Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 33

Verses 1-6

Isa 33:1-6

Isaiah 33:1

This chapter is described by Jamieson as the final prophecy of Isaiah relative to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army encamped before Jerusalem. The date of the prophecy is just prior to 701 B.C., when the death of the Assyrian army occurred. Unbelieving, critical scholars as a general rule date the prophecy "after the Babylonian captivity," but it is refreshing that one of their number raised a flag of caution on the blind acceptance of such speculations regarding the date of Isaiah’s prophecies, and commented that it is "very precarious." He even mentioned, "Our almost complete ignorance" of vast stretches of the pre-Christian history. He declared that, "If the prophecy is Isaiah’s, the date Isaiah 701 B.C."

With regard to "whose prophecy this is," it can only belong to Isaiah. That great mythical scholar and most famous writer of a thousand years, the imaginary redactor and editor of Isaiah who was recently invented by critics and is falsely alleged by them to have existed in later ages and who managed to impose his personal writings as having been produced by the great eighth century prophet, Isaiah, - that character is simply a hoax. He never existed anywhere on earth except in the imaginations of critics; and Christians who are willing to believe in such "phantoms" need to rely upon their own God-given intelligence for just a few minutes to behold the fraud in such postulations as those of destructive critics trying to discredit the Bible. Christ himself found no problems with Isaiah’s prophecy and frequently quoted from every section in it.

Not even the unbelieving hypocrites of Jesus’ day would have denied that all of Isaiah was written by Isaiah. It is incredible that critics could have supposed that "some unknown author" could be substituted by the critics for the real author.

We like the way certain scholars (and remember that these scholars already knew all of the critical arguments, this being true simply because there has been no new argument in centuries) have stated unequivocally the date of this prophecy. Cheyne said, "The date is the 27th year of the reign of Hezekiah, in 701 B.C." Barnes, Hailey, Lowth, Rawlinson, Gleason, and literally hundreds of other scholars long ago rejected the forced and illogical arguments resorted to by critics in their vain efforts to destroy the Bible. As Barnes noted, the historical, political, and geographical situation in Isaiah, "Agree far better with the times of Sennacherib’s invasion (701 B.C.) than with: (1) either the Babylonian period, or (2) with the judgments that came upon the Syrians in the Maccabean period."

Isaiah 33:1

"Woe to thee that destroyest, and thou wast not destroyed, and that dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! When thou hast ceased to destroy, thou shalt be destroyed; and when thou hast made an end of dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee."

The historical situation here is reflected in every line of the verse. Sennacherib had already destroyed the outlying cities of Judah, and he had lyingly promised Hezekiah that for a tribute of 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold, he would spare Jerusalem. At great cost and hardship Hezekiah had complied with the demand, even cutting off the gold decorations of the temple doors in order to meet the tremendous burden of the tribute. But no sooner was the tribute received than Sennacherib demanded the surrender of the city; and this prophecy was uttered, probably from the walls of Jerusalem and was addressed to Rabshakeh or to Sennacherib himself by Isaiah, who fearlessly denounced the invader and prophesied his ruin and destruction.

"Thou that destroyest, and thou wast not destroyed ... dealt treacherously, etc. ..." (Isaiah 33:1). Sennacherib had brutally betrayed and devastated all of the cities of Judah, and no harm had as yet come to him; but God sent him a message through Isaiah: "Thou shalt be destroyed ... They shall deal treacherously with thee!" Was this fulfilled? It was literally fulfilled when God put his hook in the nose of that evil pagan ruler and dragged him back to Nineveh. His army had perished in a night, and on the way back home, "they" despoiled him, taking advantage of him at every post on the way back. Who were the "they"? They were the remnants of those betrayed and mined cities. He even lost all of that gold and silver tribute, because, as Lowth explained, "Hezekiah, after the destruction of the Assyrian army, had exceeding much riches, and that he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones. He was so rich that, out of pride and vanity, he displayed his wealth before the ambassadors from Babylon. This cannot be otherwise accounted for, than by the prodigious spoil that was taken upon the destruction of Sennacherib’s army." See 2 Chronicles 32:27.

And we may ask, who was it that "dealt treacherously" with Sennacherib? It was his own sons. "And it came to pass when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhadon his son reigned in his stead" (2 Kings 19:36-37).

Not only is all of this remarkable; but there is also absolutely nothing that corresponds with any of this in any of the erroneous dates proposed by critics.

Isaiah 33:2-3

"O Jehovah, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou our arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the tumult the people are fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations are scattered."

This mingling of prayer and prophecy is somewhat strange; but the situation was one of great emergency and extremely high levels of emotion. The first verse of this alone may be properly understood as the prayer of Isaiah and the Jews to Jehovah for his help. Isaiah 33:3 is a reference to Sennacherib’s lifting up of himself with the consequential fear and scattering of the nations; and according to Lowth, Isaiah 33:3 is actually answered in Isaiah 33:10, where God lifts himself up with doleful consequences for Sennacherib.

Isaiah 33:4-6

"And your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpillar gathereth: as locusts leap shall men leap upon it. Jehovah is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness. And there shall be stability in thy times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of Jehovah is thy treasure."

In these verses, God addresses Sennacherib directly in Isaiah 33:4, sentencing him to the same brutal treatment he had imposed upon others and promising particularly that all of his spoils would be taken from him in a manner comparable to the devastation caused by a swarm of locusts. Isaiah 33:5-6 promise stability in "thy times," that is, the times of Hezekiah, his treasures being the fear of the Lord.

The prophecy turned at once from the contemplation of victory and stability foreseen in the future to the disastrous situation revealed in Isaiah 33:7-9.

Isaiah 33:1-6 PROSPECTS FOR GOD’S PEOPLE: This context (ch. 33) is closely connected to Assyria’s almost total domination of Judah in Hezekiah’s day. Almost all the cities and villages of Judah had been overrun and plundered except Jerusalem. But, in spite of appearances, God’s people had a glorious future. To this Isaiah speaks. He begins by warning Assyria that her time for world conquest will someday come and then she shall be destroyed. One is reminded of Isaiah’s earlier prediction of this (Isaiah 10:5-34). Assyria was renowned for its destructive cruelty. F. W. Farrar gives a vivid description of Assyria’s general character:

Judged from the vaunting inscriptions of her kings, no power more useless, more savage, more terrible, ever cast its gigantic shadow on the page of history as it passed on the way to ruin. The kings of Assyria tormented the miserable world. They exult to record how “space failed for corpses”; how unsparing a destroyer is their goddess Ishtar; how they flung away the bodies of soldiers like so much clay; how they made pyramids of human heads; how they burned cities; how they filled populous lands with death and devastation; how they reddened broad deserts with carnage of warriors; how they scattered whole countries with the corpses of their defenders as with chaff; how they impaled “heaps of men” on stakes, and strewed the mountains and choked rivers with dead bones; how they cut off the hands of kings and nailed them on the walls, and left their bodies to rot with bears and dogs on the entrance gates of cities; how they employed nations of captives in making brick in fetters; how they cut down warriors like weeds, or smote them like wild beasts in the forests, and covered pillars with the flayed skins of rival monarchs.

This terrible destroyer, Assyria, was herself destroyed. Isaiah predicts it here again to encourage a faithful remnant of believers in his own day.

In Isaiah 33:2-6 Isaiah seems to be voicing the prayer of the remnant. The prayer is interesting because it is more a prayer of praise for what they believe God can and will do than it is a request. The prayer does begin with a request for God’s mercy. Judah’s present circumstance is beyond human solution, so the prophet prays for God to act. Judah has no merit to claim God’s action so Isaiah prays for God’s mercy. His prayer is also that God might act to “exalt” His own name. This prayer is an abbreviated parallel to Daniel’s great prayer for the exiles (Daniel 9:3-19). The remnant, being represented by Isaiah, “waited” upon the Lord. This is a word to describe patient, enduring trust. The remnant did not try to take matters into its own hands and seek help from Egypt as did the majority of the people. They patiently waited upon the Lord to accomplish His purposes in His own good time. The remnant occupied themselves with being the kind of people God wanted them to be and left the matter of Assyria to God.

How could the remnant be so patient with God? Because they knew from God’s past deeds, demonstrated in history, when He “thundered” His enemies were scattered (Isaiah 33:3). They knew from their own history when they depended on God to give them victory, eventually they conquered their enemies and gathered the spoils of their conquest to His glory (Isaiah 33:4). They knew that when God’s people filled God’s land with justice and righteousness—when Jehovah was exalted above all—there was stability. They knew it from past history, and so they prayed that it might come again. They knew the real treasure of Judah, the real and valuable currency of the Chosen was the fear of Jehovah. This brought true salvation, wisdom and knowledge. Perhaps there is a pointed exhortation to Hezekiah here who succumbed to the temptation to boast and show off the worldly treasures of Judah to the Assyrians (cf. Isaiah 39:1-8), and even to pay tribute from it to them (2 Kings 18:15-16) as if that kind of treasure would deliver them. When will men ever learn that aggressors and those who would destroy society or enslave people can never be appeased with “things,” but that trust in God, moral uprightness, justice and self-sacrifice is the only deliverance from evil. In times of political and moral chaos such as those in which Isaiah lived the only stable, constant, secure position is trusting the Lord to exercise His sovereign purposes and actions in His own time, because we have evidence that He has always done so to the glory and victory of His people in the past.

Verses 7-12

Isa 33:7-12

Isaiah 33:7-9

"Behold, their valiant ones cry without; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. The highways lie waste; the enemy hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth not man. The land mourneth, and languisheth; Lebanon is consumed and withereth away; Sharon is like a desert; and Bashan and Carmel shaketh off their leaves."

Cheyne pointed out that "their valiant ones" is derived from the Hebrew "Ariels." However, Isaiah 29:1 speaks of Ariel as the city where David encamped, Jerusalem; and this justifies the conclusion that the valiant ones here are the brave soldiers of Hezekiah. They cry because of the prospect of defeat at the hands of the Assyrians. The weeping ambassadors of peace are those who delivered the heavy tribute of gold and silver to Sennacherib in return for his promise to spare the city. They have at this time returned home, and they are astounded and grieved at Sennacherib’s treachery and his demand that the city be surrendered. Incidentally, all of the circumstances mentioned here apply only to the situation in 701 B.C. and to no other. "He hath broken the covenant" is a comment on the treachery of Sennacherib.

"The highways lie waste ..." (Isaiah 33:8). This is a comment on the condition of the whole land, where it is no longer safe to travel. The cities and villages have all been laid waste; and the terrible desolation of the whole land is indicated.

The mention of Lebanon, Sharon, Bashan, and Carmel, the most favored and fruitful portions of the whole land, are here mentioned (Isaiah 33:9) in order to show the extent of the general destruction.

Isaiah 33:10-12

"Now will I arise, saith Jehovah; now will I lift up myself; now will I be exalted. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath is a fire that shall devour you. And the peoples shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns that are cut down, that are burned in the fire."

Isaiah 33:5; Isaiah 33:10 both stand in contrast with what is said of Sennacherib in Isaiah 33:3. The meaning is simply that God has at last had enough of this evil ruler’s depredations and will now rise up and put an end to them. "God has now determined that the time for action has come; he will exert himself in his deeds; and he will be exalted in the eyes of the peoples."

Isaiah 33:11-12 are addressed directly to the Assyrians. All of their schemes and plans against Jerusalem shall be worthless; and they themselves shall be burned up like dry stubble, chaff, or a pile of thorns. The fulfillment of this came literally enough when 185,000 corpses of Sennacherib’s army had to be disposed of, and fire was by far the most practical way of taking care of an emergency like that.

Barnes pointed out that the burning of such things as chaff, thorns, and stubble produces a very quick fire of intense heat, "Denoting that the destruction of the Assyrian army would be sudden and entire.”

Isaiah 33:7-12 PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PEOPLE: Is Isaiah still praying? Isaiah 33:7-9 seem to be the conclusion to his prayer. He is pouring out his heart and the heart of the remnant for their beloved land just as Daniel did (Daniel 9:12; Daniel 9:16; Daniel 9:18) for the pitiful state of the exiles. And their prayers are not so much for the people as for the vindication and exaltation of the name of God!

Apparently the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib had already begun. Judah’s “valiant ones” (probably soldiers) cried out in fear. Her ambassadors, having experienced the total frustration of being deceived by the Assyrians and unable to negotiate a withdrawal of Assyrian troops, weep openly. Every bit of news seeping into the besieged city of Jerusalem tells of death, destruction and desertion in the cities and villages of Judah. The highways of the land are no longer traveled. The Assyrians, after taking Hezekiah’s tribute (2 Kings 18:15-16), reneged on their treaty and attacked Judah, plundering its cities and killing its people without regard to human life at all. Thousands are killed, other thousands are taken captive and still other thousands flee. There is nationwide mourning; large sections of the land is in paralyzing fear and confusion; other large sections are so completely deserted they are like vast wastelands; the land is stripped bare of its inhabitants like a tree is completely barren of its leaves in wintertime. Isaiah 33:10-12 are God’s prediction that He will stand against Assyria to dissolve and annul its plans against Jerusalem. Assyria apparently made great plans to do away with Judah and Jerusalem, but God says its plans will amount to no more than refuse—chaff and stubble. Very rarely did a project so auspicious ever turn out as adversely for the planners as did Sennacherib’s plans against Jerusalem.

Isaiah predicted, 2 Kings 19:32-34, “. . . thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord, for I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

The Biblical and the Assyrian accounts of Sennacherib’s campaign in Palestine are in general agreement. The fact that the Assyrian texts as well as the Bible make it clear that Sennacherib did not occupy Jerusalem is particularly significant. This is the Assyrian account of the Judean campaign:

“As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities, walled forts and to the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered (them) by means of well-stamped (earth) ramps, and battering-rams brought (thus) near (to the walls) (combined with) the attack by foot soldiers, (using) mines, breeches as well as sapper work. I drove out (of them) 200,150 people, young and old, male and female, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle, beyond counting, and considered (them) booty. Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage. I surrounded him with earthwork in order to molest those who were leaving his city’s gate . . . Hezekiah himself, . . . did send me later, to Nineveh, my lordly city, together with 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver . . . his (own) daughters, concubines, male and female musicians. In order to deliver the tribute and to do obeisance as a slave he sent his (personal) messenger.”

from Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 2nd ed., Princeton University Press, 1955, pg. 288

Biblical history records that 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp perished as a result of God’s intervention on behalf of His people (2 Kings 19:35). Secular history and biblical history both record that Sennacherib returned to Nineveh and was assassinated by two of his sons in 681 B.C. (2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38) and that Esarhaddon, his son, ruled in his place. The last quarter of the seventh century B.C. (625 B.C. 612 B.C.) saw the decline and fall of the Assyrian empire and its subjugation by the Chaldean conquerors of Babylonia, with the Medes. Nineveh was conquered 612 B.C. and in 605 B.C. at Carchemish the Assyrian government-in-exile was finally wiped out forever. So Assyria disappeared from the face of the earth “as thorns cut down and burned in the fire.” Nineveh, Assyria’s capital city, was forgotten so completely that Alexander the Great on his way to conquer the world, walked upon the very earth that covered it without knowing it. It was not unearthed until about 1845, nearly 2400 years after its demise.

Verses 13-16

Isa 33:13-16

Isaiah 33:13-16

"Hear, ye that are afar off, what I have done; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling hath seized the godless ones; Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings. He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from taking a bribe, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil: he shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; his bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."

Isaiah 33:13 speaks of God’s mighty work in the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem by the destruction of a whole army in a single night as an event already accomplished, a frequent phenomenon in prophecy.

Isaiah 33:14 notes that the sinners in Jerusalem itself are also extremely frightened by what happened to the Assyrians. Perhaps the sinners who had opposed trusting in God and preferred a foreign alliance with Egypt were led to wonder if God would also destroy them!

"Ye that are afar off ..." (Isaiah 33:13). "This indicates that the destruction of the Assyrians would be such a signal event that it would be known to distant nations.”

Isaiah 33:15 reveals six elements of righteousness, namely, (1) righteous conduct; (2) upright and honorable speech; (3) hatred of oppression; (4) refusal to take bribes; (5) rejection of all thoughts of murder; and (6) refusal to look upon shameful and evil things.

Isaiah 33:16 records God’s love for the righteous and his provision for their needs. Such promises as these do not apply solely to the righteous people of Isaiah’s times, but to the saved of all generations. Of course, as Rawlinson noted, "There are Messianic ideas mingled with these later verses (Isaiah 33:16-21).”

Isaiah 33:13-16 PERSONAL: There is a serenity which is a result of righteous living. Isaiah promises that in these verses. First, the prophet describes the distress of the people. The whole world is called to attention to watch the change that is about to take place in Zion (Jerusalem). Presently she has a seizure of terror and shakes like a person in shock. The godless in Jerusalem who had taken so much comfort in believing Egypt would help against Assyria are horrified at what Assyria has done and is about to do! They have given up all hope of survival! They are finally at the point of asking God what can be done instead of telling Him! God speaks through His prophet—repent! Walking righteously might be defined as doing everything from the attitude of desiring it to be right, good, true, just. Speaking uprightly means to say what is true, honest, pure, upbuilding and helpful. Gain of oppressions is money or profit made through taking advantage of someone by force or fraud or some other injustice. Shaking hands from taking a bribe probably means waving aside any invitation or temptation to render an illegal or unjust judgment or transaction by receiving a bribe. And the last two, stopping the ears and shutting the eyes indicates the attitude mentioned in the New Testament, “abhoring the very appearance of evil” (Romans 12:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; see also Psalms 15:1-5; Psalms 24:3-10). Such personal righteousness do not of themselves produce serenity, but they do make it possible for the Lord to enter into such a penitent heart and give it serenity. God cannot give the impenitent, rebellious sinner serenity simply because the sinner refuses to have it! He is determined to direct his own life and achieve serenity on his own. But the godly man who walks righteously dwells in the heights. The word munitions is from the Hebrew word metzouroh which literally means citadel. The godly man is like the man who has a safe refuge high in the inaccessible mountains, a fortress well stocked with all that is needed to sustain him against the siege of his enemy. He is secure and serene.

Verses 17-24

Isa 33:17-24

Isaiah 33:17-24

"Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold a land that reacheth afar. Thy heart shall muse on the terror: Where is he that counted, where is he that weighed the tribute? where is he that counted the towers? Thou shalt not see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that thou canst not comprehend. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be removed, the stakes thereof shall never be plucked up, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there will Jehovah be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Jehovah is our king; he will save us. Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not strengthen the foot of their mast, they could not spread the sail: then was the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame took the prey. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity."

"The king in his beauty ..." (Isaiah 33:17). Who is this? Some three different opinions are sustained by scholars. On account of the mention of Jehovah as the judge, lawgiver, and king in Isaiah 33:22, some believe the "king in his beauty" is a reference to Jehovah. Others suppose that the reference is to Hezekiah; and still others believe the reference is to the Messiah. We prefer the third interpretation; because (1) the Jerusalem of this passage is the capital of a worldwide land (Isaiah 33:17). (Palestine is not so), (2) she is a "quiet habitation" and inviolable (Isaiah 33:20), (3) God is the acknowledged ruler there (not so of the literal Jerusalem who officially declared that, "We have no king but Caesar" - John 19:15), (4) the Jerusalem of this passage was situated in a land of broad rivers and streams (Isaiah 33:21), which was never true of the literal Jerusalem, (5) The Jerusalem-Zion here spoken of was inviolable. Spoken of as a tent whose stakes could never be plucked up nor have any of its cords broken, the literal Jerusalem would last little more than a century before it would be utterly destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and its peoples made captive for seventy years. (6) Finally, the citizens of the Jerusalem-Zion in view here would even have their sins forgiven (Isaiah 33:24), a blessing which is limited, absolutely, to the New Covenant.

"Therefore, the king of Isaiah 33:17 must be the Christ in his regal splendor, reigning over a worldwide domain." The New Testament confirmation of this is: "In the regeneration (that is, in the times when people are being born again, in this present dispensation of the Lord Jesus Christ) when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory (Christ is now ruling over all things, Matthew 28:18-20), ye also (the Twelve) shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:28).

Hailey, it appears to us, is correct in his declaration that, "The total context of this passage (Isaiah 33:17-24) points to the Messiah." Another statement in this paragraph which should be noted as more evidence that it was the times of the Messiah to which the passage points is the reference to the absence of any galley with oars or any gallant ship (Isaiah 33:21). These ships were obviously instruments of war; and their absence in that future Jerusalem-Zion shows that war shall not be a policy of Messiah’s holy Church. It will not even have any "Swiss Guards." The thought here is parallel to the statement about beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2:4).

Despite this, there are vivid remembrances by the saints of God in all generations of the great deliverances and the mighty interpositions of God in human affairs for the protection and blessing of his people. Isaiah 33:18 in this passage is just such a remembrance by God’s people of God’s interposition in the case of Sennacherib.

"Where is he that counted?...that weighed the tribute? ... that counted the towers? ..." (Isaiah 33:18). He that counted refers to the clerk who marked off the 300 talents of silver and the 30 talents of gold on the tally sheets when Hezekiah’s ambassadors delivered all of that tribute to the servants of Sennacherib. The one who weighed the tribute was the one who weighed the silver and gold; and the one who counted the towers was the chief engineer who surveyed the walls and towers of Jerusalem as preliminary to their assault on the city, which they confidently expected to begin immediately. What a glorious thought that such hated and obnoxious characters, in the scene presented here, were no longer in existence! God’s people would not even see the fierce people.

Also, the harsh and brutal language with which God had threatened to speak to this people (Isaiah 28:11), a language they could not comprehend, could no longer be heard blaspheming the true God and demanding the surrender of their city.

"The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick ..." (Isaiah 33:24) The scholars have little to say about this; and some have admitted the difficulty; and we must confess that we cannot tell exactly what it means. However, there is an interesting speculation about this, the origin of which this writer does not know, and therefore it must remain merely a speculation without any proof at all, repeated here merely because it is interesting. The destruction of Sennacherib’s army was due to a fatal sickness that struck instantly and was immediately fatal; and there were some of the "sinners in Zion" (perhaps those who sought the alliance with Egypt) who were also destroyed simultaneously with the invading army. If there was any truth in this, it would account for the fear and trembling mentioned in Isaiah 33:14. "I am not sick" would thus be a reference to the safety of the righteous.

Isaiah 33:17-22 PROVISIONAL: When man gets his life right with God then God has opportunity to provide what He wishes to provide always. God created man to live in perfect serenity, peace and harmony. God is able to provide that state for man but man is also created with the power to refuse such a state. When man trusts God enough to obey God, God provides it. The land of Judah had been almost totally occupied by Assyrians. Everywhere the people of Jerusalem looked their land no longer belonged to them. On every horizon there were Assyrians. But soon, because they now want Him, they shall see the King (Jehovah) in all His beauty. We think this refers to the manifestation of God’s majesty and beauty in the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib and not the Messiah because of Isaiah 33:21-22. When Jehovah-King comes and the Assyrians retreat in disgrace, the people of Jerusalem will once again look upon a land belonging to them as far as the eye can see—their horizons will once again extend to where the land meets the sky.

Not only that, but when the Lord drives the enemy from their land they will retrospectively give much time to wonder and amazement at the miraculous deliverance wrought for them. They will remember the great and ferocious army of the Assyrians camped for miles around their city. They will remember the magnificence and pompousness of the Rabshakeh. They will remember all the foreign officials of the Rabshakeh as they counted the Jews in Jerusalem, counted the treasure of the Jews, counted the fortifications of the city as if they were cooly estimating exactly the amount of plunder they would soon be taking. They will remember the utter horror they felt as they reminded one another of the coldblooded cruelty of the Assyrians. All this remembering will impress more intensely in the minds of the people of Zion the divine nature of their deliverance. They will know it was provided by Jehovah and not by their own schemes. They will look back and remember the ferocity and insolence of the enemy that had surrounded them and come into their city to negotiate with their king. Their appearance was barbaric; their language was completely foreign and non-understandable. This writer remembers serving with the occupation forces in Japan immediately after World War II and the fear and suspicion felt when listening to the Japanese speak or whisper in their tongue while looking at him. One usually suspects, in those circumstances, a plot against him or a slur upon his character. This occupation by hundreds of thousands of foreigners jabbering in incomprehensible tongues will have completely vanished and Isaiah says the people of Zion will remember and marvel at it.

The prophet continues his prediction of the serenity God is going to provide. He predicts the people of Jerusalem will soon see their city peaceful and stable. When God sends the Assyrian away peace will return to Jerusalem and her political stability will be restored. This is predicated upon the continued repentance of the people. No long treatise is needed here to establish the fact that God’s promises of blessing or judgment are always conditional. That is a doctrine made abundantly clear in the Bible. Isaiah uses “times coloring” figures of speech (terminology contemporary with his own culture) to describe the stability that will come to Zion with the people’s repentance. He describes it as a tent which is not moved. In the culture of the Hebrew nomad—the herder of sheep and goats—they pulled up the stakes and untied the ropes and moved their tents from day to day. Jerusalem’s position was secure so long as its inhabitants trusted God. We know, from subsequent history (Micah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel), her inhabitants did not continue to trust God. Jerusalem had her “stakes” pulled up and her “ropes” cut by Nebuchadnezzar and her inhabitants taken away to Babylon.

The prophet then turns to another figure of speech easily understood by his contemporaries. He likens Jerusalem’s security to a city surrounded by “broad rivers” which some ancient cities enjoyed as natural moats making them secure from attack by armies and, when attacked by navies, could be easily defended. The ancient cities of Thebes (Nahum 3:8; Ezekiel 30:16) and Tyre (Isaiah 23:1 ff; Ezekiel 26:1 ff) were such cities. In Jerusalem’s case, the majestic power of Jehovah will be her moat.

Isaiah 33:22-24 PERVASIVE: The serenity provided by God and appropriated by man’s penitence pervades the whole experience of man. These verses show Jehovah’s influence in every area of man’s nature. Man needs an arbiter (judge) to tell him what is right and wrong; man needs a lawgiver to give him a divine codification of behavior; man needs a ruler to be sovereign over all his aspirations, choices and motives. Only then can man be saved from destroying himself. Jerusalem needed to recognize her “tacklings were loosed” and her “mast” was so insecure she could not set “sail.” The ship of Zion was unseaworthy (as an old “salt” would say). She needed a “shake down cruise” to make her a taut ship again. She was a “sick” and ailing ship. When repentance came, she would be fitted to sail the stormy seas of life again with her captain at the helm steering her to safe harbors. Repentance makes forgiveness possible and forgiveness produces serenity within even though the storms rage without. Jerusalem would enjoy this serenity. She was also promised victory over her enemies (Isaiah 33:23). She would have complete victory—even the lame would be able to join in the spoils of victory.

This serenity and victory apparently did come in the latter days of Hezekiah’s reign when the rulers and the people finally turned to Jehovah instead of Egypt for help against their enemies. But it did not last long for they were soon led back into sin and rebellion by Manasseh (son of Hezekiah) and eventually into captivity in Babylon.