In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, [namely], by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.
Ver. 20. In the same day shall the Lord shave.] Not shear, but shave, with a razor, to set forth the calamity of war, which wasteth and taketh away all, and maketh clean work, as we use to say: Nihil in toto regno intactum reliquit, sed omnia a summo ad imum expilavit Assyrius. The Assyrian is here called God's razor, because his instrument, to shave as he pleaseth, though haply by exceeding his commission as Zec 1:15 he might prove a "deceitful razor," as Psa 52:2 that, instead of shaving the hair, lanceth the flesh.
That is hired.] Whether by Ahaz himself, but for a better purpose, 2Ki 16:7-8 not to harm, but to help, though it happened otherwise; or by God, who paid the Assyrian for his hire the lands of Israel and of Syria. See the like Ezekiel 29:18,19. Barbers use not their razors but for reward.
Beyond the river.] Euphrates, that ran between Syria and Assyria, but could not keep off the Assyrian destroyer.
The head, and the hair of the feet.] Elsewhere called "head and tail"; that is, high and low, prince and peasant.
And it shall also consume the beard.] (1.) The priests, Psa 133:2 as some sense it; or (2.) As others, all the comeliness and virility of the Jewish nation.