ISAIAH
The Gospel To Israel
Book 1

LESSON  SIX
Isaiah 10:5-11:16

Imperial Kingdom of the World Destroyed  - Rise of Jehovah's Kingdom in His Anointed
(10:5-12:6)

Isaiah 10:5, 6

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (5)  Ha! Assyria, Woe to the Assyrians   rod of My anger, The rod of my wrath, and anger are in their hands.   In whose hand, as a staff, is My fury!   A messenger sent from before me against them with a curse! (6)   I send him against an ungodly nation, I will send my wrath against a sinful nation,   I charge him against a people that provokes Me,   Transgressed my law will I charge him, To take its spoil and to seize its booty And to make it a thing trampled And to trample the cities, and to make them dust.   Like the mire of the streets.     From the NKJV (5) "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger  and the staff in whose hand is My indignation. (6)  I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, to seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

The Amplified has:
"Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of My anger"
The monuments tell us that this was Sargon, the father of  Sennacherib.

The law of  contrast prevails in prophecy, as it does also in the history of salvation.
When distress is at its height,  it is suddenly brought to an end,  and changed into relief;  and when prophecy has become as black with darkness as in the previous section,  it suddenly becomes as bright and cloudless as in that which is opening now.

The hoi (woe) pronounced upon Israel becomes a hoi upon Asshur.
Proud Asshur,  with its confidence in its own strength,  after having served for a time as the goad of  Jehovah's wrath,  now falls a victim to that wrath itself.

Its attack upon Jerusalem leads to its own overthrow;  and on the ruins of  the kingdom of  the world there rises up the kingdom of  the great and righteous Son of  David,  who rules in peace over His redeemed people, and the nations that rejoice in Him: - the counterpart of  the redemption from Egypt,  and one as rich in materials for songs of  praise as the passage through the Red Sea.
The Messianic prophecy,  which turns its darker side towards unbelief in chapter 7,  and whose promising aspect burst like a great light through the darkness in Isaiah 8:5-9:6,  is standing now upon its third and highest stage.

The prophet has now penetrated to the light fringe of chapter 6.
The name Shear-yashub,  having emptied itself of  the entire curse that it contained,  is now transformed into a pure promise.

And it becomes perfectly clear what the name Immanuel and the name given to Immanuel,  El gibbor  (mighty God),  declared.

So far as the date of  composition is concerned,  the majority of  the more recent commentators agree in assigning it to the time of  Hezekiah,  because Isaiah 10:9-11 presupposes the destruction of  Samaria by Shalmaneser,  which took place in the sixth year of Hezekiah.
But it was only from the prophet's point of  view that this event was already past;  it had not actually taken place.

Obsessed with delusions of  grandeur and empire,  the Assyrians arrogantly attributed their military success to their own strength and claimed sovereignty over God's chosen city,  Jerusalem.  From God's perspective this was as absurd as a tool attempting to wield the laborer who uses it or a weapon trying to brandish the warrior who employs it.  In anger the Lord announced that He would annihilate Assyria in a single day.
This prophecy was fulfilled in 701 B.C. when the Lord decimated Sennacherib's armies outside Jerusalem.
(from Holman Bible Handbook. (c) Copyright 1992 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.)

The future tenses in verse 6 are to be taken literally;  for what Asshur did to Israel in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign,  and to Judah in his fourteenth year,  was still in the future at the time when Isaiah prophesied.
(from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Judah was a hypocritical nation, that made a profession of religion,  and at this time particularly of reformation,  but

Hezekiah had in a great measure cured them of  their idolatry,  and now they ran into profaneness:

Amos 3:2
"You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you for all your sins."     (NIV)

Isaiah 10:7-11

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (7)  But he has evil plans, But he meant not thus, neither did he devise thus in his soul:   His mind harbors evil designs; But his mind shall change,   For he means to destroy,   To make an end of nations without pity. To wipe out nations, not a few.     (8)  For he thinks, And if they should say to him,   “After all, I have kings as my captains! Thou alone art ruler;   (9)  Was Calno any different from Carchemish? Then shall he say, Have I not taken the country above Babylon   Or Hamath from Arpad? And Chalanes, where the tower was built? And have I not taken Arabia,   Or Samaria from Damascus?     (10)  Since I was able to seize The insignificant kingdoms, As I have taken them, I will also take all the kingdoms:   Whose images exceeded Jerusalem’s and Samaria’s, Howl ye idols in Jerusalem, and in Samaria.   (11)  Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images For as I did to Samaria and her idols,   What I did to Samaria and her idols?” So will I do also to Jerusalem and her idols.   From the NKJV (7)  Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations.  (8)  For he says, 'Are not my princes altogether kings? (9)  Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? (10)  As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria, (11)  As I have done to Samaria and her idols, Shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?'"

Asshur was to be an instrument of divine wrath upon all Israel;

Asshur did not think so (lo'-ceen), i.e., not as he ought to think,  seeing that Jehovah Himself determined his power over Israel.  For what filled his heart was the endeavor,  peculiar to the imperial power,  to destroy not a few nations,  i.e.,  as many nations as possible,  for the purpose of  extending his own dominions,  and with the determination to tolerate no other independent nation,  and the desire to deal with Judah as with all the rest.

The king of  Asshur bore the title of  the great king  (Isa 36:4 - Then the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say now to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria").
And,  as we may infer from Ezekiel 26:7,   that of  the king of  kings  ("For thus says the Lord GOD:  'Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings").

The king of Asshur calls the gods of  the nations by the simple name of  idols,  though the prophet does not therefore make him speak from his own Israelitish standpoint.  On the contrary,

For since he recognized no other gods than his own Assyrian national deities,  he placed Jehovah among the idols of  the nations,  and,  what ought particularly to be observed,  with the other idols,  whose worship had been introduced into Samaria and Jerusalem.
But in this very fact there was so far consolation for the worshippers of  Jehovah,  that such blasphemy of  the one living God would not remain unavenged;  while for the worshipers of  idols it contained a painful lesson,  since their gods really deserved nothing better than that contempt should be heaped upon them.

The prophet has now described the sin of  Asshur.
It was ambitious self-exaltation above Jehovah,  amounting even to blasphemy.
And yet he was only the staff of  Jehovah,  who could make use of  him as He would.

Calno
A city in the land of Shinar,  and was probably the city built by Nimrod, called in Gen 10:10, "Calneh," and at one time the capital of his empire. According to the Targums, Jerome, Eusebius, and others, Calno or Calneh, was the same city as "Ctesiphon," a large city on the bank of the Tigris, and opposite to Selcucia. - "Gesenius" and "Calmet."

Genesis 10:8-10
Cush begot Nimrod;  he began to be a mighty one on the earth.  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said,  "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD."  And the beginning of  his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Carchemish
A city on the Euphrates,  belonging to Assyria.  It was taken by Necho,  king of  Egypt,  and re-taken by Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year of  Jehoiachin,  king of  Judah.  Probably it is the same city as Cercusium, or Kirkisia,  which is situated in the angle formed by the junction of the Chebar and the Euphrates; compare Jer 46:2; 2 Chron 25:20.

Jeremiah 46:2
Concerning the army of  Pharaoh Necho,  king of Egypt,  which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish,  and which Nebuchadnezzar king of  Babylon defeated in the fourth year of  Jehoiakim the son of  Josiah,  king of Judah.

Hamath
This was a celebrated city of Syria. It is referred to in Gen 10:18, as the seat of one of the tribes of  Canaan.  It is often mentioned as the northern limit of  Canaan. in its widest extent; Num 13:21; Josh 13:5.

Numbers 13:21
So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob,  near the entrance of Hamath.

Joshua 13:5
From Baal Gad below Mount Hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.

The Assyrians became masters of  this city about 753 years before Christ; 2 Kings 17:24.

2 Kings 17:24
Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.

Arpad
This city was not far from Hamath,  and is called by the Greeks Epiphania.

Samaria
The capital of Israel, or Ephraim.
From the mention of  this place,  it is evident that this prophecy was written after Samaria had been destroyed;  Isa 7:9.

Damascus
The capital of  Syria.
The Septuagint has varied in their translation here considerably from the Hebrew.  They render these verses,  'And he saith, Have I not taken the region beyond Babylon, and Chalane, where the tower was built? and I have taken Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria.' The main idea,  however - the boast of  the king of Assyria,  is retained.

The meaning of  this confident boasting is, that none of  the cities and nations against which be had directed his arms,  had been able to resist him.  All had fallen before him;  and all were alike prostrate at his feet.

Isaiah 36:19
19 Where are the gods of  Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?       (NKJV)

2 Kings 18:28-19:1
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and spoke, saying,  "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand;  nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying,  "The LORD will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."'
Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: 'Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;   until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die.
But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, "The LORD will deliver us."  Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?  Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah?  Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?  Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?'"
But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him."  Then Eliakim the son of  Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
And so it was,  when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.      (NKJV)

Isaiah 10:12

From the Tanakh From the Targum (12)  But when my Lord has carried out all his purpose on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, He e will punish the majestic pride and overbearing arrogance of the king of Assyria. 13 For he thought,  “By the might of my hand have I wrought it,   By my skill, for I am clever: By my wisdom; for I am prudent: From the NKJV (12)  Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, "I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks."

And when He had made use of him as He would,  He would throw him away.

The "fruit" (peri) of  the heart's pride of  Asshur is his vainglorious blasphemy of  Jehovah,  in which his whole nature is comprehended,  as the inward nature of  the tree is in the fruit which hangs above in the midst of  the branches;  tiph'ereth -  the self-glorification which expresses itself in the lofty look of  the eyes.

But Jehovah,  before whom humility is the soul of  all virtue,  would visit this pride with punishment.

Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction,  and a haughty spirit before a fall.      (NKJV)

Isaiah 10:13, 14

From the Tanakh From the LXX (13)  I have erased the borders of peoples; Remove the boundaries of nations I have plundered their treasures, Will spoil their strength. And exiled their vast populations. I will shake the inhabited cities: (14)  I was able to seize, like a nest, The wealth of peoples; as one gathers abandoned eggs, So I gathered all the earth:   Nothing so much as flapped a wing Or opened a mouth to peep.” None that shall escape me, or contradict me. From the NKJV (13)  For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; Also I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasuries; So I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. (14)  My hand has found like a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; and there was no one who moved his wing, nor opened his mouth with even a peep."

When Jehovah had punished to such an extent that He could not go any further without destroying Israel - a result that would be opposed to His mercy and truth - His punishing would turn against the instrument of  punishment,  which would fall under the curse of  all ungodly selfishness.
(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.) Isa 10:13

For he says
The king of Assyria says.
Verse 13 and 14 are designed to show the reason why the king of Assyria should be thus punished.
It was on account of  his pride,  and wicked plans.
He sought not the glory of God, but purposed to do evil.

For I am prudent
I am wise;  attributing his success to his own understanding,  rather than to God.

I have removed the boundaries
That is,  'I have changed the limits of kingdoms; I have taken away the old boundaries, and made new ones at my pleasure.  I have divided them into kingdoms and provinces as I pleased.'
No higher assumption of power could have been made than thus to have changed the ancient limits of  empires,  and remodeled them at his will.  It was claiming that he had so extended his own empire,  as to have effectually blotted out the ancient lines which had existed,  so that they were now all one,  and under his control.
So a man who buys farms,  and annexes them to his own,  takes away the ancient limits;  he runs new lines as he pleases,  and unites them all into one.  This was the claim which Sennacherib set up over the nations.

Have robbed their treasures
Their hoarded wealth.  This was another instance of  the claim which he set up,  of  power and dominion.
The treasures of  kingdoms which had been hoarded for purposes of peace or war,  he had plundered,  and appropriated to his own use.

Like a valiant man
It is a claim that he had evinced might and valor in bringing down nations.
Lowth renders it,  'Them that were strongly seated.'
Noyes renders it, 'Them that sat upon thrones.'
The Chaldee renders the verse, not literally, but according to the sense,  'I have made people to migrate from province to province, and have plundered the cities that were the subjects of praise, and have brought down by strength those who dwelt in fortified places.'

Eggs that are left
That is, eggs that are left of the parent bird;  when the bird from fright,  or any other cause,  has gone,  and when no resistance is offered.

I have gathered all the earth
That is,  I have subdued and plundered it.
This shows the height of his self-confidence and his arrogant assumptions.

Who moved his wing
Keeping up the figure of the nest.
There was none that offered resistance;  as an angry bird does when her nest is about to be robbed.

Nor opened his mouth
To make a noise in alarm. The dread of him produced perfect silence and submission.
The idea is,  that such was the dread of  his name and power that there was universal silence.
None dared to resist the terror of his arms.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

AND  HE  ATTRIBUTED  IT  ALL  TO  HIS  OWN  POWER  AND  WISDOM!

Isaiah 10:15

From the Tanakh From the Targum (15)  Does an ax boast over him who hews with it, The auger ….that bores with it, Or a saw magnify itself above him who wields it?   As though the rod raised him who lifts it, As though the staff lifted the man! He who smites therewith. From the NKJV (15)  Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!

This self-exaltation was a foolish sin.

"Not-wood"  is to be taken as one word.  A stick is wood,  and nothing more;  in itself it is an absolutely motionless thing.

A man is  "not-wood,"  an incomparably higher,  living being.
As there must be  "not-wood"  to lay hold of  wood,  so,  wherever a man performs extraordinary deeds,  there is always a superhuman cause behind , viz.,  God Himself,  who bears the same relation to the man as the man to the wood.

The boasting of  the Assyrian was like the bragging of an instrument,  such as an axe,  a saw,  or a stick,  against the person using it.

The plural,  "those who lift it up,"  points to the fact that by Him who lifts up the stock,  Jehovah,
the cause of  all causes,  and power of  all powers,  is intended.

Isaiah 10:16

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (16)  Assuredly,   Because the king of Assyria hath magnified himself, therefore shall The Sovereign Lord of Hosts will send   The ruler of the world, the Lord of hosts, send against his mighty A wasting away in its fatness; Dishonor upon thine honor, Ones a stroke And under its body shall burn   Instead of their glory they shall A burning like that of fire,   Burn as fuel of fire. From the NKJV (16)  Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send leanness among his fat ones;  and under his glory He will kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

There follows in this verse the punishment provoked by such self-deification.

Who it is that undertakes his destruction,  and will be the author of it;
not Hezekiah,  or his princes,  or the militia of  Judah and Jerusalem,
but God himself will do it, as haa-'Adown Yahweh  tsŞbaa'owt - the Adown, the Lord of  hosts.

Leanness - Râzoon 
Galloping consumption comes like a destroying angel upon the great masses of  flesh seen in the well-fed Assyrian magnates:

Fat ones - mishmannim
Is used in a personal sense.  And under the glory of  Asshur, i.e.,  its richly equipped army,  He who makes His angels flames of  fire places fire so as to cause it to pass away in flames.  In accordance with Isaiah's masterly art of painting in tones,  the whole passage is so expressed,  that we can hear the crackling,  and spluttering,  and hissing of  the fire,  as it seizes upon everything within its reach.  This fire,  whatever it may be so far as its natural and phenomenal character is concerned,  is in its true essence the wrath of  Jehovah.

Isaiah 10:17

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (17)  The Light of Israel will be fire   The Light giver of Israel, and its Holy One, his Memra shall be And will burn and consume its thorns It shall sanctify him with burning fire, Strong as fire, And its thistles in a single day, It shall devour the wood as grass. Rulers and princes in a day From the NKJV (17)  So the Light of Israel will be for a fire,  and his Holy One for a flame; It will burn and devour His thorns and his briers in one day.

God is fire (Deut 9:3),  and God is light  (1 John 1:5);  and in His own self-life the former is resolved into the latter.

Deuteronomy 9:3
Therefore understand today that the LORD your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire.  He will destroy them and bring them down before you.    (NKJV)

1 John 1:5
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you,  that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.    (NKJV)

Holy is here parallel to light;  for the fact that God is holy,  and the fact that He is pure light,  are essentially one and the same thing.  The nature of  all creatures,  and of the whole cosmos,  is a mixture of  light and darkness.  The nature of God alone is absolute light.  But light is love.  In this holy light of love He has given Himself up to Israel,  and taken Israel to Himself.

But He has also within Him a basis of  fire,  which sin excites against itself,  and which was about to burst forth as a flaming fire of  wrath against Asshur,  on account of  its sins against Him and His people.
Before this fire of wrath,  this destructive might of  His penal righteousness,  the splendid forces of Asshur were nothing but a mass of  thistles and a bed of thorns,  equally inflammable,  and equally deserving to be burned.  To all appearance,  it was a forest and a park,  but is irrecoverably lost.

In one day
And so it was (2 Kings 19:35).

Isaiah 37:35-36
And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses -- all dead.  So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.     (NKJV)

Isaiah 10:18, 19

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (18)  And the mass of its scrub and its farmland. In that day the mountains shall be consumed, and the hills, and the forests, and fire shall devour both soul and body: and he that flees shall be as one fleeing flame.   (19)  What trees remain of its scrub And they that are left of them shall be a small number,   Shall be so few that a boy may record them.   Reckoned as a feeble kingdom. From the NKJV (18)  And it will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field,  both soul and body;  and they will be as when a sick man wastes away. (19)  Then the rest of the trees of his forest will be so few in number that a child may write them.

The army of  Asshur,  composed as it was of  many and various nations,  was a forest (ya'ar);  and,  boasting as it did of the beauty of  both men and Armor,  a garden ground (carmel),  a human forest and park.

Hence the idea of  "utterly"  is expressed in the proverbial  "even to soul and flesh,"  which furnishes the occasion for a leap to the figure of  the wasting away.  Only a single vital spark would still glimmer in the gigantic and splendid colossus,  and with this its life would threaten to become entirely extinct.
Or,  what is the same thing,  only a few trees of  the forest,  such as could be easily numbered,  would still remain.  So few,  that a boy would be able to count and enter them.  And this really came to pass.  Only a small remnant of  the army that marched against Jerusalem ever escaped.

With this small remnant of an all-destroying power the prophet now contrasts the remnant of  Israel,  which is the seed of  a new power that is about to arise.

From The Dead Sea Scrolls

Isaiah 10:20

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (20)  And in that day, The remnant of Israel Shall no more join themselves with, and the saved of Jacob   And the escaped of the House of Jacob shall lean no more upon him that beats it, but shall lean sincerely No more trust in them that injured them;   On the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. In truth. Upon the Memra of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel From the NKJV (20)  And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob,  will never again depend on him who defeated them,  but will depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

That day - Passing on, to the final fulfillment in the day of the Lord.
(from the past to the future reign of  the Messiah - Jesus Christ)

Behind the judgment upon Asshur there lies the restoration of  Israel.
"The chastiser" was the Assyrian.  While relying upon this,  Israel received strokes,  because Jehovah made Israel's staff into its rod.  But henceforth it would sanctify the Holy One of  Israel,  putting its trust in Him and not in man,  and that purely and truly  (be'emeth,  "in truth"),  not with fickleness and hypocrisy.
Then would be fulfilled the promise contained in the name Shear-yashub,  (the remnant shall return),  after the fulfillment of  the threat that it contained.

2 Chronicles 32:22
Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.     (NKJV)

Isaiah 10:21

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (21)  Only a remnant shall return, And the remnant of Jacob shall trust   Only a remnant of Jacob,   Have not sinned, and they that have turned from sin, To Mighty God. On the mighty God.   From the NKJV (21)  The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,  to the Mighty God.

The Mighty God - El Gibbor - is God as historically manifested in the heir of  David (Isa 9:6).
While Hosea (Hos 3:5) places side-by-side Jehovah and the second David, Isaiah sees them as one.

Hosea 3:5
Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.    (NKJV)

In New Testament phraseology,  it would be "to God in Christ."
(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

2 Chronicles 30:5-6
So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.
Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: "Children of Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham,  Isaac,  and Israel;  then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria."
(NKJV)

Isaiah 10:22, 23

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (22)  Even if your people, O Israel,   The remnant that have not sinned, and have turned from sin Should be as the sands of the sea, Only a remnant of it shall return.   For them shall be done mighty acts, which shall be mightily displayed Destruction is decreed; Retribution comes like a flood!   And carried out in righteousness. (23)  For my Lord God of Hosts is carrying out He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness:   A decree of destruction upon all the land. Because the Lord will make a short work in all the world.   From the NKJV (22)  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. (23)  For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a determined end in the midst of all the land.

To Him the remnant of Israel would turn,  but only the remnant.

Such a judgment of extermination the almighty Judge had determined to carry fully out within all the land,  that is to say,  one that would embrace the whole land and all the people,  and would destroy,  if not every individual without exception,  at any rate the great mass,  except a very few.

Romans 9:27-28
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:  "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality."
(NIV - the Apostle quoting this passage from the Septuagint)

Isaiah 10:24

From the Tanakh (24)  Assuredly, thus said my Lord God of Hosts: “O My people that dwells in Zion, have no fear of Assyria, who beats you with a rod and wields his staff over you as did the Egyptians. From the NKJV (24)  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: "O My people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of Egypt.

In these esoteric addresses,  however,  it is not the prophet's intention to threaten and terrify,  but to comfort and encourage.  He therefore turns to that portion of  the nation that needs and is susceptible of  consolation,  and draws this conclusion from the element of  consolation contained in what has been already predicted,  that they may be consoled.

The elevating appeal is founded upon what has just before been threatened in such terrible words,  but at the same time contains an element of  promise in the midst of  the peremptory judgment.
The very words in which the people are addressed,  "My people that dwell in Zion,"  are indirectly encouraging.  Zion was the site of  the gracious presence of  God,  and of  that sovereignty which had been declared imperishable.  Those who dwelt there,  and were the people of  God (the servants of God),  not only according to their calling,  but also according to their internal character,  were also heirs of  the promise;  and therefore,  even if  the Egyptian bondage should be renewed in the Assyrian,  they might be assured of this to their consolation,  that the redemption of  Egypt would also be renewed.  "In the manner of Egypt:" b'derek Mitzraim literally,  in the way, i.e.,  the Egyptians' mode of acting

The prophet,  in his preaching,  distinguishes between the precious and the vile:

Isaiah 10:25, 26

From the Tanakh From the  LXX (25)  For very soon My wrath will have spent itself, and l-My anger that was bent on wasting them.” (26)  The Lord of Hosts will brandish a scourge over him as when He beat  Midian at the Rock of Oreb,   and will wield His staff as He did over the Egyptians by the sea. Mighty deeds shall be done for you after the manner of Egypt. From the NKJV (25)  For yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction." (26)  And the LORD of hosts will stir up a scourge for him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; as His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt.

A still further reason is given for the elevating words,  with a resumption of  the grounds of  consolation upon which they were founded.

The expression  "a very little"  does not date from the actual present,  when the Assyrian oppressions had not yet begun,  but from the ideal present,  when they were threatening Israel with destruction.  The indignation of  Jehovah would then suddenly come to an end.
Luzzatto recommends the following:  yitom `al-teebeel wŞ'apiy,  "and my wrath against the world will cease."
(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

The destruction of Asshur is predicted there in two figures drawn from occurrences in the olden time.

His staff would then be over the sea, i.e., would be stretched out,  like the wonder-working staff of  Moses,  over the sea of  affliction,  into which the Assyrians had driven Israel;  and He would lift it up,  commanding the waves of  the sea,  so that they would swallow Asshur.

"In the manner of Egypt"   The expression is intentionally conformed to that in verse 24:  because Asshur had lifted up the rod over Israel in the Egyptian manner,  Jehovah would lift it up over Asshur in the Egyptian manner also.

Isaiah 10:27

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (27)  And in that day. His burden shall drop from your back, And his yoke from your neck;     The yoke shall be destroyed because of fatness. From off your shoulders. Anointed One Messiah From the NKJV (27)  It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

The yoke of  the imperial power would then burst asunder.

We have here two figures:

The prophet now proceeds to describe how the Assyrian army advances steadily towards Jerusalem,  spreading terror on every hand,  and how,  when planted there like a towering forest,  it falls to the ground before the irresistible might of Jehovah.

They shall be wholly delivered from the power of  the Assyrian,  and from the fear of it.
Some think it looks further,  to the deliverance of  the Jews out of  their captivity in Babylon;
and further yet,  to the redemption of  believers from the tyranny of  sin and Satan.
The yoke shall not only be taken away,  but it shall be destroyed.
The enemy shall no more recover his strength,  to do the mischief he has done;  and this because of  the anointing,  for their sakes who were partakers of the anointing.

Isaiah 10:28-34

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (28)  He advanced upon Aiath, The city of Angai,   He proceeded to Migron, Pass on to Maggedo   At Michmas he deposited his baggage.   Appoint the leaders of his armies: (29)  They made the crossing; And he shall pass by the valley, and shall arrive at Angai:   “Geba is to be our night quarters!” Ramah was alarmed; Gibeah of Saul took to flight.     (30)  “Give a shrill cry, O Bath-gallim! The daughter of Gallim shall flee;   Hearken, Laishah! Take up the cry, Anathoth!”     (31)  Madmenah ran away; Also is amazed,   The dwellers of Gebim sought refuge.   Inhabitants of Gebim are carried into exile. (32)  This same day at Nob Exhort ye them to-day to remain in the way: Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, came and halted in Nob. He shall stand and wave his hand.     O mount of Fair Zion!   The city of the priests, over against the O hill of Jerusalem!   Wall of Jerusalem. (33)  Lo! The Sovereign Lord of Hosts Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will mightily confound   Will hew off the tree-crowns with an ax: The glorious ones; and the haughty in pride shall be crushed,   The tall ones shall be felled,   The lofty in stature shall be hewn down, The lofty ones cut down:   The mighty shall be brought low. (34)  The thickets of the forest shall be hacked away with iron, The lofty ones shall fall by the sword,   And the Lebanon trees shall fall in their majesty. Libanus shall fall with his lofty ones.   From the NKJV (28)  He has come to Aiath,  He has passed Migron; At Michmash he has attended to his equipment. (29)  They have gone along the ridge, they have taken up lodging at Geba. Ramah is afraid, Gibeah of Saul has fled. (30)  Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Cause it to be heard as far as Laish — O poor Anathoth! (31)  Madmenah has fled, the inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge. (32)  As yet he will remain at Nob that day; He will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. (33)  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. (34)  He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

Aesthetically considered,  the description is one of  the most magnificent that human poetry has ever produced.

Aiath
When the Assyrian came upon Ayyath (= Ayyah,  generally hâ-'ai, or 'Ai),  about thirty miles to the northeast of  Jerusalem,  he trod for the first time upon Benjaminitish territory,  which was under the sway of  Judaea. The name of  this 'Ai,  which signifies  "stone-heap,"  tallies,  as Knobel observes,  with the name of  the Tell el-hagar,  which is situated about three-quarters of  an hour to the south-east of  Beitîn, i.e., Bethel.
But there are tombs,  reservoirs,  and ruins to be seen about an hour to the southeast of  Bethel;  and these Robinson associates with Ai.

Migron
From Ai,  however,  the army will not proceed towards Jerusalem by the ordinary route,  viz.,  the great north road  (or "Nablus road");  but,  in order to surprise Jerusalem,  it takes a different route,  in which it will have to cross three deep and difficult valleys.
From Ai they pass to Migron, the name of which has apparently been preserved in the ruins of  Burg Magrun,  situated about eight minutes' walk from Bethel.
Probably near Gibeah (1 Samuel 14:2 - Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron).
Sennacherib mentions it as Amgarron.

Michmash
Later called Mukmas,  located seven miles north of Jerusalem (1 Samuel 13:2 - Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash).

They proceed thence through the pass of Michmash,  a deep and precipitous ravine about forty-eight minutes in breadth.  "The pass" (ma'bârâh) is the defile of Michmash, with two prominent rocky cliffs,  where Jonathan had his adventure with the garrison of  the Philistines. One of these cliffs was called Seneh (1 Sam 14:4).

1 Sam 14:4-5
Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines' garrison,  there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side.  And the name of  one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.  The front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward opposite Gibeah.
(NKJV)

Geba
Through this defile they pass,   encouraging one another,  as they proceed along the difficult march,  by the prospect of  passing the night in Geba,  which is close at hand.  It is still disputed whether this Geba is the same place as the following Gibeah of  Saul or not.

Nob
A city of  the priests,  in sight of  Jerusalem,  from whence Sennacherib shook his hand against the city.
Nob is only a half day’s journey from Jerusalem.

Every halting-place on their route brings them nearer to Jerusalem.  The prophet goes in spirit through it all.  It is so objectively real to him,  that it produces the utmost anxiety and pain.  The cities and villages of  the district are lost.

The hostile army stands in front of  Jerusalem,  like a broad dense forest.  But it is soon manifest that Jerusalem has a God who cannot be defied with impunity,  and who will not leave His city in the lurch at the decisive moment,  like the gods of  Carchemish and Calno.  Jehovah is the Lord,  the God of  both spiritual and starry hosts.
(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Isaiah 11:1

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (1)  But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, And a king shall come forth from the sons of Jesse, A twig shall sprout from his stock. And a blossom shall come up from his root: and an Anointed One (or, Messiah) from his sons’ sons shall grow up. From the NKJV (1)  There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,  and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

This is the fate of the imperial power of the world.  When the axe is laid to it,  it falls without hope.
But in Israel spring is returning.

The world power resembles the cedar-forest of  Lebanon;
the house of  David,  on the other hand,  because of  its apostasy,  is like the stump of  a felled tree,  like a root without stem,  branches,  or crown.

The world-kingdom,  at the height of  its power,  presents the most striking contrast to Israel and the house of  David in the uttermost depth announced in chapter 6,  mutilated and reduced to the lowliness of  its Bethlehemitish origin. 

Out of the stumps of  Jesse, i.e., out of  the remnant of  the chosen royal family which has sunk down to the insignificance of  the house from which it sprang,  there comes forth a twig (choter),  which promises to supply the place of  the trunk and crown;  and down below,  in the roots covered with earth,  and only rising a little above it,  there shows itself a neetzer, i.e., a fresh green shoot (from nâtzeer, to shine or blossom).

In the historical account of  the fulfillment,  even the ring of  the words of  the prophecy is noticed:

Matthew 2:23
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene."    (NKJV)

But the expression yiphreh - shall grow - shows at once that it will not stop at this lowliness of  origin.
The shoot will bring forth fruit

The twig, which is shooting up on the ground, will become a tree, and this tree will have a crown laden with fruit. Consequently the state of  humiliation will be followed by one of  exaltation and perfection.

Revelations 5:5
But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals."      (NKJV)

Revelations 22:16
"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star."       (NKJV)

Isaiah 11:2

From the Tanakh From the  LXX (2)  The Spirit of the Lord shall alight upon him:   A spirit of wisdom and insight, Understanding A spirit of counsel and valor, Strength A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord. The spirit of knowledge and godliness shall fill him; From the NKJV (2)  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.

Jehovah acknowledges Him, and consecrates and equips Him for His great work with the seven spirits.

Isaiah 11:3

From the Tanakh From the  LXX (3)  He shall sense the truth-a by his reverence for the Lord: The spirit of the fear of God. He shall not judge by what his eyes behold, Nor decide by what his ears perceive.   From the NKJV (3)  His delight is in the fear of the LORD,  and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,  nor decide by the hearing of His ears;

And His regal conduct is regulated by this His thoroughly spiritual nature.

The fear of  God is that which He smells with satisfaction;  it is reeach niichoach to Him.
Just as the outward man has five senses for the material world,  the inner man has also senses for the spiritual world,  which discerns different things in different ways.
Thus the second David scents the fear of  God,  and only the fear of God,  as a pleasant fragrance;
for the fear of  God is a sacrifice of  adoration continually ascending to God.
His favor or displeasure does not depend upon brilliant or repulsive external qualities;

Isaiah 11:4, 5

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (4)  Thus he shall judge the poor with equity     And decide with justice for the lowly of the land. Shall reprove the lowly of the earth:   He shall strike down a land with the rod of his mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.   The word (Memra) of his mouth, (5)  Justice shall be the girdle of his loins, Righteousness Righteous shall be round about him, And faithfulness the girdle of his waist. And his sides clothed with truth. The faithful be brought Targum From the NKJV (4)  But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,  and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,  and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. (5)  Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,  and faithfulness the belt of His waist.

This is the standard according to which He will judge when saving, and judge when punishing.

The main feature in verse 4 is to be seen in the objective ideas.

The poor and humble,  or meek,  are the peculiar objects of  His royal care;  just as it was really to them that the first beatitudes of  the Sermon on the Mount applied.
(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

But  "the earth"  and  "the wicked" will experience the full force of His penal righteousness.

As the girdle (belt) upon the hips,  and in front upon the loins,  fastens the clothes together,  so all the qualities and active powers of  His person have for their band which follows the inviolable norm of  the divine will,  and,  which holds immovably to the course divinely appointed,  according to promise.

The very word of  His mouth is a rod that shatters in pieces (Rev 1:16)

The breath of His lips is sufficient to destroy, without standing in need of any further means (2 Thess 2:8)

He is the faithful and true witness (Rev 1:5; 3:14)

Consequently with Him there commences a new epoch,  in which the Son of David and His righteousness acquire a world-subduing force,  and find their home in a humanity that has sprung,  like Himself,  out of deep humiliation.

Isaiah 11:6-9

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (6)  The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,   In the days of the Anointed One (or, Messiah) of Israel peace shall be The leopard lie down with the kid; The calf, the beast of prey, and the fatling together, Young calf and bull and lion shall feed together.   With a little boy to herd them. (7)  The cow and the bear shall graze, Their young shall lie down together;     And the lion, like the ox shall eat straw. Like the ox.   (8)  A babe shall play over a viper’s hole,   A young child And an infant passes his hand Shall put his hand on the holes of asps, The weaned child Over an adder’s den. And on the nest of young asps. Hands on the bright eyeballs of the adder (9)  In all of  My sacred mount Nothing evil or vile shall be done;     For the land shall be filled with devotion to the Lord The whole world is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas (or may cover),   As water covers the sea.     From the NKJV (6)  "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. (7)  The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. (8)  The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. (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.

The fruit of  righteousness is peace,  which now reigns in humanity under the rule of the Prince of  Peace,  and even in the animal world,  with nothing whatever to disturb it.

The fathers,  and such commentators as Luther, Calvin, and Vitringa,  have taken all these figures from the animal world as symbolical. Modern rationalists,  on the other hand,  understand them literally,  but regard the whole as a beautiful dream and wish.

It is a prophecy,  however,  the realization of  which is to be expected on this side of  the boundary between time and eternity,  and is an integral link in the predestined course of  the history of  salvation (Hengstenberg, Umbreit, Hofmann, Drechsler).   There now reign among irrational creatures,  from the greatest to the least even among such,  as are invisible - fierce conflicts and bloodthirstiness of  the most savage kind.

2 Kings 17:25
25 And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.     (NKJV)

Ezekiel 14:15
If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts...     (NKJV)

The meaning of  "the earth"  is also determined by that of  "all my holy mountain."
The land of  Israel,  the dominion of  the Son of  David in the more restricted sense,  will be from this time forward the paradisiacal center,  as it were,  of  the whole earth - a prelude of  its future state of  perfect and universal glorification (Isa 6:3, "all the earth").
It has now become full of  "the knowledge of Jehovah."
(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Isaiah 11:10

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (10)  In that day, the stock of Jesse that has remained standing There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall arise to rule over the Gentiles; The son of the son of Jesse, who is about to arise as a sign to the peoples, to him shall the kingdoms be subject; Shall become a standard to peoples In him shall the Gentiles trust   Nations shall seek his counsel     And his abode shall be honored. And his rest shall be glorious. Dwelling-place shall be glorious. From the NKJV (10)  "And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him,  and His resting place shall be glorious."

The prophet has now described, in

The first question that is disposed of  here has reference to the apparent restriction thus far of all the blessings of this peaceful rule to Israel and the land of Israel.
This restriction, as we now learn,  is not for its own sake,  but is simply the means of  an unlimited extension of  this fullness of blessing.

Thus visible to all the world,  He would attract the attention of  the heathen to Himself,  and they would turn to Him with zeal,  and His menuchâh, i.e., the place where He had settled down to live and reign  (for the word in this local sense, compare Ps 132:14),  would be glory, i.e.,  the dwelling-place and palace of a king whose light shines over all,  who has all beneath His rule,  and who gathers all nations around Himself.

Psalm 132:13-14
For the LORD has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His dwelling place:
"This is My resting place forever;
Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.     (NKJV)

The proud tree of  the Davidic sovereignty is hewn down,  and nothing is left except the root.
The new David is shoresh Yishai (the root-sprout of Jesse),  and therefore in a certain sense the root itself,  because the latter would long ago have perished if  it had not borne within itself  from the very commencement Him who was now about to issue from it.  But when He who had been concealed in the root of  Jesse as its sap and strength should have become the rejuvenated root of  Jesse itself,  He would be exalted from this lowly beginning,  into a banner summoning the nations to assemble,  and uniting them around itself.

Romans 15:12-13
And again, Isaiah says:
"There shall be a root of Jesse;
And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles,
In Him the Gentiles shall hope."
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.     (NKJV)

Note the following:

Isaiah 11:11, 12

From the Tanakh From the  LXX From the Targum (11)  In that day, My Lord will apply His hand again   Shall display his might a second time to redeeming the other part of His people from Assyria – as also from Egypt, Pathros, Nubian, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands. Babylon, Ethiopia, Elamites, rising of sun, and Arabia.   (12)  He will hold up a signal to the nations Lift up a standard for the nations,   And assemble the banished of Israel, And gather the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.     From the NKJV (11)  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 who are left,  from Assyria and Egypt,  from Pathros and Cush,  from Elam and Shinar,  from Hamath and the islands of the sea. (12)  He will set up a banner for the nations,  and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Asshur and Egypt stand here in front,  and side by side,  as the two great powers of the time of  Isaiah (cf., Isa 7:18-20).
(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

As appendices to Egypt,  we have

As appendices to Asshur,  we have

From Syria,  we have

And lastly,  we have

There was no such Diaspora of  Israel at the time when the prophet uttered this prediction,  nor indeed even after the dissolution of  the northern kingdom;  so that the specification is not historical,  but prophetic.

This is the second redemption,  the counterpart of  the Egyptian.
He will then stretch out His hand again;  and as He once delivered Israel out of  Egypt,  so will He now redeem it - purchase it back  (kânâh, opp. mâcar)  out of  all the countries named.

Observe how,  in the prophet's view,  the conversion of  the heathen becomes the means of  the redemption of  Israel.  The course which the history of  salvation has taken since the first coming of  Christ,  and which will continue to the end,  as described by Paul in the Epistle to the Romans,  is distinctly indicated by the prophet.  At the word of  Jehovah the heathen will set His people free,  and even escort them (Isa 49:22; 62:10);  and thus He will gather again from the utmost ends of  the four quarters of the globe,  "the outcasts of  the kingdom of  Israel,  and the dispersed of  the kingdom of Judah.”

Isaiah 11:13

From the Tanakh From the  LXX (13)  Then Ephraim’s envy shall cease and Judah’s harassment shall end; The enemies of Judah shall perish: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.   From the NKJV (13)  Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart,  and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah,  and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

Figure of  speech:  Ephraim - for the whole of  the ten tribes.

The old feeling of enmity cherished by the northern tribes,  more especially those of Joseph,  towards the tribe of  Judah, which issued eventually in the division of  the kingdom.

It is only in verse 13 that he predicts the termination of  the hostility of  Judah towards Ephraim.  The people,  when thus brought home again,  would form one fraternally united nation,  while all who broke the peace of  this unity would be exposed to the immediate judgment of  God.

Isaiah 11:14

From the Tanakh From the  LXX (14)  They shall pounce on the back of Philistia to the west, Fly in the ships of the Philistines: And together plunder the peoples of the east; Shall spoil the sea, and them from the east, Edom and Moab shall be subject to them And Idumaean: but their hands on Moab first; And the children of Ammon shall obey them.   From the NKJV (14)  But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;  together they shall plunder the people of the East;  they shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;  and the people of Ammon shall obey them.

A question arises in reference to the relation between this Israel of  the future and the surrounding nations,  such as the warlike Philistines,  the predatory nomad tribes of  the East,  the unbrotherly Edomites,  the boasting Moabites,  and the cruel Ammonites.  Will they not disturb and weaken the new Israel,  as they did the old?

Câtheeph  (shoulder)  was the peculiar name of the coast-land of  Philistia which sloped off  towards the sea;  but here it is used with an implied allusion to this,  to signify the shoulder of  the Philistian nation,  upon which Israel plunges down like an eagle from the height of  its mountain-land.
The object of  "to lay their hand on"  is equivalent to the object of  their grasp.

And whenever any one of  the surrounding nations mentioned should attack Israel,  the whole people would make common cause,  and act together.
How does this warlike prospect square,  however,  with the previous promise of  paradisiacal peace,  and the end of  all warfare that this promise presupposes (cf., Isa 2:4)?  This may seems like a contradiction,  the solution of  which is to be found in the fact that we have only figures here,  and figures drawn from the existing relations and warlike engagements of  the nation,  in which the prophet pictures that supremacy of  the future united Israel over surrounding nations,  which is to be maintained by spiritual weapons.

Isaiah 11:15, 16

From the Tanakh From the Targum (15)  The Lord will dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea. – He will raise His hand over the Euphrates with the might of His wind and break it By the word (Memra) of his prophets Into seven wades, so that it can be trodden dry-shod.  (16)  Thus there shall be a highway for the other part of His people out of Assyria, such as there was for Israel when it left the land of Egypt.   From the NKJV (15)  The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;  with His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,  and strike it in the seven streams,  and make men cross over dryshod.    (16)  There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will be left from Assyria,  as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.

He dwells still longer upon the miracles in which the antitypical redemption will resemble the typical one.
The two countries of  the Diaspora mentioned first are Asshur and Egypt.  And Jehovah makes a way by His miraculous power for those who are returning out of  both and across both.

The sea-tongue of  Egypt,  which runs between Egypt and Arabia - the Red Sea,  He smites with the ban (hecherim,  corresponding in meaning to the pouring out of the vial of wrath in Rev 16:12);  and the consequence of  this is,  that it affords a dry passage to those who are coming back.

Thus,  by changing the Euphrates in the (parching) heat of  His breath into seven shallow wades,  Jehovah makes a free course for His people who come out of  Asshur, etc.  This was the idea that presented itself to the prophet in just this shape,  though it by no means followed that it must necessarily embody itself in history in this particular form.
(From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Revelations 16:12
Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.    (NKJV)

Isaiah 10:5-11:16 - from the Amplified Version

10:5   WOE TO the Assyrian, the rod of My anger, the staff in whose hand is My indignation and fury [against Israel's disobedience]!
(6)    I send [the Assyrian] against a hypocritical and godless nation and against the people of My wrath; I command him to take the spoil and to seize the prey and to tread them down like the mire in the streets.
(7)   However, this is not his intention [nor is the Assyrian aware that he is doing this at My bidding], neither does his mind so think and plan; but it is in his mind to destroy and cut off many nations.
(8)   For [the Assyrian] says, Are not my officers all either [subjugated] kings or their equal?
(9)   Is not Calno [of Babylonia conquered] like Carchemish [on the Euphrates]? Is not Hamath [in Upper Syria] like Arpad [her neighbor]? Is not Samaria [in Israel] like Damascus [in Syria]? [Have any of these cities been able to resist Assyria? Not one!]
(10)  As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols [which were unable to defend them,] whose graven images were more to be feared and dreaded and more mighty than those of Jerusalem and of Samaria--
(11)  Shall I not be able to do to Jerusalem and her images as I have done to Samaria and her idols? [says the Assyrian]
(12)  Therefore when the Lord has completed all His work [of chastisement and purification to be executed] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, it shall be that He will inflict punishment on the fruit [the thoughts, words, and deeds] of the stout and arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride.
(13)  For [the Assyrian king] has said, I have done it solely by the power of my own hand and wisdom, for I have insight and understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples and have robbed their treasures; and like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones and the inhabitants.
(14)  And my hand has found like a nest the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that are forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved its wing, or that opened its mouth or chirped.
(15)  Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him who wields it back and forth? As if a rod should wield those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift itself up as if it were not wood [but a man of God]!
(16)  Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send leanness among [the Assyrian's] fat ones; and instead of his glory or under it He will kindle a burning like the burning of fire.
(17)  And the Light of Israel shall become a fire and His Holy one a flame, and it will burn and devour [the Assyrian's] thorns and briers in one day. [2 Kings 19:35-37; Isa 31:8-9; 37:36.]
(18)  [The Lord] will consume the glory of the [Assyrian's] forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and it shall be as when a sick man pines away or a standard-bearer faints.
(19)  And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may make a list of them.
(20)  And it shall be in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more lean upon him who smote them, but will lean upon the Lord, the Holy one of Israel, in truth.
(21)  A remnant will return [Shear-jashub, name of Isaiah's son], a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
(22)  For though your population, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of it will return [and survive]. The [fully completed] destruction is decreed (decided upon and brought to an issue); it overflows with justice and righteousness [the infliction of just punishment]. [Rom 9:27,28.]
(23)  For the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will make a full end, whatever is determined or decreed [in Israel], in the midst of all the earth.
(24)  Therefore thus says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, O My people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian, who smites you with a rod and lifts up his staff against you, as [the king of] Egypt did. [Ex 5.]
(25)  For yet a little while and My indignation against you shall be accomplished, and My anger shall be directed to destruction [of the Assyrian].
(26)  And the Lord of hosts shall stir up and brandish a scourge against them as when He smote Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as His rod was over the [Red] Sea, so shall He lift it up as He did in [the flight from] Egypt. [Ex 14:26-31; Judg 7:24,25.]
(27)  And it shall be in that day that the burden of [the Assyrian] shall depart from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck. The yoke shall be destroyed because of fatness [which prevents it from going around your neck]. [Deut 32:15.]
(28)  [The Assyrian with his army comes to Judah]. He arrives at Aiath; he passes through Migron; at Michmash he gets rid of his baggage [by storing it].
(29)   They go through the pass, they make Geba their camping place for the night; Ramah is afraid and trembles, Gibeah [the city] of [King] Saul flees.
(30)  Cry aloud [in consternation], O Daughter of Gallim! hearken, O Laishah! [Answer her] O you poor Anathoth!
(31)  Madmenah is in flight; the inhabitants of Gebim seize their belongings and make their households flee for safety.
(32)  This very day [the Assyrian] will halt at Nob [the city of priests], shaking his fist at the mountain of the Daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
(33) [But just when the Assyrian is in sight of his goal] behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will lop off the beautiful boughs with terrorizing force; the high in stature will be hewn down and the lofty will be brought low.
(34)  And He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon [the Assyrian] with its majestic trees shall fall by the Mighty one and mightily. [Gen 49:24; Isa 9:6.]

11:1  AND THERE shall come forth a Shoot out of the stock of Jesse [David's father], and a Branch out of his roots shall grow and bear fruit. [Isa 4:2; Matt 2:23; Rev 5:5; 22:16.]
(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 reverential and obedient fear of the Lord--
(3)   And shall make Him of quick understanding, and His delight shall be in the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, neither decide by the hearing of His ears;
(4)   But with righteousness and justice shall He judge the poor and decide with fairness for the meek, the poor, and the downtrodden of the earth; and He shall smite the earth and the oppressor with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
(5)   And righteousness shall be the girdle of His waist and faithfulness the girdle of His loins.
(6)   And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatted domestic animal together; and a little child shall lead them.
(7)   And the cow and the bear shall feed side by side, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
(8)   And the sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
(9)   They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
(10)  And it shall be in that day that the Root of Jesse shall stand as a signal for the peoples; of Him shall the nations inquire and seek knowledge, and His dwelling shall be glory [His rest glorious]! [John 12:32.]
(11)  And in that day the Lord shall again lift up His hand a second time to recover (acquire and deliver) the remnant of His people which is left, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam [in Persia], from Shinar [Babylonia], from Hamath [in Upper Syria], and from the countries bordering on the [Mediterranean] Sea. [Jer 23:5-8.]
(12)  And He will raise up a signal for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and will gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
(13)  The envy and jealousy of Ephraim also shall depart, and they who vex and harass Judah from outside or inside shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex and harass Ephraim.
(14)  But [with united forces Ephraim and Judah] will swoop down upon the shoulders of the Philistines' [land sloping] toward the west; together they will strip the people on the east [the Arabs]. They will lay their hands upon Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will obey them.
(15)  And the Lord will utterly destroy (doom and dry up) the tongue of the Egyptian sea [the west fork of the Red Sea]; and with His [mighty] scorching wind He will wave His hand over the river [Nile] and will smite it into seven channels and will cause men to cross over dry-shod.
(16)  And there shall be a highway from Assyria for the remnant left of His people, as there was for Israel when they came up out of the land of Egypt.

(End of  Lesson 6)

Bibliography