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Isa_33:2-6
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.
4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar;
As the running to and fro of the locusts shall he run upon them.
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 the times,
And strength of Salvation:
The fear of the Lord is his treasure.
Isa_33:3. ðָֽôְöåּ is from ðָôַõ (Niph. of ôָּöַõ ) inflected like the Kal. ðôõ , perhaps because ôöõ does not occur except in this and in two analogous Niphal forms (Gen_9:19; 1Sa_13:11).
Isa_33:4. àֹñֶó may not be taken passively (with Cappellus, Doederlein, Drechsler, etc.), as appears from the image itself, and from âáéí ( ἅð . ëåã . comp. âּåֹá Nah_3:17; âּáַֹé Amo_7:1, certainly a name of the locust, although of uncertain derivation and meaning. Comp. Herz. R. Enc„ VI. p. 70). This latter word is expressly active.—On àֻñַּó àֹñֶó comp. Isa_24:22. àֹñֶó is here as Isa_32:10 a noun (Mic_7:1). As to construction, it is to be regarded as in the acc. modalis.— çñéì only here in Isaiah; see Joe_1:4; Joe_2:25. ùׁ÷÷ (Isa_29:8) used in the same sense Joe_2:9.— îַùָּׁ÷ , “descursitatio” ἅð . ëåã .— áּåֹ refers to the camp, not before named, yet ideally present.
Isa_33:5. ðùׂâá , Isa_2:11; Isa_2:17; Isa_12:4.— ùׁëï îøåí again only Isa_57:16; comp. Isa_33:16.— îִìֵּà Piel, again Isa_23:2; Isa_65:11; Isa_65:20.
Isa_33:6. The Plural òúéí occurs principally in later books; still also Job_24:1. Only here in Isa.: comp. Psa_31:16.— àîåðú òúéê is predicate, the following substantives to ãòú are subject.— çֹñֶï “opes, thesaurus” only here in Isaiah comp. Pro_15:6; Pro_27:24;
Jer_20:5; Eze_22:25.— éְùׁåּòֹú Isa_26:18, elsewhere only in the Pss. 18:51; 28:8; 42:6, 12; 43:5, etc.—The suffix in àåöøå relates to the same subject as the suffix in òúéê Interchange of person often occurs in Isaiah, but it is not always so easily traced to its motive as in Isa_33:2. See below in Exeget. and Crit.
2. O Lord—His treasure.
Isa_33:2-6. This short prayer, that unexpectedly interrupts the prophecy, is assuredly not an involuntary sigh, but it occupies a place in the discourse chosen with deliberation. The Prophet intends two things by it. First he would present to the people what they must do on their part to obtain deliverance. They must believe and confide in the Lord, according to the words “if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established” (Isa_7:9), and “he that believes will not yield” (Isa_28:16). But as the Prophet gives, not a warning to pray merely, but an example of it, and himself intercedes, he gives on the one hand an example to men, and on the other hand a proof to God that there are still righteous men in Israel (comp. Gen_18:24 sqq.) that love the people and trust in God. A people from which issues such prayer is no dead heap of ashes. There is a glow in them that can be kindled up again (Isa_42:3). The prayer has the form of those in the Pss. (comp. 12).
The (suffix of the) third person in æøòí “their arm,” that occurs in such harsh dissonance with (the suffixes of) the first person preceding and following, is to be explained, it seems to me, by the word æְøֹòַ “arm” itself. The Prophet means here those called to protect city and state with the power of their arm. He and many others do what they can with heart, and head and otherwise. But when it concerns defence against an outward enemy, then those that serve with the arm are very important. Therefore the prayer that the Lord Himself might be the arm of those who have devoted their arm to the country. Comp. Psa_83:9; Psa_89:11; Psa_89:22, etc. ìá÷øéí comp. Psa_73:14; Psa_101:8. àַó comp. Isa_26:9; Psa_16:6; Psa_18:49, etc. Also éùׁåòä is very frequent in the Psa_68:20; Psa_35:3; Psa_62:2, etc. áòú öøä , see Psa_37:39; comp. Psa_20:2; Psa_50:15.
In Isa_33:3-4 is announced the hearing of the prayer. In very drastic form, but, with all its brevity, still vivid, the flight of the Assyrian and the plundering of their camp are depicted. The enemy hear a loud tumult like the onset of an army. But it is no human army: for, as appears from îøîîúê and from Isa_29:6; Isa_30:30 sq., the Lord effects that noise. He brings about a panic among them by letting them hear a tumult that has no actual existence (comp. Psa_53:6; Exo_14:24 sq.; Exo_15:16; Jdg_4:15; Jdg_7:22; 1Sa_7:10). The fleeing nations are of course those of Assyria. The Lord arises (comp. Isa_33:10; Isa_30:18; Ps. 21:14; 46:11, etc.), to smite the enemy, The expression is anthropomorphic, he, so to speak, raises himself high aloft. In Isa_33:4 the Prophet addresses the Assyrian. He sees the Israelites plundering his camp, gathering the spoil with a celerity like locusts clearing off a field. Seeing in this coming victory a type of the final, crowning triumph of Jehovah over the world-power, he contemplates his glory in Isa_33:5, chiefly from its inner side. He would intimate that the treasures of salvation, that Israel will then acquire, will, because of a spiritual sort, be more glorious than the goods found in the Assyrian camp (comp. Isa_33:23; Isa_37:36, comp. 2Ki_7:16). On account of this typical relation, the two periods are treated as a connected whole, without regard to their temporal disconnection. In this the Prophet does not contradict what he had said Isa_32:15 of the continuance of the desolation till the initiation of the great regeneration of the last time. For that period of the desolation falls precisely in the period that the Prophet over-leaps from the stand-point of his manner of regarding the matter. He thus sees the Lord elevated on high and withdrawn from every hostile attack because enthroned on high. From this height the Lord fills Zion with right and righteousness, which plainly recalls Isa_32:15-16. Likewise Isa_33:6 recalls Isa_32:17; the very beginning with åäåä coincides. But “the stability of thy times” corresponds to what in Isa_32:17 sq., is called “peace, assurance, sure dwelling, quiet resting place.” Thus we must give àîåðä here the meaning “security,” a condition that guarantees peace, tranquility, confidence (Isa_33:16). When the times are such that there is no disturbance of the public welfare apprehended, then they have the quality of àîåðä , then one may speak of an àîåðú òúéí . But of course àîåðä occurs only here in this sense (comp. ðֶàֶֽîָï Isa_33:16). As in Isa_32:16 the security appears as the fruit of moral in workings, so here also. Fulness of salvations, wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability,etc. As in the familiar declaration l’empire c’est la paix the copula has a tropical sense, so here there is the trope of the metonymy, since two things that actually stand related as cause and effect are, apparently, identified in expression. Thus the security of those times is the effect of the treasure, the wealth in treasures of salvation. It will not rest on subjective human possessions, as the women at ease (Isa_32:9) suppose, but upon objective, God-given treasures of salvation. The kind is declared in what follows, viz.: inward, spiritual goods: wisdom and knowledge (on these notions comp. Isa_11:2). “The fear of the Lord” is named last, although it is the beginning of wisdom (Pro_1:7). But it seems to me the Prophet would distinguish between àåֹöָø and çֹñֶï . The fear of the Lord is the treasure-house ( àåöø as e.g.Joe_1:17; 2Ch_11:11, etc., = áֵּéú äָàåֹöָø Jer_50:25, etc.), that hides that treasure in itself. Our passage recalls Isa_11:2 in many ways: also in this that, rightly counted, seven spiritual goods are named: 1) judgment, 2) righteousness, 3) security, 4) riches of salvations, 5) Wisdom , 6) knowledge, 7) the fear of the Lord.
Footnotes:
we wait.
flee.
are.
fills.
Heb. Salvations.
treasure-house.