The Rod of My Anger
1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees 2 to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! 3 What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth? 4 They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 5 Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! 6 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. 7 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. 8 For he says, “Aren’t all of my princes kings? 9 Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?” 10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria, 11 shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? 12 Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks. 13 For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers. 14 My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.” 15 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. 16 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. 17 The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. 18 He will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. 19 The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.
The empire God is using as a tool is judged for thinking it is the workman.
Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees
The last woe of the series, and it falls on legislation. Not on men breaking the law but on men making it — and on the clerks who wrote it out, which is an unusually specific target.
to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
Everything described here is legal. The widow is not robbed in the street; she is plundered by statute, and the paperwork is in order.
What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
Three questions, and the last is the sharpest: the wealth cannot be taken and cannot be left, which is the difficulty with wealth generally.
Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
The most theologically demanding passage in the first half of the book. The empire is described as an instrument in God's hand, sent deliberately — I will send him against a profane nation Isaiah 10:6.
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.
And immediately the distinction that keeps the passage from collapsing into fatalism. Assyria is doing what God intends and intending something else entirely. The empire is not obeying; it is being used, and its own purpose is what it will be judged for.
Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?”
The Assyrian's speech is quoted at length, and it is a list of captured cities offered as an argument. Every one fell; each is compared to the last; the conclusion is that Jerusalem is simply the next item, and by any military reckoning he is right.
Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks.
The timing is stated precisely: when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion. The instrument is dealt with after the job is finished, not before.
For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers.
My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped.”
The empire describes conquest as robbing an unguarded nest, and the detail it is proudest of is the silence. Nothing resisted, nothing even complained.
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.
The answer, and it is a question about tools. An ax that credits itself with the woodpile has misunderstood the arrangement — and the last clause makes the absurdity complete: as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.
The passage is the book's account of how God uses what he has not authorized, and it refuses both easy readings. The empire is genuinely sent, and it is genuinely guilty.
settled What this mark means