Bible Commentary

Isaiah 10:1-4

The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 10:1-4

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The prophecy begun in terminates with this stanza, which contains a warning against injustice and oppression, addressed to Israel and Judah equally, and accompanied by the threat of a "day of desolation," when those who have refused to make God their Refuge will have no resource, but to go into captivity with the "prisoners," or to perish with the "slain."

A foreign conquest, accompanied by slaughter, and the deportation of captives, is not obscurely intimated.

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commentaryMatthew Henry on Isaiah 10:1-4These verses are to be joined with the foregoing chapter. Woe to the superior powers that devise and decree unrighteous decrees! And woe to the inferior officers that draw them up, and enter them on record! But what wil…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Condemnation of Oppressors. (b. c. 740.)THE CONDEMNATION OF OPPRESSORS. (B. C. 740.) Whether they were the princes and judges of Israel of Judah, or both, that the prophet denounced this woe against, is not certain: if those of Israel, these verses are to be…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 10:1-34EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 10:1Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees (comp. Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:20, Isaiah 1:26; Isaiah 5:23, etc.). The perversion of judgment from the judgment-seat is the sin rebuked. It was certainly prevalent in Judah,…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 10:1-4The helplessness of man under the wrath of God. The anger of the Lord is here expressly declared against the oppressor. We are again reminded: 1. That God judges those who are in authority over men; that however these m…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 10:2The poor … the widow … the fatherless. These were the classes who were the chief sufferers by the perversion of justice (comp. Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:23). They were exactly the classes for whom God had most compassion, a…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 10:2The Divine avenger of the poor. The idea of a goel, or avenger, belongs to the primitive conditions of society. When there was no settled government, no police, and no magistracy, each individual had to guard his life,…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 10:3God is man's only sure Refuge in the day of calamity. "God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into th…Joseph S. Exell and contributors