Глава 33

1–24. Israel's prayer for salvation and God's answer. Isaiah 33:1–12. Around 701, the Assyrians, after defeating the Egyptians, approached Jerusalem, despite the fact that Hezekiah sent them the tribute they demanded to the city of Lachish. In view of such treachery of the Assyrians, the prophet foretells their destruction, and predicts liberation from the Assyrian invasion for the Jewish people. Following this, the prophet expresses confidence in the speedy internal renewal of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. At present, the situation of the capital of Judea is very sad, but the Lord Himself promises to severely punish the enemies of Jerusalem who brought it to this situation. Isa.33:1. Woe to you, the desolator who was not devastated, and the robber who was not robbed! When you end the devastation, you will also be devastated; When you stop robbing, they will rob you too. We are talking about Assyria, which has long ago, namely since the time of Asurnasir-Gabala (885-860 BC), acquired such power that its troops were considered invincible. And this almighty power will face ruin and devastation. “Robber” – perhaps more accurately from the Hebrew. a cunning, traitor who robs even his own allies (cf. v. 8). "When you finish". Assur will end his campaigns of conquest, of course, not of his own free will, but due to the exhaustion of his state Isa.33:2. Lord! have mercy on us; in You we trust; be our muscle from the early morning and our salvation in difficult times. Isa.33:3. The nations will flee from Your terrible voice; when you rise, the nations will be scattered, Isa.33:4. and they will gather your spoil as the caterpillar gathers; They will rush at her like locusts. Isa.33:5. High is the Lord who dwells on high; He will fill Zion with judgment and righteousness. Isa.33:6. And your safe times will come, an abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord will be your treasure. Pointing to the condition for liberation from the power of Assur - faith in the Lord, the prophet depicts the very fall of Assur, in the robbery of which Israel will also take an active part. Following this temporary salvation, a new, better future will come for Israel - the kingdom of the Messiah will open with its greatest blessings. Justice will then reign in Zion; the inhabitants of Jerusalem will have wisdom and knowledge. "God! have mercy on us." The prophet sends up a prayer to the Lord for support on behalf of all who remain faithful to the Almighty. “Be our muscle,” that is, our intercessor, fight for us. "Your prey". Here the prophet turns to the Assyrians, when they move away from Jerusalem, the Jews will, of course, rush to take possession of the huge booty taken by the Assyrians, which they will abandon in panic. The Jews will take this prey as quickly as the locusts quickly devastate all the vegetation of a certain strip (cf. Joel. 2:9). “High is the Lord,” that is, the Lord will be extolled by everyone for His great work, which He will accomplish with the proud Assur. “Judgment and Truth” - see chap. 32, art. 1, 16. In verses 5 and 6, interpreters count seven beatitudes of the messianic time: a) judgment; b) truth; c) safety; d) salvation; e) wisdom; f) management; g) fear of the Lord. There is no doubt that here we have a parallel passage to the 11th chapter, where the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are attributed to the Messiah Himself (Is. 11: 2-3). Isa.33:7. Behold, the strong are shouting them in the streets; ambassadors for peace weep bitterly. Isa.33:8. The roads are deserted; there were no more travelers; he violated the treaty, destroyed cities, and puts people at nothing. Isa.33:9. The earth mourns and dries up; Lebanon is ashamed, withered; Sharon became like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel were stripped of their leaves. The present situation in Judea, however, is extremely disastrous. “Their strong ones” – in Hebrew. arielim, that is, the inhabitants of Ariel or Jerusalem (Is. 29:1), who now stood in the streets and shouted loudly in fear under the influence of rumors that had reached them about the leadership of the Assyrians. “Ambassadors for peace,” i.e., Jewish ambassadors who came with sad news from the king of Assyria (cf. Is. 15:4). “Crying” - of course, because their mission was not crowned with success. “He puts people at nothing,” that is, the Assyrian king does not want to take anyone’s rights into account, and, moreover, it costs him nothing to exterminate dozens of innocent people every day. "The earth laments". The Prophet here refers to the devastation caused by the Assyrian hordes as they passed through the areas indicated here. The rude conquerors, of course, did not spare either the enemy’s forests (Lebanon and Carmel) or fruitful fields (Basan). “Sharon” - the valley running along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea from Jaffa to Caesarea - through which the Assyrians went to the Philistine land, was undoubtedly completely trampled by troops. Isa.33:10. Today I will arise, says the Lord, today I will rise, today I will be exalted. Isa.33:11. You are pregnant with hay, you will give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that will consume you. Isa.33:12. And the nations will be like burning lime, like felled thorns, they will be burned with fire. But now, precisely when the Jews have lost hope for human help, the Lord Himself comes to the defense of His people and announces to the Assyrians the destruction of all their plans and destruction. Their plans, all their calculations and intentions are powerless, fragile, like hay and straw. “Your breath” – more precisely: your ferocity. “It will burn,” that is, it will damage, destroy. “Peoples”, i.e. different peoples that were part of the Assyrian army. "Like burning lime". Once the lime catches fire, it is almost impossible to put it out. "Like a felled thorn tree". In the same way, it is impossible to extinguish a fire made of thorns - the fire devours such dry material so quickly! Isaiah 33:13–22. This judgment of God on the Assyrians will be so terrible that sinners in Jerusalem will be horrified by it. They would be ready to stand away from this formidable Judge and do not know whether anyone will be saved from the wrath of God. The prophet reassures the pious that the fire of God’s wrath is not terrible for them and that the Lord, on the contrary, will give Jerusalem security. He will become the Judge, lawgiver and king of His people. Isa.33:13. Hear, you who are far off, what I will do; and you, your neighbors, will know My power. “What will I do” - translated from Hebrew. "what have I done?" The Lord speaks here about the judgment of the Assyrians as a fact that has already happened. “Far” are foreigners, “near” are residents of Palestine and, above all, Judea. Isa.33:14. The sinners in Zion were afraid; trembling seized the wicked: “Who of us can live in the consuming fire? Which of us can live with an eternal flame? – Isa.33:15. One who walks in righteousness and speaks the truth; who despises the gain of oppression, keeps his hands from taking bribes, stops his ears so as not to hear about bloodshed, and closes his eyes so as not to see evil; “Sinners,” of which there were many in Jerusalem (Is. 1:28), find it embarrassing to imagine God as a formidable Judge, strictly punishing iniquities. They do not want to give up their vicious habits, and yet, says the king-psalmist in the words of the 14th psalm (1-2 v.) - this is necessary: ​​only pure and just people can live safely in Zion, near God the Judge. “Do not see evil,” that is, a good person does not want to look at evil, at crime, and, of course, he will not participate in it! Isa.33:16. he will dwell on the heights; his refuge is inaccessible rocks; bread will be given to him; his water will not run out. Isa.33:17. Your eyes will see the King in His beauty, they will see a distant land; Isa.33:18. your heart will only remember the horrors: “Where is the one who took the census? where is the tribute that weighed? where is the tower inspector? Isa.33:19. You will no longer see a ferocious people, a people with dull, inarticulate speech, with a strange, incomprehensible language. “Dwelling on heights” is the same as having inaccessible rocks as your abode. “Bread... and water” are necessary means for maintaining life. "Your eyes". The prophet addresses the inhabitants of Jerusalem who will live to see the time of liberation from the Assyrian invasion. "Tsar". Apparently this is the Messiah. After all, we are talking about the King, whom the righteous will see. (See interpretation of the previous verse.) "In its beauty". Here is an allusion to the sackcloth that King Hezekiah then wore on the occasion of sad incidents in his state (Is. 37:1). Instead of this sackcloth, the king will again lift up his beautiful clothes. “A distant land” - more precisely: a land spread far away. Here is a hint that the kingdom of Judah, with the departure of the Assyrians, will occupy all the possessions and kingdoms of Israel. 43 “The one who took the census” is an Assyrian official who kept a tally of tax payers in the treasury of the Assyrian king. "Weighing the Tribute". There were no banknotes at that time, and the silver or gold with which tribute was paid certainly had to be weighed. “Inspecting the towers” ​​is some Assyrian military leader looking for the best place to place an Assyrian garrison. “With a strange, incomprehensible language.” The common people in Judea, of course, could not understand the Assyrian language (cf. Is. 28:11), especially since in the army of the Assyrian king there were many tribes of non-Semitic origin. Isa.33:20. Look at Zion, the city of our festive gatherings; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem, a habitation of peace, an steadfast tabernacle; its pillars will never be torn down, and not one of its cords will be broken. Isa.33:21. There we will have the great Lord instead of rivers, instead of wide canals; no oared vessel will enter there, and no large ship will pass through. Isa.33:22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us. Here the prophet's gaze is obviously transferred to the kingdom of the Messiah. Jerusalem - the center of the religious life of the chosen people - although it is also called here a tabernacle, this tabernacle no longer seems to be dismantled, as was the tabernacle of Moses, which was constantly dismantled when the Jews moved from one camp to another, but built firmly, unshakably (cf. Am.9:11). Bearing in mind that Nineveh, Babylon, Thebes were protected from sudden attacks by enemies by wide canals surrounding their walls, the prophet, in order to depict the security that Jerusalem will enjoy under the Messiah, says that the Lord Himself will guard this city. Thanks to this protection, enemies would no longer be able to take Jerusalem by any means, while fortresses surrounded by canals could still be taken by enemies who could bring ships with them. Isa.33:23. Your ropes have weakened, they cannot hold the masts and tension the sails. Then there will be a large division of the spoils, so that even the lame will go to plunder. Isa.33:24. And not one of the residents will say: “I am sick”; the people living there will have their sins forgiven. At present, says the prophet, our state is like a ship with poorly held rigging. But – patience! Soon circumstances will change for the better and the enemies will be scattered, leaving behind great booty for the benefit of the Jews. But the most important thing - here the prophet obviously has in mind the time of the Messiah - the residents of Jerusalem will be forgiven of their sins before God. Although doubts have been expressed by many critics regarding the authenticity of this chapter, all these objections are based on the fact that Isaiah could not have written in such a tone. It is clear that this opinion is too subjective and therefore does not deserve refutation. This chapter can be divided into stanzas as follows: 2 stanza – 2–6 art. – (2; 2, 2) Stanza 3 – 7–9 art. – (2, 2, 2) 4th stanza – 10–12 st. – (1, 1, 1) 1 stanza – 13–16 art. – (3, 2, 2) Stanza 2 – 17–21 st. – (3, 2, 2) Stanza 3 – 22–24 art. – (2, 2) Apparently this is talking about a distant land - that is, the new Jerusalem. Note ed. You might be interested in: