20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. 25 For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26 And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. 27 And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”
28 He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through Migron;
at Michmash he stores his baggage;
29 they have crossed over the pass;
at Geba they lodge for the night;
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!
Give attention, O Laishah!
O poor Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32 This very day he will halt at Nob;
he will shake his fist
at the mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord God of hosts
will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe,
and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One. – Isaiah 10:20-34 ESV
God has made it clear that King Sennacherib and the Assyrians are nothing more than tools in His hands. Like an ax to a woodsman or a saw to a carpenter, the Assyrians would be used by God to accomplish His divine will concerning Israel and Judah. But they could no more than He decreed and allowed. The prideful and arrogant Assyrians would do what they did, not as if they were being forced to or against their own wishes, but according to their desire to “remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures” (Isaiah 10:13 ESV). Like an ax is designed to chop wood, the Assyrians were built for conquest and their hearts desire was to rule over all the nations.
And in 701 BC, the Assyrians came against Jerusalem, beseiging the city in an attempt to destroy it as they had done the capital of the northern capital of Israel. But God had other plans.
“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” – Isaiah 37:33-35 ESV
God’s work for Sennacherib and his forces was complete. They could do no more to harm the people of Judah, because Isaiah tells us that, in the middle of the night, “the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians” (Isaiah 37:36 ESV). The next morning, Sennacherib and his army broke their seige, returning to Ninevah, where he was later assassinated by his own sons.
But, beginning in verse 20 of chapter 10, the content of Isaiah’s prophecy shifts from Assyria to Judah. He begins this section, “In the day.” This is a reference to some future time period when God will restore His people. Isaiah describes it as a day when “the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 10:20 ESV). Any time you see a statement like this in Scripture, you must ask yourself whether this has been fulfilled? Has it already taken place? Is there a time in the national history of either Israel or Judah where we see the promise of this prophecy having been fulfilled?
In verses 21 and 22, Isaiah speaks of a remnant returning. We do know that, after Judah eventually fell to the Babylonians and ended up in exile for 70 years, God allowed a remnant of the people to return to the land. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, they were able to rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem, destroyed by the Babylonians. They restored the demolished walls and gates of the city and, eventually, reconstructed the temple and reinsituted the sacrificial system.
But Isaiah’s prophecy is very specific. He mentions both Israel and Jacob. The northern kingdom of Israel lost their capital of city of Samaria to the Assyrians in 722 BC. Three years later, after having failed to pay their annual tribute to the king of Assyria, Samaria was captured and the people were taken captive and deported to Assyria. And there is no indication that any of the Israelites ever returned to the land. Yet, they are included in Isaiah’s prophecy. So, the day to which Isaiah referred must lie in the future, as yet unfulfilled. And while a remnant of Judah did eventually return to the land, they did not “lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.” Over the subsequent centuries they would prove unfaithful to Yahweh. And, the apostle John lets us know that, by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, they were living in spiritual darkness.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. – John 1:9-11 ESV
Isaiah stresses that only a remnant will return to the land. Even though God had kept His word to Abraham, and had made his descendants as numerous as the sand of the sea, their disobedience had brought God’s judgment, overflowing with His righteousness. He had punished them for their rebellion, but had spared them from complete destruction, because of His covenant promise to Abraham.
Through His prophet, Isaiah, God comforts the people of Judah, telling them not to fear the Assyrians. He will protect them and prevent their complete destruction. In fact, He promises, “For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction” (Isaiah 10:25 ESV). And as we saw, God fulfilled that promise.
And Isaiah, referring yet again to “that day,” states that “his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken” (Isaiah 10:27 ESV). There was a day coming when God would remove His judgment completely. While the Assyrians would eventually march their way through the land, systematically passing through Aiath, Migron, Michmash, Giba, Ramah and Anathoth, on their way to Jerusalem, they would fail in their quest to conquer Judah. God would do to them what He had done to the Midianites and Egyptians.
And, as we saw in Isaiah 37, God fulfiled this promise, sending Sennacharib packing with his army having lost 185,000 of its soldiers.
But there is an aspect of this prophecy that remains unfulfilled. The full implications of “that day” have not yet been experienced by Judah or Israel. God is not yet done. His plans for His people have not expired or been exhausted. In his letter to the Romans, Paul stresses that there is a day coming when God will completely fulfill His promise to restore His people.
I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say,
“The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.” – Romans 11:25-27 NLT
And the prophet, Ezekiel, prophesied about this very same day.
“Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord. For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
“And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God.” – Ezekiel 36:22-28 NLT
Isaiah had said, “Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.” God would bring judgment against His people, but He would also shower them with His righteousness, doing for them what they could not do for themselves. The day is coming when God will restore His people. He will return them to the land. But, more importantly, He will restore their hearts to Him.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
