Isaiah 33b – On Righteousness

A translation and sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS 27 May 2007

Translation

13 Hear, those who are far away, what I have done; and know, those who are near, My power.

14 Sinners in Zion were terrified; trembling gripped the corrupt ones, “Who can lodge for us with a devouring fire? Who can lodge for us with everlasting burnings?

15 One who walks righteously and who speaks straight, who rejects profit from oppression, who shakes his hands against holding the bribe, who stops his ear from hearing about bloodshed, and who shuts his eyes from the sight of evil.

16 This is the one who will sit on high. A stronghold in the cliffs will be his high place. His bread is given; his water is reliable.

17 Your eyes will behold a King in his beauty; they will see a land from a distance.

18 Your heart will moan in dread. Where is the one who counts? Where is the one who weighs? Where is the one who counts the towers?

19 The fierce people you will not see - people of difficult speech to hear, of stammering language that there is no understanding.

20 Behold Zion! a walled city of our meeting; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a home at ease, a tent that will never be moved, its stakes will never pull out forever, and none of its ropes will ever be drawn up.

21 Instead the majestic Jehovah will be there; for us there will be a place of rivers – broad-handed streams. A row-boat will never proceed into it, and a majestic ship will not pass over it.

22 For Jehovah is our judge; Jehovah is our legislator; Jehovah is our king; He Himself will save us.

23 Your ropes are stretched out; they will never hold strong the base of their mast; they will never spread out a sail. Then loot from a great plunder is divided, lame men pillage pillage.

24 And a resident will never say, “I am sick.” The people dwelling in her will be released from iniquity.

I. The News of God’s deliverance and two responses:

What happened when Jews in Jerusalem saw how God wiped out the Assyrian army? I think God was anticipating that some would say, “Whoah, I’m not comfortable being in the city of a God that can wreak that kind of havoc on people He doesn’t like.”

13 Hear, those who are far away, what I have done; and know, those who are near, my power.

The first imperatives to us in the chapter: Hear & Know! Both Jews (near) and Gentiles (far) are addressed here.

“what I have done” Especially the destruction of the Assyrian army pictured in this chapter, for which people who were “far away” came to pay respect to Hezekiah (39:3).

Now, there are two responses to this news. One is to see God’s judgment as a problem and pull further away from Him. The other is to enjoy Him and anticipate a closer relationship to Him. Isaiah deals with people who respond by pulling further away from God in the next verse.

II. The Wrong response: Avoidance of God

v.14 trembling/fearfulness seized/grips/surprised the godless ones / profane, defiled / hypocrites-KJV- 9:17; 10:6 – this is speaking of the Jews in Jerusalem

13:8; 21:3 use the word grip/seize to describe the panic of those under God’s judgment

19:16-17 Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of … what the LORD of hosts has purposed against them.

Sinners are uncomfortable around a Holy God and His people. He destroys sin and purifies His people.

Who can lodge/dwell/ live-NAS/ sojourn-BDB (23:7) with a devouring fire?

“for us” as sinners they are thinking only of their advantage or benefit, and they are so incapable of imagining that anyone could be around God’s holiness for very long, that they even chose a verb that means to stay for a temporary time – lodge/sojourn/bivouac/visit

This develops Isa 31:9 about the furnace and light in Jerusalem. God is a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29)

10:16 Jehovah of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will burn, like the burning of fire.

Note that the burning is everlasting rather than temporary, which contradicts the Roman Catholic Church doctrine of purgatory.

III. The right response: Righteousness, Enjoyment and Anticipation of God

v.15 The last 10 verses are about the righteous. Six participles in this verse (v.15) describe what the righteous man does, how he walks, talks, hates, gives handshakes, stops his hears and shuts his eyes. He responds to God by obeying God and doing what God commands!

walking righteous and speaking straight, despising/rejecting gain/profit of oppressions-KJV,ESV/ extortion-NIV/ unjust-NAS - extorting things from their rightful owner-Kimchi
26:7 The path of the righteous is straight/upright; You make level the way of the righteous.

literally “shaking his hands” lest they hold-Own,ESV / from accepting-NIV/ from holding-KJV the bribe - 1:23; 5:23-the rulers in Jerusalem loved bribes in Isaiah’s time. How can we shake our hands free of bribes today? One way is not getting sucked into a 419 scam-don’t accept favors from people who are up to no good!

stopping his ear from the hearing of blood/bloodshed/murder and shutting his eyes (lit.) from the sight/ from looking [up]on-NA,ES/ against contemplating-NIV/ in order that he might not see-LXX evil.

Stopping your ears from hearing of bloodshed and shutting eyes from seeing evil does not exclude intervention for the victim, by the way (Del.). It means refusing to listen and take part in plans to carry such things out (Kimchi)

Remember, it is not these actions that save us, but rather the “electing love of God” (Young).

 

The one who responds with obedience to God enjoys some real privileges! Verses 16-24 list these blessings:

a.       16 He willsit/dwell on high with God - v.5-Lord is “on high”

b.      He will have a safe place: the words in v.16 are (lit.) height/ place of defense-KJV,ESV/ refuge-NAS,NIV/ stronghold-BDB which is a fortress-NIV,ESV / munition-KJV / impregnable-NAS/ stronghold (Holliday) in the rocks / crags/cliffs-BDB / mountain-NIV these words were used to describe David’s hideouts in 1Sa. 23:14-29; 1Ch. 11:7; 12:8&16 - all three words have figurative meanings of safety.

c.       His bread… water are sure/reliable: Sureness is a characteristic of God and of the faith He calls us to: v.6- “He will be the stability of your times.” (cf 1:21&26; 7:9; 8:2; 22:23-25; 28:16)

d.      v.17 Your eyes will behold a King in his beauty- Presumably because of emphatic position in the Hebrew text of the word “king,” all English translators add the word “the” before “king,” even though there is no definite article here in Hebrew. Young notes that the indefiniteness points toward Messiah rather than a known king such as Hezekiah. This is the same king who would reign for justice and righteousness in (32:1). This is King Jesus, seen in visions from a distance in his beauty (Abraham rejoiced to see my day-John 8:56, David saw Him as a king in his beauty getting married in Psalm 45:3), but one day to be seen face to face.

e.       Your eyes will also see a place, a land (v. 17b). This is in contrast to seeing evil (v.15) and bad guys (v.19.). But the view will be lit. from the distances/ that is very far off-KJV / far-distant-NAS/ that stretches afar-NIV,ESV  8:9 – uses this adjective to describe gentiles living in distant lands. It could also be a description of the faith that the book of Hebrews describes: “these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth… that they are seeking a land of their own.” (Heb 11:13-14) vs. 16, 20 & 21 describe this land further – it is an ideal, peaceful country of wide rivers called Zion, the new Jerusalem!

f.       vs.18&19 describe another benefit of righteousness: Freedom from foreign oppresors!
His heart will ask “Where is he?” “Where is he?” “Where is he?” - concerning the tax-gatherers and siege-planners and army captains of the Assyrians (Del.)
Hezekiah had been frantically trying to scrape together 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold, but there would come a time when there wouldn’t be any Assyrian officers measuring the tribute of silver and gold anymore.
Where is the counting of the towers? Kimchi wrote that the Assyrians levied taxes according to the number of towers a city had. After experiencing a siege and a foreign occupation, it may be natural to experience periodic panics, but then the one who trusts God will remember God’s works and remember where the enemies of God’s people are. The tax-collectors and siege captains of the Assyrian army are six feet underground. Terror is only a dim memory now. The Assyrian army has died or fled and there are no longer foreigners trying to boss you around in their hard-to-understand language. The foreign invasion was a judg­ment of God (28:11 He will speak to this people with stammering lips and a foreign tongue), but the one who trusts God (v.13) and shuts his eyes from seeing evil (v.15) will see the king in his beauty (v.17) and the promised land (v.17 & 20) instead of insolent-Own,ESV/ arrogant-NIV/ fierce-KJV,NAS/ barbarous-Young foreign rulers (v.19). He shuts his ears from hearing of bloodshed and as a result does not hear the unintelligible/incomprehensible/obscure speech and stammering/strange-NIV tongue/language of foreign occupiers that you can’t understand. Note that the one who trusts God will still communicate the glory of God to foreigners , but not under the chastisement of foreign occupation. (Ps. 96:3-11  Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised… v10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns)

g.      v.20 underscores the stability of this place of blessing:  Behold Zion! a walled city of our meeting; your eyes will see Jerusalem… “In place of the departed Assyrians, God’s people are commanded to look at Zion.” (Young) For us, it is by faith we obey this command and look forward to our heavenly home until the day when we “will see” it with our physical “eyes.” 2 Cor. 5:1 “For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens…” This place is described as a quiet-KJV/ undisturbed-NAS/ peaceful-NIV/ untroubled-ESV habitation/home – using the same word for “at ease” that we encountered in 32:18 “Then My people will sit in a home of peace & in secure residences, & in resting places at ease.” Zion is described as a tent that will never again be packed up to wander-Del. / be taken down-KJV/ be folded-NAS / moved-NIV its stakes will never again be removed/ pulled/ plucked up and its ropes/cords will never again be pulled up/torn apart/broken(37:8&37-The Assyrians, on the other hand did have to move!)
This language speaks of permanency and stability. Pictures the situation of God’s people as a “tent” which is securely fastened to the ground and isn’t going to be moved around anymore. Keep in mind that the Jews knew what it was like to be nomads living in tents (like Abraham-Heb. 11:9)
The first three of 7 emphatic denials is listed and continued through v.24. The tent will never be moved again, its stakes never pulled up again, its cords never drawn up again (v.21), boats will never sail into it because (v.22) its mast would never hold up, its sail would never spread out, and - get this - (v.24) there will never even be sickness again!
God speaks to say that Zion is the place of “
our meeting/ appointed feasts-NAS,ESV/ festivals-NIV/ solemnities-KJV” (cf. 1:14) where God in the first person meets with His people. v.21 & 22 describe this further:

h.      v.21 Instead of having your tent moved and its cords broken, rather the glorious God will be there like a great, life-giving river, and yet one which no intruder - such as a warship - will be able to enter to disrupt your peace. The adjective “glorious/majestic/mighty” occurs at the beginning and end of the verse. At the beginning it could be read with “there” (there in majesty-ESV) or with “Jehovah” (majestic Jehovah) or it could be a predicate nominative (Jehovah will be majestic/glorious-KJV) or a substantive (there will be the Majestic/Mighty One-NAS,NIV). You could even ignore the vowels added by the Masorites over a thousand years after Isaiah’s writing and read “the glorious name of Jehovah will be ours” as the Septuagint translators did. (cf Ps. 8:1&9.) A second difficulty is the wording “to/for us” – it could go with “Jehovah(Jehovah will be for us) or with “place” (a place of rivers for us). The LXX does both for good measure. I opt for the latter because it fits the meter of the verse better, it does not take away from the obvious emphasis on the word “there” in the first part, and it is a more standard use of the possessive in Hebrew, but it’s hard to be dogmatic on this. God will be there for our benefit! (Young)

i.        Not only is God there, but He provides a perfect place to life with rivers (lit) and broad-handed streams (i.e. wide on both sides) - Up to this point in Isaiah, these words for “rivers and streams” have referred to the Nile and its tributaries in Egypt (7:18; 19:6-8; 23:3&10;41:18) From here out it may refer to God’s blessing in general. God is compared to a river in other places in scripture (cf. Ps. 46, Nahum 3:8) No foreign navy can threaten the people living on this river, however. Note that while the righteous can “go” freely in God’s paths of righteousness (v.15), the majestic Egyptian river ships (Young) and their rowboats that might carry soldiers to the shore cannot “go” in this place.

j.        v.22 Why will we dwell in a place of abundance and live unthreatened by enemies? Because Jehovah is king. Not only is He king, He actually performs all three functions of government- judicial (judge), legislative (lawgiver), and executive (king) – all invested in one perfect person, no longer a need for separation of powers like in our government!
He Himself will save us – this is fulfilled in Jesus, who is God Himself and who saved us by His death and resurrection.
This is in answer to the prayer for salvation in v.2

k.      Calvin and the Jewish commentators I read interpret v.23 to mean that any enemy that dares take a vessel of war through the rivers & steams to threaten God’s city will be doomed to failure v.23 Your ropes are frayed; they will never hold strong the base of their mast; they will never spread out a sail. The verb for hanging slack/ loose/ frayed has been used before to describe 2:6-people beaten and scattered; 16:8-refugees spreading out into other countries; 21:15-running from a drawn sword; and 32:14-palaces pounded flat The ropes on their ship are frayed and sagging, they aren’t strong enough to hold the mast in place or furl the sail to the wind! Assyria is a ship that will suffer disaster for coming near Jerusalem!

l.        Another blessing of righteousness is that you get to collect the wealth of the wicked for yourself! Eccl. 2:26b “to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God's sight…” Here in the second half of v.23 it says then spoil/booty/plunder  will be divided (Pual Pf. 3ms) v.4-referring to the looting of the Assyrian camp and the lame men take/carry off (Q. Pf. 3pl) plunder/prey Kimchi explains that this is because the Assyrian camp was close enough to Jerusalem that even the lame could hobble there. Near fulfillment of the loot and plunder is that of the Jews raiding the Assyrian camp after it is deserted.
ILLUSTRATION: the dividing up and carrying away of the possessions of a delinquent tenant who was renting from the Olds family. My sons were hired to help clean the house and so they carried off a nice fishing rod! Later fulfillment spiritually – Jesus spoke of “binding the strong man” and spoiling Satan’s kingdom by saving human souls that had been demon possessed (Mark 3:27)!

m.    Healing from sickness – v.24 And a resident will never say, “I am sick.” in Jerusalem, Hezekiah fell ill (38:1) but in Heaven there is a tree, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations! (Rev. 22:2)

n.      Forgiveness of sin – v.24b The people dwelling in her will be released from iniquity.
First wave of fulfillment in the first coming of Jesus who forgave sin and healed the sick.
There is a Biblical relationship between sickness and sin:
53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for sin…”
I Cor. 11:29-30 – sin against the body and blood of Christ by eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner can result in sickness or death (sleep).
James 5:16 - relationship between sickness and unforgiven sin: “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed”

Ultimate fulfillment in the New Jerusalem – Heaven where there is no sin or sickness

Wow! There is safety, security, stability, and honor in trusting God. Also food, refuge, joy, life in the high place, favor with influential men (the king) and even material possessions (land), freedom from oppression, dwelling in peace with a good ruler over him (Jesus), good health, and forgiveness of sins. How awesome!

IV. The Demands of Righteousness

What wonderful promises! Everybody should want these things! Let’s look again at v.15 to make sure we can meet the requirements so that we can get in on these blessings.

a.      One who walks righteously – have you ever done anything wrong and left the path of righteousness?

b.      and who speaks straight- Have you ever deceived anyone by telling a lie or only half a truth?

c.       who rejects profit from oppression- have you ever taken or used something that was not yours?

d.      who shakes his hands against holding the bribe- have you ever accepted anything from someone who was up to no good?

e.       who stops his hear from hearing about bloodshed- have you ever heard anyone talk about hurting someone else or failed to intervene and help when someone was hurt?

f.       and who shuts his eyes from the sight of evil-have you ever seen anything that was bad?

Uh oh. No one qualifies! Especially considering the amount of bloodshed and evil we are exposed to in the stories we see and hear in movies today.

V. The Problem of Righteousness

a.       Actually the “you” in v.23 must be speaking of God’s people. Your ropes are frayed; they will never hold strong the base of their mast; they will never spread out a sail.Dreschsler made a good case that the ship in bad condition is actually Israel, and Young appears to favor this. We do not have the strength to sail our own ship. We are incapable to reaching the blessing of righteousness.

b.      v. 14. “Who can lodge for us with a devouring fire? Who can lodge for us with everlasting burnings?” the answer is NO ONE!

VI. The way to get Righteousness

a.       v. 13 So how do we get that righteousness to enjoy God forever?
Through Jesus. Jesus alone did everything right and fulfilled all the righteous requirements of God. Jesus is the only one who can handle the furiously burning glory of God’s presence.

b.      Because no one is righteous, it is well that they fear God’s judgment. But there is a way out. This fear and terror will happen to the sinners, but not to those who trust God:
12:2 God is my salvation; I will trust & not fear
44:8,11 Fear not…you are my witnesses! All who fashion idols … shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.

c.       ILLUSTRATION: A donor offered us a nice conversion van and asked for a tax-deductible receipt. We realized that in order to give them the tax-deductible receipt we would have to pay thousands of dollars of taxes on it, but we couldn’t afford to pay that much money in taxes, so we had to turn their offer down. Then they decided to cover the taxes as well and gave the van to us anyway! That’s like what God does for us!

d.      That brings us back to the commands in v. 13. Hear & Know! Note the order. When we heed what God has done, and draw near, then we will come to know His power. This power is associated with the Holy Spirit in us and with salvation
11:2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him… The spirit of counsel and might
28:5-6 In that day the LORD of hosts will become … a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people; A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment, Power to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.
30:15 “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength."
Acts 16:31 “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your house.”

God makes me righteous by the blood of Jesus shed for me and continues to form my life around these lines. Then I can enjoy fellowship with God rather than run away from Him, and what a future I have to look forward to!