Isaiah 14:25

That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) That I will break the Assyrian in my land . . .—The words found their fulfilment in the destruction of Sennacherib’s army. The “mountains” are the hills round Jerusalem on which the army of the Assyrians was encamped. They were sacred, as the phrase, “my mountains,” shows, to Jehovah (comp. Isaiah 49:11; Isaiah 65:9; Zechariah 14:5), and He, therefore, would put forth His power to rescue them from the proud invader.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:24-27 Let those that make themselves a yoke and a burden to God's people, see what they are to expect. Let those that are the called according to God's purpose, comfort themselves, that whatever God has purposed, it shall stand. The Lord of hosts has purposed to break the Assyrian's yoke; his hand is stretched out to execute this purpose; who has power to turn it back? By such dispensations of providence, the Almighty shows in the most convincing manner, that sin is hateful in his sight.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That I will break - That I will break his power; that I will discomfit and destroy his army.

The Assyrian - Sennacherib (see Isaiah 10.)

In my land - That is, in the land of Canaan. This is often called his land; and this expression shows that the passage does not and cannot refer to the king of Babylon, for he was destroyed in his own city Daniel 5)

And upon my mountains - That is, upon the mountains of Palestine. The army of Sennacherib was destroyed on the mountains that were near to Jerusalem (see the notes at Isaiah 10:33-34).

Then shall his yoke - The yoke of the Assyrian (see the note at Isaiah 10:27).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. That—My purpose, namely, "that."

break … yoke—(Isa 10:27).

my mountains—Sennacherib's army was destroyed on the mountains near Jerusalem (Isa 10:33, 34). God regarded Judah as peculiarly His.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The Assyrian; Sennacherib, and his Assyrian army. In my land; in Judea, which is my land in a peculiar manner, being chosen by me, and consecrated to my use and service, and inhabited by my people.

Upon my mountains; in my mountainous country, for such Judea was, Deu 8:9 Psalm 133:3 Ezekiel 6:2,3 39:2,4,17, especially about Jerusalem, Psalm 125:2, upon some of which probably his army was lodged.

Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders; which words are repeated from Isaiah 10:27, where they are explained.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

That I will break the Assyrian in my land,.... This was his thought, counsel, purpose, and decree; which must be understood either of the king of Babylon, as before, called the Assyrian; as the king of Babylon seems to be called the king of Assyria in 2 Chronicles 33:11, but then his destruction was not in the land of Israel, or on the mountains of Judea, as is here predicted; or rather, therefore, this is a new prophecy, or a return to what is foretold in the tenth chapter Isaiah 10:1 concerning Sennacherib and his army, and the destruction of it; which, coming to pass long before the destruction of Babylon, is mentioned for the comfort of God's people, as a pledge and assurance of the latter: though some think that it was now past, and is observed to strengthen the faith of the Jews, with respect to the preceding prediction, and read the words thus, as "in breaking the Assyrian in my land"; and then the sense is, what I have thought, purposed, and sworn to, to come to pass, concerning the fall of Babylon, shall as surely be accomplished, and you may depend upon it, as I have broke the Assyrian army in my land before your eyes, of which ye yourselves are witnesses. Some think that Gog and Magog are intended by the Assyrian, of whom it is predicted that they should fall upon the mountains of Israel, as here, Ezekiel 39:4 it may be, that as the king of Babylon was a type of the Romish antichrist in the preceding prophecy, the Assyrian here may represent the Turks, who now possess the land of Israel, and shall be destroyed:

and upon my mountains tread him under foot; the mountainous part of Judea, particularly the mountains which were round about Jerusalem, where the Assyrian army under Sennacherib was, when besieged by him, and where they fell and were trodden under foot; and now the Lord may be said to break the Assyrian troops, and trample upon them, because it was not only done according to his will, but without the use of men, by an angel that was sent immediately from heaven, and destroyed the whole host, 2 Kings 19:35,

there shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders: meaning, that hereby the siege of Jerusalem would be broken up, and the city rid of such a troublesome enemy; and the parts adjacent eased of the burden of having such a numerous army quartered upon them; and the whole land freed from the subjection of this monarch, and from paying tribute to him. The same is said in Isaiah 10:27. This, in the Talmud (m), is interpreted of Sennacherib.

(m) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

{o} That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off {p} them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

(o) As I have begun to destroy the Assyrians in Sennacherib: so will I continue and destroy them wholly, when I will deliver you from Babylon.

(p) From the Jews.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. my mountains] i.e. the mountain land of Palestine.

then shall his yoke depart …] See ch. Isaiah 9:4, Isaiah 10:27.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - I will break the Assyrian in my land. This is referred by some critics to the miraculous destruction of Sennacherib's army, and regarded as a proof that the scene, of that destruction was Judaea. But it is possible that a disaster to the forces of Sargon may be intended (see the comment on Isaiah 10:28-32). His yoke shall depart from off them (comp. Isaiah 10:27). The Assyrian yoke, imposed by Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 16:7-10), and (according to his own inscriptions) again by Sargon, was thrown off by Hezekiah, who "rebelled against the King of Assyria, and served him not" (2 Kings 18:7). It was this rebellion that provoked the expedition of Sennacherib, described in 2 Kings 18:13-16; and it may be this rejection of the yoke which is here prophesied. Isaiah 14:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

There now follows, apparently out of all connection, another prophecy against Asshur. It is introduced here quite abruptly, like a fragment; and it is an enigma how it got here, and what it means here, though not an enigma without solution. This short Assyrian passage reads as follows. "Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, that takes place; to break Asshur to pieces in my land, and upon my mountain will I tread him under foot: then his yoke departs from them, and his burden will depart from their neck. This is the purpose that is purposed over the whole earth; and this the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who could bring it to nought? And His hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back?" It is evidently a totally different judicial catastrophe which is predicted here, inasmuch as the world-power upon which it falls is not called Babel or Chasdim, but Asshur, which cannot possibly be taken as a name for Babylon (Abravanel, Lowth, etc.). Babylon is destroyed by the Medes, whereas Asshur falls to ruin in the mountain-land of Jehovah, which it is seeking to subjugate - a prediction which was literally fulfilled. And only when this had taken place did a fitting occasion present itself for a prophecy against Babel, the heiress of the ruined Assyrian power. Consequently the two prophecies against Babel and Asshur form a hysteron-proteron as they stand here. The thought which occasioned this arrangement, and which it is intended to set forth, is expressed by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 50:18-19, "Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria." The one event was a pledge of the other. At a time when the prophecy against Assyria had actually been fulfilled, the prophet attached it to the still unfulfilled prophecy against Babylon, to give a pledge of the fulfilment of the latter. This was the pedestal upon which the Massâh Bâbel was raised. And it was doubly suited for this, on account of its purely epilogical tone from Isaiah 14:26 onwards.