And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
Isaiah 10:19 belongs to a prophecy against Assyria. Its chapter portrays strife, war, and wickedness, in contrast to the rest, peace, and righteousness portrayed in the next chapter. It pictures the wicked as briers destroyed by fire, showing how easily they are consumed.
The destruction is so complete that only a few trees of the forest are left, so few that a child could count them. This consuming destruction is the decreed consumption described in the surrounding passage in Isaiah 10:10-23. It was fulfilled in the fall of the Papal king in 1798, when the trampling indignation against God's people ended.
The reproof of sin in its setting points forward to similar conditions in the last days, and its prophecy looks toward the great deliverance at Christ's coming. The image of near-total consumption leaves no place for the idea that the wicked go on living in everlasting fire; only a small, countable remnant remains.
Isaiah 10:19 belongs to a prophecy against Assyria. Its chapter portrays strife, war, and wickedness, in contrast to the rest, peace, and righteousness portrayed in the next chapter. It pictures the wicked as briers destroyed by fire, showing how easily they are consumed.
The destruction is so complete that only a few trees of the forest are left, so few that a child could count them. This consuming destruction is the decreed consumption described in the surrounding passage in Isaiah 10:10-23. It was fulfilled in the fall of the Papal king in 1798, when the trampling indignation against God's people ended.
The reproof of sin in its setting points forward to similar conditions in the last days, and its prophecy looks toward the great deliverance at Christ's coming. The image of near-total consumption leaves no place for the idea that the wicked go on living in everlasting fire; only a small, countable remnant remains.