenah, Gebim and Nob, where he shakes his hand at the hill of Jerusalem. Then the Lord lops the bough with terror, hews down the high ones, and Lebanon falls by a mighty one.

Cited passages: Isaiah 10:1, Isaiah 10:2, Isaiah 10:3, Isaiah 10:4, Isaiah 10:5, Isaiah 10:6, Isaiah 10:7, Isaiah 10:8, Isaiah 10:9, Isaiah 10:11, Isaiah 10:12, Isaiah 10:13, Isaiah 10:14, Isaiah 10:15, Isaiah 10:16, Isaiah 10:17, Isaiah 10:19, Isaiah 10:20, Isaiah 10:22, Isaiah 10:24, Isaiah 10:26, Isaiah 10:27, Isaiah 10:28, Isaiah 10:29, Isaiah 10:30, Isaiah 10:32, Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34

Isaiah 10 (KJV)

1Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

2To 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!

3And 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?

4Without 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.

5O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

6I 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.

7Howbeit 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.

8For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?

9Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?

10As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

11Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

12Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

13For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

14And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

15Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

16Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

17And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

18And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.

19And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

20And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

22For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

23For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.

24Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.

25For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.

26And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

27And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

28He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:

29They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.

30Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.

31Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.

32As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.

34And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

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Historical context

The chapter names the Assyrian and the king of Assyria but gives no king's name, no year and no king of Judah. The Lord speaks in the first person through much of it, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the Assyrian's own boasts are quoted twice with For he saith. The first four verses belong with the refrain stanzas of chapter nine and address unjust lawmakers, not Assyria. The cities in the boast, Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria and Damascus, are listed as already conquered; Samaria is the head of Ephraim in chapter seven, and Damascus of Syria, so the boast claims both kingdoms that threatened Ahaz. Jerusalem is the next target in the king's words and the place the Lord says he will finish his work before punishing the king. The march from Aiath to Nob is a list of place names ending at the hill of Jerusalem; the text does not date it or name the commander. Midian at the rock of Oreb and the rod upon the sea after the manner of Egypt are cited as past acts without retelling. The anointing in verse twenty-seven is not explained. Paul cites the remnant verses: Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. The child who can write the few trees is a measure of number, not a person.

Cited passages: Isaiah 10:5, Isaiah 10:12, Isaiah 10:8, Isaiah 10:13, Isaiah 10:1, Isaiah 10:9, Isaiah 7:9, Isaiah 7:8, Isaiah 10:11, Isaiah 10:32, Isaiah 10:26, Isaiah 10:27, Romans 9:27, Isaiah 10:19

Literary context

The chapter is organised around a tool that forgets its hand. Assyria is named rod and staff in the fifth verse, and the fifteenth verse asks whether an axe, a saw, a rod or a staff can boast against the one who wields it; the king's quoted boasts in between, all first person, my princes, my hand, my wisdom, supply the evidence. The refrain from chapter nine closes the opening woe and then stops, and the poem turns from Judah's lawmakers to their punisher. Forest imagery runs through the second half: Assyria's glory is a forest and a fruitful field that burn in one day, and the last two verses cut the boughs and thickets with iron so that Lebanon falls, matching the child's count of trees left. Between the two forest scenes stands the remnant promise, with the verb return said twice and the remnant staying on the Lord rather than on him that smote them. The march sequence is a chain of short clauses, one place per phrase, with the cities themselves crying and fleeing, and it halts at Nob with a raised hand, so the threat reaches Jerusalem's hill before the Lord's answer in the final couplet. The rod that shakes against Zion in the twenty-fourth verse is the same rod the Lord calls his own in the fifth.

Cited passages: Isaiah 10:5, Isaiah 10:15, Isaiah 10:13, Isaiah 10:4, Isaiah 10:18, Isaiah 10:34, Isaiah 10:19, Isaiah 10:21, Isaiah 10:20, Isaiah 10:29, Isaiah 10:32, Isaiah 10:24

Key moments

  1. Woe to unjust decrees (Isaiah 10:1). Lawmakers who rob the poor and widows are asked where they will flee.
  2. The rod of mine anger (Isaiah 10:5). The Lord names the Assyrian as the staff of his indignation.
  3. The Assyrian's boast (Isaiah 10:11). He asks whether he will not treat Jerusalem as he treated Samaria.
  4. Can the axe boast? (Isaiah 10:15). The Lord asks whether a tool can magnify itself against its user.
  5. Trees a child may write (Isaiah 10:19). Fire leaves so few of Assyria's forest that a child can count them.
  6. A remnant shall return (Isaiah 10:21). The remnant of Jacob returns to the mighty God.
  7. A hand shaken at Zion (Isaiah 10:32). The advancing army halts at Nob and threatens the hill of Jerusalem.

For reflection

The Lord calls Assyria the rod of his anger and then punishes the rod for what it did. What does the axe question in verse fifteen leave unresolved about the Assyrian's own intent, which the text says he meaneth not so?

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