Isaiah chapter 10 - 2nd Samuel

“For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.” (Isaiah 10:22)

“Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.” (2nd Samuel 17:11)

The first thing that stood out to me as being common to Isaiah chapter ten and the book of 2nd Samuel was the statement found in both of the above passages; that Israel would be in number as the sand of the sea. I reasoned that this was a connection, and it is, but upon further investigation I found that this statement was also found in a few other books of the Bible.

I was fairly familiar with the seventh chapter of 2nd Samuel, and I recalled that God had told David that He would chasten Solomon with a rod if he (Solomon) were to commit iniquity.

“I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:”
(2nd Samuel 7:14)

So, when I read Isaiah 10:24, I immediately made another connection there.

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.” (Isaiah 10:24)

We can remember that David did not always please God with his actions, and God did discipline David accordingly, but God’s hand was always extended to David, drawing him back to close association. I could see that in Isaiah 10:4b.

“For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”

And, yet, all of these types of connections could be found elsewhere as well, even if they were not all found in the same book, other than here in 2nd Samuel. Then I noticed something really peculiar in the latter part of the tenth chapter of Isaiah. There were more than ten names of places. It was all part of Isaiah’s prophecy, but I wondered if all those places had anything to do with David’s career. The first ones I came to were in verse nine.

“Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?” (Isaiah 10:9)

‘Damascus’ and ‘Hamath’ are two cities we find in 2nd Samuel 8:5 and 8:9 respectively, and they represent two of David’s military victories in uniting the nation of Israel and expanding its borders. The names of other cities are not mentioned in the context of 2nd Samuel chapter eight, but these two are, and they are only mentioned together in two other books, 2nd Kings and Ezekiel.

Ezekiel’s passage is a description of the boundary of Israel (established during David’s reign). The passage in 2nd Kings speaks of Jereboam recovering the lands which had been lost) up to that same boundary, originally drawn by David’s military conquests. Both of these are then, references to the original events.

Continuing with the inquest into the several cities mentioned in Isaiah chapter ten we find that the following were all cities within the territory of Benjamin: Migron (v28), Geba (v29), Ramah (v29), Gallim (v30), Gebim (v31), Anathoth (v30) and Madmenah (v31). The territory of Benjamin was one of the smallest of all the tribal territories. This list of seven city names must have included most of the cities in that territory. Additionally, Michmash is said to be a city near Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was inside the territory of Benjamin. Maybe Michmash was too?

Why would this list include so many cities in the territory of Benjamin? Isaiah’s purpose is unclear to me as far as the details of Isaiah chapter ten are concerned, but the territory of Benjamin is significant to David. The city of David was in the territory of Benjamin. Do you remember the actual name of that little town? Here’s a clue. Luke 2:4 and 1st Samuel 16:1-4. Look them up. Now, we didn’t exhaust the list of city names.

There are two cities named in Isaiah chapter ten that are not in the territory of Benjamin. Laish (v30) was a city in the territory of Dan, but when we look for “Laish” in 2nd Samuel, we don’t find it given as a city, but rather as a man’s name, and that man was the father-in-law of Saul’s daughter Michal, who was taken from her husband by Saul’s son and was given as wife to David.

“And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines. And Ish-bosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel the son of Laish.” (2nd Samuel 3:14-15)

The final name we need to look at in Isaiah chapter ten is Gibeah of Saul (v29). We do find it in 2nd Samuel, and in 1st Samuel. There was a major event in David’s live that took place there. I include it here because it is so significant. It is 2nd Samuel 21:1-9.

“Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD? And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.”

The ten cities found in Isaiah chapter 10 are all connected to David's life.

We have been looking into Isaiah chapter ten, and 2nd Samuel is the tenth book of the Bible. They are connected.