Isaiah 10:7-11 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Howbeit, he meaneth not so, &c.— The prophet had taught the pious in what light they should consider the Assyrian, leading a large army with a splendid apparatus, and bringing under his power the people of God, so called, in the same manner as other nations; he shews that, though a great prince, he is only the minister of the divine providence and indignation; the executor of the counsels and decrees of the supreme ruler, Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts, without whom he could do nothing: and that in those very expeditions which he undertook against the Ephraimites and Syrians, he was to obey the secret rule of the divine providence. "Yet this prevents not, says the prophet, his becoming guilty of great crimes before God, in the execution of these secret decrees; for, ignorant of the divine counsels, he had far different thoughts in his mind; sacrificing only to his ambition and lust by this war; forgetful of humanity and equity, to which all men are bound, not by any secret, but by the manifest law of conscience and reason: through pride and arrogance he vainly lifted up himself above the true God worshipped at Jerusalem, and raised his ambition far above the state of man; so that God, by the prophet, taxes him with inhumanity and cruelty, with arrogance and ferocity; elation of mind, pride, and contempt of the true God; crimes of such a sort, that he in his turn could not avoid the divine vengeance." After having declared that his princes (Isaiah 10:8.) were as kings; that is to say, that his nobles were as great as the kings of other nations, and indeed made kings or governors by him over the countries which he had subdued, he adds—setting forth the greatness of his power and strength, and his prosperity in war—Is not Calno as Carchemish, &c.? that is to say, "None of those cities against which he had turned his arms had been able to resist them; that he had subjugated them all, one as well as another." Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, and Arpad, were cities of Syria and Samaria, which this mighty monarch had subdued. See Exodus 18:34 and chap. Isaiah 36:19. To this proud boasting of his conquests, he adds impiety and arrogant contempt of that God of Israel, in whose hand he was but a rod:—As my hand hath found or laid hold of those kingdoms of nothing, whose graven images are more excellent than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not, &c. The kingdoms of nothing mean those kingdoms which were consecrated to idols, that is, to gods different from the gods worshipped by the Assyrians. See Exodus 19:12-13 and Vitringa.