Isaiah

Notes on Isaiah 10

• Isaiah 10:1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
• 2 To 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!

This was a warning to lawmakers and judges who would decree unrighteous laws that robbed and oppressed the poor, the widows and the orphans. This shows us how our God does see how the poor in any nation is treated. Although these passages have to do with Israel at the time it was written, it can apply to any nation if that nation knows to do good and does not do it. He brings judgment to nations who do these things. Religions that neglect the poor also can be in danger of God's judgment. "Devouring widows houses and for pretense, say long prayers," is warned against even by Jesus Christ.

• Isaiah 10:3 And 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?
• 4 Without 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.

The day of visitation means a visit of judgment from God. When other nations come to conquer weaker nations, unless those weaker nations have the power and presence of the Lord among them, they have no defense against the stronger nations. It says here that without Him (the Lord) they will have no defense against their enemies. In reality God doesn't have to send judgment, all He has to do is withdraw His presence. Without His protecting hand, anything can happen. Sin and disobedience to His word causes Him to withdraw His presence thereby leaving any group of people open to whatever comes.

Repentance and seeking the face of God brings God back into our lives and into our nation. Israel and Judah had the word preached to them and they were without excuse. This would apply also to the nations today that have had the Word of God in their midst and rejected it for fables, theories and oppositions of science. They also applies to adding doctrines and commandments made by men instead of God. Tradition has many times been substituted for the word of God throughout history. The Pharisees, the Middle Age Church, and Reformation churches have either taken away or added to the word of God many times. In this modern age also we have been so quick to believe the theories of men who claim to have knowledge. We have been so quick to publish unproven claims and teach them as facts to our children.

• Isaiah 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
• 6 I 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.

God uses the Assyrian to punish the nation Israel and later Babylon was used to punish Judah.

The Assyrian is the one who oppressed them in the land of Egypt. In the book of Exodus it is mentioned that a king rose to the throne who knew not Joseph. This was when Assyria came into Egypt and put a king on their throne. I wonder if the Israelites in Egypt might have fallen away from the Lord and followed after the ways of Egypt causing them to end up in bondage and slavery. That part is just my speculation. Yet God delivered them by the hand of Moses. Later the Assyrian came against the northern tribe of Israel as Isaiah prophesied. They tried to conquer Judah but the Lord stopped them. They were overstepping the will of God in that matter.

This will have a latter day fulfillment when the Assyrian or antichrist rises to power to try destroy Israel in the latter day tribulation period. However, he may come close but he will not succeed before Christ Himself comes to deliver them.

Even though God allowed this because of the nations refusing Him and rejecting the gospel, He will bring the Assyrian to judgment for getting exalted in himself and going beyond what God has allowed him to do.

Assyria was defeated then and will also be defeated in latter day fulfillment.

• Isaiah 10:7 Howbeit 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.
• 8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
• 9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
• 10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria:
• 11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

As God sent judgment to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, He will also judge the southern kingdom of Judah for the same sins that Israel was guilty of. Idolatry is the sin mentioned here.

Idolatry leads to all the other sins. We see when we study the book of Revelation, idolatry returns to the world again in the latter days only to be severely judged. Actually idolatry has never really disappeared, many religions still use graven images in worship but it is not widespread. In the latter days we will see it return. Even if an image represents Christ, Mary or the apostles, it is still idolatry and breaks the 2nd commandment.

Although idolatry is also covetousness, I don't want to substitute the warning against images with a watered down version of idolatry. It is evil and wrong. Satan's presence accompanies idol worship. However, an idol can mean other things as well. When we reject God and love other things it leads to covetousness, selfishness, pride, immorality, murder, deceit, oppression of the poor, cheating, lying, and all other things that destroy society. Without God in our midst the power of evil will prevail. That evil eventually destroys its victims. We may think that we are free to do anything we want but in reality we are in bondage and captivity to sin which will destroy us.

• Isaiah 10:12 Wherefore 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.

After the Lord uses the Assyrian to punish Judah, He then turns on the Assyrian and destroys him. No nation no matter how strong shall be exalted above God. They can do nothing unless our God allows it.

• Isaiah 10:13 For 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:
• 14 And 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.

The Assyrian exalted himself as the antichrist will do in latter days. He boasted in himself that it was by his own power and might that other weaker nations were conquered.

• Isaiah 10:15 Shall the ax 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.

This verse in one we all should remember. We can't boast. Who is greater, the ax or the one using the ax. This shows that Assyria was only a tool. He was nothing unless the Lord allowed him to be.

• Isaiah 10:16 Therefore 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.
• 17 And 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;
• 18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standard bearer fainteth.
• 19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

The Assyrian will be so destroyed that a child would be able to count the remaining army. Both the soul and body of the Assyrian shall perish.

• Isaiah 10:20 And 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.
• 21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
• 22 For 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.

What is left of Israel after the scourge of the antichrist will return to God with repentance. They will no longer trust in other nations but will only trust in God. They will recognize that Jesus is the Messiah many of their ancestors rejected. Not all for the early church was comprised of Jewish men and women.

• Isaiah 10:23 For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
• 24 Therefore 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.

God is comforting the people that they should not fear the Assyrian. He is allowed to punish and bring destruction but he will come to an end.

• Isaiah 10:25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
• 26 And 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.
• 27 And 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.
• 28 He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
• 29 They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
• 30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
• 31 Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
• 32 As 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.
• 33 Behold, 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.
• 34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

The antichrist attempts to take over Jerusalem also. The power of the antichrist or the Assyrian is broken at the return of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The anointing spoken of here is none other than the Messiah and deliverer. All the enemies of righteousness will be destroyed. Most of these prophecies were for Isaiah's day or a few years afterward but also have a latter day fulfillment. Many times prophecy is a pattern with an immediate fulfillment that usually is only fulfilled in part and also a latter day fulfillment that will finalize the prophecy.

There are verses in Zechariah 12 which predict these things also:

• 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
• 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
• 12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
• 13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
• 14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
• 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
• 2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.

This shows where Israel recognizes their true Messiah in the latter days. They see His the one that their ancestors caused to be crucified. Perhaps Jesus will still have the nail prints of His pierced hands and feet. They will see and understand that the one they rejected, the stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone. This will be a great day of repenting and turning to the true and living God. Jesus Christ then sets up His kingdom.

We don't have to wait until the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ to receive the kingdom in our hearts. We can receive Jesus Christ here and now. When we repent of sin and turn to Jesus for salvation, He comes into our lives. We become born again by the Spirit of God. We become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old thing are then passed away and all things will become new. This will happen one day literally at the return of Jesus but it can happen in our lives now.

Isaiah 11

Isaiah Index