Woe unto them that decree iniquitous decrees, and to the writers that prescribe oppression,
The verse opens a woe on people who did their damage with a pen. They were lawmakers and clerks who wrote injustice into the law books. This is not a riot or a robbery. It is a legal system. The woe asks what God does when the law that should protect the weak becomes the tool that ruins them.
These men held the highest office in the nation. That office is what makes the charge so grave.
The last of these disciplinary punishments is given in Isaiah 10. Here (vv. 1-4) the sin is the unrighteousness of the judges. They stood in the place of God Himself, and were called Elohim or gods (Psalm 82:6). But they gravely misrepresented His character and wronged His people, especially the defenceless.
The evil here is not lawlessness. It is injustice given legal form — drafted, decreed, filed. One writer, meeting the same evil in another passage, turned it into a question for God.
He puts a question that seems bold to the point of rashness. But it is only an appeal to the righteousness which, through all his searching, he knows well is in the One who is Supreme. Can He go on as if in partnership with a throne of iniquity that makes wickedness into law?
The oppressor could point to the paperwork and call himself lawful.
Verse 2 names the victims: the needy, widows, the fatherless. Commentators say judges owe such people active defence.
Rather than favour the wicked, the judges ought to judge on behalf of the poor and needy. They should defend them from the persecution of the wicked, and deliver them from the hands of cruel oppression. The same call is needed today in many of our courts of justice. It is needed even in the professing church of God, where those in outward honour are too often guilty of oppressing ordinary people.
This woe completes a run of denunciations over the nation. The prophet had already found that the same word applied to himself.
The prophet tells us of his conversion. He saw "the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up"... What was the immediate effect of His glory upon him? "Then said I, Woe is me!" It was a wonderful interlude of grace to the prophet. He had been pronouncing woe upon every form of wrongdoing in Israel (Isaiah 5:8, 11, 18, 20-22). He still had to complete the solemn sevenfold denunciation of it in Isaiah 10:1... Now he has to pronounce it upon himself: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips… for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
The man qualified to say "woe" to corrupt judges was the man who had first said it about himself.
Isaiah 10:1-4 closes a sequence of blows. None of them produced repentance.
God does not crush His people even when He strikes them. He leaves some consolation. Yet His people take up their pride again (chapter 10:1-4). At last God calls in the great instrument of His anger (chapter 10:5, etc.). The Assyrian is the rod of His wrath.
The refrain about God's hand returns four times. Others trace the rising pressure through it: "there seems to be an increase of severity as we proceed" (F. B. Hole).
Verse 3 puts three questions to the lawmakers. What will you do? Where will you flee? Where will you leave your wealth?
The highest will be brought lowest. It will go worst with those who least should have turned their high position and great power into greed that dishonours God, and into the oppression of the weak and wretched.
Having abandoned God, they find that "He would be no refuge for them in that hour of distress" (F. B. Hole).
- Pen — they wrote the sin down. Decrees turned wickedness into law, so the oppressor could call himself lawful.
- Position — these judges stood in God's own place. Their crooked verdicts told the nation a lie about His character.
- Prey — the targets had no defender. Judges owed them active rescue, and courts still owe it today.
- Pattern — this is the last woe of seven, and the last of four chastenings. Each blow grew heavier, and the people refused every one.
- Payday — when judgment comes they have no refuge and no wealth left. The highest position brings the lowest fall.
to turn away the poor from judgment, and to take away the right from the afflicted of my people; that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
Isaiah's woe falls on men who ran the courts and used them as a weapon. They stripped the poor of their legal rights and made widows and orphans their plunder — so does God notice when injustice is legal?
The charge is not aimed at street criminals. It falls on the bench, on men who held an office that came from God.
In verses 1-4 the sin is the unrighteousness of the judges. They stood in the place of God Himself, and were called Elohim, or gods (Ps. 82:6). Yet they badly misrepresented His character and wronged His people, especially the defenceless… The highest will be brought lowest. It will go worst of all with those who least should have turned their high position and great power to greed that dishonours God, and to oppression of the weak and wretched.
A judge stands in God's own place. So his greed does more damage than an ordinary man's. The office was meant to show what God is like. Instead it told a lie about Him.
Rulers hold office for a purpose, and Scripture spells it out. When they protect the powerful instead, they have not just failed the job. They have reversed it.
Then comes the call that sets out the purpose of their appointment: "Defend the poor and the fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and the needy; rescue them from the hand of the wicked." If they had done this they would have represented God well, for He cares for the poor and the needy… But the spoilers of the widow and the orphan have often been honoured, and still are honoured, by the rulers of this world. All they need is enough wealth and power to get noticed. Their victims cry in vain — except to God.
Where human courts shut their doors, one court stays open.
The verse names exactly two classes of victim: widows and the fatherless. These are the very two God has taken as titles for Himself.
He is high over all: the great, the mighty, the awesome God. But He has a heart for the widow and the fatherless. They are helpless people, stripped of every earthly and natural support — the grieving, broken-hearted widow and the orphan left all alone. God thinks of such people and cares for them in a very special way. They have a claim on His loving heart and mighty hand. "A Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widow is God in His holy habitation."
So these men were not simply robbing people with no protector. They were robbing God's own. The words "of my people" in the verse show He had not let go of them.
This is not a complaint found only in Isaiah. It runs from Proverbs through the prophets to James, and ends at the Lord's coming.
All through the Word of God we are told to remember the poor with kindness, and God gives some wonderful promises to those who obey these gracious words. See Proverbs 19:17; 22:9; 28:27; Ps. 41:1. Oppression of the poor is a sin which God specially marks. See Isaiah 3:14, 15; 10:2; Ezek. 18:11-13; Amos 2:6; 5:11; James 2:6. When the Lord comes He will remember the poor and deliver them. See Ps. 72:4, 12, 13; 113:7; Isaiah 11:4.
This charge does not stay in ancient Judah. Commentators on Psalm 82 bring it right into our own day, and not only against governments.
Instead of favouring the wicked, the judges ought to judge on behalf of the poor and needy. They should defend them from the persecution of the wicked and deliver them from the hands of cruel oppression. We need this same call today in many of our courts of justice, and even in the professing church of God, where those in outward honour are too often guilty of oppressing the common people.
The woe lands wherever someone with standing uses it against someone without it.
- Office — Judges stood in God's place and were even called gods. That is why their greed "badly misrepresented His character."
- Reversal — God gave authority to defend the poor and fatherless. Here it becomes the tool that robs them.
- Ownership — The victims are "of my people." God calls Himself Father of the fatherless and Judge of the widow, so touching them means touching Him.
- Record — Oppression of the poor is "a sin which God specially marks." The trail runs from Proverbs and the Psalms through the prophets to James.
- Reckoning — "The highest will be brought lowest." When the Lord comes, He will remember the poor and deliver them.
And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the sudden destruction [which] shall come from far? To whom will ye flee for help, and where will ye leave your glory?
Isaiah puts a question to men who had used the law itself to rob the weak. When the blow falls, where will they run, and what becomes of everything they piled up? Older translations read "the day of visitation" and "where will you leave your glory."
The question is aimed at judges. They held God's own authority, and they used it against the people they should have protected.
In verses 1-4 the subject is the unrighteousness of the judges. They stood in the place of God Himself, and were called Elohim, or gods (Psalm 82:6). Yet they seriously misrepresented His character and wronged His people, especially the defenceless.
The verse also asks where they will leave their wealth. Rank and power made the crime possible, and rank and power are what the judgment takes back.
The most exalted will be most humbled. Those will fare worst who, of all people, should not have turned their high position and great power to greed that dishonours God, or to the oppression of the weak and the wretched.
"To whom will you flee for help?" is not a real question. It is a closed door. The one refuge left to them is the God they had already walked away from.
They would still practise deceit and treachery and oppression, and bring on themselves what is described as "the day of visitation." They had forsaken their God. So He would be no refuge for them in that hour of distress, and His hand would still be against them.
This warning does not stand alone. It closes a series of judgments, and each stroke lands harder than the last.
At this point the prophet took up his charge against the people and their sins again. He had paused it to relate his vision of Jehovah of hosts and to give the prediction about Immanuel. We now learn how God's hand was stretched out over them in anger and discipline. In Isaiah 5, woe was pronounced on them six times, and now we get the hand of God stretched out in wrath four times over — verses 12, 17, 21, and Isaiah 10:4. There seems to be an increase of severity as we go on.
The ruin comes from far off, and the next verses name it: the Assyrian. That invasion is where the visitation lands. It is also where God's long anger stops.
But now, from verse 5, we come to a very weighty change. The Assyrian destroyer comes up once more. It is his final working that the Holy Spirit chiefly has in mind. This is the great catastrophe and last trouble of Jacob. It stands in contrast with the often-repeated formula of wrath still continuing and unexhausted. Now, on the contrary, in this proud enemy of Israel we have the end of Jehovah's anger. "The day of visitation" is there, the "desolation from far" has come. In their destruction the indignation ceases, and Jehovah's anger with it. His anger is now turned away and His arm stretched out no more. The rod would be broken, the scourge destroyed, as the work of chastening is done.
Isaiah's own generation felt the force of this. The words reach further still.
We pause a moment to note something. In Old Testament prophecy there is often an ultimate fulfilment as well as a nearer one, and that is surely the case here. "The day of visitation" looks on to that special day of trial that is yet to come. In the same way, "the Assyrian" that we are now to consider has a double application. It means the great power of that time centred in Nineveh, and also that "king of the North," which was Assyria, that we read of in the last days.
A day of visitation can also pass unnoticed. Egypt shows the cost: the warnings stopped, and only then did Pharaoh try to run.
How solemn are those "last words" of God to souls at times! The same thing had perhaps often been spoken in the ears of those who refused it. But they little reckoned that they would never hear it again. "The day of visitation" was past, and Egypt did not know it. This was her condemnation... While judgment was falling, Pharaoh tried to flee from the Lord (Exodus 14:25). It was now too late to flee to Him.
- Crime. Isaiah questions judges who stood in God's place and wronged the defenceless.
- Countdown. It closes a series in which God's hand is stretched out four times over, with the severity rising each time.
- Question. "To whom will you flee?" is unanswerable, because the only refuge is the God they had forsaken.
- Reversal. High position, used for greed, becomes the measure of the fall: the most exalted are the most humbled.
- Deadline. A day of visitation can pass unrecognised, as it did for Egypt — flee to God while fleeing is still possible.
They can but crouch under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
The line that closes this verse has already sounded three times in the chapter before it. Here it falls for the fourth and last time. The judgment has landed hard, and it is not finished. So what sin brought it on? Why does the striking hand stay out, and does it ever drop?
This verse closes a series of blows. One writer counts them and finds that they grow heavier.
Here the prophet went back to condemning the people and their sins. He had paused that charge so he could tell of his vision of the Lord of Hosts and give the prediction about Immanuel. We now learn how God stretched out His hand over them in anger and discipline. Isaiah 5 pronounces woe upon them six times, and now we get the hand of God stretched out in wrath four times over — verses 12, 17, 21, and Isaiah 10:4. There seems to be an increase of severity as we proceed.
In verses 1–4 the sin is corrupt justice. The men who judged in God's place used their office against the weak.
Here (verses 1–4) the sin is the unrighteousness of the judges. They stood in the place of God Himself, yet they terribly misrepresented His character and wronged His people, above all the defenceless... And this is His sentence on them: "Without Me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain." Those lifted highest will be brought lowest. Those will fare worst who least of all should have used their high position and great power for greed that dishonours God, and for oppressing the weak and wretched.
(The older translation used here reads "Without Me they shall bow down under the prisoners." The ESV reads "Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain.")
Their conduct did not change, and the coming day of reckoning would find them with no one to turn to.
They would still practise deceit and treachery and oppression. So they would bring on themselves what is called "the day of visitation." They had forsaken their God, so He would be no refuge for them in that hour of distress, and His hand would still be against them.
Why does the hand stay out? One writer looks at what chastening exposes in the heart.
In the chastening of God's people there are three things: the instrument, the enemy's malice, and the hidden purpose of God. If a person looks at the instrument, it is only to accuse or to be dissatisfied. But even behind the malice of Satan there is the goodness of God. Sometimes the heart admits that the chastening came because of known evil, and then it would just reform itself a little. But the hand of God stays stretched out, because there is no return to Him who strikes. There is only the effort to appease God with a certain amount of hypocrisy. The conscience has never come face to face with God.
God's striking never destroys outright. What the people do with the relief is the problem.
God does not crush His people even when He strikes. He leaves some consolation. Still, His people take up their pride again (chapter 10:1–4). At last God calls the great instrument of His anger (chapter 10:5, etc.). The Assyrian is the rod of His wrath.
Commentators read the passage as looking past its first fulfilment.
As so often in Old Testament prophecy, there is an ultimate fulfilment as well as a nearer one. That is surely the case here... "the day of visitation" looks on to that special day of trial that is yet to come. In the same way, "the Assyrian," whom we now come to, has a double application. It means the great power of that day, centred in Nineveh, and also that "king of the North," which was Assyria, that we read of in the last days.
From verse 5 the tone changes. God breaks the rod He used. Only then does the line about the outstretched hand fall silent.
It is his final work that is chiefly in the mind of the Holy Spirit. This is the great catastrophe and the last trouble of Jacob. It stands in contrast with the often-repeated line about wrath that still continues and is not spent. Now, on the contrary, in this proud enemy of Israel we have the end of the Lord's anger... His anger now is turned away and His arm stretched out no more. The rod is to be broken and the whip destroyed, because the chastening work is done.
- The hand counted. Six woes in chapter 5, then four strokes — verses 12, 17, 21, and this one — each one heavier than the last.
- The hand provoked. Corrupt justice brings the fourth stroke. Judges wronged the defenceless, and their high place makes their fall the deepest.
- The hand unanswered. The hand stays out because no one returns to the God who strikes. A little self-reform never brings the conscience face to face with Him.
- The hand restrained. Even while striking, God does not crush; He leaves consolation. The people spend that mercy on renewed pride.
- The hand lowered. God breaks the rod He used, the chastening work ends, His anger turns away, and the arm reaches out no more.