And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall before the mighty one.
All Commentaries on Isaiah 10:34 Go To Isaiah 10
Jerome
AD 420
What Scripture once said cryptically, however, it now expresses more clearly: “for the glorious trees are ruined.” I want to know what is meant by the cedars of Lebanon that burned, the firs that wailed and the pines that fell. “The glorious trees,” it says, “are ruined.” “Wail, oaks of Bashan,” that is, of confusion and shame, for the thickest forest, which in Hebrew is called besor and is translated by the Septuagint as “densely wooded” [nemorosus], has been felled. In other words, wail because the temple, which had grown to unassailable strength, having been constructed by many different kings and rulers and later by Herod, was demolished by the invading Romans.
Certain persons not familiar with this locale believe that Lebanon and the firs, pines and oaks, as well as Bashan and the dense or fortified forests, signify the competing powers of which Ezekiel had spoken under the names of Assyria and Pharaoh. “Behold, Assyria is a cedar in Lebanon, with strong branches and dense foliage, of great height, with its top reaching to the clouds; the waters nourished it and the abyss exalted it,” etc. They think that Assyria and the Pharaoh represent either competing powers or the proud or rulers, about which we read also in the psalms. “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon,” and in another place, “For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high,” and shortly further “against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up.” They claim that it was to this, the nation of Lebanon, that it was prophesied: “Lebanon with its majestic trees will fall.”
We, however, hold to the first interpretation, primarily because it corresponds with what follows: “The voice of the shepherds wails because their glory is ruined; the voice of the lions roars because the pride of Jordan is ruined.” According to the Septuagint’s translation, “The voice of the shepherds mourns because their glory has been made wretched; the voice of the lions roars because Jordan’s groaning is despondent.” The whole of the chapter is contained in these short verses. What the text once called cedars, firs, pines and the oaks of Bashan, what it called trees, as in “for the glorious trees are ruined,” it now, through the use of another metaphor, calls shepherds, that is, rulers and teachers. These, the leaders of the people, ought to weep and grieve because their glory and majesty and beauty are ruined and destroyed, clearly referring to the temple in which they gloried.
