Isaiah 10:21

The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) The remnant shall return . . .—The very form of the words (Shear-jashub) shows that the prophet had the “Immanuel promise in his thoughts, just as “the mighty God” (the same word as in Isaiah 9:6) must have reminded men of the Child who was to bear that name in the age to come. (Comp. Hezekiah’s proclamation in 2Chronicles 30:6.)

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 10:21-23. The remnant shall return — Hebrew, שׁאר ישׁוב, shear- jashub, the name given to one of the prophet’s sons, (see Isaiah 7:3,) in confirmation of the truth of God’s promises. It may be rendered, as here, the remnant, or, a remnant, or, but a remnant, shall return; unto the mighty God — Hebrew, אל גבור, the very appellation given to Christ, Isaiah 9:6. For though thy people Israel — Or, thy people, O Israel; to whom the prophet, by an apostrophe, directs his speech; be as the sand, &c., yet a remnant — Or, a remnant only, as before; shall return — For that this is a threatening in respect of some, as well as a promise in respect of others, is evident from the rest of this, and from the following verse. The consumption decreed shall overflow — God’s judgments are said to overflow when they spread generally, the metaphor being taken from an inundation that sweeps all before it. The destruction of the people of Israel was already decreed by the fixed counsel of God, and therefore must needs be executed, and like a deluge overflow them, with, or in righteousness, as the word is rendered Romans 9:28, that is, with justice, and yet with clemency, inasmuch as he spared a considerable remnant of them, when he might have destroyed them utterly. In the midst of the land — In all the parts of the land, not excepting Jerusalem, which was to be preserved in the Assyrian invasion. Bishop Lowth translates these verses, “Though thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them only shall return. The consummation decided overfloweth with strict justice: For a full and decisive decree shall Jehovah, the Lord of hosts, accomplish in the midst of the land.” The prophet’s affirming, that only a remnant of Judah and Ephraim should be preserved, and return in true repentance to God, might justly cause wonder and offence, both to Jews and Israelites, at the time when he spoke these things: for it implied that far the greater part of the people should perish, which they must have conceived highly improbable, especially as they were at that time very numerous and flourishing. The prophet, therefore, declares repeatedly, and more explicitly, that God had determined, by an absolute and precise decree, thus to exercise his justice and severity upon them. This, it is evident, is the sense of the present passage, though there is some difficulty in the expressions. This prophecy was, in part, fulfilled at the Babylonish captivity, but there can be no doubt that it has also a reference to the times of the Messiah: see note on Romans 9:27. Indeed, as Lowth observes, the remnant, so miraculously preserved in Jerusalem from Sennacherib’s invasion, were a type or figure of that small number of converts under the gospel, styled σωζομενοι, (Acts 2:47,) such as should be saved, namely, such as should escape the vengeance which fell upon the main body of the Jewish nation, for their sin in rejecting Christ. And there shall be another remnant of them that shall be saved in the latter days of the Christian Church.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:20-34 By our afflictions we may learn not to make creatures our confidence. Those only can with comfort stay upon God, who return to him in truth, not in pretence and profession only. God will justly bring this wasting away on a provoking people, but will graciously set bounds to it. It is against the mind and will of God, that his people, whatever happens, should give way to fear. God's anger against his people is but for a moment; and when that is turned from us, we need not fear the fury of man. The rod with which he corrected his people, shall not only be laid aside, but thrown into the fire. To encourage God's people, the prophet puts them in mind of what God had formerly done against the enemies of his church. God's people shall be delivered from the Assyrians. Some think it looks to the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity; and further yet, to the redemption of believers from the tyranny of sin and Satan. And this, because of the anointing; for his people Israel's sake, the believers among them that had received the unction of Divine grace. And for the sake of the Messiah, the Anointed of God. Here is, ver. 28-34, a prophetical description of Sennacherib's march towards Jerusalem, when he threatened to destroy that city. Then the Lord, in whom Hezekiah trusted, cut down his army like the hewing of a forest. Let us apply what is here written, to like matters in other ages of the church of Christ. Because of the anointing of our great Redeemer, the yoke of every antichrist must be broken from off his church: and if our souls partake of the unction of the Holy Spirit, complete and eternal deliverances will be secured to us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The remnant ... - That is, those who shall be left after the invasion of Sennacherib.

Shall return - Shall abandon their idolatrous rites and places of worship, and shall worship the true God.

The mighty God - The God that had evinced his power in overcoming and destroying the armies of Sennacherib.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. mighty God—(Isa 9:6) the God who shall have evinced such might in destroying Israel's enemies. As the Assyrians in Sennacherib's reign did not carry off Judah captive, the returning "remnant" cannot mainly refer to this time.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The remnant; or, a remnant; or, but a remnant; or, a remnant only; which particles are oft understood, as hath been formerly and frequently observed, and may be here supplied from the following verses.

Unto the mighty God; unto the Messiah, expressly called the mighty God, Isaiah 9:6.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The remnant shall return,.... This is said in allusion to Shearjashub, the name of Isaiah's son, Isaiah 7:3 which signifies "the remnant shall return", and was imposed on him, to give assurance of it; meaning, either that they should return from the Babylonish captivity, as they did, or to God by repentance; or rather the sense is, they shall turn to the Lord, be converted to Christ, to the faith and obedience of him, as some of them were when he came, a few, not all, only a remnant, as it is explained in the next clause:

even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God; the Messiah, so called, Isaiah 9:6. The Targum is,

"the remnant which have not sinned, and are turned from sin; the remnant of the house of Jacob shall return to worship before the mighty God.''

Geneva Study Bible

The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. The remnant, &c.] A remnant shall turn. Thus shall be fulfilled the prophecy embodied in the name of Isaiah’s son, Shear-jashub (ch. Isaiah 7:3).

the mighty God] the Hero-God—in ch. Isaiah 9:6 a title of the Messiah, but here apparently of Jehovah.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - The mighty God (comp. Isaiah 9:6). The name is not, however, Messianic in this place. Isaiah 10:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"The remnant will turn, the remnant of Jacob, to God the mighty." El gibbor is God as historically manifested in the heir of David (Isaiah 9:6). Whilst Hosea (Hosea 3:5) places side by side Jehovah and the second David, Isaiah sees them as one. In New Testament phraseology, it would be "to God in Christ."