Behold, the name of the Lord cometh - (compare the notes at Isaiah 19:1). The verses following, to the end of the chapter, are designed evidently to describe the destruction of the army of Sennacherib. This is expressly declared in Isaiah 30:31, and all the circumstances in the prediction accord with that event. There is no necessity of supposing that this is the commencement of a new prophecy, for it is connected with the main subject in the previous part of the chapter. The whole prophecy was composed evidently in view of that threatened invasion. In the apprehension of that, they sought the aid of Egypt Isaiah 30:1-6, for that, the prophet denounces judgment on them (Isaiah 30:8 ff); in view of these judgments, however, he promises a more happy state Isaiah 30:18-26; and now, in the close of the chapter, in order to deter them from the alliance, he assures them that, without any foreign aid, the Assyrian would be destroyed by Yahweh himself. The phrase 'name of Yahweh,' is probably another mode of designating Yahweh himself; as the name of God is often put for God himself (see Acts 3:6-7, Acts 3:12, 30; Acts 4:10; 1 Corinthians 1:10). The idea is, that the destruction of the Assyrian hosts would be accomplished by the immediate power of Yahweh himself without any need of the aid of the Egyptian or of any foreign alliances.

From afar - That is, from heaven (compare the note at Isaiah 19:1).

Burning with his anger - Or, rather, his anger is enkindled.

And the burden thereof - Margin, 'Grievousness of flame.' Lowth renders it, 'The flame rageth violently.' Noyes, 'Violent is the flame.' The Septuagint renders it, 'A burning wrath' The word משׂאה mas'â'âh, from נשׂא nâs'â' "to bear, lift up, carry," means properly a lifting up Psalm 141:2; a burden Zephaniah 3:18; then a mounting up, particularly of a flame or smoke in a conflagration Judges 20:38. This seems to be the idea here, that the anger of God would be like a heavy, dark column of mingled smoke and flame bursting out, and rising up over a city.

His lips are full of indignation - All this language is of course figurative, and means that he would issue a command to destroy the Assyrians, or that they would be destroyed in such a manner as most effectively to exhibit his displeasure.

And his tongue as a devouring fire - That is, he shall issue a command that shall destroy like a raging and devouring fire.

And the burden thereof is heavy "And the flame raged violently" - משאה massaah; this word seems to be rightly rendered in our translation, the flame, Judges 20:38, Judges 20:40, etc.; a sign of fire, Jeremiah 6:1; called properly משאת masseeth, an elevation, from its tending upwards.

Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far,.... From hence to the end of the chapter Isaiah 30:28 is a very full account, by way of prophecy, of the destruction of the Assyrian army by the Lord; and which is to be considered as a type of the destruction of antichrist, by and at the coming of the Lord Jesus. It is introduced with a "behold", as declaring something of moment and importance worthy of attention, and even wonderful. "The name of the Lord" is the Lord himself; unless it is to be understood of the angel that came in the name of the Lord, and destroyed Sennacherib's army; who may be said to come "from far", because he came from heaven; and from whence Christ the Angel uncreated, in whom the name of the Lord is, will come to judge the world, and to take vengeance on all his and his people's enemies, antichrist and all his followers:

burning with his anger; against the Assyrian monarch and his army. So our Lord, when he shall come forth to make war with the antichristian kings of the earth, his "eyes" shall be "as a flame of fire": and when he comes to judge the world, he will descend in "flaming fire", Revelation 19:12 the day of the Lord will burn as an oven, Malachi 4:1,

and the burden thereof is heavy: the punishment inflicted, in his burning anger and hot displeasure, will be heavy, even intolerable, heavier than it can be borne, as the Targum paraphrases it; see Genesis 4:13,

his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire; the words he will utter, the sentence he will pronounce, will be dreadful, executed by the angel; so the sharp sword that goes out of the mouth of Christ, with which he will smite the nations; and such the awful sentence pronounced by him on the wicked, "go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire", &c. see Revelation 19:15. So the Targum,

"from before him goes out the curse upon the ungodly, and his Word as a consuming fire.''

"Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from far, burning His wrath, and quantity of smoke: His lips are full of wrathful foam, and His tongue like devouring fire. And His breath is like an overflowing brook, which reaches half-way to the neck, to sift nations in the sieve of nothingness; and a misleading bridle comes to the cheeks of the nations." Two figures are here melted together - namely, that of a storm coming up from the farthest horizon, which turns the sky into a sea of fire, and kindles whatever it strikes, so that there rises up a heavy burden, or thick mass of smoke (kōbhed massâ'âh, like mas'ēth in Judges 20:40, cf., Judges 20:38; on this attributive combination, burning His wrath (Ewald, 288, c) and a quantity, etc., see Isaiah 13:9); and that of a man burning with wrath, whose lips foam, whose tongue moves to and fro like a flame, and whose breath is a snorting that threatens destruction, which when it issues from Jehovah swells into a stream, which so far covers a man that only his neck appears as the visible half. We had the same figure in Isaiah 8:8, where Asshur, as it came upon Judah, was compared to such an almost overwhelming and drowning flood. Here, again, it refers to Judah, which the wrath of Jehovah had almost though not entirely destroyed. For the ultimate object of the advancing name of Jehovah (shēm, name, relating to His judicial coming) is to sift nations, etc.: lahănâphâh for lehânı̄ph (like lahăzâdâh in Daniel 5:20), to make it more like nâphâh in sound. The sieve of nothingness is a sieve in which everything, that does not remain in it as good corn, is given up to annihilation; שׁוא is want of being, i.e., of life from God, and denotes the fate that properly belongs to such worthlessness. In the case of v'resen (and a bridle, etc.) we must either supply in thought לשׂום (שׂם), or, what is better, take it as a substantive clause: "a misleading bridle" (or a bridle of misleading, as Bttcher renders it, math‛eh being the form mashqeh) holds the cheeks of the nations. The nations are regarded as wild horses, which could not be tamed, but which were now so firmly bound and controlled by the wrath of God, that they were driven down into the abyss.

Behold, {z} the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden of it is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

(z) This threatening is against the Assyrians the chief enemies of the people of God.

30:27 Behold - Here he gives them an earnest of those greater mercies in times to come, by assuring them of the approaching destruction of the Assyrian forces. The name - The Lord himself. From far - From a remote place: even from heaven. Heavy - He will inflict heavy judgments upon them. Indignation - He hath pronounced a severe sentence against them, and will give command for the execution of it.

burden...: or, grievousness of flame

heavy: Heb. heaviness

[1] Behold

The imagery of Isa 30:27,28 is cumulative. Judah is making an alliance with Egypt when she might be in league with Him whose judgment upon the world-powers will be like a terrible thunder-tempest (v.27), turning streams into torrents neck-deep (v. 28, f.c.); who will sift the nations in their own sieve of vanity (or "destruction"), and put His bridle into the jaws of the peoples.

27. name of . Lord-that is, Jehovah Himself (Ps 44:5; 54:1); represented as a storm approaching and ready to burst over the Assyrians (Isa 30:30, 31).

burden . is heavy-literally, "grievousness is the flame," that is, the flame which darts from Him is grievous. Or else (as the Hebrew means an "uplifting") the uprising cloud is grievous [G. V. Smith]; the gathering cloud gradually rising till it bursts.

30:27-33 God curbs and restrains from doing mischief. With a word he guides his people into the right way, but with a bridle he turns his enemies upon their own ruin. Here, in threatening the ruin of Sennacherib's army, the prophet points at the final and everlasting destruction of all impenitent sinners. Tophet was a valley near Jerusalem, where fires were continually burning to destroy things that were hurtful and offensive, and there the idolatrous Jews caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch. This denotes the certainty of the destruction, as an awful emblem of the place of torment in the other world. No oppressor shall escape the Divine wrath. Let sinners then flee to Christ, seeking to be reconciled to Him, that they may be safe and happy, when destruction from the Almighty shall sweep away all the workers of iniquity.