Isaiah 10

CHAPTER 10

God’s Judgment on Israel, Continued (10:1–4)

1–4 Isaiah concludes his prophecy of judgment against Israel by citing some of the evil practices of its people (verses 1–2). God is particularly angered by the oppression of the poor and helpless by the rich and powerful. A day of reckoning is coming upon the evildoers, and they will either become captives (exiles) or they will fall among the slain (verses 3–4). Even then, God will not be finished with them!

God’s Judgment on Assyria (10:5–19)

5–11 Throughout history God has used one nation to punish another; He has even used a wicked nation like Assyria as His instrument—His rod or club (verse 5). In Isaiah’s day, Assyria was God’s chief instrument of judgment, and God used Assyria to punish His own disobedient people.

In this section, God (through Isaiah) focuses on Assyria’s invasion of Judah, which God calls a godless nation (verse 6). God is going to send the Assyrians to loot and plunder Judah and to trample its people down like mud in the streets! The people of Judah had become like salt that has lost its saltiness and is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men (Matthew 5:13).

The Assyrians, for their part, did not see themselves as instruments of the God of Israel! They were out to gain power and glory for themselves. They planned to conquer as many nations as they could, and in verses 9–10, they boast about the cities they have seized and the idol-worshiping kingdoms they have conquered. They plan to deal with Jerusalem and her images (idols) just as they dealt with Samaria and her idols⁶¹ (verse 11). No wonder God was using Assyria to punish Judah: Judah was full of idols! (Isaiah 2:8).

12–14 Here Isaiah explains the Lord’s intentions: once Judah’s punishment is complete, then God will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogance (verse 12). In verses 13–14, Isaiah describes the arrogant attitude of Assyria’s king.

15–19 Then Isaiah points out the foolishness of the instrument supposing it is greater than the one who uses it. It’s like the pot thinking it is greater than the potter! (Romans 9:20–21). Because of such arrogance, God will punish Assyria’s king. Then Isaiah describes his punishment: a wasting disease will kill his troops and he himself will be destroyed⁶² (verse 16).

In verses 17–18, Isaiah describes the final judgment that will fall upon Assyria: its empire will be completely destroyed in a single day. Isaiah is likely referring to the fall of its capital Nineveh in 612 B.C., about a hundred years after he wrote these words.

Isaiah says that the Light of Israel will become a fire (verse 17); God is the “Light of Israel” (Psalm 27:1). God is a “light” of salvation to those who fear Him, but He is a “fire” of judgment to those who don’t.⁶³ This is similar to Isaiah’s earlier teaching about God being a rock of protection to some but a stone of stumbling to others (see Isaiah 8:13–15). It is our attitude which determines our relationship to God.

The Remnant of Israel (10:20–34)

20–21 In that day—the day of deliverance from Assyria and Babylon—a remnant will return.⁶⁴ These survivors of the house of Jacob (Israel, both northern and southern kingdoms) would no longer rely on foreign alliances, such as Ahaz had made with the king of Assyria, the very one who struck them down (verse 20).

22–23 Though your people, o Israel, be like the sand by the sea, only a remnant will return (verse 22). God had promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore (Genesis 22:17). Here, at first glance, God seems to be canceling His promise to Abraham. But, in fact, the saving of a “remnant” was to be the very means of fulfilling that promise. The preservation of a remnant would ensure the survival of the Jewish people; and from that remnant would eventually come Jesus Christ, whose followers—Jew and Gentile alike—would indeed become as numerous as the “sand on the seashore.”

The Apostle Paul quotes verses 22–23 to show that this “remnant” is to become the true house of Israel—made up of those who believe in Christ (see Romans 9:27–28). He says that this remnant has been chosen by grace (Romans 11:5). Together with the Gentiles, this remnant of Israel will be incorporated into the family of God, the church of Christ.

Apart from this “remnant,” however, God has decreed the destruction of His people. He has done this because they have broken His covenant, forsaken His law, and worshiped other gods.

24–27 In the rest of this chapter, Isaiah speaks not of destruction but of deliverance coming soon for Judah. Just as God delivered Israel at the rock of Oreb (see Judges 7:25) and in EGYPT at the Red Sea (see Exodus 14:15–18,26–28), so will He deliver Judah from the Assyrians (verse 26). Judah will become fat (sturdy) and break the yoke of bondage (verse 27).

28–32 Here Isaiah, as in a vision, sees the Assyrian army approaching Jerusalem from the north. All the places Isaiah lists here are within fifteen kilometers of Jerusalem. As the Assyrians reach the city, they will shake their fist at the mount of the Daughter of Jerusalem (a personification of Jerusalem and its inhabitants), and in so doing they will “shake their fist” at Jerusalem’s God.

33–34 In these final verses, Isaiah describes the defeat of the invading Assyrians (Sennacherib’s army) as the “lopping off” of the boughs of great trees. Lebanon—a symbol of the great cedars of that country, and hence the symbol of a great army—will fall before the Mighty One, the God of Israel (verse 34). The details of Sennacherib’s defeat are recorded in 2 Kings 19:32–36.

Modern readers may justifiably ask what all these ancient wars have to do with them. How do these ancient prophecies apply to us today? The answer is this: Isaiah—and indeed the whole Old Testament—is showing us that God is the sovereign King over every nation. Evil nations and their evil leaders, though they prosper for a time, will eventually be destroyed. These words of Isaiah apply just as much to nations today as they did to the nations of Isaiah’s day.

Furthermore,those who claim to be God’s people but who turn from Him will also be judged. Isaiah’s words of judgment against Judah in these opening chapters are also words of warning to the church today. Have we also, like Judah of old, ceased to serve God with all our heart and soul? Have we also begun to love the world and to worship its idols?⁶⁵ (1 John 2:15–17; 5:21). This book of Isaiah, together with the entire Bible, is as vital today as it was when it was written.