Isaiah 10:5
5 O [howy] Assyrian, ['Ashshuwr] the rod [shebet] of mine
anger, ['aph] and the staff [matteh] in their hand [yad] is mine
indignation. [za`am] KJV-Interlinear
5 Woe to
Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation, NASB
The word for O, ‘howy,’
can be read as woe but typically is used in the sense of ah, or alas, or
ho. But here woe carries a double
connotation.
Assyria will be used as
the instrument of Gods justice against Samaria and then eventually Judah by
other means.
God is not ordering the
Assyrians to attack and to punish Samaria, but in His foreknowledge, God saw in
eternity past, that the Israelites would turn evil and that they would have a
bordering nation to the north, and that nation would invade them bringing
severe catastrophe upon Israel.
Thus in His infinite
wisdom and control of history, God allows Assyria to become the instrument of
His punishment against Israel.
The rod, is often used as
a symbol of discipline or judgment or punishment against those who have crossed
the line into evil practices.
Staff, is also used to
describe divine punishment, but here it is in the sense of divine will. It is not the will of the Assyrians, but the will
of God allowing them to invade. If God
does not will a thing, and in this case allowing it, then it cannot happen.
In this hand, is a
reference to the actions and agenda of the Assyrians.
And mine indignation,
clears up the matter of who is making the decisions for this punishment against
Israel. God makes the decisions. God provides the means of the punishment. God
decides the duration of that punishment.
In eternity past, God
brought together a divine plan. That plan
is called the divine decrees. In that
plan, God looked down through time and saw every possible thought, action,
intent, and result from everyone and everything, and from every possible placement
in history for each individual.
God could have brought
you into history a thousand years ago, but he brought you into history at this
time in your life.
God considered every possibility
for every person and decided on the very best result for everyone. And so here you are, rather than having been
born a thousand years ago or at some other time.
In so doing, God controls
history. He gives life and He takes
life. God gives and God takes, and that
is His control over every possible aspect of life and history.
The divine decrees were
put into place and then now we are experiencing that plan as our reality. God did not cause you to think the way that
you think, or make the decisions that you make.
He merely saw in eternity past, all that you would think and do and so
brought together every other human being in history, both now and in the past
and in the future, to fit your own chosen pattern of life, as well as theirs.
For some that path will
be blessing. For others their chosen
path will lead to disaster. And it is
really of each persons own doing. God
just made provision for all the aspects of your life, both the good and the
bad.
So, your life is not
predetermined by someone else, only pre-provisioned for based on you and your
life.
Israel turned evil. Israel turned to evil partners. Israel will be double crossed and crushed because
of their choices. And they could have
easily been blessed with better decisions, but that was not the case.
You cannot hide from
history. You cannot hide from God. You cannot hide in secret, because God knows
and has made a way for you to be found out.
So as you are traveling
down the road of your life, God has things out there waiting along that road
ready for you, both good and bad things to apply in accordance with your
choices and path. You cannot outsmart or
outmaneuver God.
