Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 32

Verses 1-20

“THE LORD IS OUR KING; HE WILL SAVE US”

Isaiah 32:1 — 35:10

Chapters 32-35 are chiefly prophecies of hope and comfort which are appended to the main body of material collected around the prophecies of First Isaiah. Chapters 32 and 33 probably preserve at least a core of original prophecies by First Isaiah. Chapters 34-35, however, have long been referred by interpreters to the era of Second Isaiah, in the second part of the sixth century b.c.

The Effect of Righteousness (32:1-20)

The first eight verses of chapter 32 picture the state of affairs in society when there is good government, ruling in righteousness and justice. In verse 1 the parallelism between “king” and “princes” seems to suggest that we are to think of God’s provision of good government in the future. Then it will be that eyes will see and ears will hear (vs. 3; compare 29:9-10), whereas the folly of the foolish will be curbed. Note the penetrating insight of verse 8 : “He who is noble devises noble things, and by noble things he stands.”

The second part of the chapter (vss. 9-14) is a prophecy against the complacent women who dance in the harvest festivals and who do not take seriously the coming distress. The prophecy is probably from the early period of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry and may be compared to his words against the court ladies of Jerusalem (3:16—4:1). The older prophecy is reused in this place, however, and there have been added to it verses 15-20, which describe the future situation in the new age in contrast with that of the present. In the age to come, God will pour out his Spirit upon all (compare Joel 2:28-29), the barren places of nature will become fruitful, justice will prevail in society, and the result will be peace, quietness, and trust forever. That is, the age of security and righteousness, the time for which all men dream, is indeed one that can be held before our eyes in hope, but its issues lie in God and not in ourselves. Verses 19-20 are unclear in their present context and seem to have been misplaced.