Isaiah 10:3

3 What shall ye do in the day of visitation, and of wretchedness coming from [a]far? To whose help shall ye flee? and where shall ye leave your glory,

Isaiah 10:3 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 10:3

And what will ye do in the day of visitation
Not in a way of grace and mercy, but of wrath and anger, as the following clause explains it, when God should come and punish them for their sins; and so the Targum,

``what will ye do in the day that your sins shall be visited upon you?''
it designs the Babylonish captivity, as the next words show; the same phrase is used of the destruction of the Jews by the Romans, ( Luke 19:44 ) : and in the desolation [which] shall come from far?
from Assyria, which was distant from the land of Judea: the word F8 for "desolation" signifies a storm, tumult, noise, and confusion; referring to what would be made by the Assyrian army, when it came upon them: to whom will ye flee for help?
Rezin king of Syria, their confederate, being destroyed; and Syria, with whom they were in alliance, now become their enemy, see ( Isaiah 9:11 Isaiah 9:12 ) : and where will ye leave your glory?
either their high titles, and ensigns of honour, as princes, judges, and civil magistrates, which they should be stripped of; or rather their mammon, as Aben Ezra interprets it, their unrighteous mammon, which they got by perverting the judgment of the poor and needy, the widow and the fatherless, of which they gloried; and which now would be taken away from them, when they should go into captivity.
FOOTNOTES:

F8 (hawvl) "sub procella, quae a longinquo veniet", Cocceius; so the Targum renders it, "in tumult of tribulation".

Isaiah 10:3 In-Context

1 Woe to them that make wicked laws, and they writing have written unrightfulness, (Woe to them who make wicked laws, and they writing have written injustice,)
2 for to oppress poor men in doom, and to do violence to the cause of meek men of my people; that widows shall be the prey of them, and that they should ravish fatherless children. (and so they oppress the poor in judgement, and do violence to the cause of the humble among my people; and widows shall become their prey, and they shall rob fatherless children.)
3 What shall ye do in the day of visitation, and of wretchedness coming from [a]far? To whose help shall ye flee? and where shall ye leave your glory,
4 that ye be not bowed down under bond and fall not down with slain men? (so that ye be not bowed down in slavery, and fall not down with the slain?) On all these things his strong vengeance is not turned away, but yet his hand is stretched forth.
5 Woe to Assur, he is the rod and staff of my strong vengeance; mine indignation is in the hand of them. (Woe to the Assyrian, he is the rod and the staff of my strong vengeance; yea, my anger is in his hands.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.