Isaiah 10:15

“Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? &c.] Hitherto are the words of the Assyrian monarch; and here begin the words of the prophet, rebuking him for his pride, and deriding his vain boasting, in attributing that to himself, to his wisdom and power, who was but an instrument, which belonged to God, the sole Governor and wise orderer of all things; which was all one as if an axe should ascribe the cutting down of trees to itself, and insist on it that the man that cut with it had no share in the action, nor was it to be ascribed to him; than which nothing is more absurd. The sense is, that the king of Assyria, in taking cities, and conquering kingdoms, and adding them…”

“Shall the instrument boast against Him who uses it? Through free in a sense, and carrying out his own plans, the Assyrian was unconsciously carrying out God's purposes. shaketh it--moves it back and forward. staff . . . lift . . . itself . . . no wood--rather, "as if the staff (man, the instrument of God's judgments on his fellow man) should set aside (Him who is) not wood" (not a mere instrument, as man). On "no wood" compare Deu 32:21, "that which is not God;" Isa 31:8 shows that God is meant here by "not wood" [MAURER].”

“Shall the axe ... - In this verse God reproves the pride and arrogance of the Assyrian monarch. He does it by reminding him that he was the mere instrument in his hand, to accomplish his purposes; and that it was just as absurd for him to boast of what he had done, as it would be for the axe to boast when it had been welded with effect. In the axe there is no wisdom, no skill, no power; and though it may lay the forest low, yet it is not by any skill or power which it possesses. So with the Assyrian monarch. Though nations had trembled at his power, yet be was in the hand of God, and had been directed by an unseen arm in accomplishing the designs of the Ruler of the universe. Though himself…”

“The ax - How absurd is it, for thee, who art but an instrument in God's hand, to blaspheme thy Lord and master, who has as great power over thee, as a man hath over the ax wherewith he heweth? Isaiah 10:16”

“10:15 ax . . . saw . . . rod . . . wooden cane: Such instruments are only as good as the person who uses them. Assyria considered itself independent of the hand of God, but their conquests were made possible only by his permission and to serve his purposes (10:5).”

“the ax: Isa 10:5; Psa 17:13, Psa 17:14; Jer 51:20-23; Eze 28:9; Rom 9:20, Rom 9:21 the rod should shake itself against them: or, a rod should shake them. itself, as if it were no wood. or, that which is not wood. Isaiah 10:16”

“This self-exaltation was a foolish sin. "Dare the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith, or the saw magnify itself against him that useth it? As if a staff were to swing those that lift it up, as if a stick should lift up not-wood!" "Not-wood" is to be taken as one word, as in Isa 31:8. A stick is wood, and nothing more; in itself it is an absolutely motionless thing. A man is "not-wood," an incomparably higher, living being. As there must be "not-wood" to lay hold of wood, so, wherever a man performs extraordinary deeds, there is always a superhuman cause behind, viz., God Himself, who bears the same relation to the man as the man to the wood. The boasting of the Assyrian was…”