Yeshayah 30:32

32 And in every place where the matteh (rod) of punishment shall pass, which Hashem shall lay upon him [Ashur], it shall be with tambourines and kinnorot; and in milchamot (battles) of brandishing will He fight against them.

Yeshayah 30:32 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 30:32

And [in] every place where the grounded staff shall pass,
&c.] The storm before mentioned, the wrath and righteous judgment of God, founded upon his unalterable purposes and decrees; and, wherever it came, would fall with great weight, sink deep, stick fast, and remain fixed and sure, like a rod or staff fastened in the earth: which the Lord shall lay upon him;
or, "cause to rest upon him" {o}; the Lord would lay his rod upon him, the Assyrian, and let it remain there, so that it should be a destroying rod or staff, as before; it should continue until it had done full execution, and utterly destroyed him. The Targum is,

``and there shall be every passage of their princes, and of their mighty ones, on whom the Lord shall cause to rest the vengeance of his power;''

and so the "grounded staff" may be understood of the Assyrian himself, that wherever he should be, this storm of vengeance should follow him, and rest upon him: [it] shall be with tabrets and harps;
the allusion is to the use of these in war; but, instead of these, no other music would be used at this time than what thunder, and rain, and hailstones made; unless this refers to the joy of God's people, upon the destruction of their enemies; so the Targum,

``with tabrets, and harps shall the house of Israel praise, because of the mighty war which shall be made for them among the people:''

see ( Revelation 15:2 ) : and in battles of shaking will he fight with it;
the Assyrian camp; or as the Keri, or marginal reading, "with them": with the Assyrians, with the men of the camp; the soldiers, as Kimchi explains it; that is, the Lord will fight with them in battles, by shaking his hand over them in a way of judgment, and thereby shaking them to pieces, and utterly destroying them; see ( Revelation 19:11 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F15 (xyny) "requiescere faciet", Pagninus, Montanus; "quiescere faciet", Cocceius.

Yeshayah 30:32 In-Context

30 And Hashem shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall cause the lowering of His zero’a to be seen, with the indignation of His anger, and with the flame of a devouring eish, with smashing, and tempest, and even barad (stones of hail, hailstones).

31 For through the voice of Hashem shall the Assyrian be crushed, which struck with a shevet (rod).

32 And in every place where the matteh (rod) of punishment shall pass, which Hashem shall lay upon him [Ashur], it shall be with tambourines and kinnorot; and in milchamot (battles) of brandishing will He fight against them.

33 For Tophet [i.e., the place where humans are sacrificed to Molech in Gey Hinnom] is ordained of old; indeed, for Melech [Molech] it is prepared. He hath made it deep and wide; the fire pit thereof is eish and much wood; the nishmat Hashem (breath of Hashem), like a stream of gofrit (brimstone, burning sulfur), doth kindle it [see Isa 66:24].