Isaiah 10:13

My hand. Compare Dan. 4:30. The analysis of Assyrian policy as set forth in Isa. 10:13 justifies God’s judgment upon that nation. At first glance it might appear that the Lord was unjust in using Assyria for the performance of a task and then punishing her for doing what He wanted done (see on Ex. 4:21; 9:16). So the reason is here clearly set forth. Assyria is thinking only of herself, not of God (see on Isa. 10:7). She is interested solely in plunder and conquest. When she has humbled Jerusalem she will regard herself and her gods as stronger than Jerusalem and its God.

What she does not know is that in carrying out her own designs she is being used by Jehovah for the accomplishment of His purposes, and that she would be able to do nothing whatsoever against Judah or any other nation except as the Lord should permit. Assyria needed to learn that there is a God in heaven interested in questions of right and wrong, a God who will see that all transgressors receive their just dues, even those who outwardly profess to worship Him. Assyria was guilty before God for her ruthless subjugation of the various countries of the East. Her crimes against man and God, her proud boasting, her arrogance and perversity, called for judgment, and for these reasons the Lord would punish her. For a discussion of the principles on which God deals with the nations, see Ed 173-184; see on Dan. 4:17.

The bounds of the people. That is, national boundaries. It was the purpose of Assyria to eliminate these boundaries and to forestall future revolts by a policy of wholesale deportations of peoples. It was in accord with this policy, initiated by Assyria, that the people of Israel were taken to various places in Mesopotamia and Media (2 Kings 17:6), and people from Babylon, Elam, and other distant nations were placed in the cities of Samaria (2 Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:9, 10).

Robbed their treasures. See on v. 14. Assyria was proud of its depredations and its cruelty. Royal Assyrian inscriptions boast of booty taken and blood spilled. They list in detail the amount of silver and gold, of cattle and goods, carried away, of the number of bodies left impaled on stakes, of the pyramids of corpses left outside city walls, and of the rivers of blood with which they drenched the hills and plains. God knew all about this boasting, and here sets forth the reasons why it was necessary that Assyria be called to account.

Like a valiant man. Literally, “like a despot,” “like a tyrant.” The same Hebrew word is also translated “bull” or “bulls” (Ps. 50:13; Isa. 34:7), the attribute of strength being taken to designate an animal of exceptional strength. Assyria boasted incessantly of her might and of her ability to subdue and humiliate other powerful peoples of the earth.