TRUST WORTHY God’s Remnant: God is trustworthy above all

In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ISA 10:20

Rashi

Lean on him who struck them—i.e., lean on the kings of Egypt, who were the first to oppress them.

Before God brought his judgment on his people, the Israelites were putting others on a pedestal and finding security in them. But God’s desire is for us to trust and depend on him above all. There are times that God must take away the things we get security from to replace it with trust in himself, the only truly stable foundation. How have different trials in life caused you to trust even more in God alone?

When Ephraim saw his sickness,

and Judah his wound,

then Ephraim went to Assyria,

and sent to the great king.

But he is not able to cure you

or heal your wound. HOS 5:13

Rashi

His wound—Heb. מְזֹרוֹ, an expression of illness.

Then Ephraim went to Assyria—This is Hoshea son of Elah, who was his vassal and then rebelled against him (2Ki 17:4).

And sent—i.e., Judah sent.

To the great king—This refers to Ahaz, who gave a bribe to Tiglath-pileser to assist him against Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah (2Ki 16:8).

But he is not able to cure you from the many bands of Philistines and Arabs that attacked Ahaz, as is related in 2Ch 28:21: “For Ahaz divided the house of the Lord etc. and gave it to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.”

Or heal your wound—Heb. וְלֹא יִגְהֶה מִכֶּם מָזוֹר. And I say that it is one of the words whose radicals are transposed. This is an expression similar to (2Sa 20:13) “When he was taken out (הוֹגָה) of the highway”; (Isa 59:13) “conceiving and uttering (והוֹגוֹ) from the heart”; (Pro 25:4), “take away (הָגוֹ) the dross from the silver.”

Assyria shall not save us;

we will not ride on horses;

and we will say no more, “Our God,”

to the work of our hands.

In you the orphan finds mercy. HOS 14:4

Rashi

Assyria shall not save us—Say this also before him, “We no longer seek the aid of man, neither from Assyria nor from Egypt.”

We will not ride on horses—This is the aid from Egypt, who would send them horses, as they said to Isa (30:16), “No! We will flee upon horses . . . We will ride upon swift steeds.”

And we will say no more to the work of our hands that they are our God.

In you alone shall our hope be, you who grant mercy to the orphans.

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. 2CH 16:7

Rashi

Escaped—You did not prevail against them. Why not? Because you did not trust in the Holy One, blessed be he. For had you trusted in the Holy One, blessed be he, when the king of Israel and the king of Aram made a treaty against you, as you trusted in him when the Cushites attacked you, they would not have escaped from your hand, and you would have defeated them all, and you would not have lost your money, which you gave him in order that he abrogate his treaty with Baasha. Now that you did not trust in the Holy One, blessed be he, you lost your money, and the king of Aram escaped from your hand.

12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

John Gill

That we . . . might be to the praise of his glory—This is the end of predestination to the inheritance; and the sense is, either that the praise of the glory of God, in his grace and goodness, might be discovered and made known to the saints, as it is displayed in election, redemption, justification, pardon, adoption, regeneration, and eternal salvation; or that they should praise and glorify him on account of these things, by ascribing all to his grace, and nothing to themselves; by giving him thanks for all his benefits; by ordering their conversations aright as become the gospel; and by doing all things with a view to his glory:

Who were the first to hope in Christ—The Jews, the apostle, and others of the Jewish nation as the words may be rendered; who hoped in Christ before the Gentiles did; and indeed the people of Israel hoped for Christ before he came; the promises of the Messiah were made to them, and he was the peculiar hope and expectation of that people; and to them he first came, and to them the gospel was first preached; and some of them first believed in Christ, and trusted in him, and not in their own righteousness, strength, wisdom, and riches, nor in their own hearts, nor in any mere creature, nor in their carnal privileges; all which they renounced confidence in, and dependence on, when they came to the knowledge of Christ; in whose person they trusted for acceptance, and in his righteousness for justification, and in his blood for pardon, and in his fulness for supply, and in his power for protection and perseverance: this supposes knowledge of him, and a sense of the frailty and vanity of all other objects; and was a betaking themselves to him, a leaning and staying on him, a committing all to him, and an expectation of all good things from him.

12 And again Isaiah says,

“The root of Jesse will come,

even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;

in him will the Gentiles hope.”

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. ROM 15:12-13

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, EPH 1:12-13

Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:

when he makes all the stones of the altars

like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing. ISA 27:9

John Gill

Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for—Or “expiated”; not that afflictions are atonements for sin, or give satisfaction to divine justice for it; but they are the means of bringing the Lord’s people to a sense of their sins, and to repentance and humiliation for them, and confession of them, and of leading them to the blood and sacrifice of Christ, by which they are expiated and atoned, and which the Spirit of of God brings near, and applies to them; whereby their sins, they are convicted of by means of afflictions, and which lay heavy upon their consciences, are purged away, and removed from them:

And this will be the full fruit of the removal of sin—This is the design and use of afflictions, the profit and advantage of them to the saints, that, being humbled for their sins, they depart from them, leave and forsake them; as well as the guilt of them is taken away from their consciences, through the application of pardoning grace, upon their repentance; see Job 36:8-10 this shows another difference between the afflictions of God’s people and of others: namely, in the use and end of them. The sin of idolatry seems to be particularly designed by what follows; unless the sin of the present Jews, in their disbelief and rejection of the Messiah, should be rather intended; which, through their long affliction, they will be convinced of in the latter day, and it will be taken away from them, and be purged and expiated through the atoning sacrifice of Christ, the Savior and Deliverer, they will embrace (Rom 11:25-26):

When he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces—That is, when Jacob, or the people of the Jews, being convinced of their idolatry by their afflictions, shall pull down all their idolatrous altars; perhaps particularly referring to that which Ahaz made (2Ki 16:10-12) and remove the stones thereof, and break them to pieces, as chalkstones for lime, which is easily done:

The Asherim and the incense altars will not stand up—Erect, to be worshiped; but shall be thrown down, demolished, and broke to pieces; and, by thus abandoning their idols and idolatrous practices, they will show the sense they have of their sins, and the sincerity of their repentance; and it is to be observed, that the Jews, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, never practised idolatry more, not in the literal sense; perhaps some respect may be had here to the time when they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn; and when they shall renounce all their legal sacrifices, traditions of the elders, and their own righteousness, their idols, and look alone to the sacrifice of Christ, and declare against all the idolatry of the church of Rome, and all antichristian worship.

Rashi

Therefore—Now, too, by this the guilt of Jacob would be atoned for, to merit to be redeemed as then.

And this will be the full fruit that is best for me to remove his sin, if he makes all the stones of the altars of his high places, like chalkstones crushed to pieces. Comp. (Psa 137:9) “And crushes (וְנִפֵּץ) your babies.” Comp. (Jer 13:14) “And I will crush them (וְנִפַּצְתִּים) one against another.” גִּיר is a kind of dye.

No Asherim or incense altars will remain standing—So that they will not retain their idolatry.

The Egyptians are man, and not God,

and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.

When the Lord stretches out his hand,

the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,

and they will all perish together. ISA 31:3

Rashi

Stretches out his hand—For the Holy One, blessed be he, supports everything with his hand, and when he turns it, they will fall, like one who holds something in his hand, and when he inclines his hand, it falls. So is the Midrash Aggadah (Mekhilta, Exo 15:12). Jonathan, however, renders: will raise the blow of his might.

22 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”

23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. ACT 12:22-23

O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?

It is I who answer and look after you.

I am like an evergreen cypress;

from me comes your fruit. HOS 14:9

Rashi

Ephraim will say, “What more do I need to follow the idols?” And they will turn away from idolatry. It is I who answer—It is I who answer from his trouble.

And look after you—Look upon his affliction.

I am like an evergreen cypress—I will bend down for him to hold his hand on me as the evergreen cypress which is bent down to the ground, which a man holds by its branches; i.e., I will be accessible to him.

From me comes your fruit—Am I not he? For all your good emanates from me.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. JAS 1:17

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. JOH 14:18