Isaiah 36:6

“Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, &c.] His ally and auxiliary; and which is rightly called “the staff of a broken reed”, if trusted to, and leaned upon, being weak and frail, and an insufficient ground of confidence to depend upon; the allusion seems to be to the cane or reed which grew upon the banks of the river Nile, in Egypt: whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; the splinters of the broken reed being leaned on, will enter into a man’s hand, and do him harm, instead of being a help to him to walk with: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him; pernicious and harmful, instead of being useful and helpful.”

“It was a similar alliance with So (that is, Sabacho, or else Sevechus), the Ethiopian king of Egypt, which provoked the Assyrian to invade and destroy Israel, the northern kingdom, under Hoshea.”

“Lo, thou trustest - It is possible that Sennacherib might have been apprised of the attempt which had been made by the Jews to secure the cooperation of Egypt (see the notes at Isaiah 30:1-7; Isaiah 31:1 ff), though he might not have been aware that the negotiation was unsuccessful. In the staff of this broken reed - The same comparison of Egypt with a broken reed, or a reed which broke while they were trusting to it, occurs in Ezekiel 29:6-7. Reeds were doubtless used often for staves, as they are now. They are light and hollow, with long joints. The idea here is, that as a slender reed would break when a man leaned on it, and would pierce his hand, so it would be with Egypt. Their reliance…”

“36:6 Egypt . . . is completely unreliable: Isaiah argued the same case, pointing to the Lord as the only reliable source of help (31:1-3, 7; 39:7). • A kind of reed that breaks easily grows near the Nile (see Ezek 29:6-7).”

“Isa 20:5, Isa 20:6, Isa 30:1-7, Isa 31:3; Kg2 17:4, Kg2 18:21; Jer 37:5-8; Eze 29:6, Eze 29:7 Isaiah 36:7”