A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 31: The Treachery of the Spoilers

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 31: The Treachery of the Spoilers

In Isaiah chapter 32, accompanying a promise of a Righteous Ruler, one who would protect the people and open their eyes to truth and knowledge, there were also messages foreboding punishment for the wicked in Jerusalem, and suffering for the careless women who had lived at ease, but who would be stripped bare and girt with sackcloth. Briers and thorns would overtake the land which had been emptied of its people, and the city would be left desolate “until the spirit be poured upon us from on high … and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation”, all of which compliments the Messianic promise of a Righteous Ruler in the opening verses of the chapter. So we would assert that this chapter follows the same pattern of prophecy which has been observed throughout Isaiah, where there are found repeated ominous warnings of destruction for Israel and Judah, woven together with Messianic promises of a future redemption, salvation and reconciliation for the people. So while the prophecy of Isaiah had contained many messages of tragedy and hope for the people of Israel of his own time, it is much more relevant to Israel over the course of the national punishment which was only just beginning in the time of Isaiah.

As we had come to the end of Isaiah chapter 32, in nearly the same breath in which it is said that “my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation”, it is said in the very next verse that “19 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.” This must be a reference to Jerusalem, the future of which had been the subject of this prophecy, and as we had presented it we had discussed a problem with the original reading of the verse, where one manuscript of the surviving portions of Isaiah found among the Dead Sea Scrolls has a very similarly spelled Hebrew word which means wood rather than city, and the translators of the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible had asserted that it was more likely to have been the original reading. (Making that discussion, I had hurriedly checked the passage in Origen’s Hexapla but erred in my interpretation of the Latin, so I struck it and repaired it in the notes.) There is no corroboration for the reading of wood in any of the manuscripts employed by Origen. However I may have also discussed the quite different reading found in the Septuagint version of the verse.

So as it is translated in Brenton’s edition of the Septuagint, verse 19 reads: “19 And if the hail should come down, it shall not come upon you; and they that dwell in the forests shall be in confidence, as those in the plain country. ” The word which Brenton had translated as confidence there may also have been trust or belief. While there is also no corroboration for this reading in the Hexapla or in any of the extant Hebrew manuscripts, the Septuagint is at least two centuries and even as many as three centuries older than any of them. Yet even as it appears in the King James Version, while the clause seems to be an ominous warning, it is really only stating that when the spirit is poured from on high, when the people dwell in a peaceable habitation, then when it shall hail the city – or the wood – “shall be low in a low place”. Although since cities themselves cannot really move, it cannot be the city of Jerusalem in Palestine which is being described in that verse.

However the concept of a city, in either Hebrew or Greek, often refers to the body politic of the people of a city, and not merely to the city as a collection of structures in a particular location. The πόλις in Greek describes a body of people living in a place, and not merely the place in which they live. This is certainly evident in the the description of the City of God in Revelation chapter 21 where we read in words which belong to John: “2 And I saw a new holy city Jerusalem descending from out of heaven from Yahweh, having been prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Yet in the prophets, especially in Hosea chapter 2, Yahweh had promised to betroth the people of Israel, and not the physical city of Jerusalem. So there in the Revelation, the city describes the body of the twelve tribes of Israel, the body politic of the people. The word for low also meaning humble where it refers to people, when salvation comes to Judah the people will be humble, in a humble place. That accords with the final verse of chapter 32 which reads “20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.” Yet Jerusalem the city in Palestine is in a high place, and has no rivers running through or alongside of it. So in any event, whether the original reading of the word for city in verse 19 was actually city or wood, as an image of the trees of a forest describing the individuals in a multitude, it describes the same children of Judah at the time of their redemption. 

But now, as we commence with Isaiah chapter 33, the same prophecy continues and there is another ominous warning to the wicked:

33:1 Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. 

The spoilers here must be the same vile churls and niggards of Jerusalem who had been addressed in chapter 32, who were described as having committed “error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and … cause the drink of the thirsty to fail…. to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.” So here they have spoiled because they have oppressed the poor of the land, and dealt treacherously with them, and now they are warned that they are going to be treated in kind, even if they had not suffered in that manner while they had been spoiling others.

So now there is a prayer in the mouths of the people, but it seems that the people of Judah were hoping to escape judgment, so it becomes evident later in the chapter that in light of their sins the hope which is expressed in this prayer was in vain. In this prayer, they also express self-righteousness in the fact that while there are no expressions of repentance, or even admissions of sin, they only hope to spoil their enemies, and in that there is another depth of meaning. This prayer, which follows immediately after Yahweh had issued a warning to spoilers, is a prayer by the children of Judah hope that they may spoil their enemies. Therefore it is a prayer made in vain, which we shall see when it is answered at its conclusion:

2 O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. 3 At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered. 

In verse 2, the people hope that Yahweh God will defend them, and in verse 3 they seem to evoke thoughts of the power of God, which seems to have been disingenuous, even flattering, as we continue and they make further appeals which reflect a hope that they may plunder their enemies and gather their riches unto themselves. So their prayer reflects the role of the spoiler which the word of Yahweh had censured before the prayer even began. 

Furthermore, although the reference to the nations in verse 3 may include others who had already been invaded by the Assyrians and either scattered or taken captive, such as the Philistines and the Syrians, it becomes evident later on in this chapter that the description of the scattering of the nations had been made in reference to the children of Israel. The word for nations is גוים or goyim (# 1471), however the children of Israel were first described using that term by Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 32 where we read: “43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.” There we should reject the word with which was added to the text by the translators, understanding that the nations to which Moses had referred were His people. 

In the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible the third clause in verse 2 is translated to read “and be our arm every morning”, which is much more appropriate within the context of the verse. However there is no note concerning the reason for the difference, and generally, the phrase זרעם or zera’m, which is the word for arm with a ם mem or m affixed as a suffix, is “their arm” [1]. Where we read “our salvation” there is a suffix on the word for salvation which does explicitly mean our. 

Preparing this, I had searched Hebrew grammar resources, including an edition of the grammar of Gesenius [2], and find no explanation for this difference, even though many of the popular translations read “our arm”, and many read “their arm”. Here I am tempted to imagine that the נו or nun-vav combination of Hebrew letters which means our as a suffix, written closely together in certain handwriting could indeed resemble and therefore be mistaken for a ם or mem which means their, and perhaps the reading “be thou our arm” may be correct, although that possibility is not mentioned in any of the Hebrew resources which I have seen.

The Septuagint has a quite different reading in verse 2, as Brenton has it: “2 Lord, have mercy upon us; for we have trusted in thee: the seed of the rebellious is gone to destruction, but our deliverance was in a time of affliction.” This is also appropriate in the context of the wider passage, but the reading has no further support in the Hexapla.

In any event, here yet another example is made of the fate of those who wait upon the judgment of Yahweh their God. In Isaiah chapter 30, an example was made of those of Judah who would flee the punishment of God and attempt to escape into Egypt, and where they were forewarned of the doom to which that would lead them, hope is offered to them if they would instead abide in Jerusalem, and we read: “18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. 19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.” So those who would flee the judgment of God would face an even harsher judgment and suffer a bitter end, while those who abide and wait upon God have a promise of hope, or, at least, a prayer.

However, here the prayer seems to be disingenuous, because it is made in the face of impending judgment, but without any explicit admissions of sin and repentance, and now it is manifest that all the people hope to do was to spoil their enemies, while crediting the spoiling to the Name of Yahweh:

4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. 

For the first clause here the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible has “And your spoil is gathered like the caterpillar gathers”, although the word like is not explicit in the text so it appears in italics in the King James Version. The New American Standard Bible also indicates this where it has “4 And your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers”, adding the word for as in italics. The word for spoil is affixed with a כם or kaf-mem suffix which properly represents of you or your. The second clause of the verse does have a prefix meaning like or as affixed to the word which means running. However in that clause, both of these other translations have the word men in English where here in the King James Version we have only the singular pronoun he in the phrase “shall he run upon them”. While there is no explicit word for either men or he in the Hebrew text, the pronoun he may be implied in the masculine singular form of the verb, but we would assert that in this context the pronoun you is more proper, referring to the spoil which Yahweh would gather as it is described in the first clause. 

Once again, the Septuagint offers a rather peculiar reading: “4 And now shall the spoils of your small and great be gathered: as if one should gather locusts, so shall they mock you.” We have found such odd readings in the Septuagint throughout Isaiah, however we have not always commented in regard to them. Here it seems credible however, that the people praying for the grace of God are exalting Him in this prayer by acknowledging that He would spoil the other nations, and imagining that those nations would in turn only continue to mock Him. While there is nothing in the Hexapla of Origen which supports this reading, we must remember that the surviving copies of the Hexapla are fragmentary, and not complete, so that alone is not an indictment. 

Therefore as Yahweh is portrayed by the people as having been intent on spoiling the nations, which is their prayer but which is not necessarily true, and which is made because they had evidently wanted the spoil for themselves, and since this is a prayer which they seem to have expected would prevail, now they exalt Him for spoiling those nations, as if He would do so, as they continue to pray by declaring:

5 The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. 6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. 

And while this prayer is indeed fulfilled in the far vision, the people of Jerusalem could not have anticipated that, or expected it in their own time. So they were only praying for themselves and for their own gain. So here it seems that to the people, filling Zion with judgment and righteousness means filling Jerusalem with the spoils of the Assyrians and the other nations.

But of course, Zion would not be filled with true judgment and righteousness until the appearance of the Righteous Ruler who had been promised in Isaiah chapter 32. Since this particular judgment and righteousness which the people have declared here only seems to be the spoil which they portrayed Yahweh as taking from their enemies in verse 4, they are praying for their own gain, and not for repentance from the sins for which they are about to be judged. This evokes the words of James in chapter 4 of his epistle, where he wrote: “2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” So here the people ask, but when the prayer is completed, it is evident that they shall not receive what they had hoped for.

But in Isaiah chapter 31, Yahweh had already declared that He would defend Jerusalem “as birds flying”, and then He promised that: “8 Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. 9 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.” So although the people of Jerusalem would be delivered, it would be on account of the Word of Yahweh, and not on account of the prayer of these people, who are the spoilers mentioned in the opening verse of this chapter.

So while this prayer seems to be a hope which was based upon that promise, and as the people beg for the grace of God and hope to be relieved from the punishment which their enemies have executed upon them, when making it the people have only hoped for spoil, for their own gain at the expense of their enemies. The prophet must have been inspired to write this prayer, because it must have accurately reflected the general attitudes of at least many of the people of Jerusalem at this time.

Now continuing their prayer, they lament what had befallen the scattered nations which had been mentioned in verse 3, however we shall take issue with the translation of verse 7:

7 Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. 

In the Hebrew text there is no future tense of verbs in this verse, and the verb for cry is actually said to be in the perfect tense, and the verb for weep in the imperfect tense. [3] So within the context of verse 9, we see that this is speaking of the judgments which had already come upon Israel, referring back to where the King James Version has the words “the nations were scattered” in verse 3. On account of the fact that they had already been judged to a great extent, “their valiant ones cried without” while “the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly”, as we would translate the clause. Now there is a recognition that the taking away of Israel represented an end to the covenant with God:

8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man. 

Strangely, the editors of the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible inserted a parenthetical remark after the word for covenant in their translation which says “(of the enemy)”, however neither the Assyrians nor any of the other surrounding nations had been bound in a covenant with Yahweh God. The children of Judah must have known that this judgment upon Israel was from of Yahweh, and therefore they are portrayed here as praying for grace for themselves from Yahweh, and not from their enemies. The Septuagint also has an odd interpretation of this verse, where Brenton has: “8 For the ways of these shall be made desolate: the terror of the nations has been made to cease, and the covenant with these is taken away, and ye shall by no means deem them men.” But this is not true, since Assyria was very close to taking most of Judah into captivity.

Either of these interpretations we must reject because they are out of context, both within this passage of Isaiah and within the entire context of the Old Testament. There was no covenant which Yahweh had made with Assyria, or with any of the other nations which had been hostile to the children of Israel in the time of their punishment. Rather, the “wayfaring man” here seems to be an allegory for the children of Israel who had wandered in sin, and therefore the paths of his wanderings would lie waste, which seems to be a reference to the idolatry of Israel. So for those sins, he, meaning Yahweh, had broken the covenant by sending them off into captivity, and in their punishment, Yahweh had also despised their cities and had regarded no man.

Only the children of Israel were included in any of the covenants which Yahweh had made with Abraham, and which had been inherited by Jacob. But this breaking of the covenant must have referred to the Sinai covenant, where Israel had been given promises of His care and protection if they kept His laws, a condition to which they had agreed. The covenants with Abraham were, for the most part, made without condition. The covenants of Abraham were passed on to Jacob without condition, except that his father told him where to find his wives, as it is recorded in Genesis chapter 28.

But the Sinai covenant which promised that Israel would be a kingdom of priests did have conditions, which we first read in Exodus chapter 19 where Yahweh had instructed Moses to declare the following to the people, in part: “5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” Once Israel departed from the law and went off into sin, Israel lost the promises to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation made in association with the Sinai covenant, and therefore they would be cut off from being a nation.

So once Israel was put out of the land, the Sinai covenant was forever broken, and Yahweh Himself pronounced that it was broken in Zechariah chapter 11 where we read: “9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. 10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.”

But on account of the poor of the flock, immediately after that, there is a statement which indicates how Israel would be redeemed from that situation: “12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.” But the meaning of this would not be revealed until the ministry of Christ. While Zechariah was a prophet of the very beginning of the second temple period, the breaking of the covenant was also apparent in the promises of a new covenant found in Jeremiah chapter 31 and Ezekiel chapter 37, perhaps about seventy or eighty years earlier than Zechariah.

Then, according to the Gospel of Christ, which is especially evident in Luke chapter 1, the promised new covenant would be made on the basis of the promises to Abraham which were never broken, which cannot be broken, and not on the basis of the broken Sinai covenant, which Paul had declared would vanish away, in Hebrews chapter 8 (8:13). For that same reason, Paul had written in Romans chapter 15: “8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: 9 And that the [Nations] might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the [Nations], and sing unto thy name.”

Now the fact that the people of Judah are portrayed here as lamenting what things had already befallen the children of Israel is elucidated without doubt in the final words of their prayer:

9 The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. 

Lebanon, Sharon, Bashan and Carmel were all lands in which the children of Israel had dwelt, before they had been taken away by the Assyrians in the days of Tiglathpileser III and Sargon II, kings of Assyria. Although Isaiah also prophesied concerning the end of Tyre, that prophecy was not yet fulfilled, so at this time Tyre remained unmolested, as was Judah.

But here in this prayer, while the people had acknowledged what things had befallen Israel, there was no expression of their own repentance. They boasted of having waited on Yahweh, in verse 2, but they had apparently never admitted nor repented of their sins. So it seems that they only wanted Yahweh to stand for them, so that they could despoil their enemies, and reckon the wealth which they may acquire as if it were a gift from God. Therefore they themselves were the very spoilers of which Yahweh had warned in the opening verse of this chapter, and there He had already explained their treachery, and had promised them that for their treachery, they would only suffer treachery.

As we had seen in Isaiah chapter 32, the time was coming when the vile man and the churl, or niggard, would no longer be called “liberal”, which is noble in the sense of being generous. In Proverbs chapter 11 we read: “25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself”, where we see the intended meaning of the term, and then a little further on: “31 Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.” In this prayer, the people reflected the attitude of the niggard, who horded wealth to himself, rather than humbling themselves. Then they projected their own lusts upon Yahweh their God, imagining that He would support their desire to spoil. This is the treachery of the spoilers.

So now Yahweh responds in regard to this prayer, and rather than relenting and answering them with an assurance that their prayer will be answered, He instead warns the people once again that they must be punished for their sins, in spite of their appeal for grace. They asked, but they only asked for their own gain, as James had written, “3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts”, and likewise, here they shall receive not:

10 Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. 

Yahweh would be exalted in the humbling and chastisement of His people for their sins, especially since He had already long ago informed them through the prophet Isaiah as to how they would be punished, and they shall be punished just as Isaiah had prophesied. When the Word of Yahweh is fulfilled in history just as it had been written, then Yahweh is exalted because it is demonstrated that Yahweh God is true, and that He is God. So as Yahweh is now portrayed as having addressed them, which also reveals that this entire chapter up to this point represents a dialogue, He warns them further:

11 Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. 12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. 

Of course, Yahweh God has mercy on His people, and may withhold the punishment of the humble, as we read in the 103rd Psalm: “9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.” However here the treachery of the wicked is elucidated in their own prayer, as they had expected their God to help them spoil their enemies, and fill Jerusalem with their riches. So now, since their punishment is imminent, there is an announcement to “ye that are far off”, which seems to be a message to the Israelites who were already being punished in captivity, as well as to “ye that are near”:

13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. 

The power of God is not always understood by men who live through bad events, which men may attribute to other causes. But the power of God is fully elucidated when His Word is fulfilled as it was written aforetime, and if men ignore that, it is always to their own peril. But if men hear the Word and see its fulfillment, they should be compelled to acknowledge the power of God.

The answer to their prayer continues:

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 

The people were hypocrites, as they were portrayed as flattering Yahweh their God with their lips, while their motive was merely to acquire the spoil of their enemies. This evokes the words of the prophet in chapter 29 where we read: “ 13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me”, even if those words were uttered there for a different reason.

Now the questions in verse 14 were rhetorical, they challenge the people to answer and identify those who may withstand His judgment, and Yahweh Himself answers them in verse 15:

15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. 

Now what follows seems to represent an assurance to those in Jerusalem who would not take part in the sin and oppression of the spoilers, as the Word turns from providing a description of those who would survive the punishment of the people and it addresses them in person:

17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. 

Here it seems that they have a promise to see the Righteous Ruler of Isaiah chapter 32, and this promise is for the far-vision, rather than their immediate circumstances. So they will meditate terror, as we read in the next verse, but they will overcome that terror and survive in spite of the coming trials:

18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? 

The New American Standard Bible has a better translation of this verse which reads: “18 Your heart will meditate on terror: ‘Where is he who counts? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?’” With this, the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible generally agrees, although it used a past tense to represent the verbs, and has “weighed the tribute” rather than just “weighed”.

In this aspect of the prophecy, it must be reckoned that the Assyrians were also spoilers, as they had taken tribute from Judah, and as they were now about to invade Judah and spoil it even more. So the Assyrians were spoilers just as much as those in Jerusalem who wanted to spoil the Assyrians. So these men are the Assyrian officers who had reckoned that they could take Jerusalem, and they shall all be put to nought, or depart from Judah, once Yahweh defends the city “as birds flying”, as He had promised in Isaiah chapter 31.

When that happens, here it states that those who walk in righteousness would consider it, that they would meditate the terror of what had happened to the Assyrians. Now they are given a further assurance that they would remain unharmed:

19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand. 

In the near vision, this had apparently been fulfilled because although the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem, they failed to breach its walls. So in spite of the coming judgment, the people are given a yet another assurance:

20 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. 

There are clearly two groups of people in Jerusalem here, one which are spoilers who shall be punished, and one which walk righteously and shall be preserved. However, in spite of the spoilers, once the siege of the Assyrians passed, Jerusalem would remain in relative peace for another hundred and fifteen or so years, even under wicked kings. However that is a near-vision fulfillment, and this prophecy is much more significant as a far-vision prophecy, because in the far vision, there is indeed a promise that the Jerusalem which descends from heaven, in Revelation chapters 21 and 22, shall indeed never be removed. As the New Jerusalem in the Revelation represents the body of the people of Israel, so does the reference to Zion here. Furthermore, in the far-vision this prophecy relates to the promise of the Righteous Ruler found in Isaiah chapter 32, which was evident here in verse 17 but also now in verse 21:

21 But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. 

Where it says “there” and refers to “the glorious Yahweh”, it must be referring to what had just been promised in verse 17 to those who walk righteously: “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.”

So it seems now that the people reply with an exclamation:

22 For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us. 

Whether these people were the spoilers in Jerusalem, or the righteous in Jerusalem, it does not matter because Yahweh answers them from His Own righteousness. To a great extent, the sinner does not recognize their own sin, on which account Yahweh has already called them hypocrites in the answer to their prayer. As we read in Proverbs chapter 31: “2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. 3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. 4 An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” It seems that the spoilers may answer out of their own pride, but the humble may give the same answer out of their own humility.

So Yahweh answers the people once more, in a manner which evokes the thought of the ships that would not pass through the far-off land of the promises made here to the righteous:

23 Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. 

In verse 21, the reference to gallant ships and galleys with oars seems to describe mercantilism, and among the sins of Israel for which they had been judged by the Assyrians was mercantilism. Thus we read in Hosea chapter 2, from the words of a prophet who had his ministry at the same time as Isaiah: “7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. 8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.” Trading with the nations which had worshipped Baal, or any other idol, the children of Israel were trading the gifts which Yahweh had given them with Baal.

In that passage, the lovers were the heathen nations with which the children of Israel had been conducting trade, making covenants with those nations contrary to the commandments of God. So for that they would be punished, where Hosea continues and we read: “9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. 10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.” As for those solemn feasts, the word for feasts in that passage of Hosea is the same word translated as solemnities here in verse 20, as it refers to the times appointed for the feasts held at the temple in Jerusalem.

The children of Israel would pursue the mercantilism described in Hosea throughout practically the entire time of their captivity, for which they would be ruled over by the beast empires of the world, even to this very day. Then, once Mystery Babylon, the last of the beast empires, finally falls, we read in Revelation chapter 18: “ 9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. 11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, 18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.”

So we also read here, that once it is apparent that the merchants of the earth can no longer spread their sails, then “is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.” And where the chapter concludes, Yahweh concludes His answer to their prayer and says:

24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. 

So the lame shall take the prey, and the sick shall be healed of their illness, but there is no mention of the fate of the spoilers, because they evidently could not “dwell with the devouring fire” or “everlasting burnings”, as Yahweh had asked in verse 14, because as He also answered, only those who walk righteously could overcome those trials.

This also expresses the purpose of the Gospel of Christ, as Christ Himself had answered the disciples of John which had inquired whether He was the Messiah, and as it is recorded in Luke chapter 7, we read: “22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. 23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”

This concludes our commentary on Isaiah through chapter 33.

Footnotes

1 Suffixes in Hebrew, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffixes_in_Hebrew, accessed May 15th, 2025.

2 Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, edited and enlarged by E. Kautzsch, revised by A. E. Cowley, Oxford University Press, London, 1910, p. 255

3 Isaiah 33:7, Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/isaiah/33-7.htm, accessed May 15th, 2025.