This chapter speaks of the end of the invading Assyrians and the desolation will be followed by restoration. This is in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah. The threats of the first year had been delayed by repentance on the part of the people but are now reiterated. The Assyrians are already in Judah, have laid the land waste, and are now threatening Jerusalem itself, 2 Kings 18.
The chapter begins with a series of woes upon the Assyrians. This is a prayer for deliverance and a prophecy about Assyria telling them they will be destroyed, Isaiah 33:1. The prophet addresses himself to Sennacherib and the injustice of his ambitious plan to conquer the people, Isaiah 33:1. In other words, Isaiah’s prayer is that God will rise up, Isaiah 33:2, for when God rises up, other nations will flee and scatter, Isaiah 33:3.
The one who came to spoil, shall find himself spoiled, Isaiah 33:4 / 2 Kings 19:36-37 / Isaiah 29:7-8 / Isaiah 37:11. God gives His people assurance by telling them that He will be with them. This is seen in Zion being filled with justice and righteousness, Isaiah 33:5 / Isaiah 30:22-26 / Isaiah 30:29 / Isaiah 31:6. Since the treasure of Zion is righteousness, God will spare her, Isaiah 33:6.
Here we read of the pitiful condition brought on by false trusts, Isaiah 33:7. Judah’s ambassadors of peace cried out in sorrow and disappointment because the Assyrians broke the covenant which they had made, Isaiah 33:8. Sennacherib took their tribute and then demanded the surrender of the city, his army was spoiling cities and ravaging the countryside, Isaiah 33:9.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘When Sennacherib invaded the land, and had advanced as far as to Lachish, Hezekiah sent messengers to him with a rich present, having stripped the temple of its gold, and sent him all the silver which was in his treasury, for the purpose of propitiating his favour, and of inducing him to return to his own land, 2 Kings 18:14-16. But it was all in vain. Sennacherib sent his generals with a great host against Jerusalem and was unmoved by all the treasures which Hezekiah had sent to him, and by his solicitations for peace, 2 Kings 18:17. It was to the failure of this embassy that Isaiah refers in the passage before us.’
After Hezekiah and his officials had exhausted all their abilities to negotiate peace, it was time for God to take action, Isaiah 33:10. God will not allow evil men to keep on oppressing His people. They will be brought to judgement. The Assyrians had ravaged the land, destroying one city after another but now it was time for them to reap what they had sown, Isaiah 33:11-12. Distant nations would hear of the destruction of those who attacked Jerusalem, Isaiah 33:13.
The sinners in Jerusalem are petrified and two questions are asked, which basically means, who can stand? Isaiah 33:14. Isaiah gives us the answer.
a. He who walks uprightly, Isaiah 33:15.
b. He that speaks uprightly, Isaiah 33:15.
c. He who does not only participate in sin actively but he who inwardly hates sin, Isaiah 33:15.
d. He who diligently guards against moral pollution, Isaiah 33:15.
Because the righteous had committed themselves to the fear of the Lord, their defence was the Lord, Isaiah 33:16. Their food was guaranteed because they lived under the protection of the Lord, Isaiah 33:16.
These verses picture a vanquished conqueror. The land was emptied of the Assyrians. Some commentators suggest that ‘the king in his beauty’, Isaiah 33:27, refers to God, other suggest it refers to Hezekiah and others suggest it’s referring to the Messiah.
Coffman, in his commentary, gives the following reasons, concerning ‘the king in his beauty’, as to why he believes it is referring to the Messiah.
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 like 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.
As the Assyrians insulted the people, those who had counted out tribute, three-hundred talents of silver and the thirty talents of gold, to the Assyrians had failed, Isaiah 33:18. Those who depended on their defence by counting the towers of the wall would also fail, Isaiah 33:18. The people were delivered from those who spoke a strange language, Isaiah 33:19 / Isaiah 36:11.
They are to forget the past, Isaiah 33:18-19, and look to the future and God was the deliverer of the city, Isaiah 33:20. This was a time to rejoice, it was a time of peace, Isaiah 33:20. God swept through the Assyrian army, killing one-hundred and eighty-five thousand in one night, Isaiah 33:21 / 2 Kings 19:35 / Isaiah 37:36.
Notice a fourfold glory is given to God.
a. Judge, Isaiah 33:22.
b. Lawgiver, Isaiah 33:22.
c. King, Isaiah 33:22.
d. Saviour, Isaiah 33:22.
Judah’s present condition is pretty poor and Jerusalem was at one time like a broken ship but not so anymore, Isaiah 33:23. No sailing boat, that is, no enemy of Judah will be allowed to launch against Jerusalem for the Lord is its ruler and king. Though old and ragged, there will be better days for Zion. Instead of being plundered, the lame Zion would eventually plunder from those who sought to plunder the city, Isaiah 33:23.
Henry, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Isaiah 33:24.
‘Sickness is taken away in mercy when the fruit of it is the taking away of sin. If iniquity is taken away, we have little reason to complain of outward affliction. This last verse leads our thoughts, not only to the most glorious state of the gospel church on earth but to heaven, where no sickness or trouble can enter. He that blots out our transgressions will heal our souls.’