Continuing the theme from the previous chapter, Isaiah points out a fourth major flaw in the national leadership. While the northern kingdom was long given to evil, the southern was little better for aping them. As the hand of God's wrath remains stretched out, not even the tool of His wrath escapes.
History is loaded with examples of magistrates and judges who dispensed rulings in their own personal interests. This was poking a finger in the eye of God. Those who were poor already had enough trouble in life to have justice itself perverted against them. There were few poorer than orphans and widows, and these apparently suffered most. Fine, says the Lord, all the unjust gain from the magistrates would be taken by the coming conqueror. Those who should have been the refuge of the powerless would find themselves without a refuge. Refusing to bow down to Jehovah, they would bow to their conquerors.
Yet Jehovah was still angry, because his chosen vessel of wrath was hardly any better than those upon whom wrath was poured. The Assyrian Emperor would proudly assume his success was the result of his own greatness. The Assyrians were simply being hired for a job. Their conquest was merely setting them up for their own punishment. How blind they were to assume the God of Israel was related to gods Israel had been worshiping in Samaria! Collecting pagan idols from every city he conquered only showed how silly the emperor could be. His hoard of treasure was heaped up for someone else to take.
Assyria was just a tool, as is every human government God allows to rise. Successfully building an empire was no mark of approval from God, only the reflection of usefulness for a time. When that time was past, they would likely meet a worse fate than those they brutally conquered. So it was with Assyria. One day, a staff for punishing Israel; the next day, she was a stick of wood for the fire. When God's judgment against her arrogance was finished, precious few of the imperial house would be living. This came true quite literally, for between 612 BC, when Ninevah was destroyed, to 605 BC at the Battle of Carchemish, the Assyrian ruling house declined rapidly.
The few from the northern Kingdom of Israel who survived Assyrian conquest in 722 BC would at least have a place to go. They would return to join the Kingdom of Judah, return to the God of their fathers. Destruction would turn to rejoicing, and these would rediscover their proper place in God's divine plan.
Meanwhile, Assyria would not enter Jerusalem. The wrath of God would have run its course, and the strength of Assyria would wane. As God had crushed previous national enemies -- Midianites and Egyptians -- so the Lord would do to Assyria. The northern kingdom would disappear for their recalcitrance in pursuing the sins of Jeroboam, but for the sake of God's covenant with Moses, He would spare the southern kingdom.
Isaiah paints a picture of Sennacherib descending down from the north, marking natural places where an army might stop in their progress. However, he would reach only as close as Nob -- a small village where the Tabernacle once stood before Saul destroyed the priests for helping David. It was a hilltop a few miles northeast of Zion, from which the Temple and palace of the City could be viewed. He would impotently shake his fist, and come no closer. While camped at Nob, his army would be destroyed.
Indeed, the result of Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem was enough to strike terror in the heart of any conquering warrior. The morning dawned to find most of the troops dead in their tents. Like a bramble mowed down by an iron sword, so would the proud cedars of Assyrian military might be humbled. Before he could make up his mind to try again, Sennacherib had to return to his capital of Ninevah.
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By Ed Hurst
24 July 2008
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