The Great Deliverance At Jerusalem (Isaiah 33:1-6).
Assyria is chided for its greed and treachery, and Yahweh's people plead for deliverance. But the invasion is going forward and the spoil is being gathered rapaciously. However, they are assured that Yahweh, Who dwells on high, will be exalted, and will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and the promise is therefore that at that time peace will prevail, and there will be stability and deliverance.
But it does not appear that way immediately. Those who have sought to establish peace are in despair because of Assyria's treachery, and the land mourns and languishes, but then Yahweh declares that He will arise and lift Himself up and be exalted, and the result will be that Assyria conceives chaff and brings forth stubble and brings forth judgment on itself.
Analysis.
a Woe to you who spoil, and you were not spoiled, and deal treacherously, and they did not deal treacherously with you. When you have ceased to spoil, you will be spoiled, and when you have finished dealing treacherously, they will deal treacherously with you (Isaiah 33:1).
b O Yahweh, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. May you be their arm every morning, our deliverance also in the time of trouble (Isaiah 33:2).
c At the noise of the tumult, the peoples are fled, at the lifting up of yourself, the nations are scattered, (Isaiah 33:3).
d And your spoil will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers, as locusts leap men will leap on it (Isaiah 33:4).
e Yahweh is exalted, for He dwells on high, He has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness (Isaiah 33:5).
e And there will be stability in your times, abundance of deliverance, wisdom and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is his treasure (Isaiah 33:6).
d Behold their valiant ones cry outside, the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. The highways lie waste, the traveller ceases, he has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he does not regard man (Isaiah 33:7-8).
c The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is ashamed and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves (Isaiah 33:9).
b “Now will I arise,” says Yahweh, “Now will I lift myself up, now will I be exalted” (Isaiah 33:10).
a You will conceive chaff, you will bring forth stubble, your breath is a fire that will devour you. And the peoples will be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut down that are burned in the fire (Isaiah 33:11-12).
In ‘a' Assyria is chided with its greed and treachery and is warned that it will come back on its own head, and in the parallel that they will conceive chaff and produce stubble and they will be devoured by their own breath. In ‘b' Yahweh's people call on Him and Isaiah adds his plea to theirs, and in the parallel Yahweh will arise and act in a way by which He will be exalted. In ‘c' the people flee at the noise of tumult and the nations are scattered by one who lifts himself up, while in the parallel the land mourns and languishes. In ‘d' the spoil is gathered with the rapacity of caterpillars and locusts, and in the parallel those who have sued for peace weep because of what is being done to the land through treachery. In ‘e' Yahweh is seen as exalted, dwelling on high, and filling Zion with justice and righteousness, while in the parallel the result will be stability in their times, and abundance of deliverance, wisdom and knowledge because the fear of Yahweh has become his treasure.
‘Woe to you who spoil, and you were not spoiled,
And deal treacherously, and they did not deal treacherously with you.
When you have ceased to spoil, you will be spoiled,
And when you have finished dealing treacherously, they will deal treacherously with you.'
The point behind this woe is that Assyria have gone beyond their remit. God had summoned them to chastise His people, but they are now bent on going further. They have despoliation of the temple treasury, captivity and exile for the people in mind (Isaiah 36:17). They have no excuse for this. No one has done it to them. But they are greedy and treacherous. Thus their greed and treachery will rebound on their own heads. They in turn will be despoiled by others and they will experience treachery at first hand, just as they have been treacherous. What a man sows he will reap. This is a principle that God has built into creation.
‘O Yahweh, be gracious to us.
We have waited for you.
May you be their arm every morning,
Our deliverance also in the time of trouble.'
The plea now goes up to Yahweh for help. His people seek His compassion and undeserved love. They point out that they are trusting Him at last, they have at last ‘waited for Him'. So Isaiah prays that Yahweh will indeed be their arm every morning, their strength and uplifter. Then he includes himself and prays for deliverance for them all in the trouble that they now face, which may well have been the sight of the siege army of Sennacherib surrounding Jerusalem, and the words of the army commander calling on them to surrender (36-37).
‘At the noise of the tumult, the peoples are fled,
At the lifting up of yourself, the nations are scattered.
And your spoil will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers,
As locusts leap men will leap on it.'
It is not always easy to discern the detailed trend in Isaiah's prophecies, and some see this as portraying Yahweh's deliverance and the partial fulfilment of the woe, with Yahweh devastating the camp of the Assyrian international army (Isaiah 37:36). The tumult that arose as a result of the mysterious deaths is then seen as resulting in speedy departure, for at His lifting up of Himself the nations are scattered, as they were at Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). Then the people of Judah are seen as emerging from the city of Jerusalem like caterpillars and locusts, spoiling what remained of the camp, with all the goods and provisions which have been left behind. This results from seeing ‘yourself' and ‘your' as signifying the Yahweh of Isaiah 33:2. The story is then seen as repeated in Isaiah 33:7-12.
But in Isaiah 33:11-12 ‘you' is Assyria and our analysis above suggests that what is rather being described in these verses is the spoliation resulting from the Assyrian's advance towards Jerusalem and laying siege to Lachish, during which they gather spoil like caterpillars and locusts (compare Joel 1:4). All the peoples who have been in alliance against them have previously fled, all the nations have been scattered, and now Jerusalem is in Sennacherib's sights. But what he has overlooked is that Yahweh is exalted and dwells on high.
‘Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high.
He has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
And there will be stability in your times,
Abundance of deliverance, wisdom and knowledge.
The fear of Yahweh is his treasure.'
Assurance of the coming victory is now described. His people need not fear. Yahweh is exalted for He dwells on high. And as a result of His action and His deliverance which is about to take place there will be a great renewal of the covenant in Zion, with the result that it will be filled with right judgments and righteousness. And the result will be stability in Hezekiah's day (compare Isaiah 39:8). Wisdom and knowledge will grow as men again look to Yahweh. And while Hezekiah's treasure house has been emptied (2 Kings 18:15-16), it will be replaced by a greater treasure, the fear of Yahweh, which is the true treasure which Yahweh gives to His own.
The future therefore would seem bright, but it would not be long before the strains underneath were detected and the people returned to their old ways under Manasseh, and even while Hezekiah was still alive. It would not be long before Isaiah detected the crumbling of the revival.
Yet one importance of this incident for us is not only that it reveals the power of God, but also that it assures us that God does see the treachery against His own people of their enemies and will Himself in His own way deal with it, often in ways that are unexpected, even if not quite so spectacular as at this time. For in all these prophecies Isaiah is not only detailing events, he is enunciating great principles which are true in every age. This is one reason why he keeps so much of it general rather than specific.