Isaiah 33:18 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

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

Thine heart shall meditate terror - shall meditate on the "terror" caused by the enemy, but now past.

Where (is) the scribe? - the language of the Jews exulting over their escape from danger.

Scribe - who enrolled the army (Maurer); or who prescribed the tribute to be paid (Rosenmuller); or who kept an account of the spoil. "The principal scribe of the host" (2 Kings 25:19; Jeremiah 52:25). The Assyrian records are free from the exaggerations of the Egyptian records. Two scribes are seen in every Assyrian bas-relief, writing down the various objects brought to them-the heads of the slain, prisoners, cattle, sheep, etc.

The receiver - margin, weigher. Layard mentions, among the Assyrian inscriptions, 'a pair of scales for weighing the spoils.'

He that counted the towers - he whose duty it was to reconnoitre and report the strength of the city to be besieged.

Isaiah 33:18

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