Should shake itself, &c. The Hebrew, in this place, is as in
the margin: ‘A rod should shake them that lift it up.’ But the sense is
evidently retained in our translation, as this accords with all the other
members of the verse, where the leading idea is, the absurdity that a mere
instrument should exalt itself against him who makes use of it. In this manner
the preposition עַל over, or against, is
evidently understood So the Vulgate and the Syriac.
The staff. This word here is synonymous with rod, and denotes an instrument of chastisement.
As if it were no wood. That is, as if it were a moral
agent, itself the actor or deviser of what it is made to do. It would be
impossible to express more strongly the idea intended here, that the Assyrian
was a mere instrument in the hand of God to accomplish his purposes, and to be employed at his will. The statement of this
truth is designed to humble him: and if there be any truth that will humble sinners, it is, that they are in the
hands of God; that he will accomplish his purposes by them; that when they are
laying plans against him, he will overrule them for his own glory; and that
they will be arrested, restrained, or directed, just as he pleases. Man, in his
schemes of pride and vanity, therefore, should not boast. He is under the God
of nations; and it is one part of his administration, to control and govern all
the intellect in the universe. In all these passages, however, there is not the
slightest intimation that the Assyrian was not free. There is no fate; no compulsion. He regarded himself as a
free moral agent; he did what he pleased; he never supposed that he was urged
on by any power that violated his own liberty. If he did what he pleased, he
was free. And so it is with all sinners. They do as they please. They form and
execute such plans as they choose; and God overrules their designs to accomplish his own purposes. The Targum of
Jonathan has given the sense of this passage; ‘Shall the axe boast against him
who uses it, saying, I have cut [wood]; or the saw boast against him who moves
it, saying, I have sawed? When the rod is raised to smite, it is not the rod
that smites, but he who smites with it.’ (Albert Barnes, Notes on
the Old Testament: Isaiah, 2 vols. [London: Blackie & Son, 1851], 1:209-10)