33:1-12. The Assyrian Spoiler.

(Repeated Alternation).

K5  m¹  1. The spiler.
     n¹  2. Yehovah. Prayer to.
    m²  3,4. The spoiler.
     n¹  5,6. Yehovah. Praise to.
    m³  7-9. The spoiler.
     n³  10-12. Yehovah. Answer of.

33)

 1 Woe (5th of 6 woes) to you you plunderer, and you were not spoiled; and you traitor, and they dealt not treacherously with you! when you shall cease to spoil, you shall be spoiled; and when you shall make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.

 2 O Yehovah, be gracious unto us; we have waited for You: be You their arm (put for the strength and defence put forth by it) every morning (i.e. continually), our salvation also in the time of trouble.

 3 At the noise of the tumult the peoples fled; at the lifting up of Yourself nations were scattered.
 4 And Your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the locusts: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.

 5 Yehovah is exalted; for He dwells on high: He has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
 6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times, and strength of salvation: the love (or reverence) of Yehovah tht is his treasure.

 7 Behold, their valiant ones shall cry outside: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
 8 The highways are desolate (see 7:3), he that walkes along the path ceases (see note on "path", 2:3): he has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he regards no mortal.
 9 The earth mourns and languishes (see 3:26): Lebanon is ashamed and withered: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

 10 "Now will I rise", may Yehovah say; "now will I be exalted; now will I lift up Myself.
 11 You all shall conceive chaff, you all shall bring forth stubble: your breath as a fire (Heb. ruach), shall devour you.
 12 And the peoples shall be as the burnings of lime (i.e. fuel for limekilns): as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire." (these are the common fuel used in limekilns in Palestine)

L5  o¹  13-17. The king. Seen in the Land.
     p¹  18,19. Enemy not seen.
    o²  20,21-. The glorious Yehovah. Seen in Zion.
     p²  -21. Enemy not seen.
    o³  22. Yehovah. Present to save.
     p³  23. Enemy. Destroyed.
    o4  24. Yehovah. His People forgiven.

 13 Hear, you all (i.e. the heathen) that are far off, what I have done (i.e. in the destruction of Senacherib's army); and, you all that are near, acknowledge My might.
 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has surprised the hypocrites. Who for us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? (the answer implied being the negative)
 15 He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly (this is not the answer to v.14, but the subject of the Promise in v.16, "He...shall dwell on high". Hence it is ephatic. See Deut.10:17; 16:19; 27:25); he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, that stopps his ears from hearing of murderes (fig., by which "blood" is first put for bloodshedding, and, secondly, bloodshedding put for those who shed it), and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
 17 Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty (see v.22): they shall behold the land that is very far stretching.

 18 Your heart shall meditate terror. Where is the counter? where is the weigher? where is he that counted the towers? (referring to Sennacherib's besieging army)
 19 You shall not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive (see Deut.28:49,50); of a jabbering tongue (fig., put for the language spoken by it), that you can not understand.

 20 Gaze upon Zion, the city of our feast-days (see Lev.23. Num.15, &c): your eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that 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 Yehovah will be to us a place of broad rivers and streams;

wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall mighty (or, noble) ship pass thereby.

 22 For Yehovah is our Judge, Yehovah is our Lawgiver, Yehovah is our King; He will save us.

 23 Your tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. (referring to the spol taken from the dead of the Assyrian host. See 2 Kings 19:35)

 24 And the inhabitant shall not say, “I am sick:” the People that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. (see Ex.23:21; 32:32. Num.14:19)

K6  V  1-8. Nations and armies.
     W  9,10. The land.
      X  11-. Wild creatures.
       Y  -11. The line of confusion.
    V  12. Nobles and princes.
     W  13-. The land.
      X  -13-16. Wild creatures.
       Y  17. The line of confusion.

V  q  1-4. Wrath.
    r  5,6-. Sword.
    r  -6,7. Sacrifice.
   q  8. Vengeance.

34)

 5 For My sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of My curse (i.e. I have devoted), to judgment.
 6 The sword of Yehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams:

for Yehvah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
 7 And the oxes (or rhinocerous') shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

 8 For it is the Day for Yehovah's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

 9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
 10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

 11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it:

and He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. (Heb. tuhu ... bohu. See Gen.1:2, "without form and void" = waste and desolate. See also Jer.4:23. See 24:10. "Stones" being put for what causes the land to lie emty or untiled)

 12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.

 13 And thorns shall climb in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof:

and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
 14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there (Heb. Lilith. Used today of any being of the night, as the English "bogy" [i.e. bogy man] in used. Charms are used against it today in Palestine), and find for herself a roost.
 15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
 16 Search you all out of the book of Yehovah (this proves there was a Book in existence, wich could be searched), and read: no one of these shall be missing, none shall want her mate: for My mouth it has commanded, and His Spirit (Ruach) it has gathered them.

 17 And He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

L6  s¹  1,2. The Land.
     t¹  3-6-. The People.
    s²  -6-8-. The Land.
     t²  -8. The People.
    s³  9-. The Land.
     t³  -9,10. The People.

35)

 1 The wilderness and the solitary place (i.e. the land of Edom referred to in 34:9-16. While Edom becomes a waste, the Land becomes a paradice; and the way of the return to that place a peaceful highway) shall shall rejoice over them (as in the first occ. See Deut.28:63; 30:9, and Jer.32:41. "Them" i.e. the noisesome creatres of 34:14-16, which were the evidences of the vengeance of 34:8 and the glorious results as seen in 35:4. The former portrays one aspect of it, and the latter the other. The wilderness is glad for the removal of the Edomites, of whic removal the presence of the wild creatures [34:13-17] was the oken); but (giving the contrast) the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. (the description in this chapter leaves little to be interpreted. It requires only to be believed. No amount of spiritual blessing through the preaching of the Gospel can produce these physical miracles)
 2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon (see 33:9), they shall see the glory of Yehovah, and the excellency of our Elohim.

 3 Strengthen you all the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. (quoted in Heb.12:11,12)
 4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart (or mind), ”Be strong, fear not: behold, your Elohim will come with vengeance, even Elohim with a recompence; He will come and save you.”
 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. (When Messiah came, these miracles [not miracles qua miracles] were the evidence that He had indeed come to save His People [Matt.11:1-6], but they rejected Him. Hence, this with other similar prophecies are in abeyance. John had based his own claims on 40:3, while the Lord based His claims on 35:5,6)
 6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing:

for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
 7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
 8 And a highway shall be there (see 7:3), and a way, and it shall be called the set apart (holy) road;

the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those (i.e. yet for those very persons it will exist): the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not go astray.

 9 No lion shall be there (see Lev.26:6), nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there;

but the redeemed shall walk there:
 10 And the ransomed of Yehovah shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads (fig., put for the whole person): they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (see 21:2. Chapter 40 takes up this theme, after the historical episode of capters 36-39, which is necessary for the understanding of the references to the Assyrian invasion)

C  Z¹  A¹  36:1 -37:13. The King of Assyria. His summons to surrender Jerusalem.
        B¹  37:14-20. Hezekiah's fear and prayer.
         C¹  37:21-38. Isaiah. Answer to prayer, and promise of deliverance from Sennacherib.
    Z²  A²  38:1 "The King of Terrors". His solemn summons to Hezekiah to surrender his life.
         B²  38:2,3. Hezekiah's fear and prayer.
          C²  38:4-22. Isaiah. Answer to prayer and promise of deliverance from death.
    Z³  A³  39:1. The King of Babylon. His letters and present.
         B³  39:2. Hezekiah. Fearless and prayerless.
          C³  39:3-8. Isaiah. His message of deliverance to Babylon.

A¹  D  36:1-21. Rabshakeh. First embassy.
     E  36:22 - 37:7. Hezekiah. Reception of message.
    D  37:8-13. Rabshakeh. Second embassy.

D  u¹  1,2. Rabshakeh. Mission.
    v¹  3. Elakim. Comes forth.
   u²  4-10. Rabshakeh. Message to Hezekiah.
    v²  11. Eliakim. Answer.
   u³  12-20. Rabshakeh. Message to the People.
    v³  21. Eliakim. Answeer him not.

36)

603 B.C.

 1 Now it came to pass (note the insertion of hese historical events in the midst of prophecy, corresponding with those concerning the reign of Ahaz. Cp. 2 Kings 18:13 - 20:19, on which Isaiah is not dependent, and 2 Chron.32:1-33, which is not depenent on either. This history is a proof of Isaiah's prophetic mission and gifts. History and prophecy arre thus combined: for the latter is history foretold, and the former is [in this and many cases] prophecy fulfilled: the two accounts being perfectly independent) in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah (i.e. 628 B.C. After Hezekiah'sreformation [2 Chron.29:1 -32:1]. Samaria had been taken by Shalmanesser in Hezekiah's 6th year [2 Kigs 18:10]. The date [14th year] no "error"), that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. (see the lst and number of the [46] on Sennacherib's hexagonal cylinder in the British Museum. See 2 Kings 18:13)
 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh (or, "political officer". Probably a renegade Jew) from Lachish (now Tell el Hesy, or Umm Lakis. See the work on the excaations there, published by the "Palestine Exploration Fund". Cp. note on 2 Kigs 18:17; and 19:8) to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army (foretold in 29:1-6, as foretold in 22:15-25). And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool (in the same spot where Isaiah stood with Ahaz 28 years before. See 7:3) in the highway of the fuller's field.

 3 Then came forth to him Eliakim (see and cp. 22:20-25. The promise of 22:20,21, was already fulfilled), Hilkiah's son, which was over the house (fig., put for the whole hosehold. Eliakim fulfils Shebna's office, as foretold in 22:15-25), and Shebna (see 22:15) the scribe (or secretary. Title used of a state officer, first in 2 Sam.8:17. Connected with finance [2 Kings 22:3]. Jer.25), and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.

 4 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say you all now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king (contrast Ps.47:2), the king of Assyria, ‘What confidence is this wherein you have confided? (see Hezekiah's "Songs of the Degree" Pss.121:3; 125:1,2; 127:1; 130:5-8; and 2 Kings 18:13)
 5 I say, sayes you (some codices read "You say", as in 2 Kings 18:20), {but they are but lip-talk} ‘I have counsel and strength for war:’ now on whom do you trust, that you rebell against me?
 6 Lo, you have confided in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
 7 But if you all say to me, ‘We trust in Yehovah our Elohim:’ is it not He (Manifesting Rabshakeh's ignorance), Whose high places and Whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You all shall worship before this altar?’ ’
 8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray you, to my master (Heb. adonai) the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders upon them.
 9 How then will you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your confidence on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? (Hezekiah at first looked for help there [see 20:3-6; 30:2-5; 2 Kings 18:21)
 10 And am I now come up without Yehovah against this land to destroy it? (as foretold 28 years before [10:6-8]. If Rabshakeh knew of this, it shows the falsehood of "half the truth") Yehovah said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”

 11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah to Rabshakeh (this led only to grosser insults), “Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language (the name by which the People were known of old, to foreigners. See v.2. No proof of a later authorship. "Hebrew" is the later word for the language [cp. 19:18]), in the ears of the people that are on the wall.”

 12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? (see 2 Kings 19:16. Pss.120:2,3; 123:3,4) has he not sent me to the men that maintain their posts (i.e. till reduced to these extremities), that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?”
 13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, “Hear you all the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
 14 Thus says the king, ‘Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
 15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Yehovah, saying, ‘Yehovah will surely deliver us: this city (some codices read "and thiscity": i.e. "therefore this city") shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
 16 Listen not to Hezekiah:’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat all you men of his vine, and men of his fig tree, and drink all you men the waters of his own cistern;
 17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land (as he did Israel [2 kings 18:11]), a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
 18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, ‘Yehovah will deliver us.’ [Reflect] Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
 19 Where (or, Why, where. Some codices read "Where then") are the gods of Hamath (now Hama, north of Damascus [Amos 6:14]) and Arphad? (now Tell erfad, 13 miles north of Aleppo) where are the gods of Sepharvaim? (now Sippara on the Euphrates, above Babylon) and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
 20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ”

 21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.