Isaiah 10:27

And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder,.... The tax or tribute imposed upon Hezekiah by the king of Assyria, 2 Kings 18:14: and his yoke

And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

His burden; the burden of the Assyrian: for so it was actively, because imposed by him; though passively it was Israel’ s burden, as being laid upon him. Because of the anointing; out of the respect which I bear to that holy unction which I have established amongst you. And so this may relate either, 1. To the body of the people, who were in some sort anointed, being made by God a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, ; or, 2. To that sacred kingdom which God had, by his positive precept and solemn covenant, established in David and his posterity for ever. The Jews therefore, and some others, understand this of Hezekiah, to whom God had a singular respect, and upon whose prayers God gave this deliverance, as we read, , &c. Possibly it might be better understood of David, who is oft mentioned in Scripture by the name of God’ s anointed, as 89:20 132:17, and elsewhere; and for whose sake God gave many deliverances to the succeeding kings and ages, as is expressly affirmed, ,34 . And, which is more considerable, God declareth that he would give this very deliverance from the Assyrian for David’ s sake, 20:6. But the Messiah, I doubt not, is here principally intended, of whom David was but a type, and who was in a peculiar manner anointed above all his fellows, as is said, . For he is the foundation of all the promises, , and of all the deliverances and mercies granted to God’ s people in all ages; whence this very prophet makes use of this great promise of the Messiah, as an assurance that God would make good his promises of particular deliverances from their present or approaching calamities, as , &c.; , &c. And therefore the prophet might well say, that God would grant this deliverance for Christ’ s sake; especially if it be considered, that this was the very reason why God had promised, and did so constantly perform, his mercy promised unto the tribe of Judah, and unto the house of David, until the coming of the Messiah, because the Messiah was to come of the tribe of Judah, and of the posterity of David, and was to succeed David in his throne and kingdom; and he was to be known by this character; and therefore this tribe, and house, and kingdom were to continue, and that in a visible manner, till Christ came.

Isaiah 10:27 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.Ver. 27. And the yoke shall be destroyed, because of the anointing.] That is, because or for the sake of Messiah the Prince, the Lord Christ, our Sùôçñ and Sospitator, the foundation of all the Church’ s deliverances. The whole chapter following is a comment on this sweet promise.

(27) The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing . . .—The English, as it stands, is scarcely intelligible, but suggests the idea that the “anointing” was that which marked out the kings and priests of Judah as a consecrated people, and the remembrance of which would lead Jehovah to liberate them from bondage. Most commentators, however, render “by reason of the fat,” the implied figure being that of a bullock which grows so fat that the yoke will no longer go round his neck, as the symbol of a people waxing strong and asserting its freedom. Comp. “Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked” (Deuteronomy 32:15).

Verse 27. From off thy shoulder] Bishop Lowth translates the whole verse thus: - "And it shall come to pass in that day, His burden shall be removed from off thy shoulder; And his yoke off thy neck: Yea, the yoke shall perish from off your shoulders." On which he gives us the following note: I follow here the Septuagint, who for מפני שמן mippeney shamen read משכמיכם mishshichmeychem, αποτωνωμωνὑμων, from your shoulders, not being able to make any good sense out of the present reading. I will add here the marginal conjectures of Archbishop Secker, who appears, like all others, to have been at a loss for a probable interpretation of the text as it now stands. "o. leg. שכם shakam; forte legend. מבני שמן mibbeney shamen, vide cap. Isaiah 5:1. Zechariah 4:14: Et possunt intelligi Judaei uncti Dei, Psalms 105:15, vel Assyrii, משמנים mishmannim, hic Isaiah 10:16, ut dicat propheta depulsum iri jugum ab his impositum: sed hoc durius. Vel potest legi מפני שמי mippeney shami."

His burden shall be taken away - The oppressions and exactions of the Assyrian. From off thy shoulder - We bear a burden on the shoulder; and hence, any grievous exaction or oppression is represented as borne upon the shoulder.

27. In that day — That is, the day when this prediction, uttered in ideal time, shall be actually fulfilled. His burden — The imperial subjection on the true Israel.