Isaiah 33:2-6

2. THE PRAYER OF FAITH QUICKLY HEARD

Isaiah 33:2-6

2          O Lord, be gracious unto us; 1 we have waited for thee:

Be thou their arm every morning,Our salvation also in the time of trouble.

3     At the noise of the tumult the people 2 fled;

At the lifting up of thyself the nations 3 were scattered.

4     And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar;

As the running to and fro of the locusts shall he run upon them.

5     The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high:

He 4 hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.

6     And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of the times,

And strength of 5Salvation:

The fear of the Lord is his 6 treasure.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 33:2. הננו comp. Psalms 123:3; Psalms 57:2; Psalms 51:3, etc.—קִוָּה often in the Pss., mostly with the Accusat. With ל referring to God it occurs only Psalms 119:95, compare Psalms 69:21. But Isaiah often construes the word thus: Isaiah 8:17; Isaiah 25:9; Isaiah 60:9.

Isaiah 33:3. נָֽפְצוּ is from נָפַץ (Niph. of פָּצַץ) inflected like the Kal. נפץ, perhaps because פצץ does not occur except in this and in two analogous Niphal forms (Genesis 9:19; 1 Samuel 13:11).

Isaiah 33:4. אֹסֶף may not be taken passively (with Cappellus, Doederlein, Drechsler, etc.), as appears from the image itself, and from גבים (ἅπ. λεγ. comp. גּוֹב Nahum 3:17; גּבַֹי Amos 7:1, certainly a name of the locust, although of uncertain derivation and meaning. Comp. Herz. R. Enc„ VI. p. 70). This latter word is expressly active.—On אֻסַּף אֹסֶף comp. Isaiah 24:22. אֹסֶף is here as Isaiah 32:10 a noun (Micah 7:1). As to construction, it is to be regarded as in the acc. modalis.—חסיל only here in Isaiah; see Joel 1:4; Joel 2:25.שׁקק (Isaiah 29:8) used in the same sense Joel 2:9.—מַשָּׁק , “descursitatio” ἅπ. λεγ.—בּוֹ refers to the camp, not before named, yet ideally present.

Isaiah 33:5. נשׂגב, Isaiah 2:11; Isaiah 2:17; Isaiah 12:4.—שׁכן מרום again only Isaiah 57:16; comp. Isaiah 33:16.—מִלֵּא Piel, again Isaiah 23:2; Isaiah 65:11; Isaiah 65:20.

Isaiah 33:6. The Plural עתים occurs principally in later books; still also Job 24:1. Only here in Isa.: comp. Psalms 31:16.—אמונת עתיך is predicate, the following substantives to דעת are subject.—חֹסֶן “opes, thesaurus” only here in Isaiah comp. Proverbs 15:6; Proverbs 27:24;

Jeremiah 20:5; Ezekiel 22:25.—יְשׁוּעֹת Isaiah 26:18, elsewhere only in the Pss. 18:51; Psalms 28:8; Psalms 42:6, 12; Psalms 43:5, etc.—The suffix in אוצרו relates to the same subject as the suffix in עתיך Interchange of person often occurs in Isaiah, but it is not always so easily traced to its motive as in Isaiah 33:2. See below in Exeget. and Crit.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The first wave-circle! In grand, rapid flight the Prophet’s gaze hastens through three stages: he shows what must precede the overthrow of Assyria, then this itself, then its contrast in the remote future. For having by a prayer intimated that believing trust in Jehovah is the condition of salvation (Isaiah 33:2), he describes the immediately consequent overthrow of Assyria (Isaiah 33:3-4). But on this present earthly salvation follows for the Prophet at once the Messianic future with its blessings, of which the deliverance from Assyria is a type.

2. O Lord—His treasure.

Isaiah 33:2-6. This short prayer, that unexpectedly interrupts the prophecy, is assuredly not an involuntary sigh, but it occupies a place in the discourse chosen with deliberation. The Prophet intends two things by it. First he would present to the people what they must do on their part to obtain deliverance. They must believe and confide in the Lord, according to the words “if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” (Isaiah 7:9), and “he that believes will not yield” (Isaiah 28:16). But as the Prophet gives, not a warning to pray merely, but an example of it, and himself intercedes, he gives on the one hand an example to men, and on the other hand a proof to God that there are still righteous men in Israel (comp. Genesis 18:24 sqq.) that love the people and trust in God. A people from which issues such prayer is no dead heap of ashes. There is a glow in them that can be kindled up again (Isaiah 42:3). The prayer has the form of those in the Pss. (comp. 12).

The (suffix of the) third person in זרעם “their arm,” that occurs in such harsh dissonance with (the suffixes of) the first person preceding and following, is to be explained, it seems to me, by the word זְרֹעַ “arm” itself. The Prophet means here those called to protect city and state with the power of their arm. He and many others do what they can with heart, and head and otherwise. But when it concerns defence against an outward enemy, then those that serve with the arm are very important. Therefore the prayer that the Lord Himself might be the arm of those who have devoted their arm to the country. Comp. Psalms 83:9; Psalms 89:11; Psalms 89:22, etc.לבקרים comp. Psalms 73:14; Psalms 101:8. אַף comp. Isaiah 26:9; Psalms 16:6; Psalms 18:49, etc. Also ישׁועה is very frequent in the Psalms 68:20; Psalms 35:3; Psalms 62:2, etc.בעת צרה, see Psalms 37:39; comp. Psalms 20:2; Psalms 50:15.

In Isaiah 33:3-4 is announced the hearing of the prayer. In very drastic form, but, with all its brevity, still vivid, the flight of the Assyrian and the plundering of their camp are depicted. The enemy hear a loud tumult like the onset of an army. But it is no human army: for, as appears from מרממתך and from Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:30 sq., the Lord effects that noise. He brings about a panic among them by letting them hear a tumult that has no actual existence (comp. Psalms 53:6; Exodus 14:24 sq.; Exodus 15:16; Judges 4:15; Judges 7:22; 1 Samuel 7:10). The fleeing nations are of course those of Assyria. The Lord arises (comp. Isaiah 33:10; Isaiah 30:18; Ps. 21:14; Psalms 46:11, etc.), to smite the enemy, The expression is anthropomorphic, he, so to speak, raises himself high aloft. In Isaiah 33:4 the Prophet addresses the Assyrian. He sees the Israelites plundering his camp, gathering the spoil with a celerity like locusts clearing off a field. Seeing in this coming victory a type of the final, crowning triumph of Jehovah over the world-power, he contemplates his glory in Isaiah 33:5, chiefly from its inner side. He would intimate that the treasures of salvation, that Israel will then acquire, will, because of a spiritual sort, be more glorious than the goods found in the Assyrian camp (comp. Isaiah 33:23; Isaiah 37:36, comp. 2 Kings 7:16). On account of this typical relation, the two periods are treated as a connected whole, without regard to their temporal disconnection. In this the Prophet does not contradict what he had said Isaiah 32:15 of the continuance of the desolation till the initiation of the great regeneration of the last time. For that period of the desolation falls precisely in the period that the Prophet over-leaps from the stand-point of his manner of regarding the matter. He thus sees the Lord elevated on high and withdrawn from every hostile attack because enthroned on high. From this height the Lord fills Zion with right and righteousness, which plainly recalls Isaiah 32:15-16. Likewise Isaiah 33:6 recalls Isaiah 32:17; the very beginning with והוה coincides. But “the stability of thy times” corresponds to what in Isaiah 32:17 sq., is called “peace, assurance, sure dwelling, quiet resting place.” Thus we must give אמונה here the meaning “security,” a condition that guarantees peace, tranquility, confidence (Isaiah 33:16). When the times are such that there is no disturbance of the public welfare apprehended, then they have the quality of אמונה, then one may speak of an אמונת עתים. But of course אמונה occurs only here in this sense (comp. נֶאֶֽמָן Isaiah 33:16). As in Isaiah 32:16 the security appears as the fruit of moral in workings, so here also. Fulness of salvations, wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability,etc. As in the familiar declaration l’empire c’est la paix the copula has a tropical sense, so here there is the trope of the metonymy, since two things that actually stand related as cause and effect are, apparently, identified in expression. Thus the security of those times is the effect of the treasure, the wealth in treasures of salvation. It will not rest on subjective human possessions, as the women at ease (Isaiah 32:9) suppose, but upon objective, God-given treasures of salvation. The kind is declared in what follows, viz.: inward, spiritual goods: wisdom and knowledge (on these notions comp. Isaiah 11:2). “The fear of the Lord” is named last, although it is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). But it seems to me the Prophet would distinguish between אוֹצָר and חֹסֶן. The fear of the Lord is the treasure-house (אוצר as e.g.Joel 1:17; 2 Chronicles 11:11, etc., = בֵּית הָאוֹצָרJer 50:25, etc.), that hides that treasure in itself. Our passage recalls Isaiah 11:2 in many ways: also in this that, rightly counted, seven spiritual goods are named: 1) judgment, 2) righteousness, 3) security, 4) riches of salvations, 5) Wisdom , 6) knowledge, 7) the fear of the Lord.

Footnotes:

[1]we wait.

[2]flee.

[3]are.

[4]fills.

[5]Heb. Salvations.

[6]treasure-house.