Isaiah 7:20 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 7:17-25

After the comfortable promises made to Ahaz as a branch of the house of David, here follow terrible threatenings against him, as a degenerate branch of that house; for though the loving-kindness of God shall not be utterly taken away, for the sake of David and the covenant made with him, yet his iniquity shall be chastened with the rod, and his sin with stripes. Let those that will not mix faith with the promises of God expect to hear the alarms of his threatenings. I. The judgment threatened... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 7:20

In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired ,.... Meaning the Assyrian monarch, whom he would use as an instrument in his hand to spoil and cut off the people of the Jews; who is compared to a "razor" for sharpness; and for the thorough work, and utter ruin and destruction, he should be the means of; and called a "hired" one, either in reference to the present Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria, by which he prevailed upon him to come and help him against the kings of Syria... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 7:20

The river - That is, the Euphrates: הנהר hanahar . So read the Septuagint and two MSS. Shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired "Jehovah shall shave by the hired razor" - To shave with the hired razor the head, the feet, and the beard, is an expression highly parabolical, to denote the utter devastation of the country from one end to the other; and the plundering of the people, from the highest to the lowest, by the Assyrians, whom God employed as his instrument to punish the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:17-20

Our pleasant vices whips for our own backs. Ahaz has made up his mind to "hire" the keen razor that lies beyond the far waters of the Euphrates, in Mesopotamia and Assyria Proper. He means to meet the danger which he sees to be impending, by his own wisdom and in his own strength. His ally, Tigiath-Pileser, "the great king, the King of Assyria" ( 2 Kings 18:28 ), shall crush the hosts of Pekah and Rezin, save Judah and Jerusalem from harm, nay, perhaps exalt Judah to the position which was... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:17-25

THE DANGER TO JUDAH FROM ASSYRIA . The perversity of Ahaz, already rebuked in Isaiah 7:13 , is further punished by a threat, that upon him, and upon his people, and upon his father's house, shall come shortly a dire calamity. The very power whose aid he is himself bent on invoking shall be the scourge to chastise both king and people ( Isaiah 7:17-20 ). The land shall be made bare as by a razor ( Isaiah 7:20 ). Cultivation shall cease; its scant inhabitants will support... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:17-25

Divine retribution. The reference of these verses is clearly national; nevertheless they may be pointed so as to bear upon individual men; for we may be sure that it is on the same principles on which God governs communities that he rules the heart and life of each one of his subjects. We gather concerning Divine retribution— I. THAT IT MAY BE WROUGHT BY VARIOUS INSTRUMENTALITIES . 1. Sometimes by unconscious instruments . 2. Sometimes by conscious agents . ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:18-25

War-pictures. I. INVADING HOSTS . The armies of Egypt and Assyria are compared to swarms of bees. As the bee-master calls to his winged slaves with a peculiar sound, so at the call of Jehovah the swarms of Israel's foes will come on, with swords that sting, and settle down in the low-lying pastures of the land, in the rock-clefts, the hedges of thorn, and the pastures. (For the image of the bees, compare Deuteronomy 1:44 ; Psalms 118:1-29 .) In Joel 2:1-32 . we find a splendid... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:18-25

National judgment for national sins. In this latter part of the chapter we have one of those highly elaborate, intense, and suggestive pictures which are peculiar to the books of the prophets. The mighty Assyrian army sweeps over the land; the people flee before them; they fill every corner; they eat up all the food; they carry away all the flocks and herds; a man can barely save one cow and two sheep; they consume the fruits; they trample down the shrubs; they bear off the people captive;... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:20

Shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired ; rather, with the hired razor ; i.e. the razor that Ahaz will have hired ( 2 Kings 16:8 ). The metaphor well expresses the stripping of the land bare by plunder and exaction (comp. Ezekiel 5:1 , Ezekiel 5:12 , and 2 Chronicles 28:19-21 ). God would use Tiglath-Pileser as his instrument to distress Ahaz. By them beyond the river ; or, in the parts beyond the river . "The river" is undoubtedly the Euphrates, and they who dwell... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 7:20

In the same day ... - The idea in this verse is the same as in the preceding, though presented in a different form. The meaning is, that “God” would bring upon them this punishment, but that he would make use of the Assyrian as an “instrument” by which to do it.Shave - The act of shaving off the hair denotes punishment or disgrace; compare 2 Samuel 10:4 : ‘Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved off one half of their beards;’ 1 Chronicles 19:4.With a razor - Using them as an instrument. God... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 7:17-25

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 7:20

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 7:20

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:17-20

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:17-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:17-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:18-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:18-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 7:20

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 7:20

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