Isaiah 33

Isa 33:1-24.

THE

LAST OF

ISAIAH'S

PROPHECIES AS TO

SENNACHERIB'S

OVERTHROW.

Isa 33:1, 8, 9,

describe the Assyrian spoiler; strong as he is, he shall fall before

Jehovah who is stronger

(Isa 33:2-6, 10-12).

The time is the autumn of 713 B.C.

1. and thou--that is, though thou wast not spoiled--though thou wast

not dealt treacherously with

(see on

Isa 24:16),

thy spoiling and treachery are therefore without excuse, being

unprovoked.

cease--When God has let thee do thy worst, in execution of His plans,

thine own turn shall come (compare

Isa 10:12; 14:2;

Hab 2:8;

Re 13:10).

2. us; we . . . their . . . our--He speaks interceding for His people,

separating himself in thought for a moment from them, and immediately

returns to his natural identification with them in the word "our."

every morning--each day as it dawns, especially during our danger,

as the parallel "time of trouble" shows.

3. the tumult--the approach of Jehovah is likened to an advancing

thunderstorm

(Isa 29:6; 30:27),

which is His voice

(Re 1:15),

causing the people to "flee."

nation--the Assyrian levies.

4. The invaders' "spoil" shall be left behind by them in their flight,

and the Jews shall gather it.

caterpillar--rather, "the wingless locust"; as it gathers; the

Hebrew word for "gathers" is properly used of the gathering of the

fruits of harvest

(Isa 32:10).

running to and fro--namely, in gathering harvest fruits.

he--rather, "they."

them--rather, "it," that is, the prey.

6. wisdom--sacred; that is, piety.

thy--Hezekiah's; or rather, "Judea's." "His" refers to the same; such

changes from the pronoun possessive of the second person to that of the

third are common in Hebrew poetry.

treasure--Not so much material wealth as piety shall constitute the

riches of the nation

(Pr 10:22; 15:16).

7-9. From the vision of future glory Isaiah returns to the disastrous

present; the grief of "the valiant ones" (parallel to, and identical

with, "the ambassadors of peace"), men of rank, sent with presents to

sue for peace, but standing "without" the enemy's camp, their suit being

rejected

(2Ki 18:14, 18, 37).

The highways deserted through fear, the cities insulted, the lands

devastated.

cry--

(Isa 15:4).

8. broken . . . covenant--When Sennacherib invaded Judea, Hezekiah

paid him a large sum to leave the land; Sennacherib received the money

and yet sent his army against Jerusalem

(2Ki 18:14, 17).

despised--make slight of as unable to resist him

(Isa 10:9; 36:19);

easily captures them.

9.

(Isa 24:4).

Lebanon--personified; the allusion may be to the Assyrian cutting

down its choice trees

(Isa 14:8; 37:24).

Sharon--south of Carmel, along the Mediterranean, proverbial for

fertility

(Isa 35:2).

Bashan--afterwards called Batanea

(Isa 2:13).

fruits--rather, understand "leaves"; they lie as desolate as in

winter.

10. The sight of His people's misery arouses Jehovah; He has let the

enemy go far enough.

I--emphatic; God Himself will do what man could not.

11. Ye--the enemy.

conceive chaff--

(Isa 26:18; 59:4).

your breath--rather, your own spirit of anger and ambition

[MAURER],

(Isa 30:28).

12.

(Isa 9:19;

Am 2:1).

Perhaps alluding to their being about to be burnt on the funeral pyre

(Isa 30:33).

thorns--the wicked

(2Sa 23:6, 7).

13. far off--distant nations.

near--the Jews and adjoining peoples

(Isa 49:1).

14. sinners in Zion--false professors of religion among the elect

people

(Mt 22:12).

hypocrites--rather, "the profane"; "the abandoned"

[HORSLEY].

who, &c.--If Jehovah's wrath could thus consume such a host in one

night, who could abide it, if continued for ever

(Mr 9:46-48)?

Fire is a common image for the divine judgments

(Isa 29:6; 30:30).

among us--If such awful judgments have fallen on those who knew not

the true God, how infinitely worse shall fall on us who, amid

religious privileges and profession, sin against God,

(Lu 12:47, 48;

Jas 4:17)?

15. In contrast to the trembling "sinners in Zion"

(Isa 33:14),

the righteous shall be secure amid all judgments; they are described

according to the Old Testament standpoint of righteousness

(Ps 15:2; 24:4).

stoppeth . . . ears . . . eyes--"Rejoiceth not in iniquity"

(1Co 13:6;

contrast

Isa 29:20;

Ps 10:3;

Ro 1:32).

The senses are avenues for the entrance of sin

(Ps 119:37).

16. on high--heights inaccessible to the foe

(Isa 26:1).

bread . . . waters--image from the expected siege by Sennacherib;

however besieged by trials without, the godly shall have literal and

spiritual food, as God sees good for them

(Isa 41:17;

Ps 37:25; 34:10; 132:15).

17. Thine--the saints'.

king in . . . beauty--not as now, Hezekiah in

sackcloth, oppressed by the enemy, but King Messiah

(Isa 32:1)

"in His beauty"

(So 5:10, 16;

Re 4:3).

land . . . very far off--rather, "the land in its remotest extent"

(no longer pent up as Hezekiah was with the siege); see Margin. For

Jerusalem is made the scene of the king's glory

(Isa 33:20,

&c.), and it could not be said to be "very far off," unless the far-off

land be heaven, the Jerusalem above, which is to follow the

earthly reign of Messiah at literal Jerusalem

(Isa 65:17-19;

Jer 3:17;

Re 21:1, 2, 10).

18. meditate--on the "terror" caused by the enemy, but now past.

where, &c.--the language of the Jews exulting over their escape from

danger.

scribe--who enrolled the army

[MAURER]; or, who prescribed the tribute

to be paid [ROSENMULLER];

or, who kept an account of the spoil. "The

principal scribe of the host"

(2Ki 25:19;

Jer 52:25).

The Assyrian records are free from the exaggerations of Egyptian

records. Two scribes are seen in every Assyrian bas-relief, writing

down the various objects brought to them, the heads of the slain,

prisoners, cattle, sheep, &c.

receiver--"weigher," Margin.

LAYARD mentions, among the Assyrian

inscriptions, "a pair a scales for weighing the spoils."

counted . . . towers--he whose duty it was to reconnoitre and report

the strength of the city to be besieged.

19. fierce people--The Assyrians shall not be allowed to enter

Jerusalem

(2Ki 19:32).

Or, thou shalt not any longer see fierce enemies threatening thee as

previously; such as the Assyrians, Romans, and the last Antichristian

host that is yet to assail Jerusalem

(De 28:49, 50;

Jer 5:15;

Zec 14:2).

stammering--barbarous; so "deeper," &c., that is, unintelligible.

The Assyrian tongue differed only in dialect from the Hebrew, but in

the Assyrian levies were many of non-Semitic race and language, as the

Medes, Elamites, &c.

(see on

Isa 28:11).

20. solemnities--solemn assemblies at the great feasts

(see on

Isa 30:29;

Ps 42:4;

Ps 48:12).

not . . . taken down . . . removed--image

from captives "removed" from their land

(Isa 36:17).

There shall be no more "taking away" to an enemy's land. Or else, from

nomads living in shifting tents. The saints, who sojourned once in

tabernacles as pilgrims, shall have a "building of God--eternal in the

heavens"

(2Co 5:1;

Heb 11:9, 10;

compare

Isa 54:2).

stakes--driven into the ground; to these the "cords" were fastened.

Christ's Church shall never fall

(Mt 16:18).

So individual believers

(Re 3:12).

21. there--namely, in Jerusalem.

will be . . . rivers--Jehovah will be as a broad river surrounding our

city (compare

Isa 19:6;

Na 3:8),

and this, too, a river of such a kind as no ship of war can pass

(compare

Isa 26:1).

Jerusalem had not the advantage of a river; Jehovah will be as one to

it, affording all the advantages, without any of the disadvantages of

one.

galley with oars--war vessels of a long shape, and propelled by oars;

merchant vessels were broader and carried sail.

gallant--same Hebrew word as for "glorious," previously; "mighty"

will suit both places; a ship of war is meant. No "mighty vessel" will

dare to pass where the "mighty Lord" stands as our defense.

22. Lord--thrice repeated, as often: the Trinity

(Nu 6:24-26).

judge . . . lawgiver . . . king--perfect ideal of the theocracy, to

be realized under Messiah alone; the judicial, legislative, and

administrative functions as king to be exercised by Him in person

(Isa 11:4; 32:1;

Jas 4:12).

23. tacklings--Continuing the allegory in

Isa 33:21,

he compares the enemies' host to a war galley which is deprived of the

tacklings or cords by which the mast is sustained and the sail is

spread; and which therefore is sure to be wrecked on "the broad river"

(Isa 33:21),

and become the prey of Israel.

they--the tacklings, "hold not firm the base of the mast."

then--when the Assyrian host shall have been discomfited. Hezekiah had

given Sennacherib three hundred talents of silver, and thirty of gold

(2Ki 18:14-16),

and had stripped the temple of its gold to give it to him; this

treasure was probably part of the prey found in the foe's camp. After

the invasion, Hezekiah had so much wealth that he made an improper

display of it

(2Ki 20:13-15);

this wealth, probably, was in part got from the Assyrian.

the lame--Even the most feeble shall spoil the Assyrian camp (compare

Isa 35:6;

2Sa 5:6).

24. sick--SMITH thinks the allusion is to

the beginning of the pestilence by which the Assyrians were destroyed,

and which, while sparing the righteous, affected some within the city

("sinners in Zion"); it may have been the sickness that visited

Hezekiah

(Isa 38:1-22).

In the Jerusalem to come there shall be no "sickness," because there

will be no "iniquity," it being forgiven

(Ps 103:3).

The latter clause of the verse contains the cause of the former

(Mr 2:5-9).