Isaiah 33:13-24

4. SERENITY

TEXT: Isaiah 33:13-24

13

Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.

14

The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling hath seized the godless ones: Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?

15

He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from taking a bribe, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil:

16

he shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; his bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

17

Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold a land that reacheth afar.

18

Thy heart shall muse on the terror: where is he that counted, where is he that weighed the tribute? where is he that counted the towers?

19

Thou shalt not see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that thou canst not comprehend, of a strange tongue that thou canst not understand.

20

Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be removed, the stakes whereof shall never be plucked up, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

21

But there Jehovah will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.

22

For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Jehovah is our king; he will save us.

23

Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not strengthen the foot of their mast, they could not spread the sail: then was the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame took the prey.

24

And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

QUERIES

a.

Who are the sinners in Zion?

b.

Who are the people of a strange tongue?

c.

When will the inhabitants not say, I am sick?

PARAPHRASE

Pay attention to what I, Jehovah, have done. Acknowledge My might, all you nations of the earth, both far and near. The sinners among My covenant nation are filled with fear, the godless are paralyzed with terror. Who can live here, they cry; Our God has become a consuming flame in bringing this judgment upon us. I will tell you who can live here: All who live honestly and speak truthfully, who abhor making profit by fraud, who wave aside the temptation to take a bribe, who refuse to even listen to plots for bloodshed, who refuse even to look at anything which appears to be evil. Such a man shall live above evil and its consequences. He will dwell securely like a fortress built upon a rocky mountain. He will be sustained with all the food and water he needs. Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. You will look out upon a land of far-away horizons where the land meets the sky, and think back to this time of terror, wondering, Where are those Assyrians who counted our people, estimated how much of our treasure they would plunder and analyzed our military fortifications. You will see no more of these violent and insolent people with their jabbering, incoherent language. Soon they will all be gone. Instead you will see Jerusalem, the festival city, at peace. It will be secure, like a tent that never has its stakes pulled up, its ropes broken and is never moved from place to place. Jehovah will dwell with us in all His majesty. The protection He shall give us will be greater than the wide rivers surrounding cities like Thebes. No ships of war shall sail across this river. The Lord Jehovah is our judge; the Lord Jehovah is our lawgiver; the Lord Jehovah is our king; He will save us! Right now the ship of Zion's tackle is not shipshape. Everything is not taut and strong like it should be. The masthead wobbles on an unsure footing and the battle ensign is not hoisted. However, in a short time Zion will be dividing the treasure of its enemy in great abundance; even the lame will be in on the plundering of the enemy. Then those on board the ship Zion will not say, I am ill, for they will be healedtheir iniquity will have been forgiven.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 33:13-16 PERSONAL: There is a serenity which is a result of righteous living. Isaiah promises that in these verses. First, the prophet describes the distress of the people. The whole world is called to attention to watch the change that is about to take place in Zion (Jerusalem). Presently she has a seizure of terror and shakes like a person in shock. The godless in Jerusalem who had taken so much comfort in believing Egypt would help against Assyria are horrified at what Assyria has done and is about to do! They have given up all hope of survival! They are finally at the point of asking God what can be done instead of telling Him! God speaks through His prophetrepent! Walking righteously might be defined as doing everything from the attitude of desiring it to be right, good, true, just. Speaking uprightly means to say what is true, honest, pure, upbuilding and helpful. Gain of oppressions is money or profit made through taking advantage of someone by force or fraud or some other injustice. Shaking hands from taking a bribe probably means waving aside any invitation or temptation to render an illegal or unjust judgment or transaction by receiving a bribe. And the last two, stopping the ears and shutting the eyes indicates the attitude mentioned in the New Testament, abhoring the very appearance of evil (Romans 12:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; see also Psalms 15:1-5; Psalms 24:3-10). Such personal righteousness do not of themselves produce serenity, but they do make it possible for the Lord to enter into such a penitent heart and give it serenity. God cannot give the impenitent, rebellious sinner serenity simply because the sinner refuses to have it! He is determined to direct his own life and achieve serenity on his own. But the godly man who walks righteously dwells in the heights. The word munitions is from the Hebrew word metzouroh which literally means citadel. The godly man is like the man who has a safe refuge high in the inaccessible mountains, a fortress well stocked with all that is needed to sustain him against the siege of his enemy. He is secure and serene.

Isaiah 33:17-22 PROVISIONAL: When man gets his life right with God then God has opportunity to provide what He wishes to provide always. God created man to live in perfect serenity, peace and harmony. God is able to provide that state for man but man is also created with the power to refuse such a state. When man trusts God enough to obey God, God provides it. The land of Judah had been almost totally occupied by Assyrians. Everywhere the people of Jerusalem looked their land no longer belonged to them. On every horizon there were Assyrians. But soon, because they now want Him, they shall see the King (Jehovah) in all His beauty. We think this refers to the manifestation of God's majesty and beauty in the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib and not the Messiah because of Isaiah 33:21-22. When Jehovah-King comes and the Assyrians retreat in disgrace, the people of Jerusalem will once again look upon a land belonging to them as far as the eye can seetheir horizons will once again extend to where the land meets the sky.

Not only that, but when the Lord drives the enemy from their land they will retrospectively give much time to wonder and amazement at the miraculous deliverance wrought for them. They will remember the great and ferocious army of the Assyrians camped for miles around their city. They will remember the magnificence and pompousness of the Rabshakeh. They will remember all the foreign officials of the Rabshakeh as they counted the Jews in Jerusalem, counted the treasure of the Jews, counted the fortifications of the city as if they were cooly estimating exactly the amount of plunder they would soon be taking. They will remember the utter horror they felt as they reminded one another of the coldblooded cruelty of the Assyrians. All this remembering will impress more intensely in the minds of the people of Zion the divine nature of their deliverance. They will know it was provided by Jehovah and not by their own schemes. They will look back and remember the ferocity and insolence of the enemy that had surrounded them and come into their city to negotiate with their king. Their appearance was barbaric; their language was completely foreign and non-understandable. This writer remembers serving with the occupation forces in Japan immediately after World War II and the fear and suspicion felt when listening to the Japanese speak or whisper in their tongue while looking at him. One usually suspects, in those circumstances, a plot against him or a slur upon his character. This occupation by hundreds of thousands of foreigners jabbering in incomprehensible tongues will have completely vanished and Isaiah says the people of Zion will remember and marvel at it.
The prophet continues his prediction of the serenity God is going to provide. He predicts the people of Jerusalem will soon see their city peaceful and stable. When God sends the Assyrian away peace will return to Jerusalem and her political stability will be restored. This is predicated upon the continued repentance of the people. No long treatise is needed here to establish the fact that God's promises of blessing or judgment are always conditional. That is a doctrine made abundantly clear in the Bible. Isaiah uses times coloring figures of speech (terminology contemporary with his own culture) to describe the stability that will come to Zion with the people's repentance. He describes it as a tent which is not moved. In the culture of the Hebrew nomadthe herder of sheep and goatsthey pulled up the stakes and untied the ropes and moved their tents from day to day. Jerusalem's position was secure so long as its inhabitants trusted God. We know, from subsequent history (Micah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel), her inhabitants did not continue to trust God. Jerusalem had her stakes pulled up and her ropes cut by Nebuchadnezzar and her inhabitants taken away to Babylon.

The prophet then turns to another figure of speech easily understood by his contemporaries. He likens Jerusalem's security to a city surrounded by broad rivers which some ancient cities enjoyed as natural moats making them secure from attack by armies and, when attacked by navies, could be easily defended. The ancient cities of Thebes (Nahum 3:8; Ezekiel 30:16) and Tyre (Isaiah 23:1 ff; Ezekiel 26:1 ff) were such cities. In Jerusalem's case, the majestic power of Jehovah will be her moat.

Isaiah 33:22-24 PERVASIVE: The serenity provided by God and appropriated by man's penitence pervades the whole experience of man. These verses show Jehovah's influence in every area of man's nature. Man needs an arbiter (judge) to tell him what is right and wrong; man needs a lawgiver to give him a divine codification of behavior; man needs a ruler to be sovereign over all his aspirations, choices and motives. Only then can man be saved from destroying himself. Jerusalem needed to recognize her tacklings were loosed and her mast was so insecure she could not set sail. The ship of Zion was unseaworthy (as an old salt would say). She needed a shake down cruise to make her a taut ship again. She was a sick and ailing ship. When repentance came, she would be fitted to sail the stormy seas of life again with her captain at the helm steering her to safe harbors. Repentance makes forgiveness possible and forgiveness produces serenity within even though the storms rage without. Jerusalem would enjoy this serenity. She was also promised victory over her enemies (Isaiah 33:23). She would have complete victoryeven the lame would be able to join in the spoils of victory.

This serenity and victory apparently did come in the latter days of Hezekiah's reign when the rulers and the people finally turned to Jehovah instead of Egypt for help against their enemies. But it did not last long for they were soon led back into sin and rebellion by Manasseh (son of Hezekiah) and eventually into captivity in Babylon.

QUIZ

1.

What does personal righteousness have to do with bringing serenity?

2.

What does the trembling of the sinners in Zion indicate about their relationship to God?

3.

What are the munitions of rocks?

4.

Why would musing on the terror bring serenity?

5.

Why mention the strange tongue that would soon be gone from the land?

6.

Why liken Jehovah unto a broad river?