ISAIAH 10

vv 1-4 constitutes the last poem in the series begun in Isaiah 9. It concerns those who oppress the poor and helpless.

Structure to vv. 5-32:

Assyria as a tool (poem) (5-7)

        King's bragging (poem) (8-11) starts with “For he says”

            God's punishment on Assyria (prose) (12)

        King's bragging (poem) (13-14) starts with “For he says”

Assyria as a tool (poem) (15)

Punishment for Assyria (poem) (16-19)

        Freedom for a remnant (prose) (20-27a) inclusio “on that day”

Punishment for Assyria (poem) (27b-34)

[first and last sections end with trees (soldiers) lopped off]

v. 7 Assyria is only a tool in God's hands but does not realize it. She thinks she is acting on her own and will be punished for it (v. 12). This expresses idea of God using sinful tools for his own purposes.

v. 9 Six cities in Israel that were conquered by Assyria from 740-720 BC.

v. 12 is a prose insertion that breaks the flow of speech.

vv. 13-15 King of Assyria boasts. Refers to himself nine times in these verses.

v. 16 Josephus speaks of a bubonic plague that struck Sennacherib's army when it was besieging Jerusalem. Isaiah 37 describes this in more detail.

vv. 20-27 Back to prose for a future promise to the remnant.

v. 21 The name of Isaiah's son appears again.

vv. 22-23 quoted by Paul in Romans 9:27-28.

vv. 28-32 The order of the cities shows that attack on Jerusalem comes from the north. This was not Sennacherib's campaign since that came from the south (or west, according to one commentator, and SW according to another); perhaps one of Sargon's II campaigns in 720 and 713-711 BC.