15. To whom does “the Assyrian” give the credit for his conquest, and how do his words recorded in Isaiah 10:8-11 indicate this?

¹⁵ Because “the Assyrian” does not recognize the Almighty God who uses him like a mere tool, he does not give any credit to Jehovah but takes all the credit to himself. It is easy for us to note this attitude of “the Assyrian” as he approaches the overthrow of the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel and the capture of its capital city Samaria. That Israelite kingdom was one of the nations that “the Assyrian” was determined to annihilate and cut off: “For he will say, ‘Are not my princes at the same time kings?

The territories that he had conquered had been ruled by local kings. Now he had made them vassal princes. So his princes were in reality “kings,” and for this reason he could boast of himself as being “King of kings.”