CHAPTER 33

Is 33:1–24. The Last of Isaiah’s Prophecies as to Sennacherib’s Overthrow.

Is 33:1, 8, 9, describe the Assyrian spoiler; strong as he is, he shall fall before Jehovah who is stronger (Is 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 Is 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 Is 10:12; 14:2; Hab 2:8; Rev 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 (Is 29:6; 30:27), which is His voice (Rev 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 (Is 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. 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 (2 Ki 18:14, 18, 37). The highways deserted through fear, the cities insulted, the lands devastated.

cry—(Is 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 (2 Ki 18:14, 17).

despised—make slight of as unable to resist him (Is 10:9; 36:19); easily captures them.

9. (Is 24:4).

Lebanon—personified; the allusion may be to the Assyrian cutting down its choice trees (Is 14:8; 37:24).

Sharon—south of Carmel, along the Mediterranean, proverbial for fertility (Is 35:2).

Bashan—afterwards called Batanea (Is 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—(Is 26:18; 59:4).

your breath—rather, your own spirit of anger and ambition [Maurer], (Is 30:28).

12. (Is 9:19; Am 2:1). Perhaps alluding to their being about to be burnt on the funeral pyre (Is 30:33).

thorns—the wicked (2 Sa 23:6, 7).

13. far off—distant nations.

near—the Jews and adjoining peoples (Is 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 (Mk 9:46–48)? Fire is a common image for the divine judgments (Is 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; Jam 4:17)?

15. In contrast to the trembling “sinners in Zion” (Is 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” (1 Co 13:6; contrast Is 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 (Is 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 (Is 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 (Is 32:1) “in His beauty” (So 5:10, 16; Rev 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 (Is 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 (Is 65:17–19; Je 3:17; Rev 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” (2 Ki 25:19; Je 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 (2 Ki 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; Je 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 Is 28:11).

20. solemnities—solemn assemblies at the great feasts (see on Is 30:29; Ps 42:4; Ps 48:12).

not … taken down … removed—image from captives “removed” from their land (Is 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” (2 Co 5:1; Heb 11:9, 10; compare Is 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 (Rev 3:12).

21. there—namely, in Jerusalem.

will be … rivers—Jehovah will be as a broad river surrounding our city (compare Is 19:6; Na 3:8), and this, too, a river of such a kind as no ship of war can pass (compare Is 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 (Is 11:4; 32:1; Jam 4:12).

23. tacklings—Continuing the allegory in Is 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” (Is 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 (2 Ki 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 (2 Ki 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 Is 35:6; 2 Sa 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 (Is 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 (Mk 2:5–9).