Isa 10:6-7 | 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 10:6-7

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.