Isaiah 10:18-19
17-18. light of Israel--carrying out the image in the end of Is 10:16. Jehovah, who is a light to Israel, shall be the "fire" (De 4:24; He 12:29) that shall ignite the "thorns," (the Assyrians, like dry fuel, a ready prey to flame). 19. rest--those who shall survive the destruction of the host. his forest--same image as in Is 10:18, for the once dense army. child ... write--so few that a child might count them. Ezekiel 31:3
3. He illustrates the pride and the consequent overthrow of the Assyrian, that Egypt may the better know what she must expect. cedar in Lebanon--often eighty feet high, and the diameter of the space covered by its boughs still greater: the symmetry perfect. Compare the similar image (Eze 17:3; Da 4:20-22). with a shadowing shroud--with an overshadowing thicket. top ... among ... thick boughs--rather [Hengstenberg], "among the clouds." But English Version agrees better with the Hebrew. The top, or topmost shoot, represents the king; the thick boughs, the large resources of the empire. Ezekiel 31:14
14. trees by the waters--that is, that are plentifully supplied by the waters: nations abounding in resources. stand up in their height--that is, trust in their height: stand upon it as their ground of confidence. Fairbairn points the Hebrew differently, so as for "their trees," to translate, "(And that none that drink water may stand) on themselves, (because of their greatness)." But the usual reading is better, as Assyria and the confederate states throughout are compared to strong trees. The clause, "All that drink water," marks the ground of the trees' confidence "in their height," namely, that they have ample sources of supply. Maurer, retaining the same Hebrew, translates, "that neither their terebinth trees may stand up in their height, nor all (the other trees) that drink water." to ... nether ... earth ... pit--(Eze 32:18; Psa 82:7).
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