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Selected Verse: Isaiah 10:18 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Isa 10:18 |
King James |
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. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
glory of his forest--The common soldiers, the princes, officers, &c., all alike together, shall be consumed (see on Isa 9:18).
in one day-- (Isa 37:36).
fruitful field--literally, "Carmel," a rich mountain in the tribe of Asher. Figurative for Sennacherib's mighty army. Perhaps alluding to his own boasting words about to be uttered (Isa 37:24), "I will enter the forest of his Carmel."
soul and body--proverbial for utterly; the entire man is made up of soul and body.
as when a standard bearer fainteth--rather, "they shall be as when a sick man" (from a Syriac root) wastes away." Compare "leanness," that is, wasting destruction (Isa 10:16) [MAURER]. Or, "there shall be an entire dissipation, like a perfect melting" (namely, of the Assyrian army) [HORSLEY]. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The glory of his forest - In these expressions, the army of Sennacherib is compared with a beautiful grove thick set with trees; and as all the beauty of a grove which the fire overruns is destroyed, so, says the prophet, it will be with the army of the Assyrian under the judgments of God. If the 'briers and thorns' Isa 10:17 refer to the common soldiers of his army, then the glory of the forest - the tall, majestic trees - refer to the princes and nobles. But this mode of interpretation should not be pressed too far.
And of his fruitful field - וכרמלו vekaremilô. The word used here - "carmel" - is applied commonly to a rich mountain or promontory on the Mediterranean, on the southern boundary of the tribe of Asher. The word, however, properly means a fruitful field, a finely cultivated country, and Was given to Mount Carmel on this account, In this place it has no reference to that mountain, but is given to the army of Sennacherib to "keep up the figure" which the prophet commenced in Isa 10:17. That army, numerous, mighty, and well disciplined, was compared to an extensive region of hill and vale; of forests and fruitful fields; but it should all be destroyed as when the fire runs over fields and forests, and consumes all their beauty. Perhaps in all this, there may be allusion to the proud boast of Sennacherib Kg2 19:23, that he would 'go up the sides of Lebanon, and cut down the cedars thereof, and the choice fir-trees thereof', and enter into the forest of Carmel.' In allusion, possibly, to this, the prophet says that God would cut down the tall trees and desolate the fruitful field - the 'carmel' of his army, and would lay all waste.
Both soul and body - Hebrew, 'From the soul to the flesh;' that is, entirely. As the soul and the flesh, or body, compose the entire man, so the phrase denotes the entireness or totality of anything. The army would be totally ruined.
And they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth - There is here a great variety of interpretation. The Septuagint reads it: 'And he shall flee as one that flees from a burning flame.' This reading Lowth has followed; but for this there is not the slightest authority in the Hebrew. The Vulgate reads it, 'And he shall fly for terror, "et crit terrore profugus." The Chaldee, 'And he shall be broken, and shall fly.' The Syriac, 'And he shall be as if he had never been.' Probably the correct idea is, "and they shall be as when a sick man wastes away." The words which are used (נסס כמסס kı̂mesos nosēs) are brought together for the sake of a paranomasia - a figure of speech common in the Hebrew. The word rendered in our version "fainteth" (מסס mesos) is probably the infinitive construct of the verb מסס mâsas, "to melt, dissolve, faint." It is applied to the manna that was dissolved by the heat of the sun, Exo 16:21; to wax melted by the fire, Psa 68:2; to a snail that consumes away, Psa 58:8; or to water that evaporates, Psa 58:7.
Hence, it is applied to the heart, exhausted of its vigor and spirit, Job 7:5; to things decayed that have lost their strength, Sa1 15:9; to a loan or tax laid upon a people that wastes and exhausts their wealth. It has the general notion, therefore, of melting, fainting, sinking away with the loss of strength; Psa 22:14; Psa 112:10; Psa 97:5; Isa 19:1; Isa 13:7; Jos 2:11; Jos 5:1; Jos 7:5. The word rendered "standard-bearer" (נסס nosēs) is from the verb נסס nāsas. This word signifies sometimes "to lift up," to elevate, or to erect a flag or standard to public view, to call men to arms; Isa 5:26; Isa 11:10, Isa 11:12; Isa 13:2; Isa 18:3; Isa 49:22; and also to lift up, or to exhibit anything as a judgment or public warning, and may thus be applied to divine judgments. Gesenius renders the verb, "to waste away, to be sick." In Syriac it has this signification. Taylor ("Heb. Con.") says, that it does not appear that this word ever has the signification of a military standard under which armies fight, but refers to a standard or ensign to "call" men together, or to indicate alarm and danger. The probable signification here, is that which refers it to a man wasting away with sickness, whose strength and vigor are gone, and who becomes weak and helpless. Thus applied to the Assyrian army, it is very striking. Though mighty, confident, and vigorous-like a man in full health - yet it would be like a vigorous man when disease comes upon him, and he pines away and sinks to the grave. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| "And the glory of his forest and his garden-ground will He destroy, even to soul and flesh, so that it is as when a sick man dieth. And the remnant of the trees of his forest can be numbered, and a boy could write them." The army of Asshur, composed as it was of many and various nations, was a forest (ya‛ar); and, boasting as it did of the beauty of both men and armour, a garden ground (carmel), a human forest and park. Hence the idea of "utterly" is expressed in the proverbial "even to soul and flesh," which furnishes the occasion for a leap to the figure of the wasting away of a נסס (hap. leg. the consumptive man, from nâsas, related to nūsh, 'ânash, Syr. n‛sı̄so, n‛shisho, a sick man, based upon the radical notion of melting away, cf., mâsas, or of reeling to and fro, cf., mūt, nūt, Arab. nâsa, nâta). Only a single vital spark would still glimmer in the gigantic and splendid colossus, and with this its life would threaten to become entirely extinct. Or, what is the same thing, only a few trees of the forest, such as could be easily numbered (mispâr as in Deu 33:6, cf., Isa 21:17), would still remain, yea, so few, that a boy would be able to count and enter them. And this really came to pass. Only a small remnant of the army that marched against Jerusalem ever escaped. With this small remnant of an all-destroying power the prophet now contrasts the remnant of Israel, which is the seed of a new power that is about to arise. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| The glory - Of his great army, which may not unfitly be compared to a forest, for the numbers of men, who stood as thick as trees do in a forest. Field - Of his soldiers, who stood as thick as ears of corn in a fruitful field. Soul and body - Totally, both inwardly and outwardly. They shall be - Like that of an army when their standard - bearer is slain or flees away, which strikes a panic into the whole army. |
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.
24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
18 For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
22 Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.
1 And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.
11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
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;
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;
17 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.
6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.