Isaiah 10:26 The LORD of hosts will arouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt.
The Hebrew word for “scourge” is showt. It can be translated as a scourge or whip. Showt can also be meant as figurative language for national judgment (Strong’s Concordance). A modern day translation would be, Assyria and its leader are going to get a butt whippin’.
The whippin’ is going to be like the events documented in Judges. Judges 7:25 reminds us what happened. They captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.
The best guess for the location of the Rock of Oreb is east of the Jordan River, south of the Sea of Galilee, and north of the west bank territory. Oreb’s meaning is a raven, a bird of prey. The Hebrew text makes it clear, these leaders are executed.
I take it the Assyrian is going to be killed and decapitated. For this reason, I do not think the Assyrian is the Antichrist. His fate is described here in Isaiah 10:26. The Antichrist is thrown alive in the Lake of Fire in Revelation 19:20. There are other arguments in support of this position, but that is a discussion for another day. I would encourage investigation of the issue from where does the Antichrist come.
God is reminding Assyria from Isaiah 10:24. You treated my people the way Egypt treated my people. Assyria oppressed Israel in bondage. God is going to treat Assyria the way he treated Egypt. God absolutely crushed and destroyed the Egyptian military with a wall of water. The reference is to Exodus 14:16 and God’s commandment to Moses. “As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. Exodus 14:27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Israel will make it through these difficult times, Assyria will not.
Isaiah 10:27 So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness.
The image is of an ox with a yoke on his shoulders pulling a plow and tilling a field. The yoke is the Assyrian. Israel is the ox. The yoke or the Assyrian will be shattered. There will be freedom and God’s abundant blessing.
