Therefore shall the Lord - Hebrew, אדון 'ādôn.

The Lord of hosts - In the present Hebrew text, the original word is also אדני 'ădonāy, but fifty-two manuscripts and six editions read Jehovah. On the meaning of the phrase, "the Lord of hosts," see the note at Isaiah 1:9. This verse contains a threatening of the punishment that would come upon the Assyrian for his insolence and pride, and the remainder of the chapter is mainly occupied with the details of that punishment. The punishment here threatened is, that while he appeared to be a victor, and was boasting of success and of his plunder, God would send leanness - as a body becomes wasted with disease.

His fat ones - That is, those who had fattened on the spoils of victory; his vigorous, prosperous, and flourishing army. The prophet here evidently intends to describe his numerous army glutted with the trophies of victor, and revelling on the spoils.

Leanness - They shall be emaciated and reduced; their vigor and strength shall be diminished. In Psalm 106:15, the word "leanness," רזון râzôn, is used to denote destruction, disease. In Micah 6:10, it denotes diminution, scantiness - 'the scant ephah.' Here it denotes, evidently, that the army which was so large and vigorous, should waste away as with a pestilential disease; compare Isaiah 10:19. The "fact" was, that of that vast host few escaped. The angel of the Lord killed 185,000 men in a single night; 2 Kings 18:35; see the notes at Isaiah 38:36.

And under his glory - That is, beneath the boasted honor, might, and magnificence of the proud monarch.

He shall kindle - That is, God shall suddenly and entirely destroy his magnificence and pride, as when a fire is kindled beneath a magnificent temple. A similar passage occurs in Zechariah 12:6 :

In that day I shall make the governors of Judah

Like a hearth of fire among the wood,

And like a torch of fire in a sheaf;

And they shall devour all the people round about.

The Lord "Jehovah" - For אדני Adonai, fifty-two MSS., eleven editions, and two of my own, ancient, read יהוה, Yehovah, as in other cases.

And under his glory - That is, all that he could boast of as great and strong in his army, (Sal. ben Melec in loc.), expressed afterwards, Isaiah 10:18, by the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field.

Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts,.... Because of the pride, and arrogance, and vain boasting of the Assyrian monarch, which was resented by the Lord, he is threatened with what follows; and in order to humble him, and to show that God is above him, these titles are used; "the Lord", the Lord of the whole earth, and the King of kings, and Lord of lords; "the Lord of hosts", of armies above and below, of more and greater armies than what the king of Assyria was lord of; and therefore he might be assured that what is hereafter threatened would be fulfilled, namely,

send among his fat ones leanness; the Targum is, among his princes, who abounded in riches and honour; or his army, and the chiefs in it, the mighty and strong; and by "leanness" is meant destruction and death, which came upon his army, and the great men of it, immediately from the hand of God; see Psalm 106:15 compared with Numbers 11:33,

and under his glory he shall kindle a burning, like the burning of a fire; that is, under his army, which was great and glorious, very numerous, and well accoutred with clothes and arms, and made a very splendid and glittering show, and of which the Assyrian monarch gloried; this army the Jews say was destroyed by fire, and that the bodies of the men were burnt, and their clothes untouched; but Jarchi interprets this glory of their garments, which give a man glory, and says these were burnt; the Targum calls them their vessels of glory; perhaps meaning their glittering arms, which were burnt along with them.

There follows in the next v. the punishment provoked by such self-deification (cf., Habakkuk 1:11). "Therefore will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send consumption against his fat men; and under Asshur's glory there burns a brand like a firebrand." Three epithets are here employed to designate God according to His unlimited, all-controlling omnipotence: viz., hâ'âdōn, which is always used by Isaiah in connection with judicial and penal manifestations of power; and adonâi zebâoth, a combination never met with again, similar to the one used in the Elohistic Psalms, Elohim zebaoth (compare, on the other hand, Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 10:23-24). Even here a large number of codices and editions (Norzi's, for example) have the reading Jehovah Zebaoth, which is customary in other cases.

(Note: This passage is not included in the 134 vaddâ'ı̄n (i.e., "real") adonai, or passages in which adonai is written, and not merely to be read, that are enumerated by the Masora (see Br's Psalterium, p. 133).)

Râzōn (Isaiah 17:4) is one of the diseases mentioned in the catalogue of curses in Leviticus 26:16 and Deuteronomy 28:22. Galloping consumption comes like a destroying angel upon the great masses of flesh seen in the well-fed Assyrian magnates: mishmannim is used in a personal sense, as in Psalm 78:31. And under the glory of Asshur, i.e., its richly equipped army (câbōd as in Isaiah 8:7), He who makes His angels flames of fire places fire so as to cause it to pass away in flames. In accordance with Isaiah's masterly art of painting in tones, the whole passage is so expressed, that we can hear the crackling, and spluttering, and hissing of the fire, as it seizes upon everything within its reach. This fire, whatever it may be so far as its natural and phenomenal character is concerned, is in its true essence the wrath of Jehovah.

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.

10:16 The Lord - The sovereign Lord of thine and all other armies, shall strip him and all his princes, of their wealth, and might, and glory; and destroy his numerous army, as the fire doth those combustible things which are cast into it.

16. fat ones-(Isa 5:17). The robust and choice soldiers of Assyria (Ps 78:31, where "fattest" answers in the parallelism to "chosen," or "young men," Margin).

leanness-carrying out the image on "fat ones." Destruction (Ps 106:15). Fulfilled (Isa 37:36).

his glory-Assyria's nobles. So in Isa 5:13, Margin; Isa 8:7.

kindle-a new image from fire consuming quickly dry materials (Zec 12:6).

10:5-19 See what a change sin made. The king of Assyria, in his pride, thought to act by his own will. The tyrants of the world are tools of Providence. God designs to correct his people for their hypocrisy, and bring them nearer to him; but is that Sennacherib's design? No; he designs to gratify his own covetousness and ambition. The Assyrian boasts what great things he has done to other nations, by his own policy and power. He knows not that it is God who makes him what he is, and puts the staff into his hand. He had done all this with ease; none moved the wing, or cried as birds do when their nests are rifled. Because he conquered Samaria, he thinks Jerusalem would fall of course. It was lamentable that Jerusalem should have set up graven images, and we cannot wonder that she was excelled in them by the heathen. But is it not equally foolish for Christians to emulate the people of the world in vanities, instead of keeping to things which are their special honour? For a tool to boast, or to strive against him that formed it, would not be more out of the way, than for Sennacherib to vaunt himself against Jehovah. When God brings his people into trouble, it is to bring sin to their remembrance, and humble them, and to awaken them to a sense of their duty; this must be the fruit, even the taking away of sin. When these points are gained by the affliction, it shall be removed in mercy. This attempt upon Zion and Jerusalem should come to nothing. God will be as a fire to consume the workers of iniquity, both soul and body. The desolation should be as when a standard-bearer fainteth, and those who follow are put to confusion. Who is able to stand before this great and holy Lord God?