NOTES for Isa 10:5-7
It is interesting how this works. What about that celebrated freedom? Here the Lord says that Assyria is nothing other than God’s instrument and, in itself, is nothing. If a person (or a group of people, a nation or a state) can be an axe or a saw in God’s hands without even knowing it, then where is freedom? Perhaps this puzzle can be resolved as follows. Strength and reason are good by their very nature. And every good thing can come only from God. Everything good that Assyria possesses, everything that enables it to conquer other nations, has been given by God. Therefore, the Lord may permit His gifts to be used—or take them away if the one who received them attributes everything to himself and acts against His will.