Isa.10:27 – So it will be on 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.
Isa. 10:27 – TPT – In that day the Lord will remove the heavy burden from your shoulders and break off the yoke of bondage from your necks because of the heavy anointing upon you!
This is a powerful passage of scripture that describes being freed from a yoke of slavery. The yoke used to control the oxen for work purposes is a picture of bondage and slavery. Isaiah was speaking about the Assyrian oppression of the people of Israel in his day which had taken ten of the tribes of Israel into slavery. He used the yoke of an ox to portray this oppression by a foreign power. The Spirit of God is speaking through Isaiah in this passage with a word from the Lord for us today dealing with deliverance from spiritual oppression. The anointing breaks the power of darkness from our lives. The word for fatness in this passage is the Hebrew word semen which literally refers to oil. The Lord is describing an ox growing so fat that he breaks the yoke. The oil also speaks of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This unique double meaning of fatness and anointing both speak of being freed from the yoke of oppression. Brian Simmons has some interesting thoughts on this passage.
“Or “because of oil (anointing).” Oil is a frequent symbol of the anointing of God. Although the meaning of the Hebrew text of this clause is uncertain, some scholars see the imagery of an ox who grew so fat that it shattered the yoke over his neck. Assyria’s yoke of bondage will be broken off Judah because they will grow fat, heavy with the anointing of God’s restored favor.”
I love this double meaning which beautifully illustrates the work of the Spirit in our lives. The anointing of the Spirit breaks the power of darkness off of the lives of God’s people. The anointing also causes spiritual fatness or growth in our lives. This growth also breaks the chains from off of our lives so that we can experience the freedom of the power of the Spirit. So whether you translate semen as fatness or anointing the yoke is easily broken off of our necks. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.