1). God First Calls On His Selected Instrument To Act But Then Rebukes Him For Overreacting (Isaiah 10:5-15).
In this vivid illustration Assyria is depicted as being the rod of God's anger. Assyria might think that they are acting under the instructions of their own gods, but the real truth is that they are being used by Yahweh to do His will.
Analysis.
a Ho, Assyria, the rod of My anger, in whose hand is the staff of My indignation. I will send him against a profane (godless) nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets (Isaiah 10:5-6).
b However he does not mean so, nor does his heart intend so, but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few (Isaiah 10:7).
c For he says, “Are not my princes all of them kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? (Isaiah 10:8-9).
d As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols whose graven images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria (Isaiah 10:10).
d Will I not, as I do (perfect tense) to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? (Isaiah 10:11).
c For this reason it will come about that when the Lord has performed His whole work on mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish (visit on) the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks (Isaiah 10:12).
b For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am so astute. And I have removed the bounds of the people, and have stolen their treasures, and I have brought down as a man of valour, those who sit on thrones. And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathers eggs that are deserted, I have gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved wing, or that opened the mouth, or that chirped (Isaiah 10:13-14).
a Will the axe boast itself against the one who hews with it? Will the saw magnify itself against the one who saws (moves to and fro) with it? It is as if a rod should shake those who lift it up, or as if a pole should lift up one who is not wood (Isaiah 10:15).
In ‘a' the king of Assyria is to be Yahweh's instrument, but in the parallel he is not considered to have behaved like a true instrument of Yahweh. In ‘b' his intention is to is to go beyond his remit and destroy and cut off nations and in the parallel his proud attitude towards them in doing so is described. In ‘c' he boasts about his ability to destroy kings, and in the parallel Yahweh will punish him for the glory of his proud looks. In ‘d' he boasts at having conquered kingdoms with greater gods than those of Israel and Judah, and in the parallel boasts of what he will do to what he sees as the gods of Judah.
‘Ho, Assyria, the rod of my anger,
In whose hand is the staff of my indignation.
I will send him against a profane (godless) nation,
And against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge,
To take the spoil, and to take the prey,
And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.'
‘Ho.' A peremptory call to Assyria like that of a master to his beast. (Or ‘woe to', either is a possible translation. But ‘ho' fits the context better. He is calling on His instrument in carrying out the woes).
God now calls on Assyria to act as the rod of His anger against Samaria and against Judah and Jerusalem. The Assyrians hold in their hands the means of chastisement and punishment which will express the ‘snorting anger' (‘aph) and wrath of Yahweh. So Assyria is ‘sent' (intensive, indicating the authority of the sender) by Yahweh against the people who have rejected Him, and are given a charge against the people with whom God is angry. Their charge is to collect spoil, to take booty and to tread the people down as men tread down the mire in the streets. This was their God-given task. Note the limit to His purpose. It was that these people might be despoiled and punished, but not more than that. Assyria, however, would not be satisfied with that.
Note the reference to ‘spoil' and ‘booty', both included in the name of Maher-shalal-hash-baz. They are to fulfil God's will as prophesied.
‘However he does not mean so,
Nor does his heart intend so,
But it is in his heart to destroy,
And to cut off nations not a few.'
Assyria, however, has far wider plans. It does not align itself with Yahweh's plans but has plans against many nations. Here we have the conflict between sovereignty and free will. God is sovereign over the activities of Assyria, they come at His call, but He does not restrict them to that but allows them their freedom to reveal what they are by what they do, so that they will deserve the fate that will come on them. It is not that they openly disobey Him. They were not aware of the charge given to them. They are like a young stallion, controlled by its rider, but given freedom to express itself meanwhile, and that they do, revealing just how evil they are.
‘For he says, “Are not my princes all of them kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols whose graven images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria, will I not, as I do (perfect tense) to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?” '
The pride of the king of Assyria is laid bare. He declares that his princes are in fact nothing less than kings who have been subdued, and now obey their overlord's will. King's are nothing to him, and princes even less. (So much for Ahaz's expectations). None can resist him. He has conquered cities galore. These are named in such a way as to indicate a slow progress towards Samaria and Jerusalem, although not to be taken literally as signifying the order in which they were captured. Carchemish, Calno, Arpad, Hamath, Damascus - and then Samaria next! Whatever their boasting they were all the same to him. And in each case their idols had been superior to those of Samaria and Jerusalem. Thus let Jerusalem consider. What chance do they have? Compare here Isaiah 36:19; Isaiah 37:12-13.
Note his proud assumption that Samaria was already in his hands (expressed in terms of the perfect tense, the tense which signifies something which is complete, sometimes called the ‘prophetic' perfect because regularly used by the prophets), although the way he describes the situation suggests otherwise. He mentions Samaria in such a way in Isaiah 10:10 as to signify that it was not yet so taken. The word used for idols again signifies ‘worthless things, nonentities' as in Isaiah 2:8.
Carchemish, was on the upper Euphrates, Calno, Arpad were in northern Syria. Hamath in central Syria. Damascus was further south and the capital city of Syria.
It is worth noting that his words actually bring home a significant message, especially in the light of the later deliverance of Jerusalem. The idols of these cities, with all their grandeur and proliferation, had been truly powerless to help them, nor therefore, he assumed, would any idols aid Samaria and Jerusalem. All were useless. And he was right. But unknown to the king of Assyria Jerusalem had a secret weapon, Yahweh, the living God. And that was a different matter.
‘For this reason it will come about that when the Lord has performed his whole work on mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish (visit on) the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.'
Assyria's proud boasting is noted and because of it, once they have fulfilled God's purpose, their boasting and their behaviour in the light of it will be visited on them.
‘When the Lord has performed His whole work on mount Zion and on Jerusalem.' The mention of mount Zion is significant. Mount Zion was the site of Yahweh's dwellingplace, a kind of meeting place between earth and heaven, and yet it too has a place in the work Yahweh has to do. For through its earthly connection it has been defiled by idolatry and needs to be cleansed once those who participate in the false worship have been removed. And the same applies to Jerusalem which is seen as a wider area than Mount Zion for this purpose. Both need to be purified.
‘I will punish (visit on) the fruit of the stout (arrogant) heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.' Then, once he has fulfilled Yahweh's will, the king of Assyria will be punished, both for his behaviour as a result of his arrogant heart, and because of the vainglory of his eyes which reveal his overweening pride. God had called him to administer punishment. He had not called on him to be cruel.
‘For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it,
And by my wisdom, for I am so astute.
And I have removed the bounds of the people,
And have stolen their treasures,
And I have brought down as a man of valour,
Those who sit on thrones.
And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people,
And as one gathers eggs that are deserted,
I have gathered all the earth.
And there was none that moved wing,
Or that opened the mouth, or that chirped.'
The king of Assyria saw what he had achieved as revealing that he was both mighty and supremely astute. He boasted that he had changed boundaries, setting up provinces as he would, and he had appropriated their treasures and resources, and like ‘a mighty man' he had brought down those who sat on thrones. Like an egg collector he had come across the riches of the people, in the same way as a man who feels for a nest which he cannot see, in the hollow of a tree, and he had gathered all the earth like an egg collector gathers eggs from nests which have been deserted by their parents because of his presence. It was all so easy. And as with the parent birds no one had given any sign of protest, by either movement or words or chirp of protest. And all this was because he had gone beyond his remit.
‘Will the axe boast itself against the one who hews with it?
Will the saw magnify itself against the one who saws (moves to and fro) with it?
It is as if a rod should shake those who lift it up,
Or as if a pole should lift up one who is not wood.'
But there was One who raised a protest, One Who saw the Assyrian as but a tool, and an arrogant one at that. The One Who had given him his remit. Will an axe or a saw boast against the carpenter and make a big thing of themselves? Of course not. They have nothing to boast at because they are only instruments that the carpenter uses. The boast is his, not theirs. Nor would a rod shake the one who held it. It rather responds to the one who holds and flourishes it. Nor would a pole lift up the flesh-and-blood bearers of the pole. It would lift up the wooden gods that were placed on it by the bearers. Thus the bearers are more significant than the helpless wooden gods. The implication is that the pole would of course lift up its wooden gods, assisted by those bearers, such was the helplessness of those gods. So the answer is an unequivocal ‘no'. They are all but instruments in the carpenter's hands. So why then does the king of Assyria boast against The One Who uses and directs him? It is totally illogical and ridiculous, and indeed arrogant and worthy of punishment.