Isaiah 10:17

17 The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.

Isaiah 10:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 10:17

And the light of Israel shall be for a fire
That is, the Lord, who is the light of his people; who enlightens them by his word and Spirit, and by his grace effectually calls them out of darkness into marvellous light, to the light of grace here, and to the light of glory hereafter; and who comforts and refreshes them with his gracious presence, and with the light of his countenance when in affliction and distress, which is sometimes signified by darkness; and the same Lord, who is as light to his people, and gives light and comfort to them, is as a consuming fire to others: and his Holy One for a flame;
that is, the Holy One of Israel, the God of Israel, who is holy in himself, and the sanctifier of others; the Syriac version reads, "his Holy Ones": so Jarchi observes it as the sense of some, that the righteous of that generation are meant; the Targum is,

``and there shall be the Lord, the light of Israel, and his Holy One; and his word strong as fire, and his word as a flame;''

see ( Jeremiah 23:29 ) so Jarchi interprets it of the law Hezekiah studied: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;
the Targum interprets it, his rulers and governors; and so Jarchi, his princes and mighty men; the chief in the Assyrian army, called briers and thorns, because mischievous and hurtful, and caused grief; but rather the multitude of the common soldiers is designed, who were all destroyed in one night, ( 2 Kings 19:35 ) by an angel; who, according to Aben Ezra, is the light and Holy One of Israel here spoken of.

Isaiah 10:17 In-Context

15 Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it, or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it? As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up, or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!

16 Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.

17 The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.

18 The glory of his forest and his fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.

19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down.