Глава 10

1–4. The fate of the unrighteous judges of Israel. 5–11. Arrogance of Assur, 12–19. and God's judgment on him. 20–27. Comfort to Israel. 28–34. Assur near Jerusalem. Isaiah 10:1–4. Israeli judges, with their decisions and sentences, violate the law of God's truth and are merciless towards widows, orphans and the poor. These wicked people face either captivity or death; but God’s wrath against Israel will not yet be satisfied with this. Isa.10:1. Woe to those who make unjust laws and write cruel decisions, Isa.10:2. to remove the poor from justice and to steal the rights of the weak of my people, to make widows their prey and rob the orphans. We are talking not only about court decisions, but also about laws being reintroduced into public life in the kingdom of Israel. These new laws are unfair and difficult for people who are weak and poor, such as widows and orphans. Isa.10:3. And what will you do on the day of visitation, when destruction comes from afar? Who will you turn to for help? And where will you leave your wealth? “The Day of Visitation” is a day of punishment (as in Ex. 34:7). “Death from afar” - undoubtedly, this refers to the invasion of the Assyrians, who lived at a relatively very far distance from Palestine. “Wealth” – in Heb. text: glory (kevod). It is clear that Isaiah's contemporaries placed all their strength and glory in their wealth, which they accumulated in happy and calm times. When attacked by enemies, rich people usually tried to hide their treasures somewhere far away. Isa.10:4. Without Me they will bend among the prisoners and fall among the slain. Despite all this, His anger will not be turned away, and His hand will still be stretched out. "Without Me". Without God's help, having lost it due to their sins, they have no choice but to humbly bow under the weight of the stocks among the prisoners or put their neck under the sword of the enemy. However, the Judge will not limit himself to this in punishing Israel. Isaiah 10:5–11. And Assyrian is threatened with the judgment of God for his arrogance. Assur did not understand the mission entrusted to him in relation to the chosen people. He only had to punish the kingdom of Judah, but meanwhile he imagined completely subjugating it to himself. Isa.10:5. O Assyrian, rod of My wrath! and the scourge in his hand is My indignation! “Assur” - this name belonged to one of the sons of Shem (Gen. 10:22), and then passed on to the people descended from him, who lived along the eastern bank of the Tigris, approximately in the middle reaches of this river, in fact, between the Tigris, its tributaries and the first spurs of the mountain range. This area was very advantageous from the point of view of military defense and internal development, and there the young people for many years strengthened their independent spirit, gradually developing the perky and energetic character that later distinguished them and undergoing military school in small but incessant wars with the wild mountaineers and nomads who surrounded them. Subsequently, Assyria expanded and its possessions extended to the Euphrates, occupying at least 75,000 square miles (Ragozina Z.A. History of Assyria. 1902, pp. 6–7). Until 608 (the year of the fall of the capital of the Assyrian kingdom, Nineveh), the Assyrian kingdom was considered the most powerful kingdom in the world and Assyrian troops even occupied Egypt more than once. The cultural significance of Assyria for the ancient world was also enormous and its influence even extended to Egypt, which itself had an ancient culture. There are many monuments left from Assyria - the remains of its palaces, churches, entire libraries, state archives, which are still being studied to this day (a detailed and excellent description of all these monuments can be seen in the above-mentioned work by Ragozina). “The rod of My wrath” is the instrument through which God punished His people who had transgressed before Him. (The words in the hand of his criticism are considered an interpolation and the second part of the verse is read in new translations as follows: “the scourge of My indignation”). Isa.10:6. I will send him against a wicked people and against the people of my wrath, I will give him command to rob with robbery and take spoil and trample them down like dirt in the streets. It is unclear what people we are talking about here. But based on the connection of speech, it is most likely to see Jewish people here. This people aroused the wrath of the Almighty with their wickedness, and the Lord sends the Assyrians against them, who must humble them and cause them significant harm, although not destroy them at all. Isa.10:7. But he will not think so and his heart will not think so; It will be in his heart to ruin and destroy many nations. The Assyrians will not be satisfied with the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, with its devastation. They will want to destroy, that is, completely destroy this kingdom and many others. Isa.10:8. For he will say: “Are not all kings my princes? The time period from 900 to 650 BC was the most prosperous period in the history of the Assyrian monarchy, and Isaiah, who lived in the 8th century, was, of course, a witness to this flowering of Assyria. The Assyrian kings subjugated the entire “western country”, including Phenicia, the Philistine land, Edom and the kingdom of Israel. King Asargaddon conquered all of Egypt, and under Assur-Banipal (668–626), the Assyrian kingdom included within its borders all the countries from Media and Persia to the Mediterranean Sea and from Armenia to the Arabian Desert. Foreign countries, after their conquest by the Assyrians, were left in the same position in which they existed before, but the kings of these countries became vassals of the Assyrian king and paid him tribute (this is indicated by the expression: my princes). Therefore, the Assyrian kings styled themselves with the titles: sarru rabbu (great king) and sar sarrani (king of kings). Isa.10:9. Is not Chalne the same as Carchemish? Isn't Hamath the same as Arpad? Isn't Samaria the same as Damascus? The Assyrian king does not consider it impossible for himself to capture the strongest enemy fortress. Halne, and in Hebrew. kalno – unknown city. Some consider it identical with the ancient Ctesiphon, which was located to the east. the bank of the Tigris south of Baghdad, others identify it with the city of Kullani, apparently belonging to the possessions of Hamath. This last city, indeed, was taken by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pilezer in 738 (in Assyrian monuments this city is called Kunulua or Kinalia). “Carchemish” is a city in the land of the Hittites on the right, western bank of the Euphrates. It was annexed to Assyria by Sargon (in 717), but even earlier Tiglath-Pilezer could have taken it during his campaign to the west. "Emath" - in Hebrew. Hamath is the main city of northern Syria, on the river. Oronte. Not far from it, to the north, was the city of Arpad (now Tell-Erfad), taken in 740 by Tiglath-Pilezer, while Hamath was annexed to Assyria only in 720 under Sargon. Damascus was taken by the Assyrians in 732, and Samaria at the beginning of the reign of Sargon, in 722. Isa.10:10. Since my hand has taken possession of the kingdoms of idols, in which there are more idols than in Jerusalem and Samaria, Isa.10:11. then shall I not do the same to Jerusalem and her graven images as I did to Samaria and her idols?” According to the beliefs of the ancients, the well-being and strength of the kingdom depended on the “idols”. Whose idols or gods were stronger, then the state had to win in the fight. The Assyrian king therefore wants first of all to take the idols, the existence of which he assumes in Jerusalem. Having taken Jewish idols for himself, he will thereby keep the Jewish people under his control. But what kind of king is Isaiah referring to here? The tone of this king's speech (vv. 8-11) is very similar to the boastful tone of one inscription in which Tiglath-Pilezer claims that he took away the gods of Philistia (Palestine) he conquered in such multitudes as fowlers capture birds (cf. Hos. 8:5; Hos. 10:5). In addition, 10th Art. Chapter 10 also presupposes the existence of Samaria - along with Jerusalem; - from here it follows that Isaiah, apparently, is not talking about its final destruction (v. 11), which was accompanied by the resettlement of the Israelites to Assyria, but about its capture by Tiglath-Pilezer in 734. Isaiah 10:12–19. Having allowed Assyria to punish Jerusalem, the Lord will reward the Assyrian king for his arrogance and the Assyrian kingdom will weaken, and mainly the number of the Assyrian army, which, in fact, was the strength of this kingdom, will decrease. Isa.10:12. And it will happen, when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, He will say: I will look at the success of the haughty heart of the king of Assyria and at the vanity of his highly raised eyes. “My own work” - that is, the judgment of Judas and, in particular, of Jerusalem, which did not want to submit to the will of God; which was announced to him, for example, by the prophet Isaiah (chapter 7). "I'll take a look." Heb. The verb here (pha kad) often means to punish. “The success of an arrogant heart” - translated from Hebrew. the fruit of pride, that is, proud, arrogant speeches that constitute the fruit of the internal arrogant mood of the Assyrian king. “And to vanity” is more correct and simpler: “and his boastful pride.” Isa.10:13. He says: “By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom I did this, because I am wise: I move the borders of nations, and plunder their treasures, and cast them down from their thrones like a giant; “Removing the boundaries of nations” established by God Himself (Deut. 32:6) is a clear sign of the wickedness and pride of the Assyrian king, who imagined himself to be the wisest creature in the world. “Like a giant” - in Hebrew. keabir, i.e. like a bull. There may be a hint here of the figures of mighty bulls that decorated the entrances to Assyrian palaces. A strong Assyrian bull rushes through enemy countries and overthrows royal thrones with its horns. Isa.10:14. and my hand has seized the wealth of the nations like nests; and just as they take away the eggs left in them, so I took the whole earth, and no one moved a wing, or opened a mouth, or squeaked.” "Nobody moved a wing." These words indicate the panic that overcame everyone when the Assyrian hordes approached. Isaiah 10:15. Is the ax greater than the one who cuts with it? Is the saw proud of the one who moves it? It is as if the rod rebels against the one who lifts it; as if a stick is being lifted up against someone who is not a tree! Assur is only a blind instrument in the hands of God. “Rises” would be more correct to say: controls the hand that raises him. “Rises” is more correct; make your hand move. Isa.10:16. Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send stunting to his fat ones, and among his famous will kindle a flame like the flame of fire. “Fat” is obviously a synonym for the following expression: famous. Here we mean, first of all, the mighty Assyrian warriors, and then all the noble and rich Assyrians, whose strength will be destroyed - they will wither away. “Stunting and flame” are also synonyms, indicating various disasters that will fall, according to God’s judgment, on the Assyrians. Isaiah 10:17. The Light of Israel will be a fire, and her Holy One a flame, which will burn and devour her thorns and thistles in one day; “The Light of Israel... and its Holy One” are synonyms denoting the Almighty - the Patron of the Israeli people. The Lord is a fire that consumes the wicked (Deut. 9:3), and, in particular, the Assyrians, who are here called thorns and thistles for Israel in view of the numerous misfortunes that they caused him. “In one day” - that is, one day forever the Lord will destroy the Assyrian kingdom and, moreover, in the shortest possible time. This prophecy was fulfilled with the rather quickly accomplished fall of the Assyrian state in 608 BC. Isaiah 10:18. and he will destroy his glorious forest and his garden, from soul to body; and he will be like a stunted dying man. Isaiah 10:19. And the remnant of the trees of the forest will be so few in number that a child will be able to take an inventory. “Forest... and garden” are references to the Assyrian army. There will be so few warriors left from this army that a small child who can only count to ten or two will be able to count all the surviving Assyrian warriors. Of course, the expression here is hyperbolic (exaggeration). Isaiah 10:20–27. Israel, or the kingdom of Judah itself, will emerge from this clash with Assyria wiser and will no longer seek help from anyone other than the Lord. However, only a few of the Jews (the remnant) will take this correct path. They will be saved from the general destruction that will soon fall on the nations; judgment for them will only be a transition to salvation. Isa.10:20. And it will come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel and those who escape from the house of Jacob will no longer trust in him who defeated them, but will put their trust in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, wholeheartedly. Isaiah 10:21. The remnant will turn, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. “On that day” - obviously after the destruction of the Assyrian state. "The Remnant of Israel". Of course, here we must understand one kingdom of Judah, because the kingdom of Israel had already been destroyed before the fall of Assyria. “Who struck them,” that is, the Assyrians. The Assyrians themselves will already be amazed by the Almighty, who is therefore called here the mighty God (El gibbor). Isa.10:22. For even though your people, O Israel, were as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be converted; destruction is determined by abundant righteousness; Isa.10:23. for the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will bring about a certain destruction upon all the earth. From Israel (the Jewish people) only a remnant, an insignificant part of the entire people, will convert or return (from Babylonian captivity), and extermination is determined for the rest of the Jews, unworthy of God’s mercy. They, like other peoples living on earth, will be punished to the fullest extent of God’s Judgment, that is, they will be lost in those countries where the victors will resettle them. Isa.10:24. Therefore thus says the Lord, the Lord of hosts: My people who dwell in Zion! don't be afraid of Assur. He will smite you with his rod and lift up his reed against you, like Egypt. “Therefore,” i.e., meaning the imminent fall of the Assyrian kingdom. “Like Egypt,” that is, as the Egyptian pharaoh once did, who decided to exterminate the descendants of Jacob living in Egypt. Isa.10:25. A little more, very little, and My indignation will pass, and My wrath will turn to destroy them. Isa.10:26. And the Lord of hosts will raise a scourge against him, as during the defeat of Midian at the rock of Oreb, or as he stretched out a rod on the sea, and will lift him up, as against Egypt. These verses predict the defeat of Assyria, which will follow in a very short time. Therefore, it is best to see here the prophecy about the defeat of the Assyrian army by the Angel of the Lord under the walls of Jerusalem (Is. 37:36). “The defeat of Midian” - under Judge Gideon, took place in one night (Judges 7 et seq.). “The Rock of Oreb” is the rock where the Midian prince Oreb the Raven died (Judges 7:25). “Or as he stretched out” - more accurately translated: and as His rod on the sea. The Almighty, therefore, will destroy the Assyrians just as he once drowned Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. Isaiah 10:27. And it shall come to pass in that day: his burden shall be taken away from thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fatness. “The yoke will break because of the fat.” The Jewish people are obviously compared here to working cattle, which will become so fat from a good free life that the yoke with which their neck was tied will not stand and will crack. Isaiah 10:28–34. But before his death, Assur will still cause much harm to Judea, the procession through which the Assyrian troops are depicted by the prophet. In the end, God will put an end to this invasion! Isa.10:28. He goes to Aiath, passes Migron, and stores his supplies in Mikhmas. The prophet begins to list those Jewish cities that the Assyrians will take possession of during their invasion of Judea. “Aiath” is the same as Ai (Gen. 12:8), who lay southeast of Bethel, in the tribe of Benjamin. "Migron" is probably the city whose ruins are now called Makrun. This city, apparently, was on the way between Ai and Mikhmas. “Mikhmas” is a city in the count. Veniaminov, now bearing the name Mukhmas. Here the Assyrians leave their convoy, because the road further becomes very difficult and also because they soon hope to reach Jerusalem, where they will find enough provisions for themselves. Isaiah 10:29. The gorges pass; in Geva they spend the night; The frame shakes; Gibeah Saulova ran away. “Narrows” is a narrow passage from Michmash (1 Samuel 13:23) through Wadi Suweinit (valley), which the Assyrians pass to reach Geva (now Dzheva) and stop there for the night. The next morning they go to the terror-stricken Ramah (in the Benjaminite stake), past Gibeah of Saul, the highest point in the stake. Veniaminov. Isa.10:30. Howl with your voice, daughter of Galima; let Lais hear you, poor Anathoth! Of the three cities mentioned here, Anathoth, the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah, is well known. The Prophet speaks of him in Hebrew. ania anatoth! Obviously, the adjective chosen here is consonant with the name of the city. Anathoth was located ¾ hours north of Jerusalem and east of Gibeah. "Gallim" is mentioned in 1 Samuel 25:44. Isa.10:31. Madmena ran away, the residents of Gevim are in a hurry to leave. “Madmena” (dung heap) and Gevimah (wells) are areas located north of Jerusalem. Isa.10:32. He will remain in Nova for another day; threatens with his hand Mount Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. “Nove” (1 Samuel 22:19) – to the north-east of Jerusalem, which is already visible from the heights on which Nov (elevation) is located. Isa.10:33. Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will tear off the branches of the trees with terrible power, and the tall ones will be cut down, the tall ones will be thrown to the ground. Isaiah 10:34. And he will cut through the thicket of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall from the Almighty. The Lord, like a stormy whirlwind, will break the mighty trees (the Assyrian army) “and Lebanon will fall,” that is, the Assyrian hordes, similar to the mighty and impenetrable Lebanese forest. It should be noted that Assyrian monuments present a different picture of the campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib against Judea. He first went to Phenicia, then went down the sea road to the Philistine land, and finally attacked Judea from the southwest. But Isaiah did not at all mean to give an accurate image of the entire route of the Assyrian troops, and he, of course, pictured this campaign in his own way, because the particulars of future events were not revealed in all detail to the prophets. The main thing is that the prophet depicts the suddenness and horror of the Assyrian invasion with amazing force and relief. The newest critics in the 10th chapter find many insertions from a later time belonging to the publisher of the prophecies of Isaiah. So Marti points out that Isaiah could not put into the mouth of the pagan king the expression: “kingdoms of idols”, “idols” (vv. 10 and 11). Cheyne and Marti consider verses 16–19 to be “a mosaic of diverse images,” and consider verses 20–23 to be inauthentic because they contain reasoning that was unexpected on the part of Isaiah. Cheyne's verses 24–27 also do not belong to Isaiah, because their verse is very heavy and because they lack rhythm. All these objections are based on purely subjective views and therefore do not have sufficient convincing power. For example, in 20–23 art. we actually find not only thoughts that are completely in agreement with Isaiah’s general worldview, but even his own expressions (cf., for example, v. 20 and ch. 9, v. 12; v. 21 and ch. 1, v. 27; 23 and ch. Is. 6:12). And what Isaiah sometimes says here in prose, was that impossible or forbidden for him? You might be interested in: