XXVII

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN ISAIAH

The relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy is that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. To him give all the prophets witness. All the scriptures, the law, the prophets, and the psalms, testify of him. And we are fools, and slow of heart to credit adequate testimony when we distrust any part of the inspired evidence.

Of the ancient prophets Isaiah was perhaps the most notable witness of the coming Messiah. An orderly combination of his many messianic utterances amounts to more than a mere sketch, indeed, rather to a series of almost life-sized portraits. As a striking background for these successive portraits the prophet discloses the world’s need of a Saviour, and across this horrible background of gloom the prophet sketches in startling strokes of light the image of a coming Redeemer.

In Isa 2:2-4 we have the first picture of him in Isaiah, that of the effect of his work, rather than of the Messiah himself. This is the establishment of the mountain of the Lord’s house on the top of the mountains, the coming of the nations to it and the resultant millennial glory.

In Isa 4:2-6 is another gleam from the messianic age in which the person of the Messiah comes more into view in the figure of a branch of Jehovah, beautiful and glorious. In sketching the effects of his work here the prophet adds a few strokes of millennial glory as a consummation of his ministry.

In Isa 7:14 he delineates him as a little child born of a virgin, whose coming is the light of the world. He is outlined on the canvas in lowest humanity and highest divinity, “God with us.” In this incarnation he is the seed of the woman and not of the man.

The prophet sees him as a child upon whom the government shall rest and whose name is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6 ). This passage shows the divinity of Christ and the universal peace he is to bring to the world. In these names we have the divine wisdom, the divine power, the divine fatherhood, and the divine peace.

In Isa 11:1-9 the prophet sees the Messiah as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, i.e., of lowly origin, but possessing the Holy Spirit without measure who equips him for his work, and his administration wrought with skill and justice, the result of which is the introduction of universal and perfect peace. Here the child is presented as a teacher. And such a teacher! On him rests the seven spirits of God. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He judges not according to appearances and reproves not according to rumors. With righteousness he judges the poor and reproves with equality in behalf of the meek. His words smite a guilty world like thunderbolts and his very breath slays iniquity. Righteousness and faithfulness are his girdle. He uplifts an infallible standard of morals.

In Isa 40:3-8 appears John the Baptist, whom Isaiah saw as a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the coming King.

In Isa 11:2 ; Isa 42:1 ; Isa 61:1-3 the prophet saw the Messiah as a worker in the power of the Spirit, in whom he was anointed at his baptism. This was the beginning of his ministry which was wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. At no time in his ministry did our Lord claim that he wrought except in the power of the Holy Spirit who was given to him without measure.

In Isa 35:1-10 the Messiah is described as a miracle worker. In his presence the desert blossoms as a rose and springs burst out of dry ground. The banks of the Jordan rejoice. The lame man leaps like a hart, the dumb sing and the blind behold visions. The New Testament abounds in illustrations of fulfilment. These signs Christ presented to John the Baptist as his messianic credentials (Mat 11:1-4 ).

The passage (Isa 42:1-4 ) gives us a flashlight on the character of the Messiah. In the New Testament it is expressly applied to Christ whom the prophet sees as the meek and lowly Saviour, dealing gently with the blacksliding child of his grace. In Isa 22:22 we have him presented as bearing the key of the house of David, with full power to open and shut. This refers to his authority over all things in heaven and upon earth. By this authority he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles who used one on the day of Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, declaring in each case the terms of entrance into the kingdom of God. This authority of the Messiah is referred to again in Revelation:

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Rev 7:17

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphis write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and shutteth and none openeth. Rev 3:7

In Isa 32:1-8 we have a great messianic passage portraying the work of Christ as a king ruling in righteousness, in whom men find a hiding place from the wind and the tempest. He is a stream in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

In Isa 28:14-18 the Messiah is presented to w as a foundation stone in a threefold idea:

1. A tried foundation stone. This is the work of the master mason and indicates the preparation of the atone for its particular function.

2. An elect or precious foundation stone. This indicates that the stone was selected and appointed. It was not self-appointed but divinely appointed and is therefore safe.

3. A cornerstone, or sure foundation stone. Here it is a foundation of salvation, as presented in Mat 16:18 . It is Christ the Rock, and not Peter. See Paul’s foundation in 1 Corinthians:

According to the grace of God which was given unto me; as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:10-11 .

In Isa 49:1-6 he is presented as a polished shaft, kept close in the quiver. The idea is that he is a mighty sword. In Revelation, Christ is presented to John as having a sharp, twoedged sword proceeding out of his mouth.

In Isa 50:2 ; Isa 52:9 f.; Isa 59:16-21 ; Isa 62:11 we have the idea of the salvation of Jehovah. The idea is that salvation originated with God and that man in his impotency could neither devise the plan of salvation nor aid in securing it. These passages are expressions of the pity with which God looks down on a lost world. The redemption, or salvation, here means both temporal and spiritual salvation salvation from enemies and salvation from sin.

In Isa 9:1 f. we have him presented as a great light to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. In Isa 49:6 we have him presented as a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the end of the earth: “Yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”

In Isa 8:14-15 Isaiah presents him as a stone of stumbling: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”

The prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection are found in Isa 50:4-9 ; Isa 52:13-53:12 . In this we have the vision of him giving his “back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His visage is so marred it startled all nations. He is a vicarious sacrifice. The chastisement of the peace of others is on him. The iniquity of others is put on him. It pleases the Father to bruise him until he has poured out his soul unto death as an offering for sin.

The teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews is his teaching concerning the “holy remnant,” a favorite expression of the prophet. See Isa 1:9 ; Isa 10:20-22 ; Isa 11:11 ; Isa 11:16 ; Isa 37:4 ; Isa 37:31-32 ; Isa 46:3 . This coincides with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11.

In Isa 32:15 we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest,” and in Isa 44:3 : “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”

In Isa 11:10 he is said to be the ensign of the nations: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting place shall be glorious.”

Isa 19:18-25 ; Isa 54:1-3 ; Isa 60:1-22 teach the enlargement of the church. The great invitation and promise are found in Isa 55 .

The Messiah in judgments is found in Isa 63:1-6 . Here we behold an avenger. He comes up out of Edom with dyed garments from Bozra. All his raiment is stained with the blood of his enemies whom he has trampled in his vengeance as grapes are crushed in the winevat and the restoration of the Jews is set forth in Isa 11:11-12 ; Isa 60:9-15 ; Isa 66:20 . Under the prophet’s graphic pencil or glowing brush we behold the establishment and growth of his kingdom unlike all other kingdoms, a kingdom within men, a kingdom whose principles are justice, righteousness, and equity and whose graces are faith, hope, love, and joy, an undying and ever-growing kingdom. Its prevalence is like the rising waters of Noah’s flood; “And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth. And the water prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth; and all the high mountains, that are under the whole heavens, were covered.”

So this kingdom grows under the brush of the prophetic limner until its shores are illimitable. War ceases. Gannenta rolled in the blood of battle become fuel for fire. Conflagration is quenched. Famine outlawed. Pestilence banished. None are left to molest or make afraid. Peace flows like a river. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the kid. The calf and the young lion walk forth together and a little child is leading them. The cow and the bear feed in one pasture and their young ones are bedfellows. The sucking child safely plays over the hole of the asp, and weaned children put their hands in the adder’s den. In all the holy realms none hurt nor destroy, because the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the fathomless ocean is full of water. Rapturous vision! Sublime and ineffable consummation! Was it only a dream?

In many passages the prophet turns in the gleams from the millennial age, but one of the clearest and best on the millennium, which is in line with the preceding paragraph, Isa 11:6-9 : “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”

The prophet’s vision of the destruction of death is given in Isa 25:8 : “He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it,” and in Isa 26:19 : “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.”

The clearest outlines of the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained” are to be found in Isa 25:8 , and in two passages in chapter Isa 66 : Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hands of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants ; and he will have indignation against his enemies. Isa 66:10-14

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. Isa 66:22-23

QUESTIONS

1. What is the relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy?

2. What can you say of Isaiah as a witness of the Messiah?

3. What can you say of Isaiah’s pictures of the Messiah and their background?

4. Following in the order of Christ’s manifestation, what is the first picture of him in Isaiah?

5. What is the second messianic glimpse in Isaiah?

6. What is Isaiah’s picture of the incarnation?

7. What is Isaiah’s picture of the divine child?

8. What is Isaiah’s vision of his descent, his relation to the Holy Spirit, his administration of justice, and the results of his reign?

9. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s herald?

10. What is the prophet’s vision of his anointing?

11. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a miracle worker?

12. What is the prophet’s vision of the character of the Messiah?

13. What is the prophet’s vision of him as the key bearer?

14. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a king and a hiding place?

15. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah as a foundation stone?

16. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a polished shaft?

17. In what passages do we find the idea of the salvation of Jehovah, and what the significance of the idea?

18. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah as a light?

19. Where does Isaiah present him as a stone of stumbling?

20. What is the prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection?

21. What is the teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews?

22. Where do we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?

23. Where is he said to be the ensign of the nations?

24. What passages teach the enlargement of the church?

25. Where is the great invitation and promise?

26. Where is the Messiah in judgment?

27. What passages show the restoration of the Jews?

28. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah’s kingdom?

29. What is the prophet’s vision of the millennium?

30. What is the prophet’s vision of the destruction of death?

31. What is the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained?”

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

XVI

THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 8

Isaiah 28-33

“This section, Isaiah 28-33, is called “The Book of Zion,” or “The Book of Woes.” The time of this prophecy is the reign of Hezekiah. In the preceding section the prophet contemplated the judgments which were to come in the course of the ages, upon the nations of the world, but in this section he is brought back to his own time and people.

Quite a long time has elapsed since the prophet first foretold the destruction of Samaria (Isa 7:17 ; Isa 8:4-8 ), but the crisis is now close at hand. The northern invaders who have been held back by the divine order so long, are now ready to be let loose, and the “crown of Ephraim’s pride” is about to be buried to the ground. At this solemn period a most important work must be accomplished in Judah, if Jerusalem is to be saved from Assyria. This must be a religious and moral preparation for a divine intervention, which was necessary for her salvation. This indeed had been begun by Hezekiah but it would not prove permanent unless followed up by a steady culture and patient discipline. This was now the task of Isaiah, the prophet. In order to do this he must alarm the “sinners of Zion,” reprove the infidel, stir up the worldly and careless to repentance, assure the men of Judah, who trusted in their political schemes of alliance with Egypt, that God would bring their schemes to nought, all this without unduly disheartening the poor and the meek. On the other hand, the faithful disciples were to be cheered. They were to be told that their hope was in the stone which Jehovah had laid in Zion; that Jehovah himself would defend Jerusalem; that the Holy City should be as & tabernacle whose stakes should be secure, and all this without fostering a reliance upon external privileges. This was no mean task, but the prophet rose to the demand of the hour. The prophetic word went forth, giving warning to the rebellious, confirming and establishing the true hearts, and putting all on probation.

The word which determines the natural divisions of this section is “Woe,” which occurs at Isa 28:1 ; Isa 29:1 ; Isa 29:15 ; Isa 30:1 ; Isa 31:1 and Isa 33:1 . The divisions are as follows:

1. Woe unto Samaria (Isa 28 )

2. Woe unto Ariel [Jerusalem] (Isa 29:1-14 )

3. Woe unto the worldly-wise (Isa 29:15-24 )

4. Woe unto the rebellious (Isa 30 )

5. Woe unto them that go down to Egypt (Isaiah 31-32)

6. Woe unto the destroyer (Isa 33 )

This outline does not coincide with Dr. Sampey’s, but it has the merit of following the author’s divisions rather than the chapter divisions.

In Isa 28:1-6 we have the woe unto Samaria, “the crown of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim.” This is a solemn warning to Samaria of her speedy downfall. Then the prophet turns to Judah and pronounces the woe upon Jerusalem because she has followed the example of Samaria. This he gives in a series of pictures: In Isa 28:7-8 we have the drunken priests and prophets, revelling in their self-indulgence and failing in their visions and judgments. In Isa 28:9-10 we hear them mocking Isaiah in his message, saying, “His words are but repetitions, suited to sucking babes.” “For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.” Then in Isa 28:11-13 the prophet retorts that God would speak to them by men of strange lips, the Assyrians, because he had offered them rest and they would not hear. So now the words of Jehovah would be to them, “precept upon precept,” etc., that they might be broken, snared, and taken. In Isa 28:14-22 there is a severe arraignment of the rulers of Jerusalem, who had made, or were about to make, secret arrangements with Egypt which, as they thought, would secure Judah against injury at the hands of the Assyrians. This the prophet calls a covenant with death and an agreement with Sheol, and instructs them that their boasted arrangements would fail completely in the time of trial; that Egypt, their refuge would be a refuge of lies and Assyria, the overflowing scourge, would pass through the land and carry all before it; that only those resting on the precious cornerstone would be secure; that in the time of this vexation of the land, their bed which they made would not suffice, for the decree of destruction had already gone forth. In Isa 28:23-29 is a parable to comfort believers, to the end that God’s wisdom in dispensing judgment and mercy may be inferred from the skill which he gives to the husbandman. But this he left to their spiritual insight to discover.

Two passages of this chapter are quoted in the New Testament:

1.Isa 28:11 is quoted by Paul in 1Co 14:21 to show that the gifts of the baptism of the Spirit, just as the work and message of the prophet, were for a sign.

2.Isa 28:16 is quoted in several places in the New Testament and applied to Christ, as the stone of stumbling for the Jews in all ages.

Isa 28:20 may be used in accordance with the context here to show how futile it is for a man to turn away from God’s plan, in the matters of salvation, to the devices of men. When the testing time comes, the bed is found to be too short and the covering too narrow.

In Isa 29:1-4 we have the prophet’s address to Ariel (Jerusalem) in which he predicts her siege by a terrible army and her great humiliation during that siege. In Isa 29:5-8 is the vivid description of this vast host coming up against Jerusalem, but just as the enemy expects to capture her, the host of them is scattered. As it is with one who dreams, so shall it be with this multitude of besiegers. In Isa 29:9-12 is a description of Israel’s awful judicial blindness visited upon them by Jehovah because of their sins. All prophecy is to them as a sealed book. In their blindness they cannot read the message. What a picture of the effects of sin! This reminds us of the picture of Jerusalem which was drawn by Christ. The natural man cannot understand divine revelation. The educated and the uneducated are alike helpless. Over against this stands the contrast of Isa 29:18 . In Isa 29:13-14 we have the cause stated. They are in this state because of the condition of their hearts. With the lips they honored God, but their hearts were not with him. How significant is the application of this truth to all our worship and service! In Isa 29:17-21 is the prophecy that this condition shall not always pertain to them. The day will come when this condition shall be reversed. The deaf shall hear the words out of the book and the blind shall see. To many this was fulfilled in the days of Christ, but we look ahead of us for the full fruitage of this great promise. In Isa 29:22-24 is the climax of the vision in which the marvels of God’s grace upon the sons of Jacob are exhibited. God speed the day of its realization!

The prophetic description here (Isa 29:1-8 ) fits well the historical events of Sennacherib’s siege and the poem, “The Destruction of Sennacherib” by Byron is the best poetic description of this event. Two passages from this chapter are quoted in the New Testament:

1.Isa 29:10 is quoted by Paul in Rom 11:8 where it is used to show the judicial hardening of Israel which lasted to Paul’s day and will continue till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

2.Isa 29:13 is quoted by our Lord in Mat 15:8-9 to upbraid the Jews for their hypocrisy and following the commandments of men, showing that the conditions which existed in Isaiah’s time existed also in Christ’s time.

Isa 30 consists of an exposure of the alliance with Egypt. In Isa 30:1-5 we have the plain prediction that the alliance with Egypt, then forming, would be of no assistance to Judah. The prophet in Isa 30:6-17 states the oracle with great power, showing the sin and evil effects of trusting in Egypt rather than in Jehovah. In Isa 30:18-26 there is set forth the hope of the future success of God’s people when he shall be gracious to them and confer upon them marvelous prosperity. In Isa 30:27-33 we have another vision of the supernatural overthrow of the Assyrians.

In Isa 30:33 we have the image of a funeral pyre on which the king of Assyria is to be consumed. Topheth was a place in the valley of Hinnom, that was desecrated by idolatrous human sacrifices (Jer 7:31 ; 2Ki 23:10 ). This was fulfilled, not by the death of Sennacherib in Judah, but by the destruction of his army there, and his own death at home twenty years later (881 B.C).

Chapter 31 is a brief summary of what has been so frequently set forth about Samaria, Jerusalem, and Assyria. The points are as follows: (1) Those who trust in the Egyptian alliance shall fall; ‘(2) Jerusalem shall be protected by divine love; (3) the Assyrian shall be driven away in terror. In verses 4-5 Jehovah represents himself as a lion and a mother bird, a picture of his power and tenderness.

By all scholars Isa 32 is accounted messianic. It must be considered as a whole in order to understand its parts. It tells us under what king justice shall be rendered in human government, and what influences shall bring about an appreciation of this justice in the hearts of the people, and what shall be the effects of the righteousness rendered by this government and appreciated by these people under this divine influence.

The righteous King is our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Governor of this world. “A king shall reign in righteousness.” We have never yet on this earth been blessed with a perfect human government. We do not know experimentally what a genuinely good government is, whose ruler rules according to principles of exact righteousness and uses his office for the benefit of the governed, and to subserve the ends of justice; nor have we ever seen a people whose hearts would properly appreciate that kind of a government, who really desire it or who are willing to work for it and willing to submit to it. The conditions call for a righteous King and righteous subjects. Granted these two and the effect is righteousness, peace, and confidence forever.

We may conceive in our minds of an ideal king whose scepter is a righteous scepter, who loves righteousness and hates iniquity, who holds an even balance when he administers justice, who has no respect to men’s persons, who is a terror to evildoers and as the shadow of a high rock in a weary land to the oppressed. We may conceive of such a ruler, but in earthly governments, we have never known him. We may conceive of a people in their hearts desiring such a government, voting for it, supporting it, on demand sacrificing whatever they have to its maintenance, and then joyfully resting under its benign influence. What a sweet picture to the contemplative mind! Such a king, such a people, and peace and quiet throughout the land, perfect confidence, no doors locked at night, no hired policemen, no standing armies, no dread of burglars or assassins, no distrust in business, engagements, perfect confidence! It is a charming conception. God’s Word declares that this conception shall be realized on this earth; that “a king shall reign in righteousness, and all of the rulers shall rule in judgment.”

The influence that prepares the people for that kind of a government is here distinctly set forth. It is said that “thorns and briers shall come up on the land of my people until the spirit be poured out from on high.” Without the influence of God’s Spirit the people themselves are not prepared for a righteous administration of affairs. They have what they want. If they wish to promote the wicked they promote them. If they wish to be placed in bondage to the covetous they yield their necks to the yoke. The people are not prepared for good government. And what things disqualify them for living and working for such a government? We get at the disqualifications by ascertaining from this chapter what the blessings are which the Spirit confers by way of preparation.

The first blessing specified is that under the influence of the Spirit they shall see clearly: “the eyes of them that see shall not be dim.” This refers to the moral perceptions. Where there are no clear perceptions of right or wrong, where the vision is clouded, everything else will be wrong. If the moral sense of the people be distorted in vision, it will see light as if it were darkness, and darkness as if it were light; it will call a churl a liberal man, and a liberal man a churl; it will label things contrary to their essence and nature. If the eye be not single our very light is darkness, and how great is that darkness! So that we have as the first effect of the Spirit poured out on the people, that they shall see clearly.

It is now painful and humiliating, distressingly so, to get any ten or twelve men or women together and submit for their consideration a question involving morals, and see how variously they look at it. They do not see clearly. And particularly they do not see clearly with reference to the outcome of things. They look at immediate results. They look at present effects. They judge of things by what may immediately follow their performance. They do not project their vision far enough, and they are unable to do it on account of their moral blindness. So the prophet in the middle of this chapter calls on the women to hear his discussion. We do well to recall the words of the apostle Peter concerning the Christian graces, the fruits of the Spirit:

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” 2Pe 1:8-9 .

Yes, he that lacketh these things is dim-eyed. His vision will be blurred. He cannot see things afar off. First of all, therefore the outpoured Spirit enlightens the eye, the moral eye. It makes us see things as they are in the sight of God. If a man is a miser, a covetous man, a churl, we see him to be that way. He appears so to us. He does not seem to be a liberal man. Oh, when the Spirit is poured out then no longer will the liberal man be called a churl and the churl a liberal man. There are examples that may be known and read of all men in every community, of those whose hearts are as hard as a millstone, hearts that have never been melted, never known any mercy, never felt one heartthrob of joy in ministering to the necessities of the distressed, and yet the community stands off and bows before them, and calls them the liberal men of the community. When the Spirit of God is poured out, clearness of vision will be given, and men will see a soul just as easily as they can see a body and the soul that is black will look black, the soul that is shriveled and miserly will look so, and the soul that is slimy and obscene and foul will appear to be so. That is the first effect. Now if people have not that vision, how can they love a righteous king? How can they love a righteous government? How can they desire evenhanded justice? How can they wish to be rid of favoritism, nepotism, and every other form of mischief in government, seeing their eyes are dim and their vision distorted? Clear vision distorted! Clear vision, that is first. They shall see clearly.

The second effect of the out-poured Spirit is, “The ears of them that hear shall hearken.” They shall hear distinctly and see clearly. To hear distinctly! You know there is such a thing as hearing and not hearing, “having ears to hear and hearing not,” what is called in the Bible an “uncircumcised ear.” An ear that does not hearken to what? To the divine voices, to the voice of wisdom speaking on the streets, speaking in places of business, speaking in places of pleasure, speaking in the family circle, speaking in the church and in the Sunday school, the voice of God. The whole earth is filled with the voices of God. As the psalmist says: There is no speech nor language; Where their voice is not heard. There line is gone out through all the earth; And their words to the end of the world. Psa 19:3-4 .

But if the people have not a hearing ear what matters it about a voice? “Incline your ear and come unto me. Hear and your soul shall live,” exhorts the prophet. The giving heed to the monitions of God’s Spirit, to the declarations of his Word, the submitting to the voice of God as the end of controversy, we must have that, to see clearly, to hear distinctly. The right kind of a conscience will hear the faintest whisper of God. God will not have to speak aloud. God will not have to send storms and earthquakes and pestilence and famine and blasting and mildew and other judgments to secure attention. If they have the hearing ear, though God speaks in the stillness of the night, that ear hears his whisper, and like a little Samuel rising up from his bed, saying, “Speak Lord, thy servant heareth.”

Oh, for the ear that will hearken to God’s Word, to righteousness. The evil-minded may devise a most mischievous falsehood, a shameful, sensational scandal, without the shadow of foundation in fact, and then with tongue set on fire of hell whisper his story of malice and, behold, the whole earth hears it. They have the ear set for hearing such things. But the good deed has no sound, seems to create no air waves, attains to no publicity. No wonder Paul said, “Whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things.” But they do not hear them. To get an audience, to come within the range of the ear of the world, speech must have a different character.

The third effect of the Spirit is “the heart of the rash [the hasty] shall understand.” That means to choose wisely. And what a blundering world this is, as to the choices made! All the time going to the forks of the road, so many times taking the wrong road, so many times preferring the worse to better things, so many times electing that which will bring shame instead of that which will bring honor. Every day there are put out before men and women multitudes of things from which to make a selection. Which will you take? And just see how they do take the poisons, how they take the rubbish, and the degraded, and that which tends downward, and that which debases. Oh, for choice God-guided! And that must come to the people. The hasty! Yes, when Spirit-guided the hasty need never apologize, thus: “I beg your pardon. I was inconsiderate. I acted unthoughtedly. I was indiscreet in that.” If we had the clear vision, if we had the hearing ear, then could we decide quickly on a moral question, and decide right. Even the heart of the hasty would be able to understand.

The fourth blessing is to speak plainly. What does the record say? “The tongue of the stammerer shall speak plainly.” Now, it is a somewhat ludicrous conception, and yet it does present the truth in a very striking manner. In a time or urgency, where one needs an utterance at once, and clean-cut, how a sharp question confounds a stammering man! It throws him into a fit of agitation. He tries to say something and stammers and stutters, and every kind of an answer seems hanging on the end of his tongue, and he cannot say anything. So there are moral stammerers. Ask him, “How do you stand on this question?” and he begins to stammer at once. It distresses one to listen. We feel like crying out: “Oh, speak plainly! Tell where you are. Don’t stutter all over a world of morals. Do gay one plain, straight-out word.” We are cursed with moral stuttering.

The church is cursed with it. Try some time to find out the attitude of even God’s people on a perfectly plain question of morals, or of doctrine, or of practical righteousness, and hear them begin to answer, “Well, I don’t know. Some people think it is this, and some people think it is that.” And thus they go limping around, stuttering over it. Do we not know that if the Spirit of God was poured out to give us clear moral vision, so that we could see things as they are, and the hearkening ear, so that God’s whisper would be louder to us than the devil’s thunder do not we know that if we had that wiseness of heart to choose as quick as lightning between good and evil, that there would not be any stuttering speech? A man would speak right up and Bay: “Here is where I stand; let there be no mistake about it.”

We have found the effects of the outpoured Spirit to be clear vision, acute hearing, wise choice, and plain talk. But work follows qualification. The outpoured Spirit exhorts: “Sow beside all waters.” The “sowing beside the waters” refers to that planting of rice and wheat in the overflowed waters, as in the overflow of the Nile. They go out in boats when the water covers the whole surface of the country, and they sow it down “cast your bread upon the waters,” i.e., your bread seed. And then they bring the cattle, and drive them up and down, tramping the seed down in the slime so that when the waters recede it has been plowed under by the feet of the stock.

“Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, driving thither the feet of the ox and of the ass.” That simply means covering it under. “Cast your bread upon the waters.” A distant blessing then that cornea from the outpouring of the Spirit in this ideal government set forth in this prophecy will be that every piece of land fertile enough to grow grain will be sowed down with grain. “Sow beside all waters,” that is, cast your seed on every spot of earth that can sprout the seed and make it bear a crop.

To bring the thought a little more closely: Where we have a righteous king, and a people who are endowed with clear vision, hearing distinctly, choosing wisely, and speaking plainly, these people will occupy every foot of ground which God commands them to occupy. They will let no spot of earth remain without a crop, if it can bear a crop.

But look at society as it stands, even Christian societies! You say, “Here is water out here. God has sent the overflow laden with rich soil in solution, which the receding waves deposit. Come, let us sow seed by that water.” “No, no; I have my little pond here at home. I must sow in this home pond, this and this only. I will not sow out yonder. Let the waves come and deposit the fertile soil, and the earth wait expectantly for seed to be deposited in its glowing bosom, ready of itself to make it send up the ripening grain that shall bless the earth with bread, all in vain. I won’t sow out there.”

What a miserable Christian! What an infinitesimal soul that man has! God brings soil for bread seed, and says, “Go forth, bearing precious seed; go forth casting your bread seed upon the waters; sow beside all waters,” and the delinquent church says, “I cannot hear that; I cannot hear that now. We have heathen at home the Greeks are at our door. I don’t believe in sowing in waters that are far off.” No, and he doesn’t believe in sowing in them at home. That is nearer the truth. He does not believe in any sowing at all. The root -of the matter is not in him. The spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t reign in his soul; for where the spirit is poured out from on high, and they have the vision of clearness, and the hearkening ear, the wise choice, and the unstammering tongue, they will not stop to consider the clouds. They will not stop to ask whether this or that shall prosper. They will not stop to talk about the narrow circumference of their own field, but they will say, “Lord God, let me send out thy word wherever hearts are hungering and souls are in bondage; wherever the devil throws his black pall of midnight and superstition over the hearts and souls of the people. Oh, God, let me by thy grace send them light to shine in the darkness! Oh, let me hold up my light higher and throw its radiance farther.” That is the spirit of the Christian. “Sow beside all waters.”

A final fruit of the spirit is: The liberal deviseth liberal things, and in liberal things shall he continue. “Ye did run well for a season,” says Paul. What hindered you? Why did you stop? What warranted it? Has God’s plan been modified? Have Christ’s desires abated? Is heaven full? Is the ground of salvation all pre-empted? Are the corridors of deliverance crowded so that there is no room for another one? Is Jesus Christ satisfied? Has he seen all of the travail of his soul that he wanted to see? No. There is room yet; the desire of God for human salvation is unabated; the needs of the lost are increased; the hell that threatens them is nearer to them. Oh, it is near. The damnation is not lingering. It is coming stealthily as the footfall of a tiger, or the spread of a pestilence, but coming nearer and deadlier than before, and we say, “Let us call a halt in liberal things.”

“Thorns and briers shall come up on the land of my people until the spirit be poured out from on high.” But if the spirit be poured out from on high, and we see clearly, and hear distinctly and choose wisely and speak plainly and sow beside all waters and devise liberal things and continue in liberal things, then that is heaven on earth. The kingdom of heaven has come. Christ is reigning whenever that has come to pass. And the nearer we approach it the nearer we are to heaven. Louder than the big guns of our battleships, louder than the voice of many waters, louder than mighty thunder should be the acclaim of God’s people, saying, “Hosanna to the Iambi Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and let the earth rejoice.”

Isa 33 is a woe against the Assyrian invaders. The prophet, after the great messianic ecstasy in the preceding chapter, comes back to his own times again to take another start. At first he deals with the local situation picturing the invading army of Assyrians, the desolation of the land by them and the awful distress in Jerusalem. Then follows the prediction of the miraculous deliverance of the city and the destruction of the enemy, upon which sinners are made to tremble and the inhabitants of Zion rejoice in quiet confidence by reason of Jehovah’s protecting presence. There are several messianic gleams in this chapter, as “the king in his beauty,” “Zion, . . . Jerusalem . . . a quiet habitation, . . . a place of broad rivers and streams,” where there is no sickness and the “iniquity of the people is forgiven”

The historical background for this prophecy is the invasion of Sennacherib’s host, the desolation of the land, and the threat of Jerusalem, all of which is described in 2Ki 18:13-19 ; 2Ki 18:37 . The essential items of this history are as follows: Sennacherib received at Lachish the stipulated tribute from Hezekiah, but then he demanded the unconditional surrender of Jerusalem. He captured many cities and had broken up all travel. Hezekiah’s ambassadors came home weeping. Then Sennacherib sent an army against Jerusalem to enforce his demands, but Rabshakeh, though skilful in speech, failed to get the keys to Jerusalem. He returned to Sennacherib whose army was visited by Jehovah and destroyed. Sennacherib returned to his own land and was smitten while worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god.

In Isa 33:1-6 we have the woe pronounced against the destroyer, showing his destruction, at which he would cease dealing treacherously. Then follows a prayer by the prophet to Jehovah in which he exalts Jehovah as the God of their salvation and the destroyer of the enemy. In this exaltation of Jehovah the prophet gets a glimpse of glorified Zion, filled with righteousness and justice, a city of stability and abounding in salvation, wisdom, knowledge, and the fear of Jehovah. Thus be gives the general outlines of the things which are to follow. In Isa 33:7-12 we have the particulars of what the prophet has just stated in general, viz: the shouting of the enemy without, the weeping of Hezekiah’s ambassadors, the waste and desertion of the highways, Sennacherib’s disregard of his covenant and his spoiling of the cities, the languishing of the land, specifying the destructive work of the Assyrian army, at which point he presents Jehovah as rousing himself, delivering his people and disposing of the enemy, as thorns cast into the fire.

In Isa 33:13-16 is a description of the effects of this intervention of Jehovah, upon the sinners and the citizens of Zion in which the prophet again leaps upon the messianic heights to show us the characteristics of a true citizen of the New Jerusalem, whose everlasting dwelling place is with Jehovah.

In Isa 33:17-24 the prophet assures us that, in that glorious state, we shall see the King in his beauty, we shall behold a universal kingdom, whose inhabitants shall muse on the days of terror and their triumphs over their many adversaries. Then he invites them to look upon Zion and contemplate her security, her king, her broad streams, her feasts and her inhabitants, who are never sick, but are in the joy of the fellowship of their majestic Lord, who reigns forever and ever.

The characteristics here given by the prophet of a true citizen of Zion are very similar to those given by the psalmist in Psa 15 . This true citizen is herein described as righteous, upright in speech, hating oppression, rejecting bribes, stopping his ear to murderous suggestions, and closing his eyes to sinful sights, a blessed ideal yet to be realized. How different now! We are vexed in our righteous souls to behold the unrighteousness, the prevarication, the oppression, the graft, the murders and sinful sights in the present order of things. But this must give way to the principles of the majestic and beautiful king who will reign forever in justice and righteousness.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the section, Isaiah 28-33, called in our outline and what the date?

2. What is the difference in the character of this and the preceding section?

3. What arethe conditions under which this prophecy was delivered, what Isaiah’s task and how did he meet it?

4. What is the key word which marks the natural divisions of this section and what the divisions thus marked?

5. Give a brief synopsis of Isa 28 , showing its interpretation.

6. What are two passages of this chapter are quoted in the New Testament, what use made of them in each case and what use may be made of verse 20 as touching the plan of salvation?

7. Give a brief synopsis of Isa 29 , showing its interpretation.

8. What is the fulfilment of Isa 29:1-8 and what the best poetic description of the destruction of Sennacherib’s army?

9. What two passages quoted from this chapter in the New Testament, and what use made of them there?

10. Give a brief statement of Isa 30 with the important points of interpretation.

11. What is the meaning of Isa 30:33 ?

12. What is the nature of Isa 31 and what the points contained therein?

13. What is the nature of Isa 32 , what in genera] its contents, how does the ideal set forth correspond with present conditions and what the ideal state herein contemplated?

14. What is the influence that prepares for this ideal and what its importance?

15. What is the first blessing of the Spirit herein specified?

16. What is the general condition now respecting moral and spiritual vision and the lesson of Peter on this point?

17. What is the second effect of the outpoured Spirit and what the importance of it? Illustrate.

18. What is the third blessing of the Spirit and what its importance? Illustrate.

19. What is the fourth blessing of the Spirit and what its importance? Illustrate.

20. What is the fifth blessing of the Spirit? Explain and illustrate.

21. What is the sixth blessing of the Spirit and what its importance?

22. What is the nature and contents of Isa 33 ?

23. What is the historical setting of this chapter?

24. Show the progress of this prophecy from the local conditions to the broader mesaianic phases of the kingdom.

25. What are the characteristics, here given by the prophet, of a true citizen of Zion?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Isa 32:1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.

Ver. 1. Behold a king. ] Hezekiah in the type, Christ in the antitype.

Shall reign in righteousness. ] Regiment without righteousness, is but robbery with authority.

“ E . ”

And princes shall rule in judgment. ] Not as Shebna, and those others placed in by wicked Ahaz, do now, while the king is young, and not so well able to weed them out. Evil junior rulers are a great mischief to a state. Nerva was a good emperor, and so was Aurelian; but so bought and sold by bad counsellors and inferior magistrates, that the people were in a worse case than when they were under Nero. Hezekiah would see to his princes that they were right; Christ hath none about him but such; “All his people are righteous,” Isa 60:21 his “ministers” and “officers” especially. These are “princes in all lands,” Psa 45:16 yea, they are “kings,” because “righteous ones”; Mat 13:17 Luk 10:24 ministers especially are plenipotentiaries under Christ. Mat 18:18-19 Joh 20:23

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Isaiah Chapter 32

The whole work being now finished at Jerusalem, Jehovah is then shown us reigning, for He and no other is the personage spoken of here. “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgement. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said [to be] bountiful. For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise profaneness, and to utter error against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl [are] evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the meek with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and in liberal things doth he stand” (vv. 1-8). It is no longer a question of Christianity but of the kingdom. When He reigns for Whom all believers wait, as all prophets spoke of Him, the righteous shall be called no more to suffer, but to dwell at ease. It is in view of heavenly glory, and as following Him Who passed through sufferings, that we are now called to do well, suffer for it, and take it patiently. This indeed is grace. But in the day that is coming righteousness shall be displayed by divine power here below, when Satan is set aside and Christ reigns.

This is a totally different state of things from what prevails at present, for it is grace that now reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, not (so to speak) righteousness through glory in the government of the world. In the day that this chapter contemplates, the Lord Jesus will righteously take in hand the sceptre of the earth, and especially of the land of Israel. All the nations will come indirectly under His reign, because there will be one King over all the earth, not to the setting aside of others, as we know, but one supreme central government is to be then maintained. Other kings will be obliged to submit (compare Isa 49:23 ; Isa 60:3 , Isa 60:10 , Isa 60:16 ) to the sway of the Lord, which will continue throughout the whole unbroken period of the millennium. It is called therefore “the everlasting kingdom,” not being transferred to another, and lasting as long as the earth endures. At the end of the thousand years there will be an awful proof of man’s radically unchanged condition; for the nations will then gather together against “the beloved city,” the earthly Jerusalem, compassing about the camp of the saints. This will be allowed for the express purpose of proving the solemn truth that glory no more ameliorates the heart than does the present long-suffering patience of God. If judgement against evil works be not executed, men’s hearts are hardened in wickedness; when God’s judgements are in the earth, the world will learn righteousness. But alas! even that lesson is forgotten in time; and then is the end.

Jehovah will reign in righteousness, Whose it will be to exercise strong and beneficent government all through His day; but it will be proved once more that the heart is no more changed thereby than under the gospel now, unless renewed in conscience by the power of the Spirit. There must be the possession of a new nature. Man must be born again to see or enter the kingdom of God. It will then be evident that the new birth is requisite not merely for the heavenly glory, but even for the earthly things of that kingdom. (Joh 3 ) It is in reference to the earthly part that we hear of a king reigning in righteousness. Rev 20:7-9 shows the total failure of this display of glory to make the heart of man one whit better. In a higher point of view, far from failure, there will he during this time an amazing exhibition of that which will bring praise to God Himself; and to this we have a reference here.

But what a proof of the selfishness of our hearts, that we do not think much about this blessed time that is coming! Not that it is not believed in; but God give us to think far more, not only of a world set free, but of being with Christ where He is in heavenly blessedness. How blind men are! For, to love, what is so much our own portion as His? Besides we are too apt to slight the deliverance of creation (now travailing in pain) during the thousand years, and this because we are so little identified with the interests of Christ. Whatever glorifies Him ought to be very dear to us. Again we shall be connected with the earth, though our home will be heavenly. We shall indeed reign with Christ over it. God will make the risen saints to be the intermediary vessels of His glory, and the fruitful channels of His goodness in that bright day. Does it not then show the insensate selfishness of the heart that we are but little filled with the thoughts and feelings suitable to such expectations?

lt. is freely granted that there is a far higher and nearer hope, even to be with Christ Himself in the Father’s house. To see His glory there is more blessed than any inheritance we share anywhere else. But if we look around and see all the sins, miseries, sufferings, and sorrows of a world far from God, what a cheering truth it is that the day is so near when we shall be able to say even of the yet unbelieving Jews, “Their iniquities are forgiven, their sin is covered!” Will not God be magnified? A remnant of Israel suffices not: all shall be saved; every one of them, as the rule, shall then be righteous. Further, the miracles of Christ are called the “powers of the world to come,” because it was the sample of that divine energy in man which will never be revoked, though it may be suspended. But it is always in Christ, though the church may not know how to count upon Him for it, or apply it to a needy creation. But we ought to know it is in Christ for faith to draw on, and God has rebuked our low state by withholding the display of these outward ornaments. It is good, however, to remember that it is always in Christ, and that He is coming, and that the end of this age will witness the exercise of the glorious power of that exalted Man, the church too being associated with Him, and every blessing brought in to the exclusion of all evil. This is what the chapter before us anticipates.

Now while God does not put evil down, grace reigns; and now it is only grace in the gospel that can deliver from sins as well as for heavenly glory. But when the power of evil is smitten above and below (and the Lord will smite before the millennium), the King will rule. It is the kingdom of God administered by the exalted Man, Christ; and a blessed truth it is that God has always had it in His view to exalt Him. Adam’s sin was not the fall of man only, but, through him, of all the lower creation too; for the whole system was ruined when he departed from God. Adam was not a mere individual but a head. All thenceforward depends on the coming in of another Man, the Lord Jesus, Who has won a title, not for Himself to stand, which He did not need, but for us to have a standing in virtue of His blood, and death, and resurrection. The consequence is that for the believer the glory of Christ is saving in character, not destructive except of evil in that day.

But much of bright expectation is practically lost for those who do not dwell upon the coming scene of glory. The distinctive mark is Jehovah reigning in righteousness; and moreover, it is a Man Who thus reigns over the earth, not only a divine person. God will put all things under the Man that died and rose in delivering power, as truly as Adam drew down in his fall the race and creation. The world became a wilderness of thorns and briars; it was the consequence of man’s fall. Do you believe it? Believe also that the Second Man would be defrauded of no small part of His heritage if He did not deliver, not believing man only but creation, and govern it in power and glory. This future reign is necessary to vindicate the faithfulness of God, to manifest the worth of Christ and the results of what He has done, to display His bride along with Him. It is good therefore to look onward to the scene where this blessed Man shall thus reign in righteousness. This would be true apart from our own share with Him, for which we must turn to the New Testament. The prophet’s subject is earth; we belong to heaven. Hence it is the province of the New Testament to reveal the Father’s house and heaven, no longer shut but opened first upon Christ and consequently upon us, that in peace and joy we may approach the presence of God. What a totally different theme from the Old Testament, which brings the earth into prominence as the scene of the reign in righteousness! In the earth it is judicial power that governs. A rod of iron, a sceptre of righteousness, is that by which Jehovah is to break down the pride of the world.

But there are intimations of peace and comfort too. Jehovah is here viewed “as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (v. 2). The world had long been weary of the effects of sin, if not of sin itself. Now the blessing is come. “And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. And the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. The vile (or fool) shall no more be called liberal, nor the churl said [to be] bountiful. For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl [are] evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the meek with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand” (vv. 3-8).

It is not as you see now, men who appear to have every good natural quality, and yet when tested they have no heart for divine things, love not the name of the Lord Jesus, nor care for His glory. Here it will not be so. Blessing will flow, evil be judged, shame will vanish away. Things and persons will be manifest and bear their true character. Man will then accomplish for the first time on the earth that for which he was made. It is in contrast with all the deceitfulness of unrighteousness that has gone, and still goes, on here below. We know the uncertainty of human judgement, and yet how men cling to and keep up appearances. There will be no vain show then. Good fruits will spring out of the rich resources of divine mercy, and, in the light of God then shining, there will also be the detection of everything that is false. If wickedness appear, the judgement of the Lord will fall upon it. For during the millennium there will be cases demanding vengeance; and God will not fail to deal with wickedness in a summary manner. There will be a solemn public sight of the execution of His wrath continually before men’s eyes (Isa 66:24 ) – the more stern in that day, because thenceforth is no temptation to evil. Accordingly, the rebellious objects of God’s curse will be immediately visited, so as to keep up a wholesome horror of iniquity in the hearts of men.

This leads the Spirit of God to give a warning, which will be needed, especially as the blessing of Israel will not be brought about in a single day. There is a coming time of sifting: as we know there will be for Israel in the wilderness, so in Jerusalem too there will be another mode of dealing with the Jews proper. Even when Jehovah appears for their deliverance, it is a mistake to suppose that all is complete at once. Jehovah will gradually put down the enemies round about the Holy Land, and will use Israel as the instrument of certain judgements (Isa 11 ; Isa 63 ; Mic 5 ; Zech. 9 – 10). He will send forth His armies and deal with the nations in various ways. In His appearing from heaven He does work by His own power. The Jews will have nothing to do with the judgement of the Beast and the false prophet; but He will employ them to put down the then representatives of their old neighbours, who rise up once more in envy against them. He will remember what their forefathers did, and will then definitely deal with them, seeing that they retain and show the same spirit to the last. Thus Jehovah will act thoroughly in righteousness, and Israel will need a warning previous to this judicial period.

“Rise up, ye women that are at ease, hear my voice; ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech. For days beyond a year shall ye be troubled, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the ingathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and gird [sackcloth on [your] loins. They shall smite on the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of my people shall come up thistles [and] briars: yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. For the palace shall be deserted; the multitude of the city shall be forsaken; the hill and watch-tower shall be dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. And judgement shall inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field” (vv. 9-16). The allusion is to what precedes Jehovah taking His place and reigning in the land. And all the sorrow is to be until the Spirit is poured down upon them. Then comes the great change in Israel. There is not of course the same dwelling of the Holy Ghost in any sense in the believer as now, for that He has a special dwelling in the church also is manifest. But there will be a suited and large outpouring of the Spirit in that day, as we have seen already. It is a mistake to suppose that Jehovah’s reigning is incompatible with the Spirit’s being thus poured out. He will be poured out very richly then. Now it is more in depth – if we may so speak of a divine person – than in extensiveness. What is not now in breadth is made up otherwise. The Holy Spirit has now baptised into union with Christ on high. Then will be the day for a wide diffusion over all flesh. Now this is only true in principle; and so it is applied from Joe 2:28-32 in Act 2:16-21 , not as if what is now were the full result for all flesh throughout the earth.

The present time on earth is not a manifestation of judicial righteousness. The righteous One was rejected of men. God’s righteousness set Him risen at His right hand and justifies those who believe on Him. Then it will be the King, coming and sitting upon His own throne (not a rejected King exalted on His Father’s): earth will be ordered righteously. In incomparable grace our Lord Jesus puts aside for the time His earthly Jewish titles, and God’s heavenly counsels are accomplished and revealed while He is above. The Father has seated Him at His right hand and said, as it were, “You shall reign; only, till You are seated on Your own throne, come and sit with Me on Mine.” Before Christ comes from heaven, the Jews (at least a remnant of them) will have welcomed Him in their hearts. Then He will come, where they are, to bless them in the earth, to govern them, and accomplish in the children the promises that were made to their fathers, and this for all the families of the earth.

Accordingly, when the Christians are taken from this world at Christ’s coming, the Jews will in due time be converted, so as to be the earthly people of Jehovah, Who will make good in their midst earthly glory according to the prophets; and not this only, but the Holy Ghost will be poured out upon them. The great earthly change is consequent on the effusion of the Spirit from on high. Isaiah speaks of thorns and briars until the Spirit be poured upon Israel. Instead of all being in its appropriate order, everything will need to be restored round the only due centre. All as regards the earth and the Jews is now in confusion and misrule; but the Spirit shall be poured on them from on high, and then what a change! Thus, besides the removal of Satan, there are two things necessary to bring in this time of blessing – the King reigning in righteousness, and the outpouring of spiritual power, specially among the Jews, but also on the Gentiles. In nothing will God fail.

Then shall “the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.” “Then judgement shall inhabit the wilderness”: instead of its being the resort of robbers, judgement shall dwell there. Instead of covetousness hankering after the fruitful field, righteousness is to remain there. “And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence for ever” (v. 17). Ends and ways shall be righteous: all is governed with blessing. “And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. And it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place” (vv. 18, 19). The proud organisation of human order, wit, and power, shall be utterly abased in that day. Not the peaceful influence of grace shall effect it, but solemn judgement by the Righteous One. Nevertheless then as now there is every incentive, the right and best encouragement to earnest and free dispersion of the good seed; and grace will bless and use what was once common or unclean. “Blessed [are] ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth [thither] the-feet of the ox and the ass” (v. 20). God’s people shall be sheltered and prosper in peace, whatever befall His enemies. For them assured blessing takes the place of fear and evil. The Seed of the woman triumphs, and the serpent is smitten. Heaven and earth and all things are set under Him Who is worthy.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 32:1-8

1Behold, a king will reign righteously

And princes will rule justly.

2Each will be like a refuge from the wind

And a shelter from the storm,

Like streams of water in a dry country,

Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.

3Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,

And the ears of those who hear will listen.

4The mind of the hasty will discern the truth,

And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.

5No longer will the fool be called noble,

Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.

6For a fool speaks nonsense,

And his heart inclines toward wickedness:

To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD,

To keep the hungry person unsatisfied

And to withhold drink from the thirsty.

7As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;

He devises wicked schemes

To destroy the afflicted with slander,

Even though the needy one speaks what is right.

8But the noble man devises noble plans;

And by noble plans he stands.

Isa 32:1 a king. . .princes Isa 32:1-8 reflects the reign of a godly king and his/His government (cf. Isa 9:6-7; Isa 11:1-5; Isa 16:5; Mic 5:2-5 a). There seems to be a purposeful ambiguity so that Hezekiah (possibly the immediate fulfillment of Isa 7:14-15) and the coming Messiah (the ultimate fulfillment cf. Isa 7:14, cf. Mat 1:23) are both reflected in this passage.

Isa 32:2 This verse describes in desert metaphors the reign of this godly leader and his associates.

1. a refuge (BDB 285, lit. hiding place, this form is found only here) from the wind

2. shelter (BDB 712) from the storm (parallel to #1)

3. streams of water in a dry country

4. the shade (BDB 853) of a huge rock in a parched land

Similar metaphors are used of YHWH in Isa 25:4. Now they describe all of God’s people or at least the leadership (i.e., rulers will rule, VERB, BDB 979, KB 1362, Qal IMPERFECT).

The VERB each will be (BDB 224, KB 243 Qal PERFECT) could refer to the princes of Isa 32:1 or to the people of the new covenant described in Jer 31:31-34.

Isa 32:3-4 This reflects the spiritual condition of the restored covenant people as contrasted with Isa 6:9-10 (cf. Deu 29:4).

1. they will see

2. they will hear

3. they will discern truth

4. they will speak truth (the stammerers, BDB 748, occurs only here)

Isa 32:5-8 fool. . .rogue These two groups will still be present in society, but they will be seen for what they are (Isa 32:6-7). Isa 32:6-7 seems to describe the two wicked persons, while Isa 32:8 describes the true noble person.

1. the fool (BDB 614) described in Isa 32:6

a. speaks nonsense

b. inclines the heart toward wickedness

(1) practices ungodliness

(2) speaks error against the LORD

c. does not feed the hungry

d. does not give drink to the thirsty

2. the rogue (BDB 647, found only here, twice) described in Isa 32:7

a. has evil weapons

b. devises wicked schemes

c. destroys the afflicted with slander

d. disregards the true testimony of the needy

3. the noble man (BDB 622), Isa 32:8

a. devises noble (or generous) plans in contrast to those mentioned in Isa 32:6-7

b. his plans stand, remain

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.

a king. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 17:14, Deu 17:16). App-92.

in = for, in the interest of.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 32

Now as we get into chapter 32 Isaiah jumps over a couple of millennia at least, as he looks forward. As God is going to come down and as a crouching lion roaring and so forth, over her prey, in verse Isa 32:4 going back to chapter 31. As the Lord of hosts shall come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof, He is likened unto a lion, a young lion that is roaring on his prey.

When you turn to the book of Revelation and you read there of the return of Jesus Christ, it declares in Rev 10:3 ,”And He cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars: and when he has cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices.” So Christ in His returning is going to let forth a great cry like a lion that is roaring. Now here, of course, it declares it in Isa 31:4 . Also in Jer 25:30 . Also in Joel, and in many places of the Old Testament is referring to the day that the Lord has come roaring as the lion.

And so He has come.

Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly ( Isa 32:1-4 ).

There’s going to be a restoration when the King comes and reigns. No more will people be stuttering, stammer. Will speak plainly. And at this time,

The vile person shall be no more called liberal ( Isa 32:5 ),

I think that that’s a very interesting verse, because we hear of liberals today, and for the most part, especially a theological liberal is an extremely vile person. But yet, they sort of hide behind the term of, “Well, I’m a liberal.” And they use that as a covering for their vileness. And in that day, “the vile person will no more be called liberal.”

nor the churl said to be bountiful ( Isa 32:5 ).

A rude kind of a bullish person.

For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD ( Isa 32:6 ),

Now what an apt description this is of the liberals. Their hearts are seeking to work iniquity and to practice hypocrisy. And what tremendous hypocrisy there is. As in theology, the liberals are always redefining terms so that you don’t know what they’re talking about. And you have to ask them, “But what do you mean by born again?” Because they’ve even picked up the term born again. They use the terms charisma, and they use all kinds of terms and you listen to them talk and you say, “My, he’s right on! He was talking about Christ.” Yes, but what does he mean when he says Christ? Does he mean an anointing that, you know, the Christ in me and the Christ in you? What does he mean when he says born again? And they’ve redefined these terms so that they can use the terms and you listen to them talk and you think, “My, he’s talking about being born again! Isn’t that wonderful?” But if you get a definition of their terminology, you’ll find what they mean by being born again is entirely different from what we understand what it is to be born again by the Spirit of God into a new spiritual life.

So the hypocrisy by changing the definition of words so that they can give forth their villainy, really, but you don’t understand what they’re saying because you don’t have the glossary that they are using. But, “they seek to utter error against the Lord.”

to make empty the soul of the hungry; and will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail ( Isa 32:6 ).

The thing about the liberal church and the liberal theologians is that they do not satisfy a person’s real hunger for God. And people can go to church all their lives in these liberal churches and never really be satisfied. Their hunger for God’s Word and God’s truth never satisfied; their thirst for God never filled. Because the liberal theologians have absolutely nothing to offer of a true experience and relationship with God. Now they’re extremely clever in their argumentation. In the presenting of their point. But their purpose is to become involved more politically and the presentation of the social gospel and the emphasis upon the social gospel. And to listen to them it sounds so good. It sounds so right. And here Isaiah is speaking of the day when the King comes and these liberals will be called what they really are.

The instruments also of the churl are evil: he devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand. Rise up ( Isa 32:7-9 ),

Now beginning with verse Isa 32:9 he turns now the attention and the thought to the women at this particular time in Jerusalem. And let me say that women are usually the true barometer of the moral state of a nation. Women are the ones who usually set the moral standards. And when the women become corrupted in their moral standards, there’s nothing left. And so the prophet speaks out again as he did in an earlier chapter against the women in Jerusalem.

Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip yourselves, make bare, and put on sackcloth on your loins ( Isa 32:9-11 ).

In other words, the time has come really not to just be looking for pleasure and ease but to really be seeking God and turning to God. Sackcloth was a garment of mourning and begin to mourn over the condition of the nation, the condition of the country. I think that the message of Isaiah to the women of that day is extremely important to the women of our day. For defiled womanhood means a defiled nation.

They shall lament ( Isa 32:12 )

And he speaks of the lamentation, and it brings to mind what Jesus said will take place during the Great Tribulation period when the time has come for those to flee from Jerusalem to the wilderness place. “Woe unto them,” He said, “who in those days are nursing a child or who are pregnant.” Woe unto them because it will be hard to flee from Jerusalem in a hurry to get away from the man of sin, the son of perdition who will be coming to defile the temple and to blaspheme God. So the women lamenting.

The land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest ( Isa 32:13-15 ).

Until God begins His work of restoration. Now it is interesting how that the land of Israel did remain for centuries wasted, desolate, wild. And how that under this modern Zionist movement and the establishing of the nation Israel the wilderness is being turned into a fruitful garden. The valleys of Sharon which were marshlands, the valley of Megiddo which was marshland has been drained and now cultivated and tremendous agricultural development there. And so he speaks of the desolation of the land which did take place, “until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high.”

“In the last days,” the Lord said, “I’m going to pour out my Spirit upon all flesh” ( Joe 2:28 ). Joel prophesied that. And God is getting ready for this final outpouring. “The wilderness will be a fruitful field, a fruitful field be counted for a forest.”

Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness ( Isa 32:16-17 )

I love this verse.

The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever ( Isa 32:17 ).

What a beautiful verse. “The work of righteousness is peace; the effect of right living is just quietness and assurance for ever.” I’ve done the right thing. I just rest in it. The quietness and the assurance. I’ve done the right thing. How beautiful it is.

And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass ( Isa 32:18-20 ). “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Isa 32:1-8

Isa 32:1-8

There are obviously only three paragraphs in this chapter: a blessed promise (Isa 32:1-8), a warning to complacent and indifferent women (Isa 32:9-15), and a return to the message of hope (Isa 32:16-20).

Isa 32:1-8

“Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. And the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongues of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. The fool shall be no more called noble, nor the churl said to be bountiful. For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profaneness, and to utter terror against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. And the instruments of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the meek with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the noble deviseth noble things; and in noble things shall he continue.”

There is much difference of opinion about the identity of that “King who shall reign in righteousness,” which is the prominent feature of this paragraph. Jewish commentators usually take the position that it is Hezekiah who is here spoken of; and some Christian scholars have accepted this. Barnes stated flatly that, “This king is Hezekiah. He defended this position by pointing out the superiority of Hezekiah’s rule over that of the evil Manasseh who succeeded him, and also such scripture references as the following:

“He removed the high places and broke the images and cut down the grove. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him, for he clave unto the Lord, and departed not from following him” (2Ki 18:3-5).

Yes, indeed, in the context of a record of other kings of Israel, Hezekiah was indeed righteous; but in the absolute sense, no. The situation is the same as it was with other Old Testament heroes who bore the designation of “righteous men.” For example, Lot, Noah, and others whose lives were indeed blemished with sin were called, “righteous in their generation” (Gen 7:1); and that is the way we understand the “righteousness of Hezekiah.” Certainly, Hezekiah was not righteous when he was going along with that plot to make an alliance with Egypt, contrary to God’s will.

There are serious reasons why the theory of this “king’s” being Hezekiah cannot be accepted.

(1) Neither Hezekiah nor the conditions during his reign fulfill the conditions of justice, righteousness, and proper understanding and discernment by the people in all the land. “The evidence does not seem to warrant this interpretation.

(2) It is also impossible to receive this as a promise of Hezekiah’s reign, because Hezekiah was already reigning, and the passage speaks of a “future situation.,” not one that already existed. “The king here is not Hezekiah, who was already on the throne, whereas a future time is contemplated.

(3) Objections to the refusal to see this as a Messianic passage are weak and ineffective. Some, of course, say that in Christ’s kingdom, there are no “princes” to reign with Him. While true enough in an ordinary sense, it is nevertheless true that “all Christians” are a “royal priesthood” (1Pe 2:9); and does not the Bible say, “He hath made us (Christians) to be kings and priests unto God” (Rev 1:6 KJV), and that Our Lord himself is “The prince of the kings of the earth” (Rev 1:5), and that, “They (Christians) lived and reigned with Christ”? (Rev 20:6). Furthermore, the fundamental Pauline teaching of the New Testament is that every Christian is “baptized `into Christ,'” is therefore a member of Christ’s spiritual body; and that it is proper to say that Christians are in a sense “actually Christ.” Whatever Christ does, Christians also do. Whatever he did, they “have therefore done”; and that is why the redeemed may lawfully say that they “have already died to sin” in the person of their Savior.

The germ of that very important Pauline conception is therefore right here in this chapter of Isaiah.

(4) Another objection is that no clear picture of Christ appears in these verses; and that objection disappears completely when the passage is understood, not as a picture of the King, but as a prophecy of His Kingdom, of the Messianic Age; and a number of discerning scholars have properly understood this:

“Christ’s kingdom will fulfill God’s holy ideal of a holy commonwealth, administering perfect righteousness throughout the earth. This is the fourth of Isaiah’s promises of the Messiah: Isa 7:14; Isa 9:6 f; Isa 11:1 ff; and Isa 32:1. The role of the coming Messiah fits the description in this verse. He is the King who shall role in righteousness. Here are the characteristics of the future age.

As excellent a commentary on this passage as any we have seen is the following from Peake, who, although a critical scholar, offered the following:

“Here is a description of the Messianic time, though the figure of the Messiah does not appear in the passage. King and princes will reign in righteousness, each of them a source of shelter and refreshment. The present failure in moral insight and responsiveness will be removed; the inconsiderate will gain judgment, the faulty speaker the faculty of lucid expression. Men will be designated in harmony with their true character. The fool shall no longer be called noble, nor the swindler an aristocrat; for fool and swindler will act in accordance with their nature, but the noble will resolve on noble schemes and persist in their execution.

Before leaving these first eight verses we should notice a little further the satanic habit of giving sins and sinful men names that tend to ameliorate their shame and unworthiness. The drunkard is called an “alcoholic”; the vicious murderer is judged to be “sick”; the grossly immoral is labeled as a “schizophrenic”; the shoplifter, the gambler, and other sinners are also dignified with special names and descriptions. In the kingdom of Christ, however, things will be called what they are! “God’s standard of judgment will at last become man’s standard.

Isa 32:1-2 RULER: Who is the king predicted? Our view is that it can only refer to the Messiah. He will rule in righteousness. The Messiah is the only one who truly reigns in righteousness. We do not think Isaiah is talking about a relatively righteous rule-rather he is predicting a rule that is completely righteous. Furthermore, this king (or perhaps citizens of his kingdom) will become a refuge, a source of life and a rest. Certainly no human king is intended here. What Isaiah is predicting is that sometime in the future (Isaiah does not say exactly when), as a result of Gods judgment upon Judah and her consequent repentance, Jehovah is going to send a king to rule in righteousness and be a spiritual benefactor. This kings kingdom will consist of citizens fully converted. The princes might be a reference to the apostles whom Jesus said would sit on twelve thrones and judge Israel (Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30) which meant the apostles would preach the gospel to the Jews and in so doing give Israel the divine criteria by which God will judge all men. Princes might, on the other hand, be merely an adaptation to the mentality of people used to a monarchy and not intended to refer to any particular person or office in the messianic kingdom.

Isa 32:3-8 RULED: Isaiah wants it understood that when the king reigning in righteousness comes things will be as God wishes them to be. The contrast between this new kingdom and the kingdom of Isaiahs day will be as different as daylight and darkness. Men will see as they should and hear and obey (which is what hearken means) as they should. The Hebrew word mohar is translated rash in Isa 32:4 and could also be translated hasty or impetuous with the connotation of the confusion resulting from impetuosity and impropriety. In this new kingdom men will not act rashly or out of confusion as the people of Isaiahs day were acting in turning to pagan gods and pagan kings for help. They will not have their minds stupefied by drunkenness so they stammer as they were doing in Isaiahs day (cf. Isa 28:7-8; Isa 29:9). The Hebrew word nokal in Isa 32:5 is translated churl in the ASV and knave in the RSV. It means someone who is miserly, deceitful, crafty or fraudulent. In the messianic reign a man will be known for what he is, not who he is as was the case in Isaiahs day. In the messianic reign Gods covenant people, Christians, are the true realists! They not only see men as they are but as they may potentially be should the power of Gods gospel be permitted to make them new creations. Christians regard no one from a human point of view (2Co 5:6-21) but as they are looked at from Gods perspective! The value judgments of the worldly-minded man may cause him to call a man smart, and good when God calls such a man a fool (cf. Luk 12:13-21). Or the worldly-minded man may call the godfearing, Bible-believing person a fool. But with Gods revelation to guide him, the Christian has a set of values that tells him who is the fool and who is the noble man.

But Isaiah reveals in Isa 32:6-7 what these people really are who were held in such esteem in his day. The man who profanes God by rebelling against Gods law and teaches error against Gods word in order to exploit others for his own ends, this man is a fool. There will be none of those in Gods new kingdom. The man who knows the plight of the needy and plots and deceives in order to exploit such a situation is a churl, a knave, and there will be no such people in Gods new kingdom. Those who are to be ruled by the king who reigns in righteousness will be noble people. The word used for noble in Isa 32:8 is nediyviym which connotes willingness as opposed to stubbornness, or liberality as opposed to obstinancy. It means noble-mindedness. This characterizes the attitude and the actions of the citizen of Gods new kingdom which is to come.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

In this message the prophet describes the reign of the coming King, and then suddenly appeals to the women. He describes the reign of the King as establishment of order and creation of refuge and refreshment for all in distress. The beneficent effects of such a reign are restoration of sensibility and a true sense of values, in which men will know violence and call it by its right name, and recognize true nobility. Evidently conscious of how different were the circumstances in which he was exercising his ministry from those described, he appeals to the women. He calls them to abandon their ease and gird themselves with sackcloth before the devastation of the city. This in order to be restored by the outpouring of the Spirit.

This recognition for the second time of the influence of women in the course of this volume is a revelation of the prophet’s keen insight and accurate apprehension of one of the most prolific causes of national disaster. A degraded womanhood always creates a dissipated and enervated manhood.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

a Nobler Future for the Nation

Isa 31:1-9; Isa 32:1-8

Isaiah continues to denounce the contemplated alliance with Egypt. His compatriots put their trust in horses and chariots, and refused the help of their fathers God. Yet was He not so wise as the Egyptians, and equally as strong! And were they not running a fearful risk in rejecting One who would not recall His words of threatened punishment to those who refused His help? At best, the Egyptians were men, and not God, and their cavalry, flesh. If only they would trust Him, God would defy their foes, as a lion defies a company of unarmed shepherds, Isa 31:4. The mother-bird hovers over her brood to protect it from the kestrel; so would He spread His covering wing over Jerusalem, Isa 31:5. We may have deeply revolted, yet we may turn back to God with the certainty that He will receive and rescue us, Isa 31:6.

Sennacherib fell by the sword of his sons. Compare Isa 32:8 with 2Ki 19:36-37. How different is our glorious King, whose many-sided nature meets all our needs! Isa 32:2. Before Him all men are unveiled in their true characters. Only those who are royal in heart shall stand before Him, Isa 31:8.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

EXPOSITORY NOTES ON

THE PROPHET ISAIAH

By

Harry A. Ironside, Litt.D.

Copyright @ 1952

edited for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage ministry of a century ago

ISAIAH CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

PREPARATIONS FOR THE COMING KINGDOM

BEFORE uttering the sixth woe, which is a proclamation of judgment upon Assyria, we have here a message of hope and comfort for the afflicted people of GOD, setting before them the glorious Messianic kingdom to be ushered in at the second advent of our Lord JESUS CHRIST. He Himself is brought definitely before us in the opening verses:

“Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (verses 1, 2).

We have no difficulty in identifying the righteous King here spoken of. He can be none other than GOD’s Anointed, who was rejected when He came to Israel telling of the kingdom then at hand. Refused by those He came to deliver, He has gone into the far country to receive for Himself a kingdom from the Father’s hand and to return in due time (Luk 19:12). David foresaw His glorious reign as he exclaimed, “He that ruleth over men must be just; ruling in the fear of God” (2Sa 23:3).

When He returns to take over the reins of government He will associate with Himself as princes and judges certain ones taken from among those who have been faithful to Him in the time of His rejection.

He comes before us here, not only as a KING but as a Saviour. Beautiful are the figures used by the prophet as he declares, “a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.” It is CHRIST Himself bearing the brunt of the storm of judgment in order to provide shelter for all who flee to Him for refuge. Elsewhere we have seen Him as the Rock of Ages, in whose cleft the troubled soul can find a hiding

place. He is pictured, too, as a rock in a desert land, giving shelter from the fierce heat of the sun; another lovely illustration of that salvation which He provides so freely for all who put their trust in Him.

“And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall

hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly” (verses 3, 4).

Those who find in CHRIST an all-sufficient Saviour obtain their instruction through His Word whereby they grow in grace and knowledge and are kept from the path of the destroyer. No matter how simple or untaught one may be when he first comes to CHRIST, nor

how unaccustomed he may have been to receiving instruction and help through another, he will find all needed knowledge and wisdom in Him who delights to open up the truth to those who seek to be subject to His Word.

“The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand” (verses 5-8).

On the other hand, the churl, that is, the crafty one, who plays fast and loose with divine truth, need not expect to find spiritual illumination as he pursues his self-chosen way. In the day of the Lord’s power, all such persons will be dealt with in judgment and will no longer be acknowledged as teachers or directors of others. Their true character will be fully manifested and they will be judged accordingly.

These haughty despisers will no longer be permitted to mislead, whereas those who have learned of GOD the way of righteousness and found delight in walking in it will be honored of Him and find their place in His kingdom, there to be rewarded in accordance with the manner in which they have dispensed to others that which GOD has bestowed upon them. Our Lord has said, “freely ye have received, freely give.”

“Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine” (verses 9-12).

In the third chapter the Lord had sternly rebuked the daughters of Zion who lived in vanity and frivolity, despising the Lord and thinking only of self-gratification. Now He speaks again to those whose consciences should have been active and who ought, therefore, to have guided others in the way of righteousness but who failed to realize that the judgments of GOD were soon to fall upon them and who lived only for the present moment, surrounding themselves with every luxury, and delighting themselves in worldly follies of every description.

The day was soon to come when poverty would rob them of all these things which had ministered to their selfish desires, and they would realize at last the folly of forgetting GOD and thinking only of carnal pleasure and self-indulgence. When the fields and vineyards should be destroyed by invading armies and other means of sustenance come to an end, they would realize

too late how foolish they had been in forgetting their responsibility to glorify GOD.

“Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks” (verses 13, 14).

Again we have a prophecy which was not fulfilled in Isaiah’s day but looked beyond to the siege and fall of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and even later yet, to the grievous woes of the great tribulation. Jerusalem means, “Founded in peace,” but this city has suffered more from war and strife than perhaps any other single city in the history of the world, and still greater horrors are in store for it in the future, immediately before the return of the Lord to reign as King on Mount Zion. It will never know lasting peace until that day.

“Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then Judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; when it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place” (verses 15-19).

Scripture not only teaches a first and second coming of our Lord JESUS CHRIST; it also predicts a first and second coming of the Holy Spirit. His first coming, to baptize believers into one body and empower them to carry His gospel throughout the world, occurred at Pentecost.

Peter applied the words of Joel 2 to what then took place, not as indicating that the prophecy was exhausted by that outpouring, but that it was of the same character as what was yet to come when Israel shall be brought back to GOD and the Spirit poured out upon them from on high and all the spared nations be blessed accordingly. It is of this the present passage speaks.

What a time of blessing it will be for this poor world when war and strife have come to an end; sickness and sorrow flee away; poverty and distress disappear; and men will enjoy the loving favor of the Lord and find every need met in abundance. So fruitful will the earth be at that time that a garden of herbs will become as a forest and the wilderness, as we are told elsewhere, will blossom as the rose. It is a great mistake to try to spiritualize all this and deny a coming literal fulfillment. There will, indeed, be great spiritual blessings at that time, but linked with the spiritual will be the literal fulfillment of this and other prophecies.

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, will be the portion of those who enter the kingdom and enjoy the blessings of Messiah’s reign, but we may be sure that the promise that they shall dwell in a peaceable habitation is to be taken in absolute literalness. There will be protection from every ill when Messiah takes over the reins of government.

“Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass” (verse 20).

Until these promises of future blessing are all fulfilled, it is the responsibility of those who look for such things in faith to continue patiently sowing the seed of the Word of GOD and looking to Him to give an abundant harvest.

This last verse of the chapter may well be taken to heart by all of GOD’s servants in the present dispensation, for the blessing is for us today as truly as for the remnant of Israel in the time of Jacob’s trouble, as we go forth weeping, bearing precious seed,

assured that we shall come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us.

~ end of chapter 32 ~

http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/

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Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Isa 32:13

I. The prophets spoke of things to come, but they spoke of things present also; they held up a light in a dark place, imperfectly understood in their own days, but bright and clear when the full day arose, of which they had obscurely spoken; but they also held up a light, a broad blazing light, to the men of their own times, which would never become clearer than it then was, and would be hardly ever again so clear. That is, they were teachers of righteousness to their own people; the sins which they reproved were the sins which they saw daily committed; the judgments which they threatened were the judgments which these sins would draw down.

II. Our times and our own nation more closely resemble the time of Isaiah’s preaching, and the nation of Israel to whom he preached, than any other time or nation that could be named. The worship of God was established by law amongst the Israelites as it is amongst us. Israel, in the days of Isaiah, was full of great riches and great poverty,-great covetousness and luxury on one side, great misery and carelessness of God on the other. Who can look through this land at this moment and not see the same state of things here? Israel, in the days of Isaiah, had too many of those who scorned at God’s word and His promises; and of this, too, they who know what is the present state of England, know that there is too much amongst us. The prophets, then, are in a most remarkable manner the mirror or glass in which we may see our own likeness. To us, God’s Christian Israel, a promise is made of a state of overwhelming blessing after a time of fearful judgments-judgments for the punishment of the tares, and for the cleansing and perfecting of the good seed; till at last, when all that do evil or that tempt to evil shall be gathered out of the kingdom of God, the righteous may shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 222.

Reference: Isa 32:15.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 273.

Isa 32:17

I. Isaiah was a true patriot; he was a man of the purest moral character, and of the most absolute faith in God. It broke his heart to see the degradation of his countrymen; he saw that if there was a God in heaven who governed the world on principles of justice, such a social condition of a nation as marked Israel then must draw down what men in his day called judgment. He saw the ruthless Assyrian massing his troops together, and from that quarter the desolation threatened to come; they would be a trouble for many days and many years, till the nation was regenerated by a new and better spirit poured out upon them from on high; till men were estimated at their true value; till the frivolities of fashionable life had given place to earnestness of purpose, and the work of righteousness brought peace, and the effects of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

II. Every one who has read the utterances of these old Hebrew prophets with any attention can hardly have failed to be struck with what we may call, in the highest sense of the word, their political tone and character. They desired to purify the nation’s moral life at its source. They tried to awaken their age from soothing but false dreams, that to-morrow would be as today, and much more abundant.

III. There are three things of which when the Spirit came He was to reprove the world-of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. My faith is that national sins bring what the old Hebrew prophets call national judgments, not in the way of miracle, but as a natural and necessary consequence; and, on the other hand, that national righteousness averts them. The deadliest atheism is that which denies the supremacy of the principle of righteousness in the government of the world.

D. Fraser, Penny Pulpit, No. 2436.

Reference: Isa 32:17.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 348.

Isa 32:20

I. Notice, first, the characters here described. They are sowers. Of course a sower implies seed, and it will be well for us to acknowledge at the outset that there is only one granary, so to speak, in which the living seed of the kingdom is treasured, viz., the Bible. (1) The true spiritual sower, having first of all received himself the seed, will manifest a real love for the work. He will go forth willingly, conscientiously, and lovingly to scatter broadcast the precious treasure, not merely on well-cultivated patches of human soil, but “beside all waters,” finding very often his chiefest joy in sowing the unlikeliest patches. (2) The true spiritual sower will not only have an ardent love for, but he will also have faith in, his work. This is eminently the case with the earthly husbandman. You see him yonder on the eastern hill-slope with seed-basket in one hand, and the other employed in casting forth the seed. And think you that he would be at all that trouble unless he firmly and in his deepest soul believed, nay, was certain, that the glad harvest-home would crown at length his efforts? If the earthly sower has such faith in the vitality of his seed, how much more should we in that seed of the Word which liveth, abideth for ever. (3) The true spiritual sower will not only have faith in the seed, but also in the soil. The farmer who does not believe the soil capable of producing fruit will certainly not waste time in its cultivation. If we did not to-night believe that between every human heart and the Gospel seed there was such affinity that it could not help taking root therein, we should most certainly give up our toil. (4) The true spiritual sower will often encounter difficulty in his work. (5) The spiritual sower is earth’s truest philanthropist.

II. Consider our sphere of operation-“beside all waters.” Wherever there is a solitary spot capable of receiving the good and living seed-whether at home or abroad, in dens of squalor or palaces of luxury and ease, in the crowded city or the rural village-we are commanded to go and plant it there.

III. Consider the benediction here pronounced. “Blessed are they that sow beside all waters.” (1) The work itself is its own reward. (2) The spiritual sower enjoys the benediction of others. (3) He has the smile and benediction of Him in whose service he is engaged.

J. W. Atkinson, Penny Pulpit, No. 940.

Reference: Isa 32:20.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 497.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 32 The Coming King and His Kingdom

1. The King and His rule (Isa 32:1-8) 2. The careless women addressed (Isa 32:9-12) 3. The judgment of the land and the city (Isa 32:13-14) 4. The hope of the future (Isa 32:15-20)The connection with the previous chapter is obvious. In Isa 31:4-9 the coming of the Lord for the deliverance of His people and the punishment of their enemies is predicted. So shall the Lord of Hosts come down to fight Mount Zion and the hill thereof. And now in the beginning of chapter 32 the coming King and His righteous reign is revealed. The King is the Man Christ Jesus, a hiding place from the wind and a cover from the tempest.

Isa 32:13-14 describe once more the judgment which rested upon the land and the city. But it is not permanent. Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high. This great outpouring of the Spirit connected with the restoration of Israels land has not yet taken place. It comes in that day. Read Joe 2:1-32.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

king

(See Scofield “Isa 29:3”).

In chapters 32-35. the same blended meanings of near and far fulfilments are found. The near view is still of Sennacherib’s invasion, the far view of the day of the Lord. Isa 2:10-22; Rev 19:11-21 and the kingdom blessing to follow.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

king: Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7, Isa 40:1-5, 2Sa 23:3, 2Ch 31:20, 2Ch 31:21, Psa 45:1, Psa 45:6, Psa 45:7, Psa 72:1, Psa 72:2, Psa 99:4, Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6, Jer 33:15, Hos 3:5, Zec 9:9, Rom 5:21, Heb 1:8, Heb 1:9, Rev 19:11

princes: Isa 28:6, Rev 17:14

Reciprocal: Deu 25:1 – General 1Sa 2:10 – he shall 1Ki 10:9 – to do 1Ch 18:14 – executed 2Ch 9:8 – to do judgment 2Ch 19:9 – in the fear Psa 58:1 – Do Pro 8:15 – decree Pro 16:10 – A divine sentence Pro 20:8 – General Pro 29:2 – the righteous Pro 31:9 – General Isa 1:26 – And I will Isa 11:4 – But with Isa 16:5 – judging Isa 33:5 – he hath Isa 33:17 – eyes Isa 42:6 – called Isa 60:17 – make Jer 33:14 – General Eze 45:8 – and my princes Eze 46:18 – the prince Hos 14:7 – that Zec 6:12 – behold Zec 12:5 – the governors Mat 2:2 – born Mat 25:34 – the King Joh 8:16 – yet Eph 1:12 – who Heb 6:18 – who Heb 7:2 – King of righteousness Rev 15:3 – thou

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Isa 32:1. Behold, a king Hezekiah, a type of Christ, and Christ typified by him, shall reign in righteousness Therefore Hezekiah was not king when this prophecy was delivered. And whereas some say that he speaks of the good government of Hezekiah, after the destruction of Sennacherib, it is easy to observe, that his government was as good before that time as afterward; and that in the very beginning of his reign he ruled with righteousness and the fear of God. And princes The ministers of state, judges, and magistrates under the king, shall rule in judgment Shall execute their offices with integrity and faithfulness. Ahaz and his princes had ruled very wickedly, but a king was about to mount the throne who would reign in righteousness, employ upright magistrates, and protect the people, both from internal oppression, by his equitable administration, and from external invaders, by his faith and prayers. Scott. But although these expressions are, in some sort, applicable to Hezekiah and his good reign, they are much more true of Christ and his reign, as are also several other expressions here used, especially those in the third and fourth verses, which evidently relate to happier times than Hezekiah lived to see. And therefore we may justly say, That the reformation which Hezekiah made was but a shadow of those greater improvements in grace and holiness, which properly belong to the times of the gospel. Lowth.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Isa 32:3. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim. The whole land shall be full of smiling affluence and joy; they shall have health of countenance, and look up with joy to a paternal throne. The passage applies farther to the Messiah, who opened the eyes of the blind, unstopped the ears of the deaf, and caused the dumb to publish his praise.

Isa 32:15. Till the Spirit be poured upon us from on high. The glory of the latter day is uniformly said to commence with an effusion of the Holy Spirit. Isa 44:3. Joe 2:28. While righteousness adorns the church, agriculture shall flourish by flocks on the hills, and harvests in the vales, as Isa 32:20.

REFLECTIONS.

This prophecy respecting the king who should reign in righteousness, was delivered before many of the preseding visions; and written, of course, before Uzziahs death, as it refers directly to the reign of Hezekiah. This pious king, on ascending the throne, did most seriously endeavour to reform religion, and the administration of justice; and he proved a subject worthy of prophecy, being one of Gods most signal gifts to his country. But we have seen how David referred all his sorrows, and all his joys, to the sorrows and joys of the Messiah. So we may say in general, that all the prophets did the same. And though this prophecy be not expressly cited in the new testament, it is because the rock, the river, and refuge are themes of prophecy so common, and so often referred to by our Saviour and his apostles, that all passages of this kind could not be particularly quoted. Whenever the pious Hebrew was oppressed with idolatrous princes, he would console himself by looking forward to the age of righteousness. When the blasts of northern winds, or affliction came upon him, he would hope in the everliving One who sheltered his flock in a lieu or warm place.

When on a journey, or labouring far from the city, he saw a collection of clouds in the western sky, he would haste to a covert. Here he would see the forked lightnings illuminate the heavens, and the fire-balls leap along the plains, leaving peals of loudest thunder to announce their progress to the trembling earth. Here true piety would make an immediate reference to the Messiah, so far as prophecy allowed a knowledge of his sufferings; and here the gospel should put in full force the covert of his almighty wings. Our sins are those portentous clouds; the frowns of divine justice and the anathemas of a violated law are those flashes of lightning, and bursting thunders. The heavens, the moral heavens are gathering black over the sinners head, and vengeance makes a rapid approach. It is time to seek a refuge, and a covert for his guilty head. And where can he look? Afflictions and death assail his body, and the terrors of God assail his soul. Divine vengeance rains a horrible tempest on the wicked! Who then is able to protect the sinner? It is replied, A man shall be a hidingplace from the wind and a covert from the tempest. Jesus Christ in the garden, and on the cross, bore the tempest of divine justice, the rage of men, the fury of hell, and the utmost anguish of death. Hence as the covert receives the storm, and shelters those who seek its protection, so the Saviour gives strong consolation to those who flee to his encircling arms. Here the guilty find a pardon, the unholy are sanctified, and the dying live. Here, when the judgments of God are abroad in the earth, the redeemed of the Lord lift up their heads with joy, for their Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

When the pious Hebrew, droughty in the desert, came to streams of water, and laved his burning feet, and drank of the cooling stream, while his camels cropped the verdant meads, he could not but be reminded of the waters of the Spirit which are everywhere promised in the scriptures: Isaiah 12, 44. Ezekiel 47. Joel 2. This is the river that maketh glad the city of God, and which Christ promised to every believer.

The pious Hebrew, still pursuing his way through the wilderness, would sometimes find the shadow of a rock which raised its cheering head above the weary plains; and passing at once from the burning sands to the cooling shade, he would feel a sensation too pleasurable for language to describe. And associating his feelings with piety, he would say with David, Lead me to the rock that is higher than myself. This is the rock which the Lord hath laid in Zion for a sure foundation; and this is the rock on which Christ will build his church, that it may bid defiance to the powers of hell. Oh what repose, what comfort, what delights are found under the shadow of his protecting love.

At the ninth verse, as in Isa 3:16, we have a hard stroke at the women of Israel, who contributed very much by effeminacy and pride to the ruin of the state. God was resolved to punish their waste with want, their dissipation with poverty, and their fine dresses with sackcloth. The harvest and the vintage should fail, that sobriety and hunger might bring them to recollection. What then would this prophet have said to the ladies of Europe, who dash away in the brilliant circles of society? They rise a little before noon. What they are pleased to call the morning is spent in lounging, in attention to their person and dress, for they usually drink their cordial or take their breakfast in bed. If they do not take a ride, they spend their time in reading novels, whose authors were rakes and ruined women. At dinner, they sit the usual time, and keep but a glass in arrears with the men. Then they roll off to the theatre, or to other places of amusement, where persons of the finest voice or most accomplished address, damn their own souls, in giving pleasure to the concupiscence of the age. When the sabbath arrives, and when the bells of finest tone are inviting them towards noon to bow with repentance before the eternal throne, they fortify themselves with the maxims of infidelity detailed by their husbands, and abandon themselves to chambering and wantonness. Or if they go at all to the house of God, they require a preacher of soft address, who will expatiate on the divine clemency, pass the highest encomiums on virtue, and immerge his portrait in the sunbeams of Elysian felicity. Nor have they any great objection that he should now and then give a gentle stroke at vice, provided it be general, and not pointed. In a word, they require a preacher and a subject so accommodating, that if Satan for once was changed into an angel of light, and was to fill the pulpit, he would change neither the text nor the subject!By and bye age and afflictions steal on, and death so often deprecated, makes his approach; then the conscience, instead of being enlightened by truth, and compassed by repentance, is lulled to slumber by opiates and night draughts. So these women, corrupt in principle, and haughty in habit, die in peace, or sink with gay indifference down to everlasting fire.

And thou, oh God, who didst punish the women of the east with sackcloth and hunger, who hast excluded the effeminate from thy kingdom; wilt thou punish all our crimes on the same scale, and with a hand equally severe? What then have we not to fear, when women crowd the broad way, and seem the foremost in leading us to destruction? Oh, ye court preachers, happy if I could rouse you to preach like this princely prophet, and to see converts among your hearers, like the noble Grecian ladies who attended the ministry of St. Paul. See on Acts 4. The sacred charge is the highest charge of heaven; you have a dread responsibility. Think of the state of your flock; think of your conscience. Socinianism can do nothing for you in death. Your new translations of the prophets, and your notes, are at issue with the prophets, as much as the common prayer is at issue with your sermons. The mitre will soon fade; and what account can you give to the bishop of souls? How will you appear before him whose glory you obscure?

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Isaiah 32. This chapter is regarded by some scholars as non-Isaianic on the ground of phraseology and ideas, but while it may have been interpolated, it is probably in the main Isaiahs work. It falls into two parts: (a) Isa 32:1-8, (b) Isa 32:9-20. The date of the former is uncertain. It may belong to the same period as Isaiah 28-31. The address to the women which follows recalls the denunciation in Isa 3:16-24, but it does not necessarily belong to the same period. And it too may belong to the same period as Isaiah 28-31. There is no need to detach the Messianic passage, Isa 32:15-20, from it.

Isa 32:1-8. The Blessedness of the Messianic Age.A description of the Messianic time, though the figure of the Messiah is probably not present in the passage. King and princes will reign in righteousness, each of them a source of shelter and refreshment. The present failure in moral insight and responsiveness will be removed, the inconsiderate will gain judgment, the halting speaker the faculty of lucid expression. Men will be designated in harmony with their true character; the fool (pp. 344, 398) shall no longer be called noble (mg.), nor the swindler an aristocrat. For fool and swindler will act in accordance with their nature, but the noble will resolve on noble schemes and persist in their execution.

Isa 32:1. a king: i.e. whatever king is on the throne.

Isa 32:2. a man: render each.

Isa 32:6-8. Probably a later insertion.

Isa 32:9-20. Startling Rebuke to the Women for their Indifference. Sore Calamity is at Hand, Ending only with the Coming of the Messianic Age.This passage was perhaps spoken at a vintage festival, for Isaiah lays special stress on the failure of the vintage and the fruit. He addresses the women of the upper classes, who show an ostentatious indifference to his words; cf. Isa 3:16 to Isa 4:1. He startles them with the prediction that in little more than a year they will have cause for trouble; next years vintage will not come. Let them put on mourning attire and lament for the failure of the fruit, for there will be an irremediable desolation of Jerusalem. Yet the desolation will not be permanent; the life-giving energy of God will be poured out, the wilderness will become fruitful, and what is now a fruitful field regarded as no better than woodland (Isa 29:17). Not only will the face of Nature be changed, but justice and righteousness, peace and confidence, will abound. Happy the people who can plant beside all waters, without fear that any will run dry or that the foe will reap what they have sown, and can let ox and ass roam at large, since there is danger neither of cattle-raiders nor of dearth.

Isa 32:14. Ophel (mg.): the southern side of the Temple hill.

Isa 32:19. Generally regarded as an insertion.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

32:1 Behold, {a} a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall {b} rule in judgment.

(a) This prophecy is of Hezekiah, who was a figure of Christ, and therefore it should chiefly be referred to him.

(b) By judgment and justice is meant an upright government, both in policy and religion.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Coming deliverance in the future 32:1-8

Having introduced the eschatological day of the Lord (Isa 31:7) and the interim day of the Lord (Isa 31:8-9), Isaiah proceeded to reveal more about these times. He also contrasted the king of the Assyrians (Isa 31:9) with the messianic King to come.

"The destruction of the Assyrian army points prophetically to the final world conflict, which will usher in the rule of Christ, the perfect King of Israel. Christ’s kingdom will fulfill God’s ideal of a holy commonwealth, administering a perfect righteousness throughout the earth. God’s King will provide complete shelter to all who seek refuge in him, and he will satisfy their thirsty souls with living water." [Note: Archer, p. 631.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The king and the princes of the future will not panic but will rule righteously (cf. Isa 31:9). This is Messiah (chs. 9; 11) who embodies righteousness. His princes are His executives, His vice-regents. [Note: See Douglas K. Stuart, "The Prophetic Ideal of Government in the Restoration Era," in Israel’s Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, pp. 283-92.] They stand in contrast to the unrighteous princes of Judah who advocated alliance with Egypt (cf. Isa 29:15-16; Isa 30:1-2).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

4

BOOK 3

ORATIONS ON THE EGYPTIAN INTRIGUES AND ORACLES ON FOREIGN NATIONS

705-702 B.C.

Isaiah:

29About 703

30A little later

31A little later

32:1-8Later

32:9-20Date uncertain

—————–

14:28-21736-702

23About 703

WE now enter the prophecies of Isaiahs old age, those which he published after 705, when his ministry had lasted for at least thirty-five years. They cover the years between 705, the date of Sennacheribs accession to the Assyrian throne, and 701, when his army suddenly disappeared from before Jerusalem.

They fall into three groups:-

1. Chapters 29-32., dealing with Jewish politics while Sennacherib is still far from Palestine, 704-702, and having Egypt for their chief interest, Assyria lowering in the background.

2. Chapters 14:28-21 and 23, a group of oracles on foreign nations, threatened, like Judah, by Assyria.

3. Chapters 1, 22, and 33, and the historical narrative in 36, and 37., dealing with Sennacheribs invasion of Judah and siege of Jerusalem in 701; Egypt and every foreign nation now fallen out of sight, and the storm about the Holy City too thick for the prophet to see beyond his immediate neighbourhood.

The first and second of these groups-orations on the intrigues with Egypt and oracles on the foreign nations-delivered while Sennacherib was still far from Syria, form the subject of this Third Book of our exposition.

The prophecies on the siege of Jerusalem are sufficiently numerous and distinctive to be put by themselves, along with their appendix (38, 39), in our Fourth Book.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary