10:5 Assyrian. As in many of the prophecies, there is to be both a precursive fulfillment (in this case the coming invasion of Israel and Judah by the unspeakably cruel and wicked Assyrians) and a final fulfillment (the northern invaders of Israel in the last days, as described particularly in Ezekiel 38). The term “Assyrian” seems, in fact, to be a title of the coming Antichrist (e.g., Micah 5:5,6).

10:5 rod of mine anger. God does, on occasion, use wicked men and nations to punish even His own people when they fall into sin and idolatry. When this is completed, however, those evil kingdoms or individuals inevitably meet even more severe judgments (note Isaiah 10:12).

10:7 he meaneth not so. Here is a striking example of God’s sovereign direction of man’s personal choice. The Assyrians deliberately decided of their own volition “to destroy and cut off” Israel and other nations, and this was an evil decision, for which they were held responsible by the divine Judge (Isaiah 10:12). Nevertheless, God in some inscrutable way had influenced them to do this very thing, in order to punish His sinning people. See notes on Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; and Romans 9:18.

10:15 the axe boast itself. See Romans 9:20; Daniel 5:17-28.

10:21 remnant shall return. This doctrine of a relatively small remnant of true believers in a nation that is largely apostate or in a body of professing (but not possessing) believers appears repeatedly in both Old and New Testaments (for example, Malachi 3:14-18; Luke 12:32).

10:34 Lebanon shall fall. The Assyrian invasion would eventually be cut off like the “hewing down” of a mighty cedar of Lebanon.