When Israel fell to Assyria and Judah paid heavy tribute, was God disgusted with Assyria’s arrogance? Are our nations arrogant? Let’s learn from Isaiah 10.
What does God say about legislation that punishes the needy and robs the poor?
How terrible it will be for the one who enacts unjust decrees, for those who write oppressive laws that they have prescribed to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans! What will you do on the day of Judgment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you run for help, and where will you leave your wealth, so you won’t have to crouch among those in chains or fall among the slain? Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike. (Isa 10:1-4 ISV)
Which nation would God primarily use to punish the northern tribes of Israel?
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical 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. (Isa 10:5-6 KJV)
However, instead of humbly acting as God’s vehicle of punishment, does Assyria go too far, acting in an arrogant manner?
But it does not intend to act in this way, And it does not think in its heart in this way, Rather, what is in its heart is to destroy And to cut off many nations. For it says, “Are not my princes all kings? Is not Calno like Carchemish, Or Hamath like Arpad, Or Samaria like Damascus? As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, Whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?” (Isa 10:7-11 LSB)
Will Assyria also receive punishment at the hand of the Lord?
So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the arrogant pride of his eyes.” For he has said, “By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this, Because I have understanding; And I removed the boundaries of the peoples And plundered their treasures, And like a powerful man I brought down their inhabitants, And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a nest, And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth; And there was not one that flapped its wing, opened its beak, or chirped.” (Isa 10:12-14 NASB)
Why is God angry with Assyria? Was their boasting a cause for God to curse them too?
Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it? As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood! Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame. The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and his briers. The splendor of his forests and fertile fields it will completely destroy, as when a sick person wastes away. And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down. (Isa 10:15-19 NIV)
Will the remnant of Israel repent and return to dependence on God?
And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel, And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, Will never again depend on him who defeated them, But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, To the Mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land. (Isa 10:20-23 NKJV)
Does God encourage Judah not to be afraid of the Assyrians?
So this is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, says: “O my people in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you with rod and club as the Egyptians did long ago. In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them.” The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will lash them with his whip, as he did when Gideon triumphed over the Midianites at the rock of Oreb, or when the Lord’s staff was raised to drown the Egyptian army in the sea. In that day the Lord will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders. (Isa 10:24-27 NLT)
Will the Lord eventually punish Assyria for their arrogance, like lopping a large tree?
He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage. They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled. Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth! Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One. (Isa 10:28-34 WEB)
Did Jesus also speak of yet another punishment of Jerusalem for her sins, one that occurred about 40 years later?
Now Jesus left the temple and was going away. His disciples came to point out to him the temple buildings. He responded, “Do you see all these things? I assure that no stone will be left on another. Everything will be demolished.” (Mat 24:1-2 CEB)
When Israel fell to Assyria and Judah paid heavy tribute, was God disgusted with Assyria’s arrogance? Are our nations arrogant? You decide!
