---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Isaiah 33"
description: "CHAPTER 33   :-. THE LAST
OF ISAIAH"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/isaiah/33"
---

CHAPTER 33

. THE LAST
OF ISAIAH'S
PROPHECIES AS TO
SENNACHERIB'S OVERTHROW.
[Isaiah 33:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/1);
[Isaiah 33:8](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/8); [Isaiah 33:9](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/9),
describe the Assyrian spoiler; strong as he is, he shall fall before
Jehovah who is stronger ([Isaiah 33:2-6](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/2-6);
[Isaiah 33:10-12](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/10-12)). The time is
the autumn of 713 B.C.

**1. and thou**—that is, though
thou wast not spoiled—though thou wast not dealt treacherously with
(see on [Isaiah 33:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/2)), thy
spoiling and treachery are therefore without excuse, being
unprovoked.
**cease**—When God has let
thee do thy worst, in execution of His plans, thine own turn shall
come (compare [Isaiah 10:12](../../../kjv/isaiah/10/12); [Isaiah 14:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/2);
[Habakkuk 2:8](../../../kjv/habakkuk/2/8); [Revelation 13:10](../../../kjv/revelation/13/10)).

**2. us; we . . . their . . . our**—He
speaks interceding for His people, separating himself in thought for
a moment from them, and immediately returns to his natural
identification with them in the word "our."
**every morning**—each day
as it dawns, especially during our danger, as the parallel "time
of trouble" shows.

**3. the tumult**—the approach of
Jehovah is likened to an advancing thunderstorm ([Isaiah 29:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/29/6);
[Isaiah 30:27](../../../kjv/isaiah/30/27)), which is His voice
([Revelation 1:15](../../../kjv/revelation/1/15)), causing the people
to "flee."
**nation**—the Assyrian
levies.

**4.** The invaders' "spoil"
shall be left behind by them in their flight, and the Jews shall
gather it.
**caterpillar**—rather,
"the wingless locust"; as it gathers; the *Hebrew*
word for "gathers" is properly used of the gathering of the
fruits of harvest ([Isaiah 32:10](../../../kjv/isaiah/32/10)).
**running to and fro**—namely,
in gathering harvest fruits.
**he**—rather, "they."
**them**—rather, "it,"
that is, the prey.

**6. wisdom**—sacred; that is,
piety.
**thy**—Hezekiah's; or
rather, "Judea's." "His" refers to the same; such
changes from the pronoun possessive of the second person to that of
the third are common in *Hebrew* poetry.
**treasure**—Not so much
material wealth as piety shall constitute the riches of the nation
([Proverbs 10:22](../../../kjv/proverbs/10/22); [Proverbs 15:16](../../../kjv/proverbs/15/16)).

**7-9.** From the vision of future
glory Isaiah returns to the disastrous present; the grief of "the
valiant ones" (parallel to, and identical with, "the
ambassadors of peace"), men of rank, sent with presents to sue
for peace, but standing "without" the enemy's camp, their
suit being rejected ([2 Kings 18:14](../../../kjv/2-kings/18/14);
[2 Kings 18:18](../../../kjv/2-kings/18/18); [2 Kings 18:37](../../../kjv/2-kings/18/37)).
The highways deserted through fear, the cities insulted, the lands
devastated.
**cry**— ([2 Kings 18:37](../../../kjv/2-kings/18/37)).

**8. broken . . . covenant**—When
Sennacherib invaded Judea, Hezekiah paid him a large sum to leave the
land; Sennacherib received the money and yet sent his army against
Jerusalem ([2 Kings 18:14](../../../kjv/2-kings/18/14); [2 Kings 18:17](../../../kjv/2-kings/18/17)).
**despised**—make slight of
as unable to resist him ([Isaiah 10:9](../../../kjv/isaiah/10/9);
[Isaiah 36:19](../../../kjv/isaiah/36/19)); easily captures them.

**9.** ().
**Lebanon**—personified;
the allusion may be to the Assyrian cutting down its choice trees
([Isaiah 14:8](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/8); [Isaiah 37:24](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/24)).
**Sharon**—south of Carmel,
along the Mediterranean, proverbial for fertility ([Isaiah 37:24](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/24)).
**Bashan**—afterwards
called Batanea ([Isaiah 2:13](../../../kjv/isaiah/2/13)).
**fruits**—rather,
understand "leaves"; they lie as desolate as in winter.

**10.** The sight of His people's
misery arouses Jehovah; He has let the enemy go far enough.
**I**—emphatic; God Himself
will do what man could not.

**11. Ye**—the enemy.
**conceive chaff**—
([Isaiah 26:18](../../../kjv/isaiah/26/18); [Isaiah 59:4](../../../kjv/isaiah/59/4)).
**your breath**—rather,
*your own spirit* of anger and ambition [MAURER],
([Isaiah 30:28](../../../kjv/isaiah/30/28)).

**12.** ([Isaiah 9:19](../../../kjv/isaiah/9/19);
[Amos 2:1](../../../kjv/amos/2/1)). Perhaps alluding to
their being about to be burnt on the funeral pyre ([Amos 2:1](../../../kjv/amos/2/1)).
**thorns**—the wicked
([2 Samuel 23:6](../../../kjv/2-samuel/23/6); [2 Samuel 23:7](../../../kjv/2-samuel/23/7)).

**13. far off**—distant nations.
**near**—the Jews and
adjoining peoples ([Isaiah 49:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/49/1)).

**14. sinners in Zion**—false
professors of religion among the elect people ().
**hypocrites**—rather, "the
profane"; "the abandoned" [HORSLEY].
**who,** c.—If Jehovah's
wrath could thus consume such a host in one night, who could abide
it, if continued for ever ()? Fire is a common image for the divine judgments ([Isaiah 29:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/29/6)
[Isaiah 30:30](../../../kjv/isaiah/30/30)).
**among us**—If such awful
judgments have fallen on those who knew not the true God, how
infinitely worse shall fall on *us* who, amid religious
privileges and profession, sin against God, ([Luke 12:47](../../../kjv/luke/12/47);
[Luke 12:48](../../../kjv/luke/12/48); [James 4:17](../../../kjv/james/4/17))?

**15.** In contrast to the trembling
"sinners in Zion" (), the righteous shall be secure amid all judgments; they
are described according to the Old Testament standpoint of
righteousness ([Psalms 15:2](../../../kjv/psalms/15/2); [Psalms 24:4](../../../kjv/psalms/24/4)).
**stoppeth . . . ears . . .
eyes**—"Rejoiceth not in iniquity" ([Psalms 24:4](../../../kjv/psalms/24/4); contrast [Isaiah 29:20](../../../kjv/isaiah/29/20);
[Psalms 10:3](../../../kjv/psalms/10/3); [Romans 1:32](../../../kjv/romans/1/32)).
The senses are avenues for the entrance of sin ([Romans 1:32](../../../kjv/romans/1/32)).

**16. on high**—heights
inaccessible to the foe ([Isaiah 26:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/26/1)).
**bread . . . waters**—image
from the expected siege by Sennacherib; however besieged by trials
without, the godly shall have literal and spiritual food, as God sees
good for them ([Isaiah 41:17](../../../kjv/isaiah/41/17); [Psalms 37:25](../../../kjv/psalms/37/25);
[Psalms 34:10](../../../kjv/psalms/34/10); [Psalms 132:15](../../../kjv/psalms/132/15)).

**17. Thine**—the saints'.
**king in . . . beauty**—not
as now, Hezekiah in sackcloth, oppressed by the enemy, but King
Messiah ([Isaiah 32:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/32/1)) "in His
beauty" ([Song of Solomon 5:10](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/5/10); [Song of Solomon 5:16](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/5/16);
[Revelation 4:3](../../../kjv/revelation/4/3)).
**land . . . very far
off**—rather, "the land in its remotest extent" (no
longer pent up as Hezekiah was with the siege); see *Margin.*
For Jerusalem is made the scene of the king's glory ([Revelation 4:3](../../../kjv/revelation/4/3), c.), and it could not be said to be "very far off,"
unless the far-off land be *heaven,* the Jerusalem above, which
is to follow the *earthly* reign of Messiah at literal Jerusalem
([Isaiah 65:17-19](../../../kjv/isaiah/65/17-19) [Jeremiah 3:17](../../../kjv/jeremiah/3/17);
[Revelation 21:1](../../../kjv/revelation/21/1); [Revelation 21:2](../../../kjv/revelation/21/2);
[Revelation 21:10](../../../kjv/revelation/21/10)).

**18. meditate**—on the "terror"
caused by the enemy, but now past.
**where,** c.—the language
of the Jews exulting over their escape from danger.
**scribe**—who enrolled the
army [MAURER] or, who
prescribed the tribute to be paid [ROSENMULLER];
or, who kept an account of the spoil. "The principal scribe of
the host" ([2 Kings 25:19](../../../kjv/2-kings/25/19);
[Jeremiah 52:25](../../../kjv/jeremiah/52/25)). The Assyrian records
are free from the exaggerations of Egyptian records. Two scribes are
seen in every Assyrian bas-relief, writing down the various objects
brought to them, the heads of the slain, prisoners, cattle, sheep,
&c.
**receiver**—"weigher,"
*Margin.* LAYARD
mentions, among the Assyrian inscriptions, "a pair a scales for
weighing the spoils."
**counted . . . towers**—he
whose duty it was to reconnoitre and report the strength of the city
to be besieged.

**19. fierce people**—The
Assyrians shall not be allowed to enter Jerusalem (). Or, thou shalt not any longer see fierce enemies
threatening thee as previously; such as the Assyrians, Romans, and
the last Antichristian host that is yet to assail Jerusalem ([Deuteronomy 28:49](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/28/49);
[Deuteronomy 28:50](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/28/50); [Jeremiah 5:15](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/15);
[Zechariah 14:2](../../../kjv/zechariah/14/2)).
**stammering**—barbarous;
so "deeper," &c., that is, unintelligible. The Assyrian
tongue differed only in dialect from the *Hebrew,* but in the
Assyrian levies were many of non-Semitic race and language, as the
Medes, Elamites, &c. (see on [Zechariah 14:2](../../../kjv/zechariah/14/2)).

**20. solemnities**—solemn
assemblies at the great feasts (see on ; ; ).
**not . . . taken down . . .
removed**—image from captives "removed" from their land
([Isaiah 36:17](../../../kjv/isaiah/36/17)). There shall be no
more "taking away" to an enemy's land. Or else, from nomads
living in shifting tents. The saints, who sojourned once in
tabernacles as pilgrims, shall have a "building of God—eternal
in the heavens" ([2 Corinthians 5:1](../../../kjv/2-corinthians/5/1);
[Hebrews 11:9](../../../kjv/hebrews/11/9); [Hebrews 11:10](../../../kjv/hebrews/11/10);
compare [Isaiah 54:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/54/2)).
**stakes**—driven into the
ground; to these the "cords" were fastened. Christ's Church
shall never fall ([Matthew 16:18](../../../kjv/matthew/16/18)).
So individual believers ([Revelation 3:12](../../../kjv/revelation/3/12)).

**21. there**—namely, in
Jerusalem.
**will be . . . rivers**—Jehovah
will be as a broad river surrounding our city (compare [Isaiah 19:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/19/6);
[Nahum 3:8](../../../kjv/nahum/3/8)), and this, too, a river
of such a kind as no ship of war can pass (compare [Nahum 3:8](../../../kjv/nahum/3/8)). Jerusalem had not the advantage of a river; Jehovah will
be as one to it, affording all the advantages, without any of the
disadvantages of one.
**galley with oars**—war
vessels of a long shape, and propelled by oars; merchant vessels were
broader and carried sail.
**gallant**—same *Hebrew*
word as for "glorious," previously; "mighty" will
suit both places; a ship of war is meant. No "mighty vessel"
will dare to pass where the "mighty Lord" stands as our
defense.

**22. Lord**—thrice repeated, as
often: the Trinity ().
**judge . . . lawgiver . . .
king**—perfect ideal of the theocracy, to be realized under
Messiah alone; the judicial, legislative, and administrative
functions as king to be exercised by Him in person ([Isaiah 11:4](../../../kjv/isaiah/11/4);
[Isaiah 32:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/32/1); [James 4:12](../../../kjv/james/4/12)).

**23. tacklings**—Continuing the
allegory in [Isaiah 33:21](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/21), he
compares the enemies' host to a war galley which is deprived of the
tacklings or cords by which the mast is sustained and the sail is
spread; and which therefore is sure to be wrecked on "the broad
river" ([Isaiah 33:21](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/21)), and
become the prey of Israel.
**they**—the tacklings,
"hold not firm the base of the mast."
**then**—when the Assyrian
host shall have been discomfited. Hezekiah had given Sennacherib
three hundred talents of silver, and thirty of gold ([Isaiah 33:21](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/21)), and had stripped the temple of its gold to give it to
him; this treasure was probably part of the prey found in the foe's
camp. After the invasion, Hezekiah had so much wealth that he made an
improper display of it ([Isaiah 33:21](../../../kjv/isaiah/33/21)); this wealth, probably, was in part got from the
Assyrian.
**the lame**—Even the most
feeble shall spoil the Assyrian camp (compare [Isaiah 35:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/35/6);
[2 Samuel 5:6](../../../kjv/2-samuel/5/6)).

**24. sick**—SMITH
thinks the allusion is to the beginning of the pestilence by which
the Assyrians were destroyed, and which, while sparing the righteous,
affected some within the city ("sinners in Zion"); it may
have been the sickness that visited Hezekiah (). In the Jerusalem to come there shall be no "sickness,"
because there will be no "iniquity," it being forgiven (). The latter clause of the verse contains the cause of the
former ([Mark 2:5-9](../../../kjv/mark/2/5-9)).

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