and stately buildings, no more to be seen, just as a
house is swept clean of al| its dust; intimating, that
this superb city, and all belonging to it, should be re-
duced to dust, and be as easily swept away as dust is
with a besom. The word for %sweep%, and a %besom%, is
only used in this place, and has this signification in the
Arabic language; it is said in the Talmud {k}, that the
Rabbins knew not the meaning of this word, till they
heard an Arabian girl say to her fellow servant, \*"take
"this besom, and sweep the house."\* expressng the
word here used.
\*Ver. 24. \\The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying\\, &c.]
The Septuagint only read, %these things saith the Lord
of hosts%; for, as Kimchi on the place observes, his
word is his oath; but for the comfort of his people,
and for the confirmation either of the prophecies con-
cerning the fall of Babylon, or of the following con-
cerning the destruction of the Assyrian monarchy, or
both, he adds his oath to his word, to shew that the
sentence passed in his mind, and now expressed, was
irrevocable: \*\\surely as I have thought, so shall it come
to pass\\; as he had shaped and schemed it, and drew
the form and image in his own mind, or fixed and set-
tled it there, so should it be done in due time, as every
thing is that is determined by the Lord; and this
shews that nothing is casual, or comes by chance, but
every thing as it is purposed of God; and that as every
thing comes to pass which he has resolved, so every
such resolution proceeds from thought, and is the pro-
duce of the highest wisdom and prudence: \*\\and as I
have purposed, so it shall stand\\; or %counselled% {l}; within
himself, for he does all things according to the counsel
of his will; and which always stands firm, sure, and
unalterable, let what devices soever be in the heart of
man.
\*Ver. 25. \\That I will break the Assyrian in my land\\,
&c.] 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
\\#2Ch 33:11 Ne 9:32\\, but then his destruc-
tion 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 \\#Isa 10:1-34\\ 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 as-
surance 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 As-
syrian 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, \\#Eze 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 re-
present 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, par-
ticularly the mountains which were round about Je-
rusalem, where the Assyrian arsny 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, \\#2Ki 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 \\Isa 10:27\\ \*\\see Gill on "Isa 10:27"\\. This, in the
Talmud {m}, is interpreted of Sennacherib.
\*Ver. 26. \\This [is] the purpose that is purposed upon
the whole earth\\, &c] Or, %counsel that is counselled%.
The Targum is, \*"all the inhabitants of the earth;"\*
and the Septuagint version, %the whole world%, meaning
the Assyrian empire, and all states depending on it;
as the Roman empire is called, \\#Lu 2:1\\ for this pur-
pose respects not the end of the world, and the judg-
ment of it at the last day, as some have thought; but
the preceding prophecy, purpose, or counsel, concern-
ing breaking and trampling under foot the Assyrians,
and delivering the Jews from subjection to them: \*\\and
this [is] the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations\\;
of which the Assyrian army consisted, or which made
up the Assyrian monarchy, or depended on it, and fell
with it. %Purpose% denotes the counsel, will, and decree
of God, about this business; and %hand% the execution
of it. The Targum renders it %power%; so %hand% and
%counsel% go together in \\#Ac 4:28\\. The Targum is
\*"on all kingdoms."\*
\*Ver. 27. \\For the Lord of hosts hath purposed\\, &c.]
What is before declared, the fall of Babylon, and the
destruction of the Assyrian, and every thing else that
comes to pass in this world; there is nothing comes to
pass but he has purposed, and every thing he has pur-
posed does come to pass: \*\\and who shall disannul [it]\\?
not the most powerful monarch, or most powerful
armies, or the most refined councils of men, or the
greatest politicians on earth: \*\\and his hand [is] stretched
out, and who shall turn it back\\? or aside, from giving
the blow it is designed to give; no power on earth is
equal to it.
\*Ver. 28. \\In the year that King Ahaz died was this
burden\\.] The following heavy prophecy, concerning
the destruction of the Philistines; whether it was deli-
vered out before or after his death is not certain.
Here some begin the %fifteenth% chapter \\#Isa 15:1\\, and not impro-
perly; henceforward prophecies are delivered out
under another reign, as before under Uzziah, Jotham,

{k} Roshhashana, fol. 26. 2. Megilla, fol. 18. 1.
{l} \^ytuey\^? %cousului%, Montanus, Cocceius; %consilium inivi%,
    Junius & Tremellius; %consultavi%, Piscator.
{m} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 2.