Isaiah Chapter 10 page 1 of 6 M.K. Scanlan

Isaiah Chapter 10

• It’s a well known principle of interpretation (Hermeneutics) to recognize that often prophesies have a dual application or fulfillment. We’ll see that in a couple of instances in this particular chapter.

V: 1 “Woe to those…” who make bad laws – there are going to be some very sorry congressmen and senators!

Proverbs 22:22 “Do not rob the poor because he is poor, nor oppress the afflicted at the gate.”

V: 2-3 These laws take advantage of the vulnerable, those whom God loves.

• Think California lottery, think Proposition 13 / deceptive labeling.

Matthew 23:14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.”

• God is going to exact punishment and He asks, “where are you going to hide?”

Ezekiel 16:49 “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”

• These things then led onward to the abomination for which were known.

• Illustration: Epoc Times: man gets 15 year prison sentence for burning a rainbow flag / Antifa and other regularly burn American flags with no consequences. Un-fair, biased application of the law.

1 Samuel 2:30 “Therefore the LORD God of says: I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD says: Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.”

V: 4 Without His deliverance they were helpless to defend themselves, and so they would be taken as prisoners or slain by the Assyrians.

V: 5 The Assyrians were simply the tool God used to instruct / discipline the nation of Israel, and now God addresses them in their pride.

• Even though God will used them as His instrument of judgment; they will in turn be judged.

Ref.Isaiah.10 Isaiah Chapter 10 page 2 of 6 M.K. Scanlan

V: 6 “An ungodly nation” – “A hypocritical nation” (KJV). Speaking of Israel, the Northern kingdom

• Just like us, “In God we trust” - ? Not so much!

• God is directing the Assyrians to just come in and wipe them out, to seize the spoil, and tread them down like the mud and slime in the streets.

V: 7 God will put his will in the heart of the Assyrians, they will be ignorant that God is actually using them.

V: 8 The king of the Assyrians is boasting that their princes were like kings. If their princes and senior leaders are like the kings of other nations, then their king would be even more powerful, like a king of kings… (Or a false type of one…)

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

• In his pride he goes on to describe himself and his kingdom as invincible, un- conquerable. I’m not sure but I wonder if God doesn’t almost take that like a challenge, especially in light of what we read here and see in history.

V: 9 (Map) Calno, a Syrian city just North of Aleppo in Syria and Carchemish, an ancient Hittite city along the banks of the Euphrates, which fell under Syrian, then Assyrian control. Carchemish was conquered first and was bigger.

• Hamath, Arpad, , Damascus.

• Listing conquered cities, bragging.

V: 10 Each city / state had it’s own pagan gods and idols. Conquering that city meant that your god had prevailed over their god.

• While in his pride he is blaspheming the True and Living God, there is also an element of truth in what he is saying which un-known to him is the reason he is even there.

• Samaria and were indeed filled with idols and carved images, that was true then, and would be true later as well.

Speaking of the man of sin, the son of perdition: 2 Thessalonians 2:4 “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

Ref.Isaiah.10 Isaiah Chapter 10 page 3 of 6 M.K. Scanlan

• In his pride he made no distinction between the Gentiles and the Jews, or more accurately he made no distinction between the many gods of the Gentiles, and the True and Living God of the Jews.

• In many ways they were acting like the pagans and perhaps there wasn’t any real distinction to be made. Either way, God is going to school him.

• The score is being laid out and the challenge being made against the God of Israel.

Rabshakeh to Jerusalem: 2 Kings 18:32-33, 35 “32… Do not listen to , lest he persuade you, saying, the LORD will deliver us. 33Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of ?” - “35Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

V: 11 When Senecharib sent his messenger with a letter to King Hezekiah. He at the same time he mocked the God of Israel. Hezekiah then took the letter and spread it out before God in the Temple. God then took care of the Assyrians to the tune of 185,000 men in one night.

V: 12 When I’m done teaching Israel, I will deal with Assyria.

This is actually in response to Hezekiah’s prayer: 2 Kings 19:17-20 “17Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands - wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. 19Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone.” 20Then Isaiah the son of sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.”’

• That happened before Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians; the Assyrians were dealt with prior, but “the Assyrian” would be dealt with after.

V: 13-14 Sounds like king Nebuchadnezzar bragging in the book of Daniel, I’m sure the Assyrians said something of a similar nature.

Either way it’s the same author: :13-14 “13For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”

Ref.Isaiah.10 Isaiah Chapter 10 page 4 of 6 M.K. Scanlan

• It wasn’t their military prowess or ingenuity; they were fulfilling God’s plan and purposes, they were an instrument in His hands.

V: 15 Here it is further demonstrated that God used them like a tool, in this case an ax. Demonstrating who’s doing the work – God.

John 15:5 “… apart from Me you can do nothing”

Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images.”

V: 16-19 Therefore, because of these things the Lord will bring leanness among his fat ones, that sounds like famine and hunger. The Assyrian had bragged earlier that his W/T princes were like kings; here God refers to his “fat ones” the prosperous chubby little kings that God is about to put on a diet.

• The Lord will kindle a fire: As the Northern kingdom and later the Southern kingdom of are conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively they were essentially each burned to the ground. Later in modern times both Samaria, various cities of the Northern kingdom, and Jerusalem as the archeologists have excavated them they have discovered distinct ash layers distinguishable ash layers - because what God said came to pass.

Hebrews 12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.”

• There will be so few people and trees left that they’ll be easy to count, even for a child. The tree’s will all be consumed in the siege.

V: 20 Isaiah switches gears and goes into the prophetic – “… in that day…” - a reference to that great and terrible day of the Lord, “’s trouble” (not the church’s) speaking of the great tribulation.

• Speaking of a day when God’s attention will again be directed towards the house of Israel.

“Never again depend on him” – there is a dual meaning here.

1. King made a covenant with the king of Assyria to come to his aid against the Norther kingdom and the Syrians who were attacking him. He emptied out the coffers in the Temple and his own house and sent them to Senecharib, instead of calling on the Lord.

2. This also refers to and foretells of that “him” who is the Anti-Christ, the man who they think is the Messiah, the man who will facilitate the re-building of the Temple and bring a peace treaty. They would depend on him until he betrays them. All

Ref.Isaiah.10 Isaiah Chapter 10 page 5 of 6 M.K. Scanlan

that will fall apart as he demands to be worshipped as God, he will begin to kill them and afterwords they will depend on the Holy One of Israel.

V: 21-23 He’s already described the remnant of the Assyrians being like trees that were burned up and so few left that they were easy to number, now he turns to the remnant of the Jews.

• He’s speaking prophetically of that time in the midst of the great tribulation when the Jews will turn to Jesus whom they had rejected, coming back to God.

Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour on the house of and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

• Many of the nations that afflicted Israel will be destroyed, but not Israel.

• That remnant, a smaller portion of Jews will turn to the Lord in deep repentance and in living faith, the rest will perish in their disbelief.

Romans 9:6 “But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.”

Romans 11:26 “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written…”

V: 24-27 Speaking prophetically with a dual fulfillment: W/T • 1st the short term fulfillment: the Assyrians are coming, but don’t fear them - they will be dealt with, referring to the Assyrian king, Senecharib - God wipes out 185k in their defense.

• 2nd - long term fulfillment: “the Assyrian” may refer to the Anti-Christ, that one world ruler of the end times who will be revealed after the rapture of the church - he will strike at the Jews, there will be a 2nd Holocaust - but he too will be dealt with and God’s children will be victorious.

• The reference to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb is a reference to the days of Gideon when a miraculous delivery was wrought for Israel, heavy emphasis on miraculous! ( / parting of Red Sea)

• All this comes to happen “because of the anointing oil.” Other translations use the word “fat” or “strength” - I guess the question comes down to who’s strength? And as the word also refers to “oil” - hence “anointing” - we can look to the “Anointed One” - the Messiah, the Christ, He is the One who will bring this about.

V: 28-32 Prophecy is history written ahead of time.

Ref.Isaiah.10 Isaiah Chapter 10 page 6 of 6 M.K. Scanlan

• (Map) This describes in almost poetic terms the path that the Assyrians took towards Jerusalem. This is the pathway that the Assyrians used when they took the 10 Northern tribes. This is also the path that the Anti-Christ will use on his way to the valley of Jezreel, or the valley of Megiddo.

• 13 cities are mentioned as they advance to Jerusalem. • Aiath is a city about 10 miles North of Jerusalem. • Migron • Michmash • Geba • Ramah is just outside Jerusalem. • Gibeah of Saul. • Gallim. • Laish. • Anathoth. • Madmenah. • Gebim. • Nob. • Right up to Mt. Scopus / Mt. Olives / Hebrew University.

V: 33-34 “Behold, the LORD, the LORD of hosts…” His warrior name. Behold / W/T keep your eyes on the Lord and you’ll see something exceptional, un-expected, and glorious. If you keep you eyes on Senecharib you’ll be deceived and fearful.

• The invader has come to conquer and destroy, but he himself is destroyed. God through Isaiah predicts the fall and judgement of God upon this invading Assyrian army. Cutting down the high ones, “the bough” / high branch, “those of high stature.”

• Regarding the “haughty” - The Lord will strike suddenly at the Assyrian, the Anti- Christ.

Isaiah 14:16-17 “16Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, 17who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners.”

• “” the land of tall trees, proud and strong, like the trees burned up in v:18 referring to the Assyrians - how did they fall? “By the Mighty One!”

Psalm 29:5 “The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon.”

• Bottom line: God wins, He is the victorious one!

Ref.Isaiah.10