Isaiah 37 · a question people ask
The LORD says he brought about the king of Assyria's victories (37:26). Then why is the king judged?
The LORD says both in one speech. "Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps" (37:26). And: "Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose" (37:29). "But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me" (37:28). Isaiah speaks of the Assyrian in the same two ways in chapter 10, which asks this question of its own words. The LORD calls him "the rod of my anger" (10:5), and says of him, "However, he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so" (10:7), and "Should an ax brag against him who chops with it?" (10:15). The chapter holds both together: the LORD brought it to pass, and the king is judged for his raging and his arrogance. It doesn't explain how the two fit, and these notes don't either. These notes apply what the chapter says of Assyria and its king to no nation, empire or ruler today.
The verses
“Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. However, he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.”
“Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.”