Isaiah 33
Woe to the Spoiler and a Prayer for Help 1–6
Despair and God's Promise of Judgment 7–12
Who Can Endure God's Consuming Fire? 13–16
The Future Glory and Security of Zion 17–24
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Isaiah 33
Verse 1
thou shalt be spoiled — Shadad, to spoil, and bagad, to deal treacherously (the verb of 24:16), are turned back on the spoiler, who is not named. ‘Cease’ (tamam) and ‘make an end’ (nalah) both mean to complete: when the spoiling is finished, the spoiler’s turn comes, as in Hab 2:8, ‘thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee’.
Verse 2
we have waited for thee — Chanan, ‘be gracious’, is the plea, and qavah, ‘waited’, is the verb of Isa 25:9, ‘we have waited for him’. The prayer asks that the LORD be ‘their arm every morning’, the arm (zeroa) of the people, ‘our salvation also in the time of trouble’. The mercies that are ‘new every morning’ (Lam 3:23) use the same word for morning.
Verse 6
the fear of the LORD is his treasure — ‘Stability’ is emunah, firmness or faithfulness; ‘strength’ is chosen, wealth or store; ‘treasure’ is otsar. ‘Wisdom and knowledge’ recall the Spirit’s gifts in Isa 11:2, ‘knowledge and of the fear of the LORD’, and ‘the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge’ (Prov 1:7). The fear of the LORD is named as the store itself.
Verse 7
the ambassadors of peace — Erel, ‘valiant ones’, is found only here, and the messengers (malak) of shalom ‘weep bitterly’. Hezekiah, who sent tribute to Assyria at Lachish (2 Kgs 18:14), had envoys of this kind, and Isa 36:22 shows his officers coming to him ‘with their clothes rent’. The valiant cry ‘without’, out of doors.
Verse 10
Now will I rise — Three verbs, each with ‘now’: qum, to rise, ramam, to be exalted, and nasa, to lift up. Nasa is the ‘lifted up’ of the Lord on his throne in Isa 6:1, and it returns in v.24, where the people are ‘forgiven’ (literally, their iniquity is lifted away). ‘Now will I arise’ is also the LORD’s word for the poor in Ps 12:5.
Verse 11
conceive chaff — The figure of childbirth, harah, to conceive, and yalad, to bring forth, is used of plans that come to nothing: ‘chaff’ (chashash), ‘stubble’ (qash). Elsewhere it is used of sin, ‘he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood’ (Ps 7:14). The ‘breath’ (ruach) of the doomed ‘as fire’ consumes its own makers.
Verse 13
Hear, ye that are far off — Rachoq, far, and qarob, near, name the two audiences: those at a distance and those at hand are told to ‘acknowledge my might’ (gevurah). The pair is Isa 57:19’s, and Paul uses it of Gentile and Jew, ‘peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh’ (Eph 2:17).
Verse 14
the devouring fire — ‘Hypocrites’ is chaneph, the polluted or impious, from the root of ‘defiled’ in 24:5. ‘Fearfulness’ (raad) ‘hath surprised’ (achaz, seized) them. The question, ‘who… shall dwell’ (gur), is the question of Ps 15:1, ‘who shall abide in thy tabernacle?’; ‘our God is a consuming fire’ (Heb 12:29).
Verse 15
He that walketh righteously — The answer to v.14 gives six marks: walks in righteousness, speaks uprightly, despises ‘the gain of oppressions’, shakes the hands from bribes (shachad), stops the ears from hearing of blood, shuts the eyes from evil. It follows Ps 15:2, ‘He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart’.
Verse 17
the king in his beauty — Yophi, beauty, is said of the king, and the eyes that ‘see’ (chazah, behold) belong to the one who passed the test of vv.14–15. The ‘land that is very far off’ is literally ‘a land of far distances’ (merchaqim). v.22 names the king, ‘the LORD is our king’, and Zech 9:17 uses the same word, ‘how great is his beauty!’
Verse 18
Where is the scribe? — ‘Meditate’ is hagah, the verb of the lion’s ‘roaring’ in 31:4. The three officials count, weigh and survey: the scribe (sapar, who counts), the ‘receiver’ (shaqal, literally one who weighs out) and the one who ‘counted the towers’. Paul asks the same question of the world’s learning, ‘Where is the wise? where is the scribe?’ (1 Cor 1:20).
Verse 19
a people of a deeper speech — Amoq is deep, and saphah the lip, so their speech is too deep to follow; ‘stammering’ is laag. The Law had foretold such a people: ‘a nation… whose tongue thou shalt not understand’ (Deut 28:49). At the wall the Rabshakeh spoke in ‘the Jews’ language’ (Isa 36:11), which Judah’s officers had asked him not to do.
Verse 20
a tabernacle that shall not be taken down — ‘Solemnities’ are the moed, the appointed feasts. Every part of the tent is secured: it will not be ‘taken down’ (tsaan, to move on), its stakes (yated) will not ‘be removed’ for ever (netsach), its cords (chebel) will not be ‘broken’. Isa 54:2 gives the same picture of growth, ‘lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes’.
Verse 21
broad rivers and streams — Jerusalem has no great river, so the LORD is the river: ‘There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God’ (Ps 46:4; cf. Rev 22:1). ‘Glorious’ and ‘gallant’ are the same word, addir: the glorious LORD, and so no ‘gallant ship’ (tsi addir), no ‘galley with oars’, can pass. Yeor, ‘streams’, is a loanword for the channels of Egypt.
Verse 22
the LORD is our judge — Three offices: judge (shaphat), lawgiver (chaqaq, to decree or engrave) and king (melek), and the verse ends ‘he will save us’ (yasha). James joins two of them, ‘There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy’ (Jas 4:12). Acts 5:31 calls the exalted Christ ‘a Prince and a Saviour’.
Verse 23
Thy tacklings are loosed — The ship of the foe in v.21 is disabled: ‘tacklings’ (chebel) slack, the mast (toren) not held fast, the sail (nes, elsewhere a banner) not spread; some read the ship as Judah’s own. The spoil is ‘divided’, and ‘the lame’ (pisseach) take it, as the lepers did at the abandoned camp (2 Kgs 7:8) and as God chooses ‘the foolish things’ (1 Cor 1:27).
Verse 24
I am sick — Chalah, to be sick, is paired with iniquity: the people are ‘forgiven’ (nasa, to lift or bear), the verb of 53:4, ‘he hath borne our griefs’, and of 53:12, ‘he bare the sin of many’. Sickness and sin are named together in Ps 103:3, ‘Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases’.