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Isaiah 10 · a question people ask

Who is "him who struck them" (10:20)?

In the text

The verse doesn't name him: "the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth" (10:20). It sets him over against the LORD: they will no more lean on him, "but shall lean on the LORD" (10:20). The chapter has the same Hebrew verb four verses later, of the Assyrian: "don’t be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod" (10:24). Chapter 9 has the same verb, and the WEB the same words, him who struck them, in "Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought the LORD of Armies" (Isaiah 9:13). 10:20 doesn't say more than that, and these notes don't name him. What it does say is plain: the remnant will lean on the LORD, "in truth" (10:20).

The verses

“It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.”
Isaiah 10:20 · World English Bible
“Therefore the Lord, GOD of Armies, says, “My people who dwell in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did.”
Isaiah 10:24 · World English Bible
“Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought the LORD of Armies.”
Isaiah 9:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 10

Isaiah 10: The rod of my anger

The Assyrian lifts his staff against Zion "as Egypt did" (10:24), and two verses later a rod is lifted over the sea "like he did against Egypt" (10:26): in Hebrew the same words, turned. To the Assyrian's boast the chapter answers, "Should an ax brag against him who chops with it?" (10:15), and it says the remnant will "lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth" (10:20).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions