John Gill's Exposition on Isaiah 31:8

A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.

Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.

Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man, &c.] That is, the Assyrian army under Sennacherib their king, which besieged Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s time; which, as soon as the people were brought to a sense of their sin, and repentance for it, and cast away their idols as a proof of it, were utterly destroyed; but not in battle, not by the sword of Hezekiah, or any of his valiant generals: and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him; neither the sword of a general, nor of a private soldier, nor indeed of any man, but of an angel; (see <121935>2 Kings 19:35): but he shall flee from the sword; from the drawn sword of the angel, who very probably appeared in such a form as in (<132116>1 Chronicles 21:16) which Sennacherib king of Assyria seeing, as well as the slaughter made in his army by him, fled from it; in the Hebrew text it is added, “for himself”f630; he fled for his life, for his own personal security; (see <121936>2 Kings 19:36): and his young men shall be discomfited; his choice ones, the flower of his army: or “melt away”f631, through fear; or die by the stroke of the angel upon them: the sense of becoming “tributary” seems to have no foundation.

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