Isaiah 10:24 - Meaning and Application

The prophet, in his preaching, separates the precious from the worthless, and God does the same in his providence, even through the same events. He speaks terror, in Sennacherib’s invasion, to the hypocrites, who were under God’s wrath (Isaiah 10:6). But here he speaks comfort to the sincere, who were under God’s love. The judgment was sent for the sake of the former, and the deliverance was worked for the sake of the latter.

First, God tells his people not to be frightened by this threatened disaster, and not to fall into confusion or panic because of it. “Let the sinners in Zion be afraid” (Isaiah 33:14), but “O my people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian” (Isaiah 10:24). It is against God’s mind and will for his people, whatever happens, to give way to that fear that brings torment and alarm. Those who dwell in Zion, where God dwells and where his people serve him, and who are under the protection of the walls around Zion (Psalm 48:13), do not need to fear any enemy. Let their souls rest quietly in God.

Second, God gives reasons to calm their fear. The Assyrian will do nothing against them except what God has planned and allowed. They are told ahead of time what he will do, so it will not surprise them: he will strike them only by God’s permission, and only with a rod to correct them, not with a sword to destroy them. He will only lift up his staff against them, threatening and frightening them, like the Egyptians at the Red Sea shook their staffs at Israel and said, “We will pursue, we will overtake” (Exodus 15:9), but could not touch them. We should not be terrified of enemies who can only frighten us.

The storm will also pass soon. “Yet a very little while” (Isaiah 10:25), and the anger will stop, even the anger that is the staff in the enemy’s hand (Isaiah 10:5). When that anger ends, the enemy is disarmed and can do no more harm. God’s anger against his people lasts only for a moment (Psalm 30:5), and when it turns away, we need not fear the rage of any man, because human fury is powerless passion.

The enemy who threatens God’s people will also be dealt with himself. God’s anger against his people will end in the destruction of their enemies. When he turns his wrath away from Israel, he will turn it against the Assyrian. The rod used to correct his people will not only be set aside, but thrown into the fire. The Assyrian lifted his staff against Zion, but God will raise up a scourge for him (Isaiah 10:26). He is a terror to God’s people, but God will be a terror to him. The destroying angel will be that scourge, and he can neither escape it nor fight against it.

To encourage his people, the prophet points them back to earlier times, when God brought strong enemies of his church to ruin. The Assyrian’s destruction will be like the slaughter of Midian, when an unseen power brought a sudden and complete defeat. As Oreb, one of Midian’s princes, was killed after the battle, so Sennacherib will fall in the temple of his god Nisroch, after his army is beaten, when he thinks the danger has passed. Compare this with Psalm 83:11: “Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb.” God’s promises and his people’s prayers fit together.

It will also be like God’s rod at the Red Sea, when Moses’ rod first divided the sea for Israel’s escape and then closed it again for the destruction of their pursuers. So God’s rod will now be lifted up, as in Egypt, for Jerusalem’s deliverance and the Assyrian’s destruction. It is good to notice how God’s later works match his earlier acts for his people, and against their enemies.

God’s people will also be completely delivered from the Assyrian’s power and from fear of him (Isaiah 10:27). They will not only be freed from the Assyrian army now camping on them, a heavy yoke and burden, but they will also stop paying the tribute the king of Assyria had demanded from them before this invasion (2 Kings 18:14). They will no longer be under his control or at his mercy, as they had been, and he will never again put the land under tribute. Some think this points further ahead to the Jews’ release from Babylon. Even further, it points to believers being freed from the rule of sin and Satan.

The yoke will not only be removed, it will be destroyed. The enemy will never regain the strength to do the harm he has done, and this will be because of the anointing, for the sake of those who share in God’s anointing. Some take this to mean Hezekiah, who was the Lord’s anointed and a faithful reformer, dearly loved by God. Others point to David, since God said he would defend Jerusalem for his own sake and for his servant David’s sake (Isaiah 37:35). It also includes the good people in Israel who had received God’s grace. Above all, it points to the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, whom God had in view in all the deliverances of the Old Testament church, and still has in view in every favor he shows his people. It is for Christ’s sake that the yoke is broken, and that we are made truly free.

Third, the prophet describes both the terror of the enemy and the fear he spread among many people, and he exposes the folly of both (Isaiah 10:28, onward). The Assyrians were very strong and bold, and they tried to look even more threatening than they were. The march of Sennacherib is described step by step, showing the route he took and how quickly he advanced: “He has come to Aiath,” and so on. This and that place he had captured, and nowhere had he met resistance. At Michmash he left his baggage, as if he no longer needed heavy equipment, since every place he reached was so easily taken. Or it may mean the fortified store-cities of Judah had become his supply bases. He had also taken an important pass: “They have crossed the pass.”

Then the weakness of the men of Judah is shown. They were the ruined descendants of that lion’s cub. They were afraid and fled at the first alarm, without trying to stand against the enemy. Their turning away from God had made them lose heart, so that one enemy could chase a thousand of them. Instead of a brave cry to strengthen one another, there was only lamenting, which spread discouragement and weakness. Even poor Anathoth, a priests’ town that should have led by courage, cries out louder than the rest (Isaiah 10:30). And when some gathered together, it was not to fight, but to flee together (Isaiah 10:31).

This may be meant to show how quickly the news of the enemy’s advance spread through the land. One person says, “He has come to Aiath,” and another says, “No, he has gone on to Migron.” Yet the danger may not have been quite as great as common talk made it seem.

Still, we must guard against fear, not only of evil things, but also of bad news, which often makes trouble seem worse than it really is (Psalm 112:7). Or this may show how serious Jerusalem’s danger was, with the enemy moving boldly toward it and its defenders unable to make a strong stand. The more daring the church’s enemies are, and the more weak those are who should defend her, the more God shows his own power when he still brings deliverance.

The enemy’s attack on Jerusalem would go no farther. He would stop at Nob, where he could see Mount Zion, and there he would shake his hand at it, threatening it, but doing nothing more (Isaiah 10:32). Jerusalem would be safe and would mock his threats. The daughter of Jerusalem, that is, Jerusalem itself, would shake her head at him in contempt (Isaiah 37:22).

In the end, the attack would bring ruin on the enemy himself. When he shook his hand at Jerusalem and was just about to seize it, that would be God’s time to act against him. Zion is the place of which God has said, “This is my resting place forever,” so anyone who threatens it insults God himself. Then the Lord would cut down the proud like tall trees, and bring down the forest with terror (Isaiah 10:33, Isaiah 10:34).

The enemy’s pride would be humbled. The branches lifted high would be cut off, and the tall, stately trees would be chopped down. In other words, those who lift themselves up against God or set themselves in opposition to him will be brought low.

His power would also be broken. The “thickets of the forest” point to his army. When the Assyrian soldiers stood armed with their spears raised, they looked like a great forest, like Lebanon. But in one night they became dead bodies, their spears laid on the ground, and Lebanon was suddenly cut down by a mighty one, the destroying angel, who killed so many of them in a short time. If this was how that proud invader ended, then God’s people should not be afraid of him. Who are you, that you should be afraid of a man who will die?