Isaiah 10 · The Lantern

Woe vnto them that decree wicked decrees, and write grieuous things,

To keepe backe ye poore from iudgement, and to take away the iudgement of the poore of my people, that widowes may be their pray, and that they may spoyle the fatherlesse.

What will ye doe nowe in the day of visitation, and of destruction, which shall come from farre? to whom will ye flee for helpe? and where will ye leaue your glorie?

[Christ] said to Peter, the prince of the apostles, "Simon, [son] of John, do you love me more than these?" He answered, "Lord, you know I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He asked him a second time, "Simon [son] of John, do you love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know I love you." He said to him, "Feed my sheep." And he ordered him to feed his sheep a third time,…

"What will you do on the day of visitation and the calamity that comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory?" Those who are asked what they will do, when the day of either captivity or judgment comes, and the calamity from afar, which was foretold long before.

What will you do? Here he threatens punishment, and first, he takes away the remedy of escape. And this is threefold: confidence in their own power: what will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which comes from afar, as to the fortifying of their enemies or as to the prediction of the prophets: what will you do in the solemn day, in the day of the feast of the…

Without me euery one shall fall among them that are bound, and they shall fall downe among the slayne: yet for all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

O Asshur, the rodde of my wrath: and the staffe in their hands is mine indignation.

I will sende him to a dissembling nation, and I will giue him a charge against the people of my wrath to take the spoyle and to take the pray, and to treade them vnder feete like the mire in the streete.

But he thinketh not so, neither doeth his heart esteeme it so: but he imagineth to destroy and to cut off not a fewe nations.

For he sayeth, Are not my princes altogether Kings?

Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?

Like as mine hand hath founde the kingdomes of the idoles, seeing their idoles were aboue Ierusalem, and aboue Samaria:

Shall not I, as I haue done to Samaria, and to the idoles thereof, so doe to Ierusalem and to the idoles thereof?

But when the Lord hath accomplished all his worke vpon mount Zion and Ierusalem, I will visite the fruite of the proude heart of the King of Asshur, and his glorious and proud lookes,

Because he said, By ye power of mine owne hand haue I done it, and by my wisdome, because I am wise: therefore I haue remooued the borders of the people, and haue spoyled their treasures, and haue pulled downe the inhabitants like a valiant man.

These are the words of God's antagonist, boasting in the strength of his wickedness, as he threatens to steal and obliterate the divisions of the nations delivered by the Most High to the angels. And loudly [he] cries that he will spoil the earth, and shake the whole human race, and change them from their former good order.

All sins must be avoided, to be sure, because all sins are contrary to God, but they vary in degree. The proud, for example, are God's enemies. "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." The devil is the prince of the proud.

For he has said. Here he sets out the occasion of his glory from the great things which he had done, and first, as to the condition of the doer; second, as to the greatness of the deed: and I have removed; third, as to the ease of doing: and my hand has found (Isa 10:14).

And mine hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathereth egges that are left, so haue I gathered all the earth: and there was none to mooue the wing or to open the mouth, or to whisper.

"My hand has found the wealth of the peoples, as one gathers eggs that are abandoned. I have gathered the whole earth, and there was no one who moved a wing or opened his mouth to chirp." And according to the LXX, he was of such great power, that he completely destroyed cities of warlike men, and seized the entire world as if it were a nest, and he turned the abandoned eggs fro…

Behold, then, how the Maker of the universe has always shown a loving care for humanity, not merely for the race of the descendants of Abraham but for all the descendants of Adam; through one tribe he has led all tribes to a knowledge of himself. He used them for this purpose both when they were religious and when they were paying the penalty for their sins.

The ease of doing is determined as to three things: as to absolute subjection: and my hand has found the strength of the people as a nest, which is in the power of the finder, below: and it shall come to pass, that as a bird fleeing away, and as young ones flying out of the nest (Isa 16:2); as to easy destruction: and as eggs are gathered, that are left, so have I gathered all…

Shall the axe boast it selfe against him that heweth therewith? or shall the sawe exalt it selfe against him that moueth it? as if the rod shoulde lift vp it selfe against him that taketh it vp, or the staffe should exalt it selfe, as it were no wood.

For you, Sennacherib, are the ax in the hands of him that cuts, and you are the saw in the hands of him that saws, and the rod in the hand of him that wields you for chastisement, and you are the staff for smiting.

(Verse 15.) Will the axe boast against the one who hews with it, or the saw exalt itself against the one who draws it? As if a rod should raise itself against the one who lifts it, or a staff should exalt itself, which is only wood.

Shall the axe boast itself? Here the rebuke of the boaster is set out, because he is like an instrument, which cannot work except by the movement of the craftsman: the axe, for killing the wicked; shall the saw, for separating the good from wicked, exalt itself; a rod, for correcting; a staff, for supporting those corrected: why doth your spirit swell against God, to utter such…

Therefore shall the Lord God of hostes send amog his fat men, leannes, and vnder his glorie he shall kindle a burning, like the burning of fire.

And the light of Israel shalbe as a fire, and the Holy one thereof as a flame, and it shall burne, and deuoure his thornes and his briers in one day:

And Isaiah shows that the Holy Spirit is not only light but also fire, saying, "And the light of Israel shall be for a fire." So the prophets called him a burning fire, because in those three points we see more intensely the majesty of the Godhead; since to sanctify is of the Godhead, to illuminate is the property of fire and light, and the Godhead is customarily pointed out or…

Second, the one bringing the punishment, the Holy One of Israel, God, or the angel Michael, to whom that people was committed: behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me (Dan 10:13); as a fire, for he will punish them through fire: all the land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy destruction of all them that dwell in the…

And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitfull fieldes both soule and flesh: and he shalbe as ye fainting of a standard bearer.

And the rest of the trees of his forest shalbe fewe, that a childe may tell them.

And at that day shall the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Iaakob, stay no more vpon him that smote them, but shall stay vpon ye Lord, ye Holy one of Israel in trueth.

The remnant shall returne, euen the remnant of Iaakob vnto the mightie God.

This is therefore what the patriarch Isaac said: You will serve your brother. But when you have removed and freed yourself from his yoke on your neck, he is signifying two future peoples, one the son of a handmaid, the other of a free woman (for the letter is a servant, but grace is free), and that people who adheres to the letter will be a servant as long as they follow the in…

But yet grace from above sometimes looks upon these mighty men, and afflicts them by the very employments caused by their abundant goods, and intersperses with their prosperity, adverse, but profitable, tribulations: in order that, when sorrowful, they may turn to their heart, and learn how vainly they are engaged in perishable pursuits.

Second, as to their worship of idols, both as to manner, for in truth, the remnant, against what is said in 1 Kings 18:21: how long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him; and as to the converted, the remnant of Jacob, who were left by the Assyrians: save, O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel (Jer 31:7).

For though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, yet shall the remnant of them returne. The consumption decreed shall ouerflow with righteousnesse.

Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Through this Son of man, Christ Jesus, and from his remnant, that is, the apostles and the many others who from among the Israelites have believed in Christ as God, and with the increasing plenitude of the Gentiles, the holy vineyard is being completed.

And he confirms the promise: for if your people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore (Gen 22:17).

For the Lord God of hostes shall make the consumption, euen determined, in the middes of all the land.

When God made statements such as "You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness," he was teaching me to refrain from doing to others what I would be unwilling to do to myself.

I find, indeed, that some eminent writers have published treatises on these matters piously and briefly written. Moreover, I know that the heretic Photinus has written on the same, with the object not of explaining the meaning of the text to his readers but of wresting things simply and truthfully said in support of his own dogma.

Second, he places the confirmation: for the Lord God of hosts shall make an end: with a flood that passes by, he will make an utter end of the place thereof (Nah 1:8); in the midst of all the land, that is, in Jerusalem, which is in the middle of the land: this is Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the nations, and the lands round about her (Ezek 5:5).

Therefore thus saith ye Lord God of hostes, O my people, that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of Asshur: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift vp his staffe against thee after the maner of Egypt:

But yet a very litle time, and the wrath shall be consumed, and mine anger in their destruction.

And ye Lord of hostes shall raise vp a scourge for him, according to the plague of Midian in the rocke Oreb: and as his staffe was vpon the Sea, so he will lift it vp after the maner of Egypt.

And at that day shall his burden be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy necke: and the yoke shalbe destroied because of the anoynting.

He is come to Aiath: he is passed into Migron: at Michmash shall he lay vp his armour.

They haue gone ouer the foorde: they lodged in the lodging at Geba: Ramah is afraide: Gibeah of Saul is fled away.

Lift vp thy voyce, O daughter Gallim, cause Laish to heare, O poore Anathoth.

Madmenah is remoued: the inhabitants of Gebim haue gathered themselues together.

Yet there is a time that he will stay at Nob: he shall lift vp his hand towarde the mount of the daughter Zion, the hill of Ierusalem.

Beholde, the Lord God of hostes shall cut off the bough with feare, and they of high stature shalbe cut off, and the hie shalbe humbled.

And he shall cut away the thicke places of the forest with yron, and Lebanon shall haue a mightie fall.

Isaiah10