The splendor of its forests and orchards, both soul and body, it will completely destroy, as a sickness consumes a man. The splendor of his forest and orchardThis phrase evokes the imagery of lush, abundant growth, symbolizing the prosperity and might of Assyria. In the Hebrew text, "splendor" (הָדָר, hadar) conveys beauty and majesty, often associated with God's creation or the glory of nations. The "forest" and "orchard" represent the resources and wealth of Assyria, which were vast and seemingly invincible. Historically, Assyria was known for its military prowess and economic strength, much like a dense forest or a fruitful orchard. The prophetic imagery here suggests that what appears strong and beautiful can be brought low by divine judgment. will be completely destroyed
The Hebrew root for "destroyed" (כָּלָה, kalah) implies a total and utter end. This is not a partial devastation but a complete obliteration. The use of "completely" emphasizes the thoroughness of God's judgment. In the context of Isaiah's prophecy, this destruction is a divine act against the pride and arrogance of Assyria. It serves as a reminder that no earthly power, regardless of its might, can withstand the sovereign will of God. This reflects a consistent biblical theme where God humbles the proud and exalts the humble. as a sickness consumes a man
The comparison to sickness (מַחֲלָה, machalah) consuming a man is a vivid metaphor for the gradual and inevitable nature of Assyria's downfall. Just as a disease slowly but surely weakens and destroys the human body, so too will Assyria's power be eroded. This metaphor highlights the inescapable and pervasive nature of divine judgment. In the ancient Near Eastern context, sickness was often seen as a sign of divine displeasure or punishment. Thus, this imagery reinforces the idea that Assyria's destruction is not merely a political or military event but a spiritual reckoning orchestrated by God. Persons / Places / Events 1. AssyriaThe nation being addressed in this passage. Assyria was a powerful empire known for its military might and oppression of Israel and Judah. 2. IsaiahThe prophet who delivered this message. He was a major prophet in the Old Testament, known for his prophecies concerning judgment and redemption. 3. Judah and IsraelThe kingdoms that were under threat from Assyria. Isaiah's prophecies often addressed both kingdoms. 4. The Forest and OrchardSymbolic representations of Assyria's strength and prosperity, which are prophesied to be destroyed. 5. God's JudgmentThe event being described, where God will bring destruction upon Assyria as a consequence of their pride and oppression. Teaching Points God's Sovereignty Over NationsGod is in control of all nations and their destinies. No empire, regardless of its power, is beyond His reach or judgment. The Consequences of PrideAssyria's downfall serves as a warning against pride and self-reliance. Nations and individuals alike must recognize their dependence on God. The Certainty of God's JusticeGod's justice may seem delayed, but it is certain. Believers can trust that God will ultimately right all wrongs. The Temporary Nature of Earthly PowerEarthly splendor and power are fleeting. True security and significance are found in a relationship with God. Hope for the OppressedFor those who are oppressed, this passage offers hope that God sees their plight and will act in His perfect timing. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of a forest and orchard being destroyed help us understand the nature of God's judgment on Assyria? 2. In what ways can we see the principle of God's sovereignty over nations at work in today's world? 3. How can the downfall of Assyria serve as a personal warning against pride in our own lives? 4. What are some ways we can find hope and assurance in God's justice when we face oppression or injustice? 5. How do the events described in Isaiah 10:18 connect with the broader account of God's redemption plan in the Bible? Connections to Other Scriptures Isaiah 37:36-38This passage describes the fulfillment of God's judgment against Assyria, where the angel of the Lord strikes down the Assyrian army. 2 Kings 19:35-37Provides a historical account of the same event, emphasizing God's power to protect His people and execute judgment. Psalm 37:35-36Illustrates the temporary nature of the wicked's prosperity, similar to the destruction of Assyria's "forest and orchard." Jeremiah 46:23Uses similar imagery of a forest being cut down to describe the downfall of Egypt, another oppressive nation. People Anathoth, Assyrians, Egyptians, Isaiah, Jacob, Laish, Oreb, SaulPlaces Aiath, Anathoth, Arpad, Assyria, Calno, Carchemish, Damascus, Egypt, Gallim, Geba, Gibeah, Hamath, Jerusalem, Laishah, Lebanon, Madmenah, Michmash, Midian, Migron, Mount Zion, Nob, Ramah, Samaria, ZionTopics Bearer, Body, Completely, Consume, Destroy, Disease, Fainteth, Fainting, Faints, Fertile, Field, Fields, Flesh, Forest, Forests, Fruitful, Garden, Glory, Honour, Planted, Sick, Soul, Standard, Standard-bearer, Wasted, Wastes, Wasteth, WoodsDictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 10:12-19 5606 warfare, nature of Isaiah 10:18-19 4448 forests Library Light or Fire?
'And the Light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.'--ISAIAH x. 17. With grand poetry the prophet pictures the Assyrian power as a forest consumed like thistles and briers by the fire of God. The text suggests solemn truths about the divine Nature and its manifestations. I. The Essential Character of God. Light and Holiness are substantially parallel. Light symbolises purity, but also knowledge and joy. Holiness …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureNob. Bahurim.
That Nob was placed in the land of Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem, whence Jerusalem also might be seen,--the words of the Chaldee paraphrast, upon Isaiah 10:32, do argue. For so he speaks; "Sennacherib came and stood in Nob, a city of the priests, before the walls of Jerusalem; and said to his army, 'Is not this the city of Jerusalem, against which I have raised my whole army, and have subdued all the provinces of it? Is it not small and weak in comparison of all the fortifications of the Gentiles, …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting If Then the Prophets Prophesied that the Son of God was to Appear Upon The...
If then the prophets prophesied that the Son of God was to appear upon the earth, and prophesied also where on the earth and how and in what manner He should make known His appearance, and all these prophecies the Lord took upon Himself; our faith in Him was well-founded, and the tradition of the preaching (is) true: that is to say, the testimony of the apostles, who being sent forth by the Lord preached in all the world the Son of God, who came to suffer, and endured to the destruction of death …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching His Holy Covenant
"To remember His Holy Covenant; to grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, should serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all our days."-LUKE i. 68-75. WHEN Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, he spoke of God's visiting and redeeming His people, as a remembering of His Holy Covenant. He speaks of what the blessings of that Covenant would be, not in words that had been used before, but in what is manifestly a Divine revelation …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, While He Continues Free from Every Taint.
1. The carnal mind the source of the objections which are raised against the Providence of God. A primary objection, making a distinction between the permission and the will of God, refuted. Angels and men, good and bad, do nought but what has been decreed by God. This proved by examples. 2. All hidden movements directed to their end by the unseen but righteous instigation of God. Examples, with answers to objections. 3. These objections originate in a spirit of pride and blasphemy. Objection, that …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion King of Kings and Lord of Lords
And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, K ING OF K INGS AND L ORD OF L ORDS T he description of the administration and glory of the Redeemer's Kingdom, in defiance of all opposition, concludes the second part of Messiah Oratorio. Three different passages from the book of Revelation are selected to form a grand chorus, of which Handel's title in this verse is the close --a title which has been sometimes vainly usurped by proud worms of this earth. Eastern monarchs, in particular, …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Humility is the Root of Charity, and Meekness the Fruit of Both. ...
Humility is the root of charity, and meekness the fruit of both. There is no solid and pure ground of love to others, except the rubbish of self-love be first cast out of the soul; and when that superfluity of naughtiness is cast out, then charity hath a solid and deep foundation: "The end of the command is charity out of a pure heart," 1 Tim. i. 5. It is only such a purified heart, cleansed from that poison and contagion of pride and self-estimation, that can send out such a sweet and wholesome …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Purposes of God.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What I understand by the purposes of God. Purposes, in this discussion, I shall use as synonymous with design, intention. The purposes of God must be ultimate and proximate. That is, God has and must have an ultimate end. He must purpose to accomplish something by his works and providence, which he regards as a good in itself, or as valuable to himself, and to being in general. This I call his ultimate end. That God has such an end or purpose, …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology A Discourse of the House and Forest of Lebanon
OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. That part of Palestine in which the celebrated mountains of Lebanon are situated, is the border country adjoining Syria, having Sidon for its seaport, and Land, nearly adjoining the city of Damascus, on the north. This metropolitan city of Syria, and capital of the kingdom of Damascus, was strongly fortified; and during the border conflicts it served as a cover to the Assyrian army. Bunyan, with great reason, supposes that, to keep …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Of Antichrist, and his Ruin: and of the Slaying the Witnesses.
BY JOHN BUNYAN PREFATORY REMARKS BY THE EDITOR This important treatise was prepared for the press, and left by the author, at his decease, to the care of his surviving friend for publication. It first appeared in a collection of his works in folio, 1692; and although a subject of universal interest; most admirably elucidated; no edition has been published in a separate form. Antichrist has agitated the Christian world from the earliest ages; and his craft has been to mislead the thoughtless, by …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 The Providence of God
Q-11: WHAT ARE GOD'S WORKS OF PROVIDENCE? A: God's works of providence are the acts of his most holy, wise, and powerful government of his creatures, and of their actions. Of the work of God's providence Christ says, My Father worketh hitherto and I work.' John 5:17. God has rested from the works of creation, he does not create any new species of things. He rested from all his works;' Gen 2:2; and therefore it must needs be meant of his works of providence: My Father worketh and I work.' His kingdom …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Concerning Christian Liberty
CHRISTIAN faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even reckon it among the social virtues, as it were; and this they do, because they have not made proof of it experimentally, and have never tasted of what efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man to write well about it, or to understand well what is rightly written, who has not at some time tasted of its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation. While he who has tasted of it, even to a very small extent, can never write, …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation And for Your Fearlessness against them Hold this Sure Sign -- Whenever There Is...
43. And for your fearlessness against them hold this sure sign--whenever there is any apparition, be not prostrate with fear, but whatsoever it be, first boldly ask, Who art thou? And from whence comest thou? And if it should be a vision of holy ones they will assure you, and change your fear into joy. But if the vision should be from the devil, immediately it becomes feeble, beholding your firm purpose of mind. For merely to ask, Who art thou [1083] ? and whence comest thou? is a proof of coolness. …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Isaiah 10:18 NIVIsaiah 10:18 NLTIsaiah 10:18 ESVIsaiah 10:18 NASBIsaiah 10:18 KJV
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