44. A Hypocritical Nation

Hymn: RHC 269 Come to the Saviour 368 From Every Stormy Wind that Blows 371 Sweet Hour of Prayer

Isaiah 10:5-19

⁵ O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. ⁶ I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. ⁷ Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. ⁸ For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? ⁹ Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; ¹¹ Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? ¹² Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. ¹³ For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: ¹⁴ And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. ¹⁵ Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. ¹⁶ Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. ¹⁷ 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; ¹⁸ And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. ¹⁹ And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

A Hypocritical Nation

• God’s Instrument Against This Nation

INTRODUCTION

The destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser king of Assyria was foretold in the foregoing chapter, and it had its accomplishment in the sixth year of Hezekiah.

2 Kings 18:10 (KJV) And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

2 Kings 18:11-12 (KJV) And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.

It was total and final. Head and tail were all cut off. It was 722 B.C. Now the correction of the kingdom of Judah by Sennacherib king of Assyria is foretold in this chapter; and this prediction was fulfilled in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, when that potent prince, encouraged by the successes of his predecessor against the ten tribes, came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them, and laid siege to Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:13, 17), in consequence of which we may well suppose Hezekiah and his kingdom were greatly alarmed, though there was a good work of reformation lately begun among them: but it ended well, in the confusion of the Assyrians and the great encouragement of Hezekiah and his people in their return to God. [Matthew Henry]

2 Kings 18:13 (KJV) Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

2 Kings 18:14 (KJV) And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

2 Kings 18:15-17 (KJV) And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house. At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field.

• God’s Instrument Against This Nation (v5-6)

⁵ O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. ⁶ I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

How God, in His sovereignty, deputed the king of Assyria to be His servant, and made use of him as a mere tool to serve his own purposes with (v5-6): “O Assyrian! know this, that thou art the rod of my anger; and I will send thee to be a scourge to the people of my wrath.“

How bad the character of the Jews was, though they appeared very good. They were a hypocritical nation, that made a profession of religion, and at this time particularly of reformation, but were not truly religious, not truly reformed, not so good as they pretended to be now that Hezekiah had brought goodness into fashion.

When rulers are pious, and religion is in reputation, it is common for nations to be hypocritical. They are a profane nation; so some read it. Hezekiah had in a great measure cured them of their idolatry, and now they ran into profaneness; nay, hypocrisy is profaneness: none profane the name of God so much as those who are called by that name and call upon it, and yet live in sin.

Being a profane hypocritical nation, they are the people of God’s wrath; they lie under his wrath, and are likely to be consumed by it.

Hypocritical nations are the people of God’s wrath: nothing is more offensive to God than dissimulation in religion. See what a change sin made: those that had been God’s chosen and hallowed people, above all people, had now become the people of his wrath.

Amos 3:2 (KJV) You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

How mean the character of the Assyrian was, though he appeared very great. He was but the rod of God’s anger, an instrument God was pleased to make use of for the chastening of his people, that, being thus chastened of the Lord, they might not be condemned with the world.

The tyrants of the world are but the tools of Providence. Men are God’s hand, his sword sometimes, to kill and slay (Psalm 17:13-14), at other times His rod to correct.

Psalm 17:13-14 (KJV) Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

The staff in their hand, wherewith they smite his people, is his indignation; it is his wrath that puts the staff into their hand and enables them to deal blows at pleasure among such as thought themselves a match for them. Sometimes God makes an idolatrous nation, that serves him not at all, a scourge to a hypocritical nation, that serves him not in sincerity and truth. The Assyrian is called the rod of God’s anger because he is employed by him. [Matthew Henry]

From Him his power is derived: I will send him; I will give him a charge.

All the power that wicked men have, though they often use it against God, they always receive from him. Pilate could have no power against Christ unless it were given him from above (John 19:11).

John 19:11 (KJV) Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.  

By Him the exercise of that power is directed. The Assyrian is to take the spoil and to take the prey, not to shed any blood. We read not of any slain, but he is to plunder the country, rifle the houses, drive away the cattle, strip the people of all their wealth and ornaments, and tread them down like the mire of the streets. When God’s professing people wallow in the mire of sin it is just with God to suffer their enemies to tread upon them like mire. But why must the Assyrian prevail thus against them? Not that they might be ruined, but that they might be thoroughly reformed.

⁷ Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

See how the king of Assyria, in his pride, magnified himself as his own master, and pretended to be absolute and above all control, to act purely according to his own will and for his own honour. God ordained him for judgment, even the mighty God established him for correction (Habakkuk 1:12), to be an instrument of bringing his people to repentance, howbeit he means not so, nor does his heart think so (v7).

Habakkuk 1:12 (KJV) Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

He does not think that he is either God’s servant or Israel’s friend, either that he can do no more than God will let him or that he shall do no more than God will make to work for the good of his people. God designs to correct His people for, and so to cure them of, their hypocrisy, and bring them nearer to Himself; but was that Sennacherib’s design? No, it was the furthest thing from his thoughts–he means not so.

The wise God often makes even the sinful passions and projects of men subservient to his own great and holy purposes.

When God makes use of men as instruments in His hand to do His work it is very common for him to mean one thing and them to mean another, nay, for them to mean quite the contrary to what he intends.

What Joseph’s brethren designed for hurt God overruled for good (Genesis 50:20).

Genesis 50:20 (KJV) But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.  

Micah 4:11-12 (KJV) Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.

Men have their ends and God has His, but we are sure the counsel of the Lord shall stand. But what is it the proud Assyrian aims at? The heart of kings is unsearchable, but God knew what was in his heart.

He designs nothing but to destroy and to cut off nations not a few, and to make himself master of them.

He designs to gratify his own cruelty; nothing will serve but to destroy and cut off. He hopes to regale himself with blood and slaughter; that of particular persons will not suffice, he must cut off nations. It is below him to deal by retail; he traffics in murders by wholesale. Nations, and those not a few, must have but one neck, which he will have the pleasure of cutting off.

He designs to gratify his own covetousness and ambition, to set up for a universal monarch, and to gather unto him all nations (Habakkuk 2:12).

Habakkuk 2:12 (KJV) Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

An insatiable desire of wealth and dominion is that which carries him on in this undertaking. The prophet here brings him in vaunting, and hectoring; and by his general’s letter to Hezekiah, written in his name, vainglory and arrogance seem to have entered very far into the spirit and genius of the man. His haughtiness and presumption are here described very largely, and his very language copied out, partly to represent him as ridiculous and partly to assure the people of God that he would be brought down; for that maxim generally holds true, that pride goes before destruction…

To be continued…