Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 7:20

20 In the same day shall the LORD shave with a rasour that is hired , namely by them beyond the river , by the king of Assyria , the head and the hair of the feet : and it shall also consume the beard .

i. e. Utterly spoil and destroy, as shaving takes away all the Hair, and leaves not any thing of it visible, as there is when the Hair is onely cut or polled.

Either, 1. by Ahaz, who did hire them, 2 Kings 16. 7▪ 8. And so the Prophet notes the just Judgment of God, in scourging with a Rod of their own making; and by this Threatning he endeavours to prevent that wicked Design which then was on foot, of hiring Assyrian Succours: Or, 2. by God, who did stir them up, and send them upon his Errand against Iudah, as he threatens Isa. 10. 6. and paid them liberally for that Service, as he did Nebuchadnezzar, of which see Ier. 25. 9. & 27. 6, 7. Dan. 2. 37, 38.

Euphrates, called the river by way of eminency, Psal. 72. 8. Ier. 2. 18. beyond which Assyria lay.

By the Successive Kings of the Assyrian Empire, Sennacherib, 2 Kings 18. 13. &c. Esarhaddon, 2 Chron. 33. 11. and especially by Nebuchadnezzar, who having subdued the Assyrian Monarchy, from thenceforth was King of Assyria as well as of Chaldaea. And the Prophet rather mentions Assyria than Chaldaea, or Babylon, partly because the Assyrian began and continued to execute this Judgment, although the Babylonian compleated it; and partly to inform them, that they laid the Foundation of their own Ruine, by opening the Door to the Assyrian, who afterwards entred at his pleasure, and left it open for Nebuchadnezzar.

Of the lower or secret Parts▪ which come under that name, Ezek. 16. 7, 25. and elsewhere, as hath been noted again and again; and which the Iewish Writers affirm to have been shaved in the Purification of Lepers and Levites, Levit. 14. 8, 9. Numb. 8. 7.

Which they highly esteemed, as a great Ornament. By these Metaphorical Expressions he signifies the total Destruction of their State, from head to foot, from the highest to the lowest.

Marginal references: 2 Kings 19. 35.