Isaiah 10:20

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him that smote them, but shall lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel in truth. A remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people, Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them shall return: a destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. For a full end, and that determined, will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, make in the midst of the earth."

It should be remembered that the name of Isaiah's first son Shear-jashub has the meaning of, "A remnant shall return," thus certifying the authenticity and early date of Isaiah's receiving these great prophecies of the wholesale destruction of Israel, the deportation of the nation as a whole, and the return of a small remnant.

It is significant that here the prophet takes one of the titles of the Messianic Prince given in Isaiah 9 and applies it to Almighty God himself.

There is a prophecy in these verses that Israel "in that day" will no longer rely upon alliances with foreign powers as Ahaz had done in the case of Assyria; and Cheyne pointed out that indeed all of this came to pass during the Babylonian captivity. "`The remnant' of Israel was weaned from its false confidences and returned to God."[16] After the return of the "remnant," there were never any more examples of Israel lapsing into idolatry.

As Archer observed, "No matter how small a fraction `that remnant' might prove to be, after the judgments of God had fallen on the apostate nation, the future would lie with them."[17]