O Assyrian Is 10: 5-15 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

In this passage we learn more about the Assyrian and how God uses him to fulfill his anger against Israel and then disposes of him.  Remember from our prior lesson [Is 10:5 The Assyrian] that this king and his kingdom started in Gen 10 with Nimrod and will continue all the way to the Second Advent of Jesus.  The best way to study this passage is verse by verse as a commentary.

v.5 – O Assyrian – here he is called the “rod” and the “staff” and in v.15 he is also called the “axe” and the “saw.”

v.6 – the Lord sends him against a hypocritical nation and the people of his wrath.  This is a reference toIsrael[Matt 23:13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 27, and 29; 1 Thes 2:16].

He’s given a charge to do three things: take the spoil, take the prey and tread them down.

v.7 – it is in his heart to destroy many nations but he doesn’t know it – 2 Ki 8:12-13, Jer 17:9-10, 2 Tim 3:13, Prov 21:1 – this is one of the most insightful verses in the Bible into the heart of rulers God uses to bring his judgment.

v.8 – his princes are kings Rev 17:12-13.

v.9 – one city he is about to attack is just like another he has already defeated.

v.10 – he found the kingdoms of idols as the founder – started out with the idols of Babel and ends up with the image of the beast [Rev 13] – his idols excelled the images of Jerusalem and Samaria– Hezekiah got rid of the idols of Jerusalem before Sennacherib attacked Jerusalem and so Jerusalem was spared.

v.11 – He would have done to Jerusalem what he did to Samaria if Hezekiah had not removed the idols.

v.12 – it is the Lord that actually uses Assyria against Israel [like Jer 25:9] – and when he is done, he will destroy him and his kingdom [like Jer 25:29-31] – he is destroyed for his stout heart and the glory of his high looks [see Ezek 28:3-8 and Is 30:31].

v.13-14 – notice his pride is revealed in his words “I” and “my” – spoken 8 times [compare Dan 4:30, Is 14:13-14].

This is a remarkable passage explaining the economic, moral and political failure of every country that opened its borders and allowed the devil to remove the boundaries placed there by God [Deut 32:8, Acts 17:26-27].

v.15 – O Assyrian was nothing more than an implement in the hand of the Lord to execute his will.  These “big-shot” world rulers are merely pawns, ultimately fulfilling the Lord’s will, though they may boast of their strength and success as if they had truly risen to great power by their own might.