Zechariah 1:15 and Isaiah 47:6 confuse me. How did nations go far beyond what God intended? In the Book of Job, God put a limit on what Satan could do to Job. If God could put a limit on Satan, how could a nation do more than what He intended?
The Isaiah passage might suggest this question. I'm using the ESV, which does not seem to support the question on Zech 1:15.
Restraining the action of Satan is one thing; restringing the actions of humans is a different situation entirely. In the book of Job, the Lord was restricting Satan in how he affected Job. Similar to the principle of 1 Cor 10:12-13. But when it comes to humans, if they are determined enough, God abandons them to their own excess. Think of the three passages in Romans 1 where God "gave them over."
It is an interesting question, and there are other dimensions to explore, but the short answer is that what God permits/forbids Satan is not necessarily what he permits/forbids humans, as our power is much less than his.
