Isaiah 30:27

Annihilation of the Assyrians

27 Look, Yahweh^[a] comes from far away, His anger burning and heavy with smoke.^[b] His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

Isaiah 30:27 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 30:27

Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far
From hence to the end of the chapter ( Isaiah 30:28-33 ) is a very full account, by way of prophecy, of the destruction of the Assyrian army by the Lord; and which is to be considered as a type of the destruction of antichrist, by and at the coming of the Lord Jesus. It is introduced with a "behold", as declaring something of moment and importance worthy of attention, and even wonderful. "The name of the Lord" is the Lord himself; unless it is to be understood of the angel that came in the name of the Lord, and destroyed Sennacherib's army; who may be said to come "from far", because he came from heaven; and from whence Christ the Angel uncreated, in whom the name of the Lord is, will come to judge the world, and to take vengeance on all his and his people's enemies, antichrist and all his followers: burning [with] his anger;
against the Assyrian monarch and his army. So our Lord, when he shall come forth to make war with the antichristian kings of the earth, his "eyes" shall be "as a flame of fire": and when he comes to judge the world, he will descend in "flaming fire", ( Revelation 19:12 ) ( 2 Thessalonians 1:7 ) the day of the Lord will burn as an oven, ( Malachi 4:1 ) : and the burden [thereof is] heavy:
the punishment inflicted, in his burning anger and hot displeasure, will be heavy, even intolerable, heavier than it can be borne, as the Targum paraphrases it; see ( Genesis 4:13 ) : his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring
fire;
the words he will utter, the sentence he will pronounce, will be dreadful, executed by the angel; so the sharp sword that goes out of the mouth of Christ, with which he will smite the nations; and such the awful sentence pronounced by him on the wicked, "go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire" see ( Revelation 19:15 ) ( Matthew 25:41 ) . So the Targum,

``from before him goes out the curse upon the ungodly, and his Word as a consuming fire.''

Isaiah 30:27 In-Context

25 Streams and watercourses will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.

26 The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter-like the light of seven days-on the day that the Lord bandages His people's injuries and heals the wounds He inflicted.

27 Look, Yahweh comes from far away, His anger burning and heavy with smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

28 His breath is like an overflowing torrent that rises to the neck. [He comes] to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples to lead [them] astray.

29 Your singing will be like that on the night of a holy festival, And [your] heart will rejoice like one who walks [to the music] of a flute, going up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit the name Yahweh
• [b]. Hb obscure