Isa 10:18-19, 33-34, Zec 11:2 | JFB | STEP | 17-18. light of Israel-- carrying out the image in the end of . Jehovah, who is a light to Israel, shall be the "fire" ( ; ) that shall ignite the "thorns," (the Assyrians, like dry fuel, a ready prey to flame).

‏ 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.

‏ Isaiah 10:33-34

33. bough--literally, the "beauty" of the tree; "the beautiful branch."

high ones of stature--"the upright stem," as distinguished from the previous "boughs" [Horsley].

34. This verse and Is 10:33 describe the sudden arrest and overthrow of Sennacherib in the height of his success; Is 10:18, 19; Eze 31:3, 14, &c., contain the same image; "Lebanon" and its forest are the Assyrian army; the "iron" axe that fells the forest refers to the stroke which destroyed the one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians (2Ki 19:35). The "Mighty One" is Jehovah (Is 10:21; Is 9:6).

‏ Zechariah 11:2

2. fir tree ... cedar--if even the cedars (the highest in the state) are not spared, how much less the fir trees (the lowest)!

forest of ... vintage--As the vines are stripped of their grapes in the vintage (compare Joe 3:13), so the forest of Lebanon "is come down," stripped of all its beauty. Rather, "the fortified" or "inaccessible forest" [Maurer]; that is, Jerusalem dense with houses as a thick forest is with trees, and "fortified" with a wall around. Compare Mi 3:12, where its desolate state is described as a forest.