Isaiah 33

Wesley: to thee—Sennacherib, who wasted the land of Judah.

The destroyer who has never been destroyed will meet his own measure. Wesley names Sennacherib; the principle reaches every oppressor who thinks himself untouchable.

Calvin: it is almost universally agreed that this is the beginning of a new discourse, addressed to Sennacherib and his army; he is not unwilling to believe that the Prophet pronounces against the Assyrians a threatening intended to alleviate the distresses of the people. There will be a wonderful revolution which will overthrow Nineveh; the Babylonians will come to punish them for the cruelty they exercised on other nations. When thou shalt have ceased to plunder: tyrants have boundaries assigned to them which they cannot pass.

The woe stays with Isaiah’s Judah.

Wesley: O Lord—the prophet contemplating the judgment which was now coming upon God’s people, directs his prayer to God for them. Their arm—our arm or strength. The change of persons is frequent in prophetical writings. Every morning—when we offer the morning sacrifice, and call upon thee; which yet is not meant exclusively, as if he did not desire God’s help at other times, but comprehensively, the morning being put for the whole day. The sense is, help us speedily and continually.

Isaiah prays for grace “every morning,” which Wesley reads as help both speedy and continual. Waiting on the Lord is the posture of faith in the coming crisis.

Calvin: this sentiment was added in order to remind the godly where they ought to go amidst such distresses—to prayer, to supplicate from God the fulfillment of these promises. Faith alone is the mother of calling on God. Be what thou hast been, their arm in the morning: he supplies “who hast been,” in order to bring forward the ancient benefits bestowed by God on the fathers. Arm denotes the power exerted in defense of his Church before she was afflicted; salvation denotes the deliverance by which he rescues her even when she appears to be ruined.

The graciousness stays with Isaiah’s wait.

Wesley: the noise—which the angel shall make in destroying the army. The people—those of the army, who escaped that stroke. The nations—the people of divers nations, which made up this army. The tumult is still the angel’s over Sennacherib’s host after the prayer of v. 2.

At the sound of the LORD rising up, the nations scatter. Wesley ties it to the angel’s stroke against Sennacherib’s army.

Calvin: he makes use of the plural number, saying that they were peoples; for the kingdom of the Assyrians consisted of various peoples, and their army had been collected out of various nations. At thy exaltation: the Lord, who formerly seemed as it were to remain at rest, now suddenly came forth to public view. He willingly interprets the word voice to mean the loud noise which would be raised by the Medes and Persians.

The lift stays with the Lord’s coming forth over Assyria.”

Wesley: your spoil—that treasure which you have raked together, by spoiling divers people. Gathered—by the Jews at Jerusalem, when you flee away. Like the caterpillar—as caterpillars gather and devour the fruits of the earth. As locusts—as locusts, especially when they are armed by commission from God, come with great force, and run hither and thither.

Jerusalem’s people will swarm over the plunder the Assyrians leave behind, like locusts over a field.

Calvin: he addresses the Assyrians. The latter opinion—Sennacherib’s defeat before Jerusalem—has been adopted by almost all commentators, but it appears to him too limited; the Prophet intended to express something more, the destruction of that nation. He compares that warlike nation to caterpillars, because they will have no power to resist, and shall be gathered into heaps to be destroyed. According to the running of locusts: the Babylonians will run like locusts to devour the whole country; the wealth of Nineveh, amassed by robbery, shall be carried to Babylon.

The gathering stays with that monarchy’s fall.

Wesley: exalted—by the destruction of so potent an army, and by the defense of this people.

The Lord is exalted when he breaks the army and fills Zion with justice and righteousness. His high dwelling does not keep him distant from the city he defends.

Calvin: Jehovah is exalted, who dwelleth on high. Wicked men imagine that he was cast down by the destruction of the people; he inhabiteth the heavens. He hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness: a proof of God’s wonderful kindness when the Jews shall be delivered; the fullness of righteousness and judgment means that God will largely pour forth his kindness in restoring the Church. Holy and well-adjusted order, not corruptible riches, is the standard by which prosperity should be judged.

The filling stays with the Lord’s high seat over her.”

Wesley: thy times—he turns his speech to Hezekiah. Thy throne shall be established upon the sure foundations of wisdom and justice. And strength—thy strong salvation. The fear—thy chief treasure is in promoting the fear and worship of God.

Stability, wisdom, and knowledge are promised, but the treasure is the fear of the LORD. Wesley applies the verse first to Hezekiah’s throne; a king is secure only when reverence for God is what he prizes most.

Calvin: he promises that the state of the kingdom under the reign of Hezekiah will yet be happy and prosperous, especially when he contrasts it with the ruinous aspect it exhibited under Ahaz. Since the kingdom of Hezekiah was but a slender shadow of the kingdom of Christ, these words must be referred to Christ, in whom is found true wisdom and knowledge. The fear of Jehovah is his treasure, the teacher of piety, not cold or lifeless.

Calvin and Wesley both keep Hezekiah’s times in that Judah; Calvin adds the reference to Christ as end.

Wesley: behold—that the mercy promised might be duly magnified, he makes a lively representation of their great danger and distress. The ambassadors—whom he shall send to beg peace of the Assyrian. Shall weep—because they cannot obtain their desires. The weeping is still Hezekiah’s embassy after the treasure of v. 6.

Even the bravest weep and the envoys return in tears: the peace they tried to buy has failed. Wesley says the distress is painted vividly so that the coming mercy will be seen as mercy.

Calvin: the ambassadors of peace wept bitterly. It is given as a token of despair, that the ambassadors who had been sent to appease the tyrant were unsuccessful; every way of obtaining peace was attempted by Hezekiah, without any success. Sennacherib has haughtily and disdainfully refused to make peace, so that the ambassadors are constrained to pour out in public their grief.

The bitter weeping stays with the refused treaty.

Wesley: the covenant—Sennacherib broke his faith, given to Hezekiah, of departing for a sum of money, 2 Kings 18:14, 17. Cities—the defensed cities of Judah, which he contemned, and easily took.

Wesley points to 2 Kings 18:14–17: Hezekiah paid the tribute and Sennacherib came anyway. Arminian readers see a sober lesson in the broken treaty—peace bought from a tyrant is no substitute for trust in God.

Calvin: the roads are deserted, so that no one shall go in or out, which commonly happens when war has been declared. He hath broken the covenant: this is part of the description of the cruelty and insatiable rage of Sennacherib, in treacherously breaking the treaty which he had formerly made with Hezekiah; as soon as an opportunity presented itself for invading Judea, he violated his promise. He hath despised the cities; he hath regarded no man.

Calvin refuses to read this as a complaint that God does not fulfill his promises. The broken faith stays with that Assyrian.”

Wesley: mourneth—being desolate and neglected. Hewn—by the Assyrians. Bashan—two places eminent for fertility, are spoiled of their fruits.

Lebanon, Sharon, Bashan, and Carmel were bywords for fertility. Their withering shows how complete the Assyrian devastation was before the Lord rose up (v. 10).

Calvin: he describes more fully how wretched and desperate the Jews would perceive their condition to be. The places specified—Lebanon, Bashan, and Carmel—are widely distant from each other and form almost the farthest boundaries of the holy land, in order to shew that no part of it will remain safe. To Lebanon he assigns confusion, because it is elsewhere mentioned as beautiful; Sharon, a fertile district, will be like a wilderness; Bashan and Carmel, which abounded in fruits, will be shaken.

The leaves stay with those named ridges.

“Now I will arise.” After the envoys’ tears and the land’s withering, the LORD acts at the moment of greatest need.

Calvin: now will I rise. There is great force in the particle now, and in the repetition, I shall be exalted, I shall be lifted up on high. We ought to observe the time to which these statements relate, that is, when the Church appeared to be utterly ruined; God declares that he will judge that to be the most suitable time for rendering assistance. He thus delays to render assistance because it is useful to exercise the patience of the godly, to try their faith, to subdue the desires of the flesh, to excite to earnestness in prayer; therefore he lays a restraint, that they may not with headlong eagerness anticipate that period which God has already marked out for them.

The rise stays with the Lord’s own hour.”

Wesley: stubble—instead of solid corn. Your great hopes and designs shall be utterly disappointed. Your breath—your rage against my people shall bring ruin upon yourselves.

The invader’s plans come to nothing but chaff and stubble, and his own fury becomes the fire that consumes him. Wesley reads it as rage against God’s people turning back on the one who harbors it.

Calvin: ye shall conceive chaff. He now addresses the enemies of the Church; their insolence is foolish and to no purpose. It is customary to employ conceptions for the designs and efforts of men; their conception shall be fruitless. The fire of your breath shall devour you: the fire kindled by your breath shall devour you. We commonly kindle a fire by blowing; the fire which wicked men have blown by their wicked contrivances shall be destructive to them. Let us learn that what Isaiah foretold about Sennacherib relates to all the adversaries of believers and of the Church.

The fire stays with their own breath against Judah.

Wesley: the people—shall be burnt as easily and effectually as chalk is burned to lime.

Lime burns down to powder, and cut thorns flare up and vanish. The imagery stresses how quickly the mighty host will be consumed.

Calvin: the peoples shall be the burnings of lime. He compares them to the burning of lime, because their hardness shall be bruised, as fire softens the stones, so that they shall easily be reduced to powder. As thorns cut up: there is no kind of wood that burns more violently or is more quickly consumed. We know that this was fulfilled in Sennacherib, for the event proved the truth of these predictions, though they appeared to be altogether incredible.

The thorns stay with Sennacherib’s host.”

The deliverance is meant to be heard far and wide. Near and far alike are called to acknowledge the LORD’s power.

Calvin: hear, ye that are far off. Isaiah here makes a preface, as if he were about to speak on a very weighty subject; he bids his hearers be attentive. He addresses both those who are near, who would be eyewitnesses of this event, and the most distant nations to whom the report would be communicated. The power of God will be such as to be perceived not only by a few persons, or by those who are at hand, but also by those at a very great distance. It will be a striking and extraordinary demonstration of the power of God.

Wesley: the sinners—this is spoken of the Jews. The prophet, having foretold the deliverance of God’s people and the destruction of their enemies, gives a lively representation of the unbelieving condition in which the Jews were, before their deliverance came. Who—how shall we be able to endure, or avoid the wrath of that God, who is a consuming fire; who is now about to destroy us utterly by the Assyrians, and will afterwards burn us with unquenchable fire?

The fire that consumes the enemy also frightens the sinners inside Zion. Wesley reads the question “Who among us can live with the devouring fire?” as the alarm of unbelief; vv. 15–16 answer it with a description of the upright life.

Calvin: the sinners in Zion are afraid. When he employs the word Zion, he reproves the degenerate Jews, because, covered with the shadow of the sanctuary, they thought they possessed a fortress which could not be stormed; the haughtiest of all men are they who shelter themselves under the name of God. Terror hath seized the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Some view the words as relating to the king of Assyria; he prefers the latter opinion, God. God is called a devouring fire; the inward anguish by which ungodly men are tormented, the stings of conscience which cannot be allayed, the unquenchable burning of crimes. God is usually kind and gentle to the godly, while wicked men feel that he is severe and terrible.

The trembling stays with those sinners.”

Wesley: he—who is just in all his dealings. From hearing—who will not hearken to any counsels, tending to shed innocent blood. From seeing—that abhors the very sight of sin committed by others, and guards his eyes from beholding occasions of sin. The walker is still the answer to Zion’s cry in v. 14.

The answer to “Who can live with the devouring fire?” is a life of integrity: honest speech, refusing bribes, stopping one’s ears to violence. Wesley stresses guarding the eyes from sin as well.

Calvin: he that walketh in righteousness. He convinces them of their guilt and exhorts them to repentance; there is a state of friendship between God and men if they wish to follow and practice righteousness, maintain truth and integrity, and act inoffensively towards their neighbors. He treats of the second table of the Law, by which the sincerity of godliness is put to the test. This discourse is directed chiefly against hypocrites, who throw a false veil of piety over their hidden pollutions. Who speaketh what is right; who despiseth the gain arising from violence; who shaketh his hands from accepting a bribe; who stoppeth his ear that it may not hear blood; who shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.

The shut eyes stay with Isaiah’s answer to the fire.

Wesley: on high—out of the reach of danger. His waters—God will furnish him with all necessaries.

The righteous person dwells secure on the heights, supplied with bread and water. Wesley reads it as God furnishing everything necessary even in a siege.

Calvin: he shall dwell in high places. They who were described in the former verse are not subject to that burning; they shall be made to dwell in a place of the greatest safety, a habitation among fortified rocks. Bread shall be given to him; his waters shall be sure: to a safe dwelling he adds an abundance of good things. No man can be so holy or upright as to be capable of enduring the eye of God; we therefore need a mediator, through whose intercession our sins may be forgiven. The Prophet did not intend to set aside the ordinary doctrine of Scripture on this subject; this ought to be carefully observed in opposition to the Popish doctors, by whom passages of this kind, which recommend works, are abused in order to destroy the righteousness of faith.

Calvin and Wesley agree the dweller is kept in the Assyrian hour; Calvin refuses to let the walk become a ladder against faith.