And he shall pass through Judah
That is, the king of Assyria, compared to a river of mighty
waters; who should not only run over and possess the land of
Israel, or the ten tribes, but should enter into Judea, and pass
through it, as a chastisement for not trusting in the Lord, but
sending to Assyria for help; who instead of helping, distressed
them in the times of Ahaz, even Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria,
( 2
Chronicles 28:20 2
Chronicles 28:21 ) : he shall overflow, and go
over;
the whole land of Judea, as Sennacherib king of Assyria did in
Hezekiah's time: he shall reach [even] to the
neck;
that is, to Jerusalem: the whole land is compared to a body, of
which Jerusalem was the head; the Assyrian army, comparable to
the waters of a great river, overflowed the whole land, took all
the fenced cities of Judah, and came up even to Jerusalem, so
that the whole was in great danger of being drowned and
destroyed; as a man is, when the waters are come up to his neck;
see ( 2 Kings
18:13 2 Kings
18:17 ) : and the stretching out of his
wings,
the wings of the Assyrian army, shall fill the breadth of
thy land, O Immanuel;
Judea, called Immanuel's land, because he was to be born there,
and converse and die there; and this is particularly mentioned,
to show that, though this land should be overrun by the
Assyrians, yet not destroyed, until Immanuel, the son of the
virgin, was born here. The Targum is,
``and he shall pass through the land of the house of Judah as an overflowing torrent, unto Jerusalem shall he come; and the people of his army shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.''