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9:20,21 "And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry: and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."

 

Here for right hand and left should probably be read south and north. Hostility from east and west (v.12), and no aid from the other points of the compass. Worse still, there was almost no cohesion among these northern tribes, as the constant feuding and frequent coups d’état mentioned in their history show only too well. Three out of the four kings preceding Pekah died by violence.

 

A very slight emendation would give the more coherent reading: "they eat every man the flesh of his neighbour", Ephraim and Manasseh illustrated this perfectly. Both of them blessed by Jacob (Gen. 48:16), and they were ready to curse each other from the period of the Judges (8:1; 12:1), and now are both cursed on God's behalf by Isaiah. Mutual antagonisms cancelled out all natural efficiency. It happened again in A.D. 70 when factions within Jerusalem made the impossible task of Titus a tolerably easy one. Neither does the New Israel learn the lesson, but has been prepared to waste a century of God-given time and energy on internal disruption.

 

Or, since the words for "arm" and "seed" are almost identical (see 53:1,2), is there here an allusion to the curse of Dt. 28:53, where it is foretold that the people would be reduced to eating their own children?

 

Now the nation's only unanimity was against Judah. Thus they anticipated Arab quarrelsomeness and Arab-unifying hatred-of-Jews in this twentieth century. Probably this rooted dislike of Judah had been intensified by signs that Ahaz was scheming to use the Assyrians to help him gain control of Israel. Apparently he had accepted an Assyrian garrison in Jerusalem, and had actually quartered it in the temple (2 Chr. 28:21. Heb, hence 29:16).

 

It was a period when all sense of moral decency and social responsibility had disintegrated. It was a chaotic era such as the twentieth century has already achieved in modern Israel, where there has come about an unhappy fragmentation in politics, economics and religion, and an exacerbation of social spirit such as would dismay utterly the idealism of the early Zionists. Both then and now the best comfort is in Isaiah's superbly eloquent promise of a Prince of Peace sitting on David's throne (v.6,7). But modern Israel wants none of it.

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Chapter 10

 

10:1,2 "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!"

 

This paragraph begins like the Woes in 5:8-24. suggesting that it belongs with them as denunciations of Judah. But the concluding refrain (v.4b) continues the anti-Israel judgments in 9:8-21 (and 5:25). Perhaps this unexpected phenomenon is intended to imply that this expose of national injustice applies equally well to both northern and southern kingdoms. Already Isaiah has had plenty to say about social inequality (3:14,15; 5:7,23).

 

Now especially he denounces the cynical establishing of case-made laws perpetuating unjust decisions — "those who issue oppressive decrees" (NIV). In the days of Jesus corrupt scribes were happy to be in league with the rich, out of self-interest. In Israel this was a constant temptation besetting men of influence, and their yielding to it was a cancer in the life of the nation.

 

"Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow" declared Moses' law (Dt. 27:19). And all the people gave their Amen; but the evil persisted nevertheless (Is. 1:23; 29:21c; Am. 5:12).

 

So those ominous words: "spoil, prey" were turned back on those who practised such evils (10:6; 8:1), Their fatherless and widows were to feel the hand of God-sent retribution.

 

What a contrast this picture is with the One whom Isaiah was to promise, One who would "not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth" (11:3,4).

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10:3,4 "And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."

 

These unjust law-makers are now called to account by the Judge of the nation. And the "visitation" will be by Ahaz's mighty ally the Assyrian, coming "from far" (v.5; 5:26). There will be desolation (sho'ah) instead of Y'snuah, the Messiah. Instead of Immanuel, they will be "without Me."

 

To whom then, in the day when their sin is visited upon them, will they look for help? "Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted?...Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection" (Dt. 32:37,38).

 

And in their flight from irresistible danger, where could they forsake their "glory", that is, their idols? A battered inscription by Tiglath-pileser boasting about his in­vasion of the land of Beth-Omri (Israel) includes this: "The gods of their land counted as plunder."

 

The phrases about "bowing down under the prisoners" and "falling under the slain" are difficult. In Hebrew "prisoners" sounds very much like "Assyrian" — a picture perhaps of Ahaz cringing before Tiglath at Damascus; and for "slain" it is easy to read "slayers". Others turn "under" into "among", but this is not a natural reading of the Hebrew word.

 

The refrain: "his hand is stretched out still" now takes on a more specific and sinister meaning, for the next verse speaks of the Assyrian as "the rod of mine anger" — as also in 14:26: "this (Assyrian invasion; v.25) is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nation."

 

It is significant that Jesus should appropriate the key-words here: "visitation, desolation" (Lk. 19:44; Mt. 23:38) in his warnings of coming judgment on his people because of their rejection of Immanuel. Then the "Assyrian" was the might of Rome. Who will it be when yet another visitation of judgment descends on these "children in whom is no faith"?

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10:5,6 "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets."

 

Archaeologists have drawn attention to the fact that on the bas-reliefs, Assyrian kings are represented as holding a short truncheon, the sign of their authority. But now throughout this section of the prophecy (v.5-27) the great Sennacherib is foretold as being the instrument in God's hand. He is "the rod of God's anger" which is "not yet turned away, but is stretched out still" (v.4)."I will send him.../ give him a charge..." (29:3). Nevertheless, God's faithful remnant may remain a people without fear: "O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of this Assyrian..." (v.24) for his oppression shall only be "after the manner of Egypt". For "through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, that smote with a rod" (30:31).

 

The remarkable similarity between this passage (v.5-11) and 2 Kgs. 19:20-37 (together with other indications) makes it likely that, through the renegade Rabshakeh, Sennacherib actually knew the tenor of this and other prophecies Isaiah had spoken in Jerusalem (see H.Gt. ch. 13,14). Why else should the Assyrian use the self-confident argument: "Am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord saith unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it" (36:10)?

 

The idea of God being the wielder of this Assyrian axe (v. 15) is one that is familiar right through the prophets. It is the Almighty, and not dictators and demagogues, who guides international politics, especially in relation to His ancient people. This provides a philosophy of history superior to any alternative that the scholars can come up with. Didn't H.A.L. Fisher say: "The one thing to be learned from history is that nothing is learned from history"?

 

Here are some examples of the Biblical emphasis:

 

Nehemiah's prayer mentions "the kings which Thou hast set over us" (9:37).

 

"Lo, I raise up the Chaldeans..." (Hab. 1:6). And this assessment Habakkuk accepted: "O Lord, Thou hast ordained them for judgment" (1:12).

 

So also Jeremiah repeatedly: "I will prepare destruction against thee (Israel)" (22:7). "I will send and take...Nebuchadnezzar my servant against this land" (25:9; and cp. 5:15; 34:22; 51:20). Ez. 29:18-20 is specially eloquent on this theme.

 

The Psalmist refers to "the wicked which is Thy sword" (17:13).

 

"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord: as rivers of water he turneth it whither­soever He will" (Pr. 21:1).

 

And in his parable did not Jesus foretell: "The King sent forth his (Roman) armies, and burnt up their city (Jerusalem)"? (Mt. 22:7);

 

Now, in Isaiah's day, Judah was become "a hypocritical nation," that is, living a double religious life. And accordingly the prophet uses the Hebrew word which describes a Gentile people — goi. In a mere three letters God made strong repro­bation.

 

In due time (it took some years) there would come a "treading down, as the mire in the streets."

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10:7-11 "Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?"

 

The Assyrian king did not at all see himself as a tool in the hand of Jehovah. He had his own empire-building plan, and he would work it out in his way. Indeed the policy of uprooting conquered peoples was first invented by Tiglath-pileser III, and was to be imitated with vastly greater efficiency in modern times by Hitler.

 

In his plan for a mighty empire this Assyrian also set the pattern for Napoleon by making his princes and generals into subsidiary kings in conquered territories: "Are not my princes altogether kings?' Hosea refers to him as "the king of princes" (8:10). Events in Hezekiah's reign and again in the time of Daniel, were to demonstrate that Jehovah, and He only, is the "King of kings" (Dan. 2:37).

 

The catalogue of conquered cities and states boastfully listed here is perhaps to be read not as an awe-inspiring list of conquests already made but rather as a prophecy of Sennacherib's bragging when he came to attempt the toughest target of his military career — the capture of Jerusalem, for there is marvellous resemblance to the propaganda war waged by Rabshakeh outside the wall of the holy city (37:10-13; 36:19,20).

 

Carchemish was a tremendously important commercial city on the banks of the upper Euphrates. Hamath was a strong city of Lebanon conquered by Jeroboam II and at this time ruled by a certain Ya'u-bidi (servant of Jehovah), who was probably Jeroboam's nominee. Hamath and Arpad appear to have been almost twin cities, for they are three times mentioned together.

 

The allusion to Calno reads very differently in the LXX version: "He shall say, Did not I take the country above Babel, and Calneh where the tower was built?". This appears to be an allusion to the tower of Babel, close to Babylon, then an ancient ruin and later restored by Nebuchadnezzar.

 

"Is not Samaria as Damascus?" was true in Ahaz's reign only in the sense that both cities had then come under the domination of Assyria — the last king of Israel, Hoshea, was an Assyrian puppet. But when, later on, Sennacherib came against Jerusalem these words would have much more force, for then, after rebellion and a three-year siege Samaria had been captured and plundered.

 

"My hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols", that is, weak, unsupported by their gods, and unable to resist. It is the figure, repeated in greater detail in verse 14, of a man seeking out and plundering the nest of a helpless bird. In these other kingdoms there were graven images, exceeding in splendour the graven images which were certainly to be found (in Ahaz's time) in Jerusalem as well as Samaria, yet they availed nothing. And, by this copying of the Assyrian altar which he had found installed in Damascus, had not Ahaz already conceded that Ashur was a greater god than Jehovah? (2 Chr.28:3).

 

There is heavy sarcasm in the jibe: "Shall I not do (so) to Jerusalem and her idols?", that is, those introduced by Ahaz: 'He has copied the altar of my god, but is it likely that my god will help him against me?'

 

When the Assyrian campaigns came to their climax in the attempt to take Jerusalem, a very considerable element in the propaganda was centred around Sennacherib's determination to vindicate his own deity against the Name and might of Jehovah (36:18,19; 37:10; see H.Gt., p.61f).

 

Yet there is a strange irony in one of Hosea's contemporary references to "the calves of Bethaven (the golden calf installed at Dan and Bethel)...for the glory is departed from it (from Bethaven), It shall also be carried unto Assyria for a present to king Cantankerous" (10:6; this last is an obvious nickname for the Assyrian king). The implication here is that the substitute cherubim which Jeroboam I had set up became in Nineveh the prototypes of the massive Assyrian "cherubim", a great pro­cessional avenue of which were disinterred from the ruins of Nineveh by Layard. It looks as though Ahaz's pathetic attempt to adopt the religion of his overlord was balanced by a similar Assyrian syncretism.

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10:12 "Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks."

 

God's "whole work" in His holy city was the seeking of holiness. But the people there thought of it as a dramatic deliverance which was to be theirs by right: "Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it" (5:19); whereas, in fact it was to be the rebuke of the stout heart of the men of Judah by means of the stout heart of the king of Assyria. The particular mention here of "mount Zion" stresses that God sought a real religious repentance in His people, such as Hezekiah was to seek (2 Chr. 31) and only achieve in part.

 

There is an admirable double meaning about the word for "perfect his whole work". It means not only the completion of a transaction but also the clearing of a profit in the process. In recent times God has found little of profit in His wayward nation.

 

There is a strange change of pronoun in the middle of this verse, for which there seems to be no obvious reason. LXX has "he, his" throughout. But if the received text reading is not correct, it is difficult to see how it came about.

 

"The fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria" (described in boastful aggressive terms in 14:13) was cruelty, lust of empire, and a vile blasphemy against Jehovah. "The glory of the lifting up of his eyes" may possibly refer to the god to whom the Assyrian lifted up his eyes (but 2:11 does have the meaning of "pride").

 

It is interesting to note that this divine action against the enemy was only to operate when God's work on mount Zion — the nation's change of heart — was first of all accomplished. It is another useful example of how fulfilment of God's purposes waits on the right disposition in the hearts of His people (Num. 14:29-31).

 

The principle is an important one; for will it not hold good also in the last days, that there will be divine judgment against the northern invader of that time only when God's work of changing obdurate hearts in Israel has been accomplished? (T.E. ch.2).

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10:13,14 "For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped."

 

There are distinct echoes of what the bombastic Assyrians actually did say. "By the strength of my hand..." is a characteristic phrase in their inscriptions. "My hand hath found as a nest..." comes near to being a quotation from the annals of Sargon II. And, "I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man" uses an ambiguous expression which might mean "Mighty God" or " bull", both being appropriate to the Assyrian bull-calf figures of deity. "I have removed the bounds of the peoples" describes the policy, first devised by Tiglath-pileser, of deporting the populations of conquered countries. Yet it was Jehovah who "set the bounds of the peoples" (Dt. 32:8). In both places the word describes specially the tribes of Israel. Then what right had these swashbuckling warriors to "gather all the Land" (cp. 13:5) "as one gathereth eggs that are left." There is a picture here of the mother bird deserting its nest (LXX: nossia) "not moving wing or chirping" against the plunderer. This figure of speech is the nearest that can be found in the Old Testament to the lovely contrast in the words of Jesus: "How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood (nossos) under her wings..." (Lk. 13:34).

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10:15 "Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood."

 

Already Isaiah has abundantly emphasized that the Assyrian was "the scourge of God". In one figure after another this was made plain: "the bee", with its sting (7:18), the "razor that is hired" (7:20), "the waters of the River, strong and many" (8:7); and now the axe or saw or staff or club wielded by God against His own recalcitrant people. But the Assyrians' lust for power was limitless, whereas the character of God did set a limit to this retribution, So now, beforehand, Isaiah prophesies the invader's unbridled ambition and cruelty — "the axe boasting against him that heweth therewith...the rod shaking itself against them (the angels of heaven) who lift it up...the club brandishing Him who is not-wood." Is the tail to wag the dog?

 

In later days the prophet was to employ a similar though less dramatic figure about his own nation: "Shall the work (of the potter) say of Him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of Him that framed it, He had no understanding?" (29:16; and cp. 45:9).

 

But the self-conceit and atheism of men knows no limit.

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10:16-19 "Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;" And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them."

 

The context of this paragraph, both before and after, seems to require reference to a mighty expression of God's wrath against Assyrian boasting and savagery. But, remarkably, nearly every expression in these verses is used elsewhere by Isaiah in passages which threaten judgment against God's own faithless people. The pile-up of the verbal parallels is most impressive as well as unexpected.

 

Then can it be that these words were originally spoken against Judah, but then, because of their remarkable appropriateness to God's coming judgment on Assyrian pride, Isaiah inserted them here to emphasize their second truth? It is this meaning especially which will receive chief attention here.

 

Because the invader's crude Gentile egotism, the Lord of hosts (of angels) would, at the appropriate time, send among his fat ones (i.e. his generals) puffed up with pride of achievement, a leanness of both soul and body. They would be like a sick man pining away (RVm).

 

Then the figure changes to that of an irresistible raging forest fire. First, the thorns and briars would quickly kindle and burn away. But then the fine forest trees (v.18a,19a). The glory of his forest and of his fruitful field would be consumed together. The surviving trees (that is, the crack troops remaining to him) would be so few that a mere child would be able to count them — which child? Maher-shalal-hash-baz? In the camp of the Assyrians the Light of Israel, the Glory of the Holy One, who had earlier manifested Himself to Isaiah in seraphim of incomparable fire (6:3,2), would "burn a burning like the burning of a fire".

 

"Behold, the Name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger...his tongue as a devouring fire...the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones...For Tophet is ordained of old...the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it" (30:27,30,33). LXX (v. 18) has an impressive variant reading: "And he that flees shall be as one who flees from burning flame."

 

And all this destruction "in one day", or, rather, in one night, when "the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians" (37:36).

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10:20-22a "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them: but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return:"

 

This four-fold emphasis on "remnant" carries, in this context, the double meaning of (a) those coming safely through the horrors of Assyrian invasion (Hezekiah was to quote this very passage in this sense; 2 Chr. 30:6); and (b) the godly minority who had kept themselves aloof from the apostasy and materialistic faithlessness of the rest of the nation.

 

Shear-jashub, Isaiah's son, would be a young man when the fulness of his prophetic name came to pass. It has even been surmised that Shear-jashub himself was among the 200,000 captives taken away by Sennacherib and who soon after­wards returned home after the Assyrian disaster at Jerusalem.

 

This emphasis on the return of captives is an indirect way of declaring that the promised deliverance would happen in a Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:39-41). For the discerning it would be a faith-stimulating pointer to indicate when Assyrian aggres­sion would come to an end, for every man of Israel knew when the next Jubilee would be (i.e. B.C. 701), even though any careful observance of that law was no longer practised.

 

"No more again stay themselves on him that smote them" is a sardonic phrase, for already it must have become obvious that Ahaz's "keep friends with Assyria" policy (2 Kgs. 16:7; 2 Chr. 28:20-23) was being interpreted by that military giant as an easy opportunity to pick Judah clean. The same wretched policy, adopted later on by Hezekiah's princes, had precisely the same result — Sennacherib took with both hands the "present" which was sent him, and then, treating it as though it were a slap in the face, he came on as aggressively as ever (2 Kgs. 18:15-17, and chapter 9 in H.Gt.

 

Over against these difficulties of political bargaining is here set dependence on the Holy One of Israel (6:3) "in truth", that is, with faith in God's promises (this is the constant association of the terms "mercy" and "truth"). The promise to Abraham is quoted explicitly — "as the sand of the sea" — and in such a way as to make clear that the occurrence of that phrase in the Solomon record (1 Kgs. 4:20) was not really a fulfilment of the promise.

 

Nor was it fully accomplished in Hezekiah's time, but a close parallel in Hosea 1:9-11 (who quotes whom?) makes Messianic reference inevitable, as also does the allusion here to "the Mighty God" (El Gibbor; 9:6), and the repeated mention of "the remnant" which is echoed yet again in an undeniably Messianic context in 11:11,16 (and cp. 6:13).

 

The Hebrew text does not say "a remnant of them shall return" but "a remnant in him" that is, putting their confidence and gratitude in El Gibbor — a primary reference, no doubt, to Hezekiah but much more explicitly to Christ.

 

The change of pronoun to "thy people Israel as the sand of the sea" suggests that this is Isaiah's prayer on behalf of the nation. Paul evidently read the passage thus, for he introduces his quotation of it in this way: "Esaias also (like Hosea) crieth (to God) concerning Israel..." (Rom. 9:27); and here the use of the quotation is Messianic, looking to the day of Israel's ultimate re-gathering.

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10:22b,23 "The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land."

 

The first question to settle here is whether the "consumption" foretold is a judgment against Judah as God's people or against the Assyrians for their cruel hostility to Abraham's race.

 

a. The words "decreed, determined" imply that here is a repetition of a prophecy already made known — in Joel 3:14: "decision". But that passage fails to resolve decisively the point at issue.

 

b. However, Paul's use of this Isaiah passage in Rom. 9:27,28 with reference to the casting off of Israel in A.D.70 settles the question, especially since, after quoting LXX verbatim, Paul suddenly alters the last phrase from: "in the entire habitable" to "in all the Land."

 

c. Then, too, there is the remarkable fact that the Hebrew word for "consump­tion" occurs only in Dt. 28:65, a judgment on Israel, and in the name of Ruth's husband Chilion, who evidently died of consumption.

 

d. Again, the word "overflow" alludes back to the figure in 8:8 of the Assyrian Euphrates flooding God's Land.

 

e. The different word for "consumption...determined" (in v.23) is picked up in Dan. 9:27 when foretelling the casting off of Israel after the coming of "Messiah the Prince."

 

It is a judgment which overflows "in righteousness" because the justice of God demands such an expression of his indignation (cp. 5:16,13).

 

Yet the context here, in 10:24,25, puts powerful emphasis on the outpouring of wrath on the Assyrian. So presumably the prophecy is so phrased as to be capable of being read both ways — against Judah for their indifference to the God of their fathers, and against the Assyrians for their national pride and contempt for the true God.

 

It is not possible to trace this two-fold application in A.D.70, perhaps because Titus had a wholesome respect for the God of the Jews. However there can be little doubt that, in the "consumption decreed" (cp. Jl. 3:14) for the last days, both aspects of the prophecy will find such a fulfilment "in the Land" as will leave the entire world awestruck.

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10:24,25 "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, 0 my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction."

 

The "Therefore" introducing this passage seems to look back to verse 15 (cp. v.16's "Therefore"). In both places there is the double story of God's wrath against Judah and then against the Assyrian for the excessive brutality shown against an almost defenceless people.

 

Again there is the reassuring name: Adonai Jehovah of hosts (that is, hosts of angels, in control of a complex situation).

 

A people whose heart earlier had been "moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind" was faced, in Hezekiah's day, with a much more acute threat, yet, as with Moses and his people on the shore of the Red Sea, Isaiah has one simple exhortation: "Be not afraid" — "neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid...let him (the Lord of hosts) be your fear, and let him be your dread" (8:12,13). "Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me" (37:6; cp. 43:1,5; 44:2).

 

The rod with which the Assyrian would smite was also God's instrument (v.26). And as Moses was bidden lift up the rod of God over the Red Sea to open a way of salvation for his fellows paralysed with fear (52:4), so once again there would be a signal deliverance, and this specially for "my people that dwell in Zion", that is, for the faithful remnant loyal to the service of God in the temple.

 

This gracious and dramatic rescue was promised in "yet a very little while." It is a phrase which requires to have been spoken very shortly before the great Assyrian invasion to which it obviously refers. So, although the death of Ahaz is not referred to until 14:28, it must surely be concluded that this prophecy (most of chapter 10) belongs to somewhere about the tenth year of Hezekiah's reign.

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10:26,27 "And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing."

 

Here are two strong historical allusions calculated to move the prophet's disciples, including the godly king, to yet stronger faith in the divine rescue already promised. The parallel with Gideon's victory, already alluded to (9:4), is quite striking:

 

a. An oppression raised up by God.

 

b. Irresistible invasion — like locusts (Joel's vivid and elaborate figure of speech; ch.2).

 

c. The cry of faith to God.

 

d. Reminder of the ancient memorable deliverance from Egypt.

 

e. A manifestation of divine glory — the angel of the Lord.

 

f. The overflow of imported idolatry.

 

g. God's living water — Harod, Siloam.

 

h. In the destruction of the enemy, trumpet and fire (27:13; Jl. 2:2).

 

i. The hostile leader escapes, only to be slain later — Oreb (Jd. 7:25), Sennacherib (37:38).

 

The Judges references are 6:1,5,7,8,22,25; 7:1,20,25. Ps. 83:11 -13, a Hezekiah psalm, has the same Oreb allusion (note the mention of Ashur in v.8).

 

The Moses reference is powerful. This is the first of many instances in Isaiah where the saving of Jerusalem by the destruction of Sennacherib's army is set alongside the saving of Israel at the Red Sea by the destruction of Pharaoh's army. The lifting up of Moses' staff over the waters (43:2) is specially appropriate, for had not the Assyrian might been compared to the overflowing of the great Euphrates into God's own Land?

 

Burden and yoke make up a grim figure of oppression endured by God's people — foretold in the curses of Deuteronomy (28:48) and eloquently repeated by both Isaiah and Nahum, in both instances about the hated Assyrian. It became also an even more vivid acted parable in the experience of Jeremiah (28:10), and was picked up with startling effect by Peter at the council of Jerusalem: "Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear?" (Acts 15:10), as though comparing the exacting standards of the Law of Moses with the hard regime of Assyria or Babylon!

 

Isaiah's conclusion here is not without its difficulty: "The (Assyrian) yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing (literally: from the face of oil)." Modernist attempts to cope with this problem, chiefly by cooking the text, have all been described by Kay as "absurdly grotesque conceits." Although not shoutingly obvious, the most likely interpretation is to take the words as an allusion to the royal anointing oil, for there can be no doubt that but for the faith and importunity of good king Hezekiah, Jerusalem would have been a lost city.

 

But there is every reason in the world to read this prophetic assurance with reference to Messiah's deliverance of the holy city in the last days. Hezekiah is readily recognizable as one of the finest of all the Old Testament types of Christ (see H.Gt., ch.22). The Moses parallel, frequently referred to in Isaiah, encourages this approach. The Talmud makes this an explicit reference to Messiah, "The govern­ment (and not the yoke) shall be upon his shoulder" (9:6,4) is already a familiar Messianic phrase. Psalm 83, with which there is here a close parallel, also belongs unmistakably to the last days. And does not the Sixth Vial use Isaiah's language about the overflowing Euphrates being dried up!

 

If only there were clearer insight, would it not be possible to read all early Isaiah chapters with reference to the Messiah and his times?

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10:28-32 "He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages: They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. Madmenah is removed: the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem."

 

Whether contemporary chronicle or prophecy of how it would take place, this passage describes the approach of the Assyrian army to Jerusalem. Boutflower is so convinced that Sennacherib's force did not arrive by this route that he postulates, without any Biblical or archaeological evidence, an earlier attempt at attack which petered out ineffectively.

 

But if Sennacherib were besieging Libnah (37:8) when he sent an army against Jerusalem, the only other defenced city left intact, the obvious approach would be via the valley of Beth-horon, emerging on to the high ridge between Ai (Aiath) and Michmash.

 

But there is a further problem. The list of names given does not follow the line of the main road to Jerusalem, but takes a much more difficult route a few miles to the east. It is hardly credible that any experienced army commander would accept a self-inflicted handicap of this sort, so it seems more likely that the places mentioned were those ravaged by the Assyrian raiding parties as the advance south pro­ceeded. Hence the language of terror regarding one place after another.

 

A further feature of this is that almost all the names mentioned are associated, in 1 Samuel, with king Saul. Here "Gibeah of Saul" makes the link explicit. Thus an added purpose behind this dismal record comes to light — the king men would choose, "to go out before us and fight our battles" (1 Sam. 8:20), was no success in this respect, nor were those descended from him; but, by contrast, "there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse" (11:1) endowed with all the godly powers which would mean the saving of his people. The juxtaposition of this prophecy of helpless wretchedness with the assurance and glory of the reign of the son of David (in ch. 11) is now seen to be specially effective.

 

For Migron, LXX reads (with the slightest possible change in the Hebrew) Megiddon, but this can hardly be correct, for Megiddon is too far north of these other places. An Assyrian inscription mentions Amgarron near Jerusalem.

 

Nob is most probably mount Scopus whence Assyrian threat against "the mountain of the house of the daughter of Zion" (cp. 2:2,3) would be obvious. For centuries that hill was called "the camp of the Assyrians." There was special venom against the temple of Jehovah because of the abiding memory of Jonah's irresistible campaign in Nineveh and because, more recently, Hezekiah had bidden the Assyrian garrison in the temple area (2 Chr. 28:21) pack up and and be off. This was remembered against Hezekiah with bitterness. Hence the special Assyrian am­bition: "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation" (14:13). And hence also the jibes made against Jehovah when the siege of Jerusalem was in progress (37:10,23,28).

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10:33,34 "Behold the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one."

 

Many take these words as describing the divine counterblast to the Assyrian in­vasion just described, but several details suggest rather that they read as a picture of the devastation they will inflict "with terror" in the course of their campaign. Here the Assyrian is being used as God's axe to lop the boughs of pride in His people. The figure of an oak cut down was used already in 6:13, where judgment on Judah is plain and clear. Assyrian inscriptions mention again and again how the forests of conquered peoples were plundered. In Judah the felling of trees would be part of the preparation for the final onslaught on Jerusalem.

 

"The high ones of stature" and "the haughty" who are to be humbled are the self-confident leaders of the nation (as in 2:11).

 

The forest of Lebanon was the national armoury (2:13; 33:9; 1 Kgs. 10:17), a wonderful building with cedar pillars. The invader promised himself success against it, both literally and figuratively.

 

Long years later John the Baptist picked up this figure of speech: "The axe laid at the root of the trees" (Mt. 3:10) to warn his heedless generation of impending judg­ment — by the Messiah who here is referred to in the next verse (11:1), where there is a promise that the stock of David, cut back and apparently lifeless will never­theless be found to be vigorous with new life.

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Chapter 11

 

11-1 "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:"

 

The more outstanding Messianic prophecies in this part of Isaiah make a fascinating sequence:

 

7:14 The Promises of the birth of the Messiah

9:6,7 His Birth

11:1-10 His Kingdom

 

The same passages can be read, though hardly with the same precision, con­cerning the prototype Hezekiah, with this new chapter appropriate to the occasion when the young prince became a co-regent (at the time of his bar-mitzvah?) along with his worthless father — as he and his father had, in turn, been co-regents with Uzziah.

 

"A rod out of the stem of Jesse" not only echoes the figure of 6:13 but also makes a pointed contrast with the devastation of "Lebanon" with which chapter 10 concludes. It is interesting to observe that the rabbis fastened on this sudden change as a ground for the optimistic inference in A.D.70 that very shortly after the destruction of the temple Messiah's reign would commence. They were nearer the truth than they knew!

 

The remarkable mention here of Jesse, about whom virtually nothing else is known, seems to imply that when Messiah comes the royal line will no longer be regal but will have sunk back to the ordinariness of common life. This was true when Jesus was born and in a different sense it will be true when he comes again.

 

Two words are used for the Branch, but with little distinction of meaning. Here (and in 60:21) netzer, whence Nazareth, and Matthew's allusion (2:23) back to prophecies of a Messiah coming from Nazareth; elsewhere — in 4:2; Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zech. 3:8; 6:12 — the word is tzemach. It is interesting to observe that the word for "grow (fruitfully) out of his roots" suggests a link with Ephratah, thus appropriately setting Nazareth and Bethlehem side by side. Micah evidently read his Isaiah scroll in this way, for he has Messiah "coming forth" (s.w. as here) out of Ephratah.

 

It is noteworthy that a cedar (10:34) does not sprout again when cut down, but a vine (5:1-7) does.

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11:2 "And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;"

 

The seven-fold endowment of this divine administrator (not the same seven as Rev. 1:4) is now set forth — superb qualities which are mentioned together in three verses of Proverbs (8:12-14). This is appropriate to describe the great Son of David, for those early chapters of Proverbs comprise David's education of his son Solomon. This Messianic king is both a Solomon (when at his best) and a David.

 

Just as "the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle," so now "in him (the Messiah) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 1:9 — an allusion to the tabernacle).

 

The word "rest" is specially eloquent. After a limited fashion this was true in the experience of the seventy endowed with the Spirit to help Moses (Num. 11:25, where note RV: "They did so no more"). True also, again with limitations, of first-century disciples (1 Pet. 4:14). But now in fulness and without ceasing: "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he” (Jn. 1:33).

 

If there is to be a seven-fold (i.e. perfect) endowment of the Spirit, it is surely strange that the first phrase has no descriptive term attached to it, but is simply "the Spirit of the Lord." Perhaps LXX preserved the complete form of this verse, in­cluding at the end: "the spirit of knowledge and godliness, and of the fear of the Lord". If this is correct, then first "the Spirit of the Lord" in its fulness, and then the seven-fold aspect of the loveliness of the Spirit's characteristics. Comparison with the seven-branched candlestick is invited, especially in the light of verse 5.

 

This "Spirit of wisdom and understanding" far surpasses Solomon at his best; that was only prudence and shrewdness in statecraft (2 Chr. 1:10-12).

 

It makes an interesting question why counsel and might should be bracketed together here. Is it that the true might resides not in physical resources but in good counsel? The word "counsel" clearly links with the Hebrew word for "tree" — not the impressive cedar of Lebanon, to be hewn down (10:34), but the Branch (v.1) which is both root and offspring of David (Rev. 22:16).

 

The "knowledge" mentioned here is certainly the knowledge of the Lord, for that is the only knowledge worth mentioning. "By his knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many" (53:11).

 

Finally, "the fear of the Lord", a phrase superbly appropriate to the days of his flesh, describes Messiah in the glory of his millennial reign; now he is an immortal King. Then what a problem this phrase presents to the trinitarians who seize with avidity on "Mighty God" (9:6) but are never known to face honestly the logic of this passage. Here is no "co-equal" Son in a triune Godhead.

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11:3-5 "And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins."

 

"My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth" (2 Sam. 14:20) — so it was said about David; but this Son of David is greatly to surpass his prestigious forefather. "Quick understanding" is actually the interpretation of a Hebrew idiom. This word for "scent" describes one who is at once appreciative of devotion to God — "an odour of a sweet smell" (Phil. 4:18) — and one to whose nose hypocrites are a smoke in his nostrils (65:5).

 

It is not clear whether this "fear of the Lord" is the One who judges (v.2c; 2 Sam 23:3), or a virtue he specially appreciates in those who come before him for judg­ment (v.4). But, by contrast with the corrupt judges of Isaiah's own day (10:2) and indeed, to a large extent, all human judges (Jn. 7:24), here is One who is gifted with uncanny powers of reading men's minds, their motives and their deceits. "He knows all men, and needs not that any should testify of man: for he knows what is in man" (Jn. 2:24,25). One of the outstanding demonstrations given to Israel that Jesus was their Messiah, was the superabundance of examples of his power to read men's minds (Jer. 23:5).

 

The poor, unimpressive to the eye, and the meek, not self-assertive or clamorous to the ear, know that from this divine King they will receive righteous judgment and equity (Ps. 72:3,4). He appreciates the pious self-denial of a widow (Mk 12:43) and of a penitent disciple (Jn. 12:3).

 

But there is in him also a royal indignation against bad men. The word goes out of his lips with power; it is like "a sharp two-edged sword" (Rev. 1:16; 2:16; 19:15). "Smite the earth" is a strange phrase, but it needs only the smallest emendation to one letter to read: "smite the oppressor," and thus there is an admirable parallel with "slay the wicked", which last word is singular and therefore specially appropriate to be quoted by Paul with reference to "that Wicked One" who was already causing grievous spiritual headaches in the apostle's own day: "The Lord shall consume him with the spirit (breath) of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming" (2 Th. 2:8).

 

"Righteousness the girdle of his loins" implies that his seed derive their righteousness from him. But the mention also of a second girdle bids the reader see him not only as righteous King but also as High Priest, for Scripture speaks of no other person as equipped with two girdles (Lev. 8:7). Zechariah also describes "the man whose name is The Branch" as being also "a priest upon his throne" (Zech. 6:12,13).

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11:6-8 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den."

 

In Moses' vivid prophecy of his people's future history there was this horrific detail, clearly symbolic in its intent: "And I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, and the poison of serpents of the dust" (Dt. 32:24). But now, in Messiah's reign, all will be changed. The violence characteristic of fierce predatory animal life will dis­appear from Israel's experience, and indeed from all human history.

 

It has often been speculated that Virgil's "Messianic" eclogue, a poem virtually unique in ancient literature, is only to be explained as due to acquaintance with this passage, and maybe others, in Isaiah.

 

It can hardly be doubted that the main intent of the words is symbolic. The context itself seems to say so: "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord..." (v.9). And in so many other places in Isaiah, and elsewhere, the flavour of the language is the same (5:17; 35:9; 43:20; and cp. Acts 10:12; Hos. 2:18; Lk. 10:18,19). The lion, wolf and asp are all used in Scripture as symbols of the wicked. And can there be any doubt that the great "beastly" vision of Daniel (ch.7) is intended as commentary on what Isaiah has written here? The sequence of lion, bear, leopard and dragon (python) are all here, and so also is the Son of man who is to tame all these ancient enemies of his people.

 

It is surely significant that the wolf is to dwell with the lamb (not the lamb with the wolf), and the leopard with the kid. Nor is the pairing of these animals inappropriate, for it has been observed that a wolf attacks sheep-folds, but a leopard will stalk a goat (kid) in inaccessible places where no wolf would venture, and a lion will carry off an ox which neither of the other predators could attempt to move.

 

Yet another aspect of the symbolism here is that calf, young lion, little child may be intended to suggest three of the standards of Israel (v. 10), that of Dan being omitted (as in Rev. 7) for obvious reasons. And the lion eating straw like the bullock may suggest the re-union of Judah with Ephraim (which much-to-be-desired move came about, in part, in the reign of Hezekiah).

 

A yet more profound symbol is that of the child (Immanuel?) playing safely (there is a lovely play on words here in the Hebrew) on the lair of the cobra (the Hebrew word is almost "python") or of the cockatrice (viper), because these dens are empty — the serpent has been destroyed, as Gen. 3:15 foretells.

 

Yet, lovely symbolism notwithstanding, there is also a distinct suggestion of the literal, for in the unsullied primeval state of creation "to every beast of the earth"...was given every green herb for food (Gen. 1:30). Now Isaiah has a message of Paradise Restored.

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11:9 "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."

 

What a sublime climax this verse makes to this superb paragraph! The first half of it is quoted, together with two other fragments from verses 6,7, in Isaiah's attractive picture of the "new heavens and earth;" and the second half is cited, with slight elaboration, by Habakkuk (2:14).

 

Grammatically "they" who now no longer hurt nor destroy are the ravenous beasts already referred to. But here there must be a human reference — to Gentile nations who have preyed on Zion, the holy mountain (s.w. 27:13). Jeremiah expands the idea: "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart" (3:17).

 

Isaiah's phrase is: "filled with the knowledge of the Lord." Psalm 72, the psalm of Messiah's kingdom, has: "filled with the glory of the Lord" (72:19). Habakkuk, with his eye on both, reads "filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord" (2:14).

 

Specially is this sublimely true of God's elect, both now and hereafter: "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord" (54:13). "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts...they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them" (Jer. 31:33,34).

 

The picture is made the more impressive by yet another figure of speech. As the sea is covered with waves, so there will be a great surge of eagerness to learn the ways of God. And as the Great Sea washed the shores not only of Israel but also of many a distant Gentile land, so Messiah's kingdom will see an impartial diffusion of divine knowledge and glory to all peoples.

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11:10 "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious."

 

The repetition in v.11 of "in that day" shows that this verse 10 is not the con­clusion of the preceding paragraph but the beginning of the next.

 

It is particularly easy to trace right through this paragraph the primary application to Hezekiah and his times, but to stop there would be a colossal blunder, for there is easy and impressive reference also to Christ in his Second Coming, and this is to some extent anticipated in his first advent.

 

Mention of "a root of Jesse" after "a rod out of the stem of Jesse" (v.1) establishes that the apocalyptic allusion to "the root and the offspring of David" (22.16) looks back to this chapter. The picture is presented of a shoot springing up out of what seems to be a dead olive root (Rom. 11:18) and out of a dry ground (53:2), to make a tall sturdy trunk like a pole (s.w. Num. 21:9; cp. Jn. 12:32). It stands as an ensign for the tribes of God's New Israel to flee to for aid (so the elo-quent Hebrew root implies). And how right LXX version is in translating "stand" by a word which in the New Testament has such close associations with resurrection! Of course, for what aid to sinners would a crucified Christ be if he remained dead?

 

But "to Him (not: to it) shall the Gentiles seek" — and here Isaiah has a word which nearly always, in its scores of occurrences, means "seeking the Lord" (as in 55:6). LXX has elpizo, these Gentiles set their hope on the hope of Israel. This is how Paul read the passage for, after quoting it (Rom. 15:12), he ran on with this comment: "Now the God of (this) hope fill you (Gentiles) with all joy and peace in believing."

 

This actually transpired in Hezekiah's time, for that king's amazing recovery from a living death and the shattering overthrow of an irresistible Assyrian army sent a shock wave of gladness and awe through all surrounding countries, so that "many (foreigners) brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he (He?) was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth" (2 Chr. 32:23; cp. Is. 60:5; 49:12).

 

"His resting place shall be the Glory." Always God's resting place is a temple (as in 66:1 and Ps. 132:8,14). But now there is foretold a unique temple permanently filled with God's own Glory, not a sanctuary left desolate or only occasionally honoured with a divine visitation.

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11:11,12 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

 

"Second time" implies a first — that is, when Moses led Israel out of Egypt. The allusions, especially in "Second" Isaiah, to the Messianic redemption echoing that earlier deliverance from Egyptian bondage, are copious; e.g. 49:9-11; 63:11-1 2; 43:1 -5,16-19; and Ps. 4:1,2. To underline the point, the Hebrew text of each of these verses makes a play on the name Joseph, the chosen Son without whose personal virtue and ready forgiveness his family could hardly have hoped to survive.

 

So this Book of Immanuel finds room also for Shear-jashub: "a remnant shall return." Israel is to be punished but not abandoned. The word "recover" is really "purchase", as used in Israel's song of redemption at the Red Sea (Ex. 15:6; Ps. 74:2).

 

Even the utterly astonishing deliverance in Hezekiah's day, when the remnant of a massive Assyrian army fled stricken back to Nineveh, was not the "second time." Even such a titanic divine intervention was to be seen as only a foreshadowing of the great climax of God's care for His people in the Last Days. Then if that unique event in ancient history was only a flimsy anticipation of the real thing, how complete and permanent will that colossal future salvation prove to be?

 

Yet it is this Assyrian prototype which provides some of the geographical details mentioned here. Assyria comes first, of course, not only because it was the ir­resistible enemy but also because of the endless stream of captives marched off as slave labour to Babylon (a recent Assyrian capture). In his famous prism inscription, Sennacherib boasts of rounding up 200,000 prisoners, nearly four times as many captives as Nebuchadnezzar dragged away (cp. Zech. 10:10).

 

Pathros is southern Egypt, and Cush is Ethiopia. The lean-on-Egypt policy advocated by Hezekiah's princes at the time of his dire sickness must have been accompanied by a flight thither on the part of many terrified Jewish civilians. There is archaeological evidence of at least one Jewish colony in Egypt in this very period.

 

Elam, Shinar (Babylon; 48:20; 43:14,5,6), and Hamath are also mentioned as areas where the prisoners were dragged away by the Assyrians, to do their building for them.

 

"The islands of the sea", more correctly: "The coastlands", represent the flight by ship of some of the more fortunate fugitives.

 

This wretched situation anticipates an oppression and scattering of Jews in a day which lies yet in the future. The state of Israel, fashioned entirely in godless self-reliance, must yet again go through the mill of adversity, until the people seek the God of their fathers and so find a Messianic deliverance almost too amazing to be true.

 

So it may be expected that when the Jews ("the world's fourth super-power") come under the tyranny of their Arab enemies, many of them will become slaves in the territories round about (Dt. 28:68), until in their penitence they are given a Messiah to lift them permanently out of their misery (Is. 27:12,13; Zeph. 3:10). Then there will be an ensign not only for the seed of Abraham but also for Gentiles now startlingly convinced that God is on the side of Israel. They too (though not all) will come to Jerusalem to humble themselves in worship before the God of Israel (14:2; 49:22; 66:20).

 

But more important than any political Gentiles will be the "outcasts" and the "dispersed" of the chosen race (60:4; Am. 9:15). They will come not only from neighbouring countries but from "the four corners (wings) of the earth" — is there here a hint of cherubic protection (Ez. 1:6)? The idea is repeated in Rev. 7:1 where four angels stand at the four corners of the earth (or, the Land), restraining hostile forces from harming the sealed of God — and the rest of the chapter describes a deliverance comparable to Israel's escape from Egypt.

 

It is noteworthy that whereas "outcasts" is masculine, "dispersed" is feminine. The significance of this in Hezekiah's day would be readily perceived, for it is known (Sennacherib's prism again) that the Assyrians took away women of Hezekiah's court. Then what is the special meaning of this for the last days?

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11:13 "The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim."

 

This must mean that those in Ephraim, the northern kingdom, who envy Judah (chiefly because of its temple) will depart into captivity. And those in Judah hostile to Ephraim (because of schism) will be cut off by Assyrian invaders. A common enemy would make it more feasible for them to sink their long-standing differences.

 

Hezekiah (2 Chr. 30:1-12) made a valiant and godly attempt to realise this prophecy in fact, but what he achieved was at best only a partial fulfilment. Hosea (1:1.1) similarly prophesied of a reunion of a broken fellowship, and his words likewise were only fulfilled in part. The true fulfilment awaits the coming of the Messiah, as Ezekiel 37, written over a century later, makes plain — the two sticks of Israel and Judah will become one only when God "makes them one nation in the Land upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all" (v. 16,22; cp. Jer. 3:18).

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11:14 "But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them"

 

This picture of God's people dominating their neighbours in the Messianic kingdom had its counterpart in the sudden rise to power and prosperity of Hezekiah's Judah after the destruction of Sennacherib's army.

 

The "shoulders" of the Philistines were the northern and southern wings of their long strip of territory. It is possible to infer from the prism of Sennacherib that about the time of the change-over from Sargon to Sennacherib on the Assyrian throne, Hezekiah had invaded Philistia (2 Kgs. 18:8 — a precautionary measure against further Assyrian inroads), and had taken captive Padi, Sargon's puppet ruler, and had substituted a prince of his own. Sennacherib's campaign then reversed all this. Hezekiah's man was taken off to Assyria, and all his court with him; also there was a successful demand that Padi, a hostage in Jerusalem, be released to resume his reign in Ekron.

 

After the colossal Assyrian disaster outside Jerusalem, the tables were turned again. Once more Hezekiah's authority over the Philistine coastland was re­asserted. But also there were punitive expeditions against the eastern peoples, especially Edom (34:6,7; 63:1-6; Obad. 18-21), but Moab too came in for its share of retribution (25:10; Zeph. 2:7-9). Earlier these peoples had all come in readily enough, as they always did at every opportunity, to act as jackals for the invader — Josephus refers to Sennacherib as "king of the Arabians". Midianites and Ishmaelites — "them of the east" — also came in for retributive action (the word "together" is appropriate, for these camel-mounted peoples always acted in concert, eg: Jud. 6:3).

 

It is an impressive picture of Judah's right hand and left being stretched out round the south and north ends of the Dead Sea to teach Edom and Moab a lesson. And the word "obey" implies that many even of the more remote Ammonites were rounded up as slaves.

 

It was to be a sudden re-assertion of the equally lightning expansion of much of David's empire (2 Sam. 8).

 

But, as already stated, all this was merely prototype, for the context demands a yet more thrilling fulfilment when at last Jerusalem receives its Messiah.

 

The Hezekiah pattern will work itself out in detail. First, there will be a shattering overthrow of the state of Israel, the whole Land being overrun by Arab enemies (this only possible, of course, with the necessary assistance of the "northerner"); then, repentance, of which at present there are only meagre signs, will bring a heavenly rescue operation so that with astonishing suddenness the kingdom of Israel will be re-established with Messiah reigning in Jerusalem; then will ensue needful punitive expeditions against those who have been such vicious enemies — "this honour have all his saints (the holy nation)"; Ps. 149:9.

 

The word "fly" implies the act of birds of prey. Yet LXX evidently read the word in an even more symbolic fashion: "fly in foreign ships", that is, from an overseas scattering. If this reading is correct, it can refer only to a Messianic return of the Diaspora (as in 60:9); and in that case, "spoil them of the east" is surely to be taken in an evangelic sense (as in 53:12; Gen. 49:27) — the conversion of Israel's most bitter foes.

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11:15 "And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod."

 

This verse, along with v.10,11,16, has a close parallel in 27:12,13 which has a clear promise of a re-gathering of Israelite exiles from Egypt and Assyria: "and they shall come that were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem."

 

For the phrase "shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea", LXX (evidently reading one letter different in the Hebrew text) has: "dry up...with his mighty wind." Thus, a deliverance like that in the time of Moses is promised: "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind, all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided" (Ex. 14:21). Not that exactly the same thing will happen again as happened in Moses' day; but a marvel comparable to that is promised: "As in the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things" (Mic. 7:15); cp "the second time" (v. 11 here). "In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shaketh over it" (19:16).

 

In Hezekiah's day, first the massive Egyptian army was routed by the Assyrians (Sennacherib prism), and then the Assyrian host was decimated by the host of the Lord (37:36). The language of this verse is symbolically prophetic of that double destruction. And thus the way was made easy for the return of fugitives from Egypt and prisoners from Assyria and Babylon (v. 16).

 

The future reference of these words is to a Last-Day deliverance of Jews from the lands of their Arab enemies after the state of Israel has been overrun in the last and worst of all tribulations (cp. Zech. 10:11).

 

"The tongue of the Egyptian sea" is a double-meaning reference in irony to the Egyptians as great boasters who accomplish little.

 

"The River" is, with hardly an exception, the Euphrates (cp. 8:7,8). RV reads: "smite it into seven streams", i.e. cause its waters to dwindle away, thus enabling the returning captives to "go over dryshod", literally, "in shoes", that is, no longer barefoot, because now treated with respect and kindness by their captors.

 

This, and not the un-Biblical story of Cyrus damming the Euphrates, is the true original of the apocalyptic prophecy of the water of the great river Euphrates being dried up (Rev. 16:12). And Isaiah 11:16 goes on to define in advance who are "the kings of the east" whose way home is thus prepared.

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