Isa 10:5-19 | KingComments | STEP | After the LORD emphatically showed His people their sins, here suddenly comes the judgment on the disciplinary rod used by Him. The king the LORD uses to chasten His people also has to deal with the judgmental God because he does not think he is just an instrument. give a striking example of how the LORD used the heathen people as a discipling rod for His people. In doing so, He has given them a far-reaching authority over His people. The heathen peoples on their side do not think of God, however. They think to carry out their own plans and to accomplish them in their own strength. That is why God’s judgment also comes on them. Isaiah pronounces the “woe” over Assyria at a time when Judah and Ahaz still expect everything from an alliance with Assyria. The LORD sent Assyria to His people “as the rod of My anger” ( ). A rod serves to discipline. The anger of the LORD enables Assyria to attack Judah. It also depicts what will happen in the near future, in the period of God’s anger over Judah. Then the prophetic Assyria, the coming king of the North as the leader of the Arab allies, will discipline Israel. The LORD sends this enemy to His people because they are “a godless nation” ( ). They are a nation who honor Him with their lips, while their hearts are far away from Him. He is so angry with His people that He commands Assyria to make His people suffer greatly. Their sins are so terrible, that Assyria must plunder and trample His people. All their possessions are taken from them and all their lives are trampled “like mud in the streets”. This is a poignant description of the judgment God brings on His people. It shows how vexed God is by the sins of His people. This does not mean that Assyria knows the anger of God toward His people. Assyria pursues its own interests and seeks only its own benefit. He knows nothing of being an instrument in God’s hand. Thus, all unbelievers believe that they are free to do as they please, while God can use them in His sovereignty to fulfill His plans. In this way God turns the ‘woe’ over Israel into a ‘woe’ over the enemies of Israel.

‏ Isaiah 10:5-19

Assyria as the Disciplinary Rod of the LORD

After the LORD emphatically showed His people their sins, here suddenly comes the judgment on the disciplinary rod used by Him. The king the LORD uses to chasten His people also has to deal with the judgmental God because he does not think he is just an instrument. Isa 10:5-19 give a striking example of how the LORD used the heathen people as a discipling rod for His people. In doing so, He has given them a far-reaching authority over His people. The heathen peoples on their side do not think of God, however. They think to carry out their own plans and to accomplish them in their own strength. That is why God’s judgment also comes on them.

Isaiah pronounces the “woe” over Assyria at a time when Judah and Ahaz still expect everything from an alliance with Assyria. The LORD sent Assyria to His people “as the rod of My anger” (Isa 10:5). A rod serves to discipline. The anger of the LORD enables Assyria to attack Judah. It also depicts what will happen in the near future, in the period of God’s anger over Judah. Then the prophetic Assyria, the coming king of the North as the leader of the Arab allies, will discipline Israel.

The LORD sends this enemy to His people because they are “a godless nation” (Isa 10:6). They are a nation who honor Him with their lips, while their hearts are far away from Him. He is so angry with His people that He commands Assyria to make His people suffer greatly. Their sins are so terrible, that Assyria must plunder and trample His people. All their possessions are taken from them and all their lives are trampled “like mud in the streets”. This is a poignant description of the judgment God brings on His people. It shows how vexed God is by the sins of His people.

This does not mean that Assyria knows the anger of God toward His people. Assyria pursues its own interests and seeks only its own benefit. He knows nothing of being an instrument in God’s hand. Thus, all unbelievers believe that they are free to do as they please, while God can use them in His sovereignty to fulfill His plans. In this way God turns the ‘woe’ over Israel into a ‘woe’ over the enemies of Israel.

The Motivations of Assyria

The king of Assyria has no connection whatsoever with God. He does not have the intention of God, but his own intention and acts accordingly (Isa 10:7). In his heart he does not consider the things of God, but quite different things. That is why he also lives in enmity against God (Rom 8:5-8). Thus the prophet Nahum says about Assyria: “From you has gone forth one who plotted evil against the LORD, a wicked counselor” (Nah 1:11). We see here that God knows the heart and thoughts of the wicked through and through. All things are open and laid bare to His eyes, even the deepest hidden motives of the heart (Heb 4:12-13; 1Cor 4:5).

Assyria wants to wipe out and exterminate as many peoples as possible in order to enlarge its territory and expand its rule. That’s why he now wants to annex Judah as well. He imagines himself to be superior. His princes are all kings, he brags (Isa 10:8). Proudly he points to earlier successes (Isa 10:9). Also the ten tribes realm, Samaria, is already in his hands.

In his delusion of grandeur he now thinks he can incorporate Jerusalem. To him it is a city like any other. To him, the God of Israel is also no more than an idol, yes, even less than the idols of other countries (Isa 10:10; cf. Isa 36:19-20). Therefore, he believes he can conquer Jerusalem even more easily than the other cities he has conquered (Isa 10:11). This is also what Jerusalem has caused by its behavior. Instead of being a testimony to God’s name, they have replaced God with idols.

The king of Assyria doesn’t even speak about his gods who would have given him the victory. He boasts that he owes everything to himself, that he did it himself, “as I have done”, thus declaring himself a god.

The Arrogance of Assyria

The LORD already knows the proud thoughts of the king of Assyria, who will be as successful as it fits for the fulfillment of God’s plan. When Assyria has performed the work of the Lord (Adonai), He will deal with the king of Assyria (Isa 10:12). The purpose of His work is for a remnant of His people to be converted to Him and for the wicked mass to be judged. The retributive judgment of the disciplinary rod comes not so much on the person of the king of Assyria, but on “the fruit of the arrogant heart … and the pomp of his haughtiness”. His arrogance drives him and the pomp of his haughtiness shows the total absence of the acknowledgment of God.

We often see in the old testament prophecies that there is a direct pre-fulfillment in the days of the prophet, or shortly afterward, and a fulfillment in the end time, the final fulfillment. This is also the case here. Assyria will want to take Jerusalem, but will be judged by God when He has done His work through this enemy by using him as a disciplining rod for His people. The direct fulfillment we see in the days of Hezekiah (2Kgs 19:35-37). The final fulfillment we see in the future in the advance and destruction of the king of the North (Dan 11:45). This will take place when he and his armies return from Egypt (Dan 11:40-44).

The king of Assyria is full of himself. He speaks of “the power of my hand” and “my wisdom” as the means by which he has achieved his successes (Isa 10:13). Strength and wisdom are indispensable for a ruler. The Messiah possesses these features as well (Isa 11:2; 1Cor 1:24). He uses His power in wisdom. Someone who boasts of these qualities as something of himself and in whom power takes precedence over wisdom, is a foolish braggart and a ruthless dictator.

He boasts that he has taken away the boundaries established by God between the nations (Deu 32:8; cf. Job 24:2a) and plundered the nations with the greatest ease. He also feels and presents himself as God when he says that he “like a mighty man … brought down [their] inhabitants”. This is also evident from the words “I” and “my” of which Isa 10:13-14 are full (cf. Hab 1:11). It is the language also used by “the man of lawlessness” (2Thes 2:3-4), which is the antichrist.

He continues to describe himself as the undisputed ruler against whom no one dares to resist. He accentuates his exaltation by making a comparison to someone who takes eggs from a bird’s nest (Isa 10:14). The bird on the nest is chased away and has to watch helplessly as the hand takes the eggs from the nest. In this way Assyria has taken away the power of the nations and gathered the entire world. Nobody dared to resist or even protest against his actions.

The LORD puts an end to all that bragging. He shows in the picture of “axe”, “saw”, “club” and “rod” that the king of Assyria is no more than a tool in His hand, doing what His outstretched hand wants (Isa 10:15). Just as these tools do not have any say with him by whom they are handled, neither does the king of Assyria have any say with the LORD.

The LORD Judges Assyria

Because the king of Assyria has expressed and acted so arrogantly, “the Lord, the GOD [or: LORD] of hosts” (Isa 10:16) will punish his arrogance. Those who feast and look stout will suffer a wasting disease. Nothing remains of their fat. They will look lean and skimpy. The scorching glory of the appearance of the LORD which will burn his riches is aptly represented in His names “light of Israel” and “his Holy One”, which is the Holy One of Israel (Isa 10:17). On the other hand, Assyria will be nothing more than “thorns” and “briars” that are food for the fire of the LORD.

His armed force, “the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden”, will also be consumed by the LORD (Isa 10:18). Everything that lives will fade away just as someone who is sick fades away. Thus all the glory of Assyria will be destroyed. What is left of the army is so small that you don’t even have to count to ten, so to speak, to determine its number (Isa 10:19). This leftover makes no impression at all.

Historically Assyria has been destroyed by the Babylonians. Prophetically Assyria will be destroyed by the LORD Himself in a supernatural way, just like in the time of King Hezekiah. Later the Medes and Persians will become the ‘saw’ and the ‘axe’ for the Babylonians. It continues in this way until the moment comes when the Lord Jesus will establish His kingdom. That kingdom will not be destroyed and will not be succeeded by a next kingdom (Dan 2:44).