Isaiah 33:13-22

4. THE ALARM OF SINERS; THE COMFORT OF THE PIOUS

Isaiah 33:13-22

13          Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done;

And, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.

14     The sinners in Zion are afraid;

Fearfulness hath surprised the 9 hypocrites.

Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

15     He that walketh 10 righteously, and speaketh 11 uprightly

He that despiseth the gain of 12 oppressions,

That shaketh his hands from holding of bribes,That stoppeth his ears from hearing of 13blood,

And shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

16     He shall dwell on 14 high:

His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks:

15 Bread shall be given him;

His waters shall be sure.

17     Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty:

They shall behold 16 the land 17 that is very far off.

18     Thine heart shall meditate terror.

Where is the scribe? where is the 18 receiver?

Where Isaiah 19:0 he that counted the towers?

19     Thou shalt not see 20 a fierce people,

A people of deeper speech than thou canst perceive:Of a 21 stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

20     Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities:

Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation,A tabernacle that 22 shall not be taken down;

Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed,Neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

21     But there the glorious Lord will be unto us

23 A place 24 of broad rivers and streams;

Wherein shall go no galley with oars,Neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.

22     For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our 25 lawgiver,

The Lord is our king; he will save us.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 33:14. רעדה only here in Isaiah. Comp. Psalms 2:11; Psalms 48:7; Job 4:14.—גּוּר with accus. loc. comp. Judges 5:17; Psalms 5:5; Psalms 120:5. Elsewhere Isaiah construes גּוּר with prepositions; Isaiah 11:6; Isaiah 16:4; Isaiah 54:15.—לָנוּ is the so called dativus ethicus. Though elsewhere this dative refers to the actual subject (comp. Genesis 21:16; Genesis 31:41; Isaiah 2:22; Isaiah 31:8; Isaiah 36:9, etc.), according to which it would need to read here מִי יָגוּר לוֹ it is in this place related to the ideal subject, i.e., to the speakers, who properly affirm of themselves this inability to dwell with Jehovah. This dative everywhere represents a phrase that affirms an intensive relation to the interests of the speaker: in this place say: who will dwell (we say this in relation to ourselves, in our own interest) with devouring fire, etc.?—מוקד again only Psalms 102:4.—מִי יָגוּר is the beginning of Psalms 15:0. Moreover the words הולך צ׳ וד׳ מישׂ׳׳ Isaiah 33:15 recall Psalms 15:2.

Isaiah 33:15. The plural צדקות, juste facta occurs again in Isaiah 45:24; Isaiah 64:5.—דבר מישׁרים comp. Proverbs 23:16; the latter word again in Isaiah 26:7; Isaiah 45:19.—בצע (comp. Exodus 18:21) again in Isaiah 56:11; Isaiah 57:17. What sort of בצע is meant is explained by the addition מעשׁקות (oppressiones, again only Proverbs 28:16).—נער see Isaiah 33:9.—The construction with מן is constr. prægnans. For the preposition depends on the notion of refraining ideally present in נער, “to shake.”—שׁחד comp. Psalms 15:5; Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 5:23; Isaiah 45:13.—אֹטֵם אָזְנוֹ with following מן occurs Proverbs 21:13,comp. Proverbs 17:28.—דָּמִים is “bloodshed, murder,” (comp. Exodus 22:1; Isaiah 4:4).—עצם rhyming with אטם, we find here in Kal. with the same meaning that it has in the Piel Isaiah 29:10.—ראה ברע “to look on evil with pleasure.”

Isaiah 33:16. מרומים, plural, in Isaiah only here; comp. Judges 5:18; Proverbs 8:2, etc.—מְצָדוֹת as st. constr. comp. 1 Samuel 24:1.—משׂגב , “asylum,” “refuge,” again only Isaiah 25:12.

Isaiah 33:17. The 2 pers. masc. suffix, as in Isaiah 33:6; Isaiah 33:20, refers to the nation regarded as a unit.

Isaiah 33:18. הָגָה, “to think, consider, meditari” (Joshua 1:8; Psalms 1:2; Psalms 2:1, etc.; Isaiah 59:13) may relate also to what is past.—אֵימָה, “terror,” only here in Isaiah.—סֹפֵר again Isaiah 36:3; Isaiah 37:2.—שֹׁקֵל as substantive only here in Isaiah; the verb “to weigh out” money Isaiah 46:6; Isaiah 55:2.

Isaiah 33:19. The two halves of this verse contain the antithesis of seeing and hearing. This proves that the explanation of &נוֹעָז לוֹעֵז barbare loquens (Psalms 114:1), does not agree with the context. That נועז means “mute beckoning” according to the Arab. wa‘asa (Hitzig) is disproved by Gesen. Thes. p. 607 sq. There remains thus the explanation that takes נוֹעָז as part. Niph. from עָזַז יָעַז (comp. יָחַם and &יָמַשׁ חָמַם, and &יָרַק מָשַׁשׁ and רָקַק) and that with the meaning “hard, audacious, overweening conduct” (Symm. ἀναιδής, Vulg. impudens). The word, moreover, is ἅπ. λεγ. and for this reason it may be possible that Isaiah hints at some Assyrian word at present unknown to us.

Isaiah 33:20. צָעַן ἅπ. λεγ. Arab. ta‘ana of the roaming of the nomads.

Isaiah 33:21. כי ים corresponds to the negations of Isaiah 33:21.—אדיר in Isaiah again only Isaiah 10:34.—Delitzsch after Luzzatto has proved that מקום is not to be taken=loco, “instead.” The suffixes in בו and יעברנו are manifestly to be referred to מקום—שַׁיִט “oar” (comp. מָשׁוֹט Ezekiel 27:29 and מִשּׁוֹט Ezekiel 27:6) is ἅπ. λεγ.—צִי contracted from צְוִי, cavum, rotundum aliquid, is a great bellied-out ship (Numbers 24:24; Ezekiel 30:9; Psalms 105:41).

Isaiah 33:22. Since it does not read מוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ (Isaiah 43:3; Isaiah 47:15, etc.), I would accord with Hitzig, who takes מלכנו מחקקנו שׁפטנו, not as predicates but as apposition with יהוה, so that ושׁיענו is the sole predicate of the foregoing three subjects which are comprehended emphatically in the הוא.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Here we have the final and broadest circuit of waves before us. According to Isaiah 33:10, Jehovah was about to arise and come to the rescue. He has done so. The rescue is accomplished in an astounding fashion. The present passage belongs to time after the rescue. It presupposes it. For it contains glances into the future, that rest upon that deed as their foundation. First the Lord summons those far and near to give proper attention to what He does (Isaiah 33:13). Then the Prophet describes the effect of what has been done on the sinners in Jerusalem. They are terrified: they would flee the neighborhood of this mighty God, for they are ill-at-ease in it. Hence they ask: who can abide by this devouring fire? (Isaiah 33:14). To this is replied: this fire is harmless for the pious, the lovers of truth, the righteous (Isaiah 33:15), for such will dwell in Jerusalem in security and abundance (Isaiah 33:16); and will see the king of Israel sitting in might and glory at the head of a wide empire (Isaiah 33:17). As one thinks of something that has disappeared from memory, so shall men reflect on the time of war’s distress (Isaiah 33:18), and of the terrific presence of the barbaric nation in the land (Isaiah 33:19). Zion will be a secure fortress, a quiet, abiding place of worship, and no more a shifting tabernacle as in the time of the journey through the wilderness (Isaiah 33:20). For Jehovah is there Himself in His majesty; protecting waters surround the place (Isaiah 33:21), and the Lord Himself as judge, law-giver and king is the deliverer of His people (Isaiah 33:22).

2. Hear—my might

Isaiah 33:13. The piece begins with the cry of a herald that makes known to the whole world the accomplished mighty act. For the perfect אשׂיתי without doubt designates the act of rescue as accomplished, which verses 1, 3, 10 held in prospect; and we must regard גְּבֻרָה (as often in the Books of Kings, where גברה and אשׂה continually stand parallel: 1 Kings 15:23; 1Ki 16:27; 1 Kings 22:46, etc.), in the concrete sense as a display of power, and, because of אשיתי, as already come to pass. But the herald’s cry would intimate that an event of vast and wide effect has happened, of concern to all men, even to those far remote. For they may know from this who is the true, and therefore also who is their God. For He that did what happened to the Assyrian host in the neighborhood of Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s time must be God over all gods (comp. Isaiah 36:18-20; Isaiah 37:10-13) and Lord over all lords. Those near are plainly the Israelites, who had in great part been witnesses of the deed. These should acknowledge the demonstration of the Lord’s power. According to their inward condition they should draw from it comfort or warning.

3. The sinners—seeing evil.

Isaiah 33:14-15. The Prophet first presents that mighty deed as a warning to the wicked. Such were the idolaters who had no joy in a proof so irrefragable of the sole power and divinity of Jehovah. Therefore these sinners (Isaiah 1:28; Isaiah 13:9) and the unclean (Isaiah 9:16; Isaiah 10:6; Isaiah 32:6—there lies in the word a hint at idolatry) in Zion are terrified. Devoid of the right knowledge of God, because they would not, not because they could not have it, the nearness of this almighty, and above all of this holy God is in the highest degree burdensome to these people. Living in Jerusalem where this God has His fire and His furnace (Isaiah 31:9) is painful to them. Hence they cry: who among us,etc. It is manifest that by the devouring fire they mean Jehovah. By the strages Assyriorum He had proved Himself to be such. And shall they ever remain near this power that is as irresistibly present as it is terrible? The expression is taken from Deuteronomy 4:24; Deuteronomy 9:3, comp. Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:27; Isaiah 30:30. מוקד designates here the place where the fire burns, “the hearth.” By calling this everlasting they judge themselves: for they show by that a knowledge, that it is a veritable divine fire, that burns there, not an imaginary one. But just with this they will have nothing to do.

The Prophet (Isaiah 33:15) replies to their inquiry, that one may dwell very well by this burning fire. But with the Holy One, one must live holy. The image He proceeds to draw of a holy life is an Old Testament one. The traits of it are chiefly taken from passages in the Psalms (see Text. and Gram.). Shaking the hands, (thus refraining them) from taking a bribe, is a strong expression for striving to keep and prove the integrity of the hands.

4. He shall dwell——will save us.

Isaiah 33:16-22. This is the confirmation that one may dwell happily with the devouring fire. For these verses show what blessings they shall have who live agreeably to the holy being of God. And since there shall never be wanting such in Zion, the salvation and glory of Zion is assured for all time. Thus these verses contain the same thought uttered by the Prophet already Isaiah 28:16 sqq.; Isaiah 29:22 sqq.; Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 19:0 sqq.; Isaiah 31:6 sq.; Isaiah 32:1 sqq., 15 sqq., that Israel’s deliverance depends on an upright and thorough conversion to the Lord; that on this condition, however, it is secure forever. נאמן “what is certain, never deceives expectation, never fails” (comp. Isaiah 33:6; Jeremiah 15:18; Isaiah 22:23; Isaiah 22:25). As happened Isaiah 33:5-6, so here, for the Prophet the salvation of the near present merges into one with the great, final Messianic period. And so, influenced perhaps by the then oppressed look of the king of Judah, he contemplates the latter beaming with the joy of victory, and at the same time as the type of the Messiah, resplendent in the supremest beauty and glory, whose beauty the author of Psalms 45:0. (Isaiah 33:3) had also seen prefigured in the appearance of the bridegroom-king whom he celebrated. That the Prophet’s glance penetrates into the Messianic future appears from the expression the land that is very far off (Isaiah 8:9; Jeremiah 8:19). The expression is too strong to be understood merely of free motion in the land in contrast with the confining siege, or of the normal extending of Israelitish territory according to Deuteronomy 1:7; Deuteronomy 11:24. As royal pomp and beauty adorns the person of the king, so immeasurable extent does his land. ארץ מ׳ is thus not a far distant, but a wide extended land. It is the same thought that meets us Isaiah 2:2 sqq.; Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 25:6 sqq.

The Prophet in Isaiah 33:18-19 connects his glorious image of the future with the mournful condition of the present. For he describes it as a chief blessing of that future, that the bad things of the present will be present to thoughtful contemplation as things that one rejoices to have overcome. Et hoc meminisse juvabit. In his graphic way the Prophet gives prominence to particular terrors that must have left a peculiarly deep impression. The סֹפֵר, “writer,” and the שֹׁקֵל, “weigher,” before whom one had to appear and pay tribute, and who then weighed the valuables received, and made a list of them, were certainly persons of terror from whose mouths they had often had experience of the Vae victis (Livy, 5, 48). [“The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:20, has a sentence so much like this, in the threefold repetition of the question where, and in the use of the word scribe, that it cannot be regarded as a mere fortuitous coincidence.” “It may be regarded as a mere imitation, as to form and diction, of the one before us.”—J. A. Alexander,in loc.]. Again it must have made a terrible impression, when from the walls they saw the enemy taking the first steps toward attacking the city by one of the leaders riding around the walls, regarding the towers, counting them and taking notes of his observations (comp. Psalms 48:13). What happiness to be able to call out: “where are they now those fearful men? They have disappeared forever!” What felicity to be quit of the foreign, repulsive appearance of this enemy; no more to be compelled to see the overweening nation; no more to hear its barbarous sounds! The Israelites will no more hear “the nation too deep of lip to be understood” and “stammering and jabbering with the tongue (comp. on Isaiah 28:11; Isaiah 37:22) without meaning.”

The Prophet having enumerated the bad things, now directs attention to the good that is to be seen in and about Jerusalem. He first describes Zion as the religious centre of the nation. There is the temple; there Jehovah dwells (comp. on Isaiah 33:14); thither the people assemble to worship the Lord and keep His feasts. Thus He calls the city קרית מועדנו (comp. הַר מוֹעֵד14:13, comp. Isaiah 1:14). That he intends an antithesis to אהל מועד appears from Isaiah 33:15. Israel then has no more a tabernacle, a city for festival gathering (of the people with one another, and with Jehovah). As such Zion must be especially looked to. And if one looks more narrowly, then the meaning of this designation appears to be that Jerusalem will be a secure, quiet abode (Isaiah 32:18), of course still a tabernacle, but no longer so in the original, nomadic sense; not like the travelling tent of the wilderness, but one that does not move about. The Prophet signifies that there shall happen to it neither a voluntary nor a violent breaking up of the tabernacle (נתק means a violent rending, comp. Isaiah 5:27, not the usual striking of a tent). This permanent tabernacle shall be attended with a glorious rest for the people of God in the future that is described, that shall be founded on the presence in the midst of them of Jehovah, the highest Majesty. The Lord is called a place of rivers, of course in a figure. In all this figurative description lies the notion of defence, refuge. Hence “a place of rivers” may as appropriately be used of Jehovah, as “rock, tower, shield, horn of salvation,” (Psalms 18:3). But commentators are right in saying that the Prophet has in mind cities like Babylon, Nineveh, No-Ammon (Nahum 3:8), that were defended by great rivers and river canals. The present Jerusalem lacked such defences, but, such is the meaning, Jehovah Himself will be river-defences. נחרים may allude to the cities of Mesopotamia, and יארים to the similarly located cities of Egypt; for הַנָּהָר is κατ’ ’εξοχὴν the Euphrates (Isaiah 8:7; Isaiah 11:15) and יְאֹר the Nile (Isaiah 19:7-8; Isaiah 23:10). Those streams and canals that recede right and left, and thus are very broad, are called רחבי ידים (comp. Psalms 104:25; Isaiah 22:18; Genesis 34:21; Judges 18:10; 1 Chronicles 4:10; Nehemiah 7:4). Neither oared-ship, nor sail-ship shall be able to pass these mighty waters. The Prophet ends with rhymes that make the conclusion sound like a hymn. Jehovah, Israel’s judge (Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 11:3-4), lawgiver (comp. Deuteronomy 33:21), and king, is also its deliverer.

Footnotes:

[9]unclean.

[10]Heb. in righteousness.

[11]Heb. uprightness.

[12]Or, deceits.

[13]Heb. bloods.

[14]Heb. heights, or, high places.

[15]His bread.

[16]a wide extended land.

[17]Heb. of far distances.

[18]Heb. weigher.

[19]the inscriber of the towers.

[20]the audacious.

[21]Or, ridiculous.

[22]that does not wander.

[23]A place of streams, of rivers broad on either side.

[24]Heb. broad spaces, or hands.

[25]Heb. statutemaker.