Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed To rob the needy of justice,  Isaiah 10:1

Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One in Due Time.

 

The prophet now returns to the theme of judgment, to show how completely God’s anger will scorch the land.  Again God gives specifics, naming the sins that have aroused him to judge.  Assyria will serve as the “rod of my anger”, the agency he uses to carry out his judgment.

But Assyria will overstep herself.  In willful pride, Assyria will cause more harm than God intended.  As a result Assyria will herself be punished by God.

At the end of this sermon Isaiah includes a recurrent theme.  God will leave survivors to Israel and Judah; a remnant who has relied on the Lord.  Even when the Assyrians come and Judah suffers under her yoke, believers are not to despair.  In the end God will crush Assyria and free his sad but wiser people.

10:22 as the sand… A remnant:  Most of the people of the northern kingdom were carried off into captivity.  But some Israelites made their way to Judah and became part of the southern kingdom.  These people and their descendants would act as a remnant by preserving the names of the northern tribes among the people of God.

For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

10:25 a very little while:  From the viewpoint of eternity, the period of trial is exceedingly brief.

For yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction.”

10:28-32 These verses depict Isaiah’s vision of the king of Assyria’s relentless march south over difficult terrain from Aiath – that is, Ai.  Ai was ten miles north of Jerusalem on a point overlooking the city.

10:28, 29 The cities as listed in these verses are closer and closer to the capital at Jerusalem.  Each town conquered was another step toward the impending defeat of the holy city.

10:33, 34 The bough is the king of Assyria and the thickets are his army.  The point is that God will bring judgment on the instruments He used to judge Israel.

Behold, the Lord, The Lord of hosts, Will lop off the bough with terror; Those of high stature will be hewn down, And the haughty will be humbled. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.