Isaiah 10:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What will you do when the day of reckoning arrives and calamity approaches from a distance? Why mention ‘from a distance’? It serves to lead them towards repentance and to reveal that God's threats of judgment are decreed from heaven. Who will you turn to for assistance? Where will you place your riches? Other interpreters suggest, ‘You shall not be taken into captivity.’ Since your actions have been heartless towards your neighbors, I will bring strangers against you, leaving you without comfort or deliverance. Such is the righteousness of this situation. You have shown no compassion to the needy, and in turn, compassion will not be shown to you. Who has led you into this state of distress? And where will you deposit your wealth? (in the context: where will you leave your honor?). Who, he inquires, can safeguard your honor?

But he poses the question, what will they do in the time of reckoning? This day of reckoning refers to a period of judgment, when God focused His gaze on those who sought to deceive and distort the true precepts of His law. He asks, what value will your riches hold for you? And how will the abundance you have amassed through greed benefit you? You have acted unjustly, twisted the law, and disregarded the purposes of the Lawgiver; where will you turn? What will you do or say, and where can you escape from this day of reckoning? Distress will come upon you from a distance. For the people of Israel have frequently engaged in battles with neighboring nations, such as the Edomites, Elamites, Moabites, Syrians, and the so-called Philistines, and they were often victorious in these conflicts.

The prophetic word poses the question, ‘What will they do when the time of visitation arrives?’ This refers to the moment when our Lord Jesus Christ appears from heaven, coming into the world to grant each individual their due rewards based on their actions. On that day, those who are ‘deceitful scribes’ will face the tribulation that has been decreed from afar. Yet, whom will you turn to for assistance? For you have spoken against God, the Sovereign of the living and the dead. The evidence against you will be your own writings.

What will we do on the day of visitation, which some prophets fear, or during the time of God's reckoning with us—whether it occurs on mountains and hills, as we have heard, or in another form and manner—when the Lord reproves us, confronts us directly, and lays bare our sins, these heavy accusers? When He juxtaposes the blessings we have received against our transgressions, striking one thought against another and condemning one action with another, He will hold us accountable for the fact that the glory of His image has been tarnished and obscured by our sin. Ultimately, He will bring about our death after we have already condemned ourselves, making it impossible for us to claim that our suffering is unjust. For those who endure hardship in this life, there may be some comfort found in the judgment, but on that day, who will serve as our advocate?

What actions will you take on the day of reckoning when the kingdom of Judah faces consequences for its iniquities?

The inquiry is posed to them: what course of action will they take when the day arrives, whether it be one of captivity or of judgment, the day of disaster that approaches from a distance, foretold long ago? To whom, he asks, will you turn for assistance once you have sinned against God, your true Deliverer, and where will you place your honor? What, then, will they do, having led others astray, in the face of the judgment and calamity that is coming? As it is written to the righteous, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Rom. 10:8), and also, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21); similarly, the affliction of the heretics is destined to arrive from afar, having been set aside for them long before. To whom will they turn when they have deceived God? Where will they transfer their honor when all around them is deceitful?

Those who have exploited their authority over the vulnerable and neglected them will find themselves in a state of helplessness on the day of reckoning, when the Lord will come to them with His judgment and retribution, enacted through the mightiest adversaries who will invade Israel. What defense can they muster for those whom they have left unprotected, those who once sought their aid? Distress will come from a distance; your security will be jeopardized by an invading nation far from your own, namely the Assyrians, who laid waste to Israel during the reign of Salmanassar. Your predicament will be dire, for you will be without hope, as there will be none to assist you.