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Ch. 33 The Present Distress and the Future Glory of Jerusalem

The last of the six “Woes” (see p. 206) is not addressed, like the others, to the ungodly rulers of Judah, but to some unnamed tyrant and “spoiler,” by whom the land has been reduced to the utmost straits. The course of thought is as follows:

i. Isaiah 33:1-13 contain the prophet’s appeal to Jehovah against the oppressors of his country. Commencing with a threat of retribution on the cruel and treacherous foe (Isaiah 33:1), he turns for a moment in supplication to God, the only hope of Israel in this time of trouble (Isaiah 33:2); and anticipates the speedy dispersion of the enemy before the presence of Jehovah (3, 4), Who has filled Zion with righteousness and judgment (5, 6).—At present the city is in the utmost distress through some perfidious act of the enemy; and the whole land lies waste, mourning in sympathy with its inhabitants (7–9).—But again the prophet’s faith rises triumphant in the midst of danger; the voice of Jehovah is heard announcing the swift annihilation of the invaders (10–13).

ii. Isaiah 33:14-16. The effect of Jehovah’s appearing on the two classes within the community; on the ungodly, who are seized with terror (14), and the righteous who dwell securely with the consuming fire of Divine holiness (15, 16).

iii. Isaiah 33:17-24. The poem concludes with a picture of the coming age, when the present danger shall be but a distant memory (18, 19). The description includes: the vision of the “King in his beauty,” and a far-stretching peaceful land (17); the perfect security of Jerusalem, protected by Jehovah (20, 21); freedom from disease and forgiveness of sins, as privileges of the redeemed people (24).

If the chapter be Isaiah’s, there can hardly be two opinions as to the circumstances in which it was composed. The unnamed enemy would necessarily be the Assyrian, and the scene pictured in Isaiah 33:7 (the ambassadors of peace weeping bitterly) would seem to refer to some unrecorded embassy of Hezekiah, which must have returned from Lachish with the alarming intelligence that Sennacherib, violating every consideration of honour, insisted on the surrender of the capital (see Gen. Introd., p. xx). The prophecy would thus follow closely on ch. Isaiah 22:1-14; and the striking contrast between the two passages might throw light on the prophet’s change of attitude at this time. To this theory, which is in many ways attractive, there are certain objections arising from the character of the passage. The style and imagery are both unlike Isaiah’s, and the pathetic and plaintive tone of Isaiah 33:2; Isaiah 33:8 f. is hardly in keeping with the decisiveness which marks all his utterances. Such a prayer as that in Isaiah 33:2, where the author identifies himself with his people, is without parallel in the acknowledged writings of Isaiah. Some scholars have tried to explain these characteristics by the hypothesis that the chapter is the composition of a contemporary and disciple of the prophet, or a working up of Isaianic material by a later writer. Critics of a less conservative type pronounce the passage to be post-Exilic and refer it to some episode of the Jewish struggle for independence against the Persian or Syrian kings.

1. The enemy is described by epithets which recur in ch. Isaiah 21:2, Isaiah 24:16. The obscurity of the reference is somewhat unlike Isaiah, who is usually perfectly explicit in his references to the Assyrian.

when thou shalt make an end] The Heb. verb used is supposed to mean “attain”; but it occurs nowhere else, and the reading is probably at fault. The substitution of a Kaph for the Nun gives the common verb killâh, “finish,” which is the exact sense given by the E.V.

2. The nation’s prayer to Jehovah. The writer seems to make himself the spokesman of the community, a thing which Isaiah rarely does (see Isaiah 32:15); nowhere, as here, in a prayer. Cheyne, however, suggests that he speaks in the name of his own disciples, for whose sake he prays that the whole nation may be spared.

be thou their arm] i.e. their strength and defence (Jeremiah 17:5). The force of the pronoun “their” is uncertain; some change it (needlessly perhaps) to “our.” On the phrase “every morning,” cf. ch. Isaiah 28:19.

3. At the noise of the tumult] the convulsions which attend the manifestation of Jehovah. The phrase is found in 1 Kings 18:41 of a rain storm, and in Isaiah 13:4 of a multitudinous host.

3, 4. Assurance of Jehovah’s victory, founded on the great deliverances of the past. The perfects in Isaiah 33:3 may be either those of experience, expressing a general truth often verified in history, or of prophetic assurance. Isaiah 33:4 seems to apply this truth to the present crisis.

4. like the gathering of the caterpillar] i.e. “as the caterpillar gathers.” The last word (meaning “devourer”) is one of many names for the locust. It is sometimes taken as gen. of obj. (“as men gather locusts”), the creature being an article of diet among the poorer classes in the East; but this is opposed to the next clause. On the “running” of the locust, see Joel 2:9, where the same verb is employed. The locusts in the figure represent the Israelites (Isaiah 33:23).

5. judgment and righteousness can mean nothing else than personal and civic virtues in the inhabitants of the city. Isaiah could not have written thus of the Jerusalem he knew (cf. Isaiah 1:21); if he is the author the words must express a vivid anticipation of the great change in the national character which is now on the eve of accomplishment.

5, 6. The writer draws encouragement from two thoughts: (1) from the nature of Israel’s God; He is a spiritual Being, dwelling on high, beyond the reach of His enemies: (2) from the spiritual blessings He has conferred on His people. The connexion of these two may be gathered from ch. Isaiah 32:15; it is the outpouring of “spirit from on high” that has produced the fruit of righteousness in the state. That Israel possesses a religion which is essentially spiritual appears to be the ultimate ground on which the expectation of deliverance is based.

6. The verse is difficult and may be construed in several ways. We might either render “and the stability of thy times shall be a store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge” (virtually as R.V. marg.); or take the words “stability of thy times” as a complete sentence (see Davidson’s Synt. § 3, Rem. 2), and translate as follows: And there shall be stability in thy times; wisdom and knowledge are a store of salvation; the fear of Jehovah is his (Israel’s) treasure. The general idea is that a right religious attitude is the true strength of the nation and the pledge of its deliverance from all dangers. That the words “store” and “treasure” were suggested by the depleted treasury of Hezekiah is not a natural supposition.

The word times is used, as in Psalm 31:15, in the sense of “predetermined lot.”

7. their valiant ones] This word is hopelessly obscure. It is usually translated “God’s lions,” i.e. ‘picked warriors, each as fierce as a lion and as invincible as his God’ (Cheyne: see on Isaiah 29:1, and cf. 2 Samuel 23:20; 1 Chronicles 11:22); and this is probably the sense intended by E.V. Another suggestion is that it is a gentilic name, meaning “inhabitants of Ariel.” It is impossible to get beyond conjecture. The reading of the text (’er’ellâm) appears to rest on a false etymology. It should probably be pointed as a simple plural, ’ar’çlîm or (if necessary) ’ǎrî’çlîm. The verbs shall cry and shall weep should both be translated as presents (R.V.).

the ambassadors of peace (omit shall) weep bitterly] Cf. ch. Isaiah 22:4. Taken in connexion with the last half of Isaiah 33:8, these words seem to point to the conclusion of a treaty of peace, which had been shamelessly violated by the enemy. Those immediately responsible for the arrangement are naturally loudest in their expression of dismay. We have no certain knowledge of such negotiations between Hezekiah and Sennacherib, although such an incident might very well have happened then.

7–9. For a moment the prophet’s faith seems to relax its hold on the great principles he has enunciated, as he turns to contemplate the misery and desolation of the present. But in reality this is an additional plea for the Divine intervention, to be followed by the exultant outburst of Isaiah 33:10-13.