36 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Isaiah 10 This chapter contains denunciations of punishment, first on the governors of the Jewish nation, and then upon the Assyrians; a woe is denounced on the makers and imposers of bad laws, whereby the poor and the needy, the widows and the fatherless, were deprived of their right, Isaiah 10:1 which woe or punishment is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,.... Or, "O ye that decree", c. הוי being a sign of the vocative case, and an interjection of calling, as Aben Ezra observes though the Targum and other versions understand it of a threatening denounced; and is to be understood as lying against lawgivers and judges, political rulers and governors of...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The prophet, in this chapter, is dealing, I. With the proud oppressors of his people at home, that abused their power, to pervert justice, whom he would reckon with for their tyranny, ver. 1-4. II. With a threatening invader of his people from abroad, Sennacherib king of Assyria, concerning whom observe, 1. The commission given him to invade...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
To turn aside the needy from judgment,.... Such laws being made as discouraged them from any application for justice; and, when they did, were harassed with such long, vexatious, and expensive suits, as obliged them to desist, and the cause being generally given against them, and for the rich: and to take away the right from the poor of my people;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And what will ye do in the day of visitation,.... Not in a way of grace and mercy, but of wrath and anger, as the following clause explains it, when God should come and punish them for their sins; and so the Targum, "what will ye do in the day that your sins shall be visited upon you?'' it designs the Babylonish captivity, as the next words show;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain,.... That is, either, being forsaken by me, and destitute of my help, they shall bow down; or, "because they are without me", are not my people, and do not hearken to me, therefore they shall bow down, so David Kimchi; or, were it not for me, they would, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger,..... Either as calling him to come against the land of Israel to spoil it, so Kimchi; or as grieving that he was obliged to make use of him in such a manner against his people; or as threatening him with ruin. So the Targum, Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions render it, "woe to the Assyrian"; wherefore...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will send him against a hypocritical nation,.... The people of Israel, who might well be called so, since everyone of them was a hypocrite, Isaiah 9:17 pretending to love, fear, and serve the Lord, when it was only outwardly, and by profession, and not in deed, and in truth; their character contains the reason of the Lord's calling and sending...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so,.... His purposes, intentions, and thoughts, were not as the Lord's; he did not imagine that he was only the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation, a minister of his wrath, and the executioner of his vengeance; he thought he was his own lord and master, and acted by his own...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For he saith, [are] not my princes altogether kings?] Meaning either the kings which he had conquered, which were become his princes and subjects; or rather, such were the greatness and glory of his nobles, that they were equal in their riches and dominions to kings, and so were able to furnish him with men and money for such an expedition he had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Is] not Calno as Carchemish?.... Jarchi's note is, "as the children of Carchemish are princes and rulers, so are the children of Calno;'' as if this was giving an instance of the grandeur of his subjects; but much better is the Targum, "as Carchemish is subdued before me, shall not Calno be so?'' as I or my ancestors have conquered the one, it is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols,.... Which worship idols, as the Targum paraphrases it. He speaks of them as being very easily taken by him; he had no trouble in subduing them; no sooner did he come up to them, and looked on them, and saw where they were, but they fell into his hands; they gave up themselves to him at once, and he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria, and her idols,.... Kimchi observes, that what is said in the preceding verses was said before Samaria was taken, but this after it was taken: so do to Jerusalem, and her idols; he had taken Samaria, and carried the ten tribes captive, and now his eye was upon Judah and Jerusalem; and such was his insolence,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore it shall come to pass,.... It shall surely be; what God has purposed in his heart, and published in his word, shall certainly be fulfilled: [that] when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem; in correcting, chastising, and humbling the inhabitants thereof, by suffering them to be besieged by the Assyrian...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For he saith, by the strength of my hand I have done [it],.... Meaning either that by the power of his army, which was under his command, or by his own personal valour, he had subdued kings, taken their kingdoms and chief cities, and ascribes nothing to the power aud providence of God; and if such arrogance and haughtiness, in things of a civil...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people,.... With that ease as a man finds a nest of birds, and takes them: and as one gathereth eggs [that are] left; by the bird, who not sitting upon them, there is none to protect them; whereas, when they are sat upon by the bird, she will flutter with her wings, and strike with her bill, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?.... Hitherto are the words of the Assyrian monarch; and here begin the words of the prophet, rebuking him for his pride, and deriding his vain boasting, in attributing that to himself, to his wisdom and power, who was but an instrument, which belonged to God, the sole Governor and wise...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts,.... Because of the pride, and arrogance, and vain boasting of the Assyrian monarch, which was resented by the Lord, he is threatened with what follows; and in order to humble him, and to show that God is above him, these titles are used; "the Lord", the Lord of the whole earth, and the King of kings,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire,.... That is, the Lord, who is the light of his people; who enlightens them by his word and Spirit, and by his grace effectually calls them out of darkness into marvellous light, to the light of grace here, and to the light of glory hereafter; and who comforts and refreshes them with his gracious...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And shall consume the glory of his forest,.... The Assyrian army is compared to a "forest", for the number of men in it; and for the mighty men in it, comparable to large and tall trees, such as oaks and cedars; and like a wood or forest a numerous army looks, when in rank and file, in proper order, and with banners, and having on their armour,...