Deeper ReflectionThe Lord is the impartial Judge of every nation (v.5; Psa 67:4). Both
Israel
and her enemies were
chastised by God’s hand, and
suffered the punishment of His judgment. Other nations were used
as
instruments in God’s hand, to mete out His discipline upon them.For her persistent unfaithfulness and refusal to repent from sin
(particularly idolatry), God chastised the nation of
Israel, His favoured
nation (1 Chron 5:25-26; 9:1). Shockingly, God used
Israel’s enemy
nations as his chosen instruments to exact punishment on her.
Assyria
captured the Northern Kingdom of Israel and deported her people in
722 B.C. (2 Kin 15:29), while the Southern Kingdom of Judah fell to
Babylon and her people were exiled in 586 B.C. (2 Kin 25:1-21).Nevertheless, because they were excessively cruel towards Israel even
as they executed God’s judgment, God also chastised
Israel’s enemy
nations (Joel 3:9-12; cf. Isa 2:4). Joel 3:12 depicts the Lord seated on His
heavenly throne, exercising righteous judgment, “disposing of enemy
nations by defeating them in war or by any means He chooses.”
22And the Lord who judged Israel also delivered His people, as promised,
after 70 years in exile. God used
another pagan nation, Persia, as His
instrument to release Israel from captivity. God chose Cyrus, the pagan
king of Persia, to “fulfil all [His] purpose”, and even more astoundingly,
called him “my shepherd” (Isa 44:28) and “His anointed…to subdue
nations before him” (Isa 45:1)! Through Cyrus’ decree, the divine Judge
of the nations freed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and avenged God’s
wrath on the unbelieving nations.
23
22 Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, vol. 31, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1987), 269.
23 John A. Martin, “Isaiah,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1099.
