Isaiah 10 · The Lantern

Woe to those decreeing decrees of iniquity, And writers who have prescribed perverseness.

To turn aside from judgment the poor, And to take violently away the judgment Of the afflicted of My people, That widows may be their prey, That the fatherless they may spoil.

And what do ye at a day of inspection? And at desolation? --from afar it cometh. Near whom do ye flee for help? And where do ye leave your honour?

[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 it hath bowed down In the place of a bound one, And in the place of the slain they fall. With all this not turned back hath His anger, And still His hand is stretched out.

Woe to Asshur, a rod of Mine anger, And a staff in their hand is Mine indignation.

Against a profane nation I send him, And concerning a people of My wrath I charge him, To spoil spoil, and to seize prey, And to make it a treading-place as the clay of out places.

And he--he thinketh not so, And his heart reckoneth not so, For--to destroy is in his heart, And to cut off nations not a few.

For he saith, `Are not my princes altogether kings?

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

As my hand hath got to the kingdoms of a worthless thing, and their graven images, Greater than Jerusalem and than Samaria,

Do I not--as I have done to Samaria, And to her worthless things, So do to Jerusalem and to her grievous things?

And it hath come to pass, When the Lord doth fulfil all His work In mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I see concerning the fruit of the greatness Of the heart of the king of Asshur. And concerning the glory of the height of his eyes.

For he hath said, `By the power of my hand I have wrought, And by my wisdom, for I have been intelligent, And I remove borders of the peoples, And their chief ones I have spoiled, And I put down as a mighty one the inhabitants,

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 my hand as to a nest Getteth to the wealth of the peoples, And as a gathering of forsaken eggs All the earth I--I have gathered, And there hath not been one moving wing, Or opening mouth, or whispering.'

"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…

--Doth the axe glorify itself Against him who is hewing with it? Doth the saw magnify itself Against him who is shaking it? As a rod waving those lifting it up! As a staff lifting up that which is not 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 doth the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, Send among his fat ones leanness, And under his honour He kindleth a burning As the burning of a fire.

And the light of Israel hath been for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame, And it hath burned, and devoured his thorn And his brier 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 the honour of his forest, and his fruitful field, From soul even unto flesh He doth consume, And it hath been as the fainting of a standard-bearer.

And the rest of the trees of his forest are few, And a youth doth write them.

And it hath come to pass, in that day, The remnant of Israel, And the escaped of the house of Jacob, Do not add any more to lean on its smiter, And have leant on Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel, in truth.

A remnant returneth--a remnant of Jacob, Unto the Mighty 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 Israel be as the sand of the sea, A remnant doth return of it, A consumption determined, Overflowing with righteousness.

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 a consumption that is determined, The Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Is making in the midst 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 said the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, `Be not afraid, my people, inhabiting Zion, because of Asshur, With a rod he doth smite thee, And his staff lifteth up against thee, in the way of Egypt.

For yet a very little, And the indignation hath been completed, And Mine anger by their wearing out.

And awaking for him is Jehovah of Hosts, A scourge like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb, And his rod is over the sea, And he hath lifted it in the way of Egypt.

And it hath come to pass, in that day, Turned is his burden from off thy shoulder, And his yoke from off thy neck, And destroyed hath been the yoke, because of prosperity.

He hath come in against Aiath, He hath passed over into Migron, At Michmash he looketh after his vessels.

They have gone over the passage, Geba they have made a lodging place, Trembled hath Rama, Gibeah of Saul fled.

Cry aloud with thy voice, daughter of Gallim, Give attention, Laish! answer her, Anathoth.

Fled away hath Madmenah, The inhabitants of the high places have hardened themselves.

Yet to-day in Nob to remain, Wave its hand doth the mount of the daughter of Zion, The hill of Jerusalem.

Lo, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Is lopping a branch with violence, And the high of stature are cut down, And the lofty are become low,

And He hath gone round the thickets of the forest with iron, And Lebanon by a mighty one falleth!

Isaiah10