Seventh-day Adventist Bible CommentaryIsaiah 31

Go down to Egypt. Isaiah continues (see ch. 30:2–7) rebuke of the leaders of Judah for turning to Egypt for help against Assyria. Judah was so weak in cavalry that the Assyrians tauntingly offered to provide 2,000 horses if Hezekiah could set riders upon them (ch. 36:8).The Hebrew politicians sought to make up for this weakness by an appeal to Egypt. Stay on horses. That is, “depend on horses.” In ancient times horses were used almost exclusively for warfare. God, who had once given Israel a signal triumph over the horses and chariots of Pharaoh (Ex. 14:9, 17, 18, 23, 27; 15:19), was forgotten, and Egypt, now a relatively weak nation (see Vol. II, p. 53), was looked to as a source of help.

Yet he also is wise. There is a note of sarcasm in these words. Those who sought help from Egypt thought their policy a wise one. But Isaiah reminds them that God also is wise, and that He is able to carry out His threats against those who despise His word.

The Egyptians are men. In spite of all their vaunted wisdom and their material resources the Egyptians were still human. Isaiah here drives the point home that the strength of a nation consists not in its material advantages but in the moral and spiritual stamina of its leaders and people.

Like as the lion. A vivid illustration of God’s power and protecting care.

Flying. Or, “hovering,” as a bird over its young with outspread wings. Likewise the Lord will protect Jerusalem from harm (see Ps. 57:1; 91:4). Passing over. Heb. pasach, the same word used in Ex. 12:13, 23, 27 of the Lord passing over His people; hence the name “Passover.” Perhaps, in using the word pasach, Isaiah intends to remind his contemporaries of the great deliverance experienced by their forefathers.

Turn ye unto him. Isaiah’s one great objective was to bring the people of Judah back to God and thus save the nation. Unless they were turned from their present course they would suffer the recent fate of Israel (2 Kings 17:6).

Cast away his idols. In ch. 2:20 the people are pictured disposing of their idols when it is too late. Now they do so in a spirit of penitence, and return to the Lord (2 Chron. 31:1).

Then shall the Assyrian fall. It was not the hand of man that destroyed the army of Sennacherib, but the hand of God (ch. 37:36). The “sword” was the judgment from the Lord (Deut. 32:41, 42; 1 Chron. 21:16; Isa. 34:5, 6; 66:16; Jer. 9:16; Eze. 9:1; 21:9–14, 20). Discomfited. Literally, “for forced labor.”

He shall pass over. The first clause reads literally, “His rock [meaning “his shelter,” or “his stronghold”] shall pass away [on account of] horror.” For the Heb. sela‘, “rock,” see on Ps. 18:2. The “rock” of Assyria’s strength would fail. His princes. That is, the “officers” of the Assyrian army, who would literally “be disheartened from the standard,” or “desert the standard” (RSV), as they realized that God was defending Zion. Whose fire is in Zion. The Lord is pictured as a “devouring fire” (Isa. 33:14; Heb. 12:29). When the Assyrians attacked Jerusalem they would be “devoured.” The figurative “fire” of Isaiah’s time will be literal fire at the time of the attack on the New Jerusalem at the close of the 1,000 years (Rev. 20:9; cf. Zech. 14:2, 3).