Isaiah 7:20 - Exposition

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 beyond it the Assyrians. By the King of Assyria . Once more a gloss is suspected, as in Isaiah 7:17 . The meaning would certainly be sufficiently plain without the clause. The head … the hair of the feet … the beard . These three represent all the hair on any part of the body. Judah is to be completely stripped.