Bible Commentaries

Chapter 32 The Coming King Will Open Men’s Hearts, Reveal What Is True And Right And Encourage Nobility of Life. What Life Will Be Like Before His Coming. The Pouring Out Of The Spirit.

The banner at which Assyria will be dismayed points towards the coming king, the hope of Israel (Isaiah 11:10). The king of Assyria will perish, burned up in Yahweh’s furnace, but Israel’s hope is to be in Yahweh’s king Who will come in righteousness and be to His people all that they require, the king already expanded on in Isaiah 9:5-6; Isaiah 11:1-9, when the prince of Peace will bring peace and harmony to His people.

Israel/Judah laid great stress on the house of David and saw all their future hopes as tied up in that house. The King was to them the representative of God and acted on their behalf and in their name with God. It was in him that the everlasting promises were tied up (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalms 2; Psalms 45; Psalms 89:19-37; Ezekiel 37:24-28). These promises were central to the everlasting covenant. They were seen as ‘the sure mercies of David’ (Isaiah 55:3).

Thus their king was the very source of their life (Lamentations 4:20). We can imagine with what hopes they therefore looked forward for the greater David who would establish the everlasting kingdom, and towards the good days that were coming. That is why the writers of the book of Kings laid such great stress on whether the king did good or evil in the sight of Yahweh. He was seen as acting for the nation and in its name, and his failure was their failure.

So Israel looked forward in accordance with God’s promises to the fact that one day would come a King Who would be all powerful and all triumphant, Who would establish righteousness and justice, and Who would introduce the everlasting kingdom (Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalms 2; Psalms 45; Psalms 89:19-37; Ezekiel 37:24-28).

The Coming King (Isaiah 32:1-3).

The final result of Yahweh’s activity will be the rise of the righteous king and the establishment of the perfect kingdom. This can be compared with Isaiah 11:1-9.

Analysis.

· Behold a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice (in wise and right judgment ) (Isaiah 32:1).

· And a man will be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest (Isaiah 32:2 a).

· As rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land (Isaiah 32:2 b).

· And the eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen (Isaiah 32:3).

In ‘a’ the king will reign in righteousness an his princes in justice, and in the parallel the eyes of all will be wide open, and the ears of all will listen. There will be perfect rule and perfect response. In ‘b’ ‘a man’ will be a hiding place from trouble, and in the parallel he will refresh men in a dry and hot land.

Isaiah 32:1-2

‘Behold a king will reign in righteousness,

And princes will rule with justice (in wise and right judgment ),

And a man will be as a hiding place from the wind,

And a covert from the tempest,

As rivers of water in a dry place,

As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.’

Beyond God’s judgments as expressed in His treatment of Assyria lies the coming of a King who will rule in righteousness, and Whose reign will epitomise true justice, (Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 11:1-5) so that all who serve under Him will be just and fair. (See Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30). It will introduce the coming Paradise. As always no time limit is laid down, only that it is ‘in the future’.

Then comes the even better news. ‘A man’, someone unique and special but truly human, will be a hiding place, a covert, a river of water to the thirsty, the shadow of a great rock (note the contrast with Isaiah 31:9). Elsewhere such ideas are linked with God (see Isaiah 4:6; Isaiah 26:4; Isaiah 30:29; Isaiah 33:21 compare Psalms 46:4), but now they are applied to ‘a man’. And this can only be the One Who will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), for He must be a man and yet more than a man, or how could He do and be such things? He will be a shelter from wind, tempest and heat, and a provider of the water of life to those who thirst, the great Sustainer in the strength-sapping desert of life.

Some kings would partially fulfil the dream, kings such as Josiah, but none would make it a full actuality until the coming of Jesus, great David’s greater son. He alone could represent the future king in all His aspects. He did so when He offered men entrance under the Kingly Rule of God, and was there for them to meet their deepest needs, and especially so when, having sacrificed Himself on their behalf (see chapter 53) He was raised and seated on the throne at the right hand of God to watch over them permanently. So whatever wind blows, whatever tempest arises, whatever great heat makes weary His people, He is their shelter, their Protector, their hiding place, and the provider of the water of life (compare Isaiah 55:1; John 4:10; John 4:13-14; John 7:37-38).

Isaiah 32:3

‘And the eyes of those who see will not be dim,

And the ears of those who hear will listen.’

And in response to the righteous king will be a responsive people. They will see clearly and will hear the words of righteousness. The sad state of the people as in Isaiah 6:10 will have been reversed. For when this king reigns those who see will understand, their eyes will not be dim, those who hear will listen. This is in direct contrast to Isaiah 6:10 where the people were described as heavy of ear, closed of eye and fat in heart and thus unwilling to respond to Yahweh.

While we may possibly include the literal opening of the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf in the thought (compare Isaiah 35:5-6), the main intention is to stress the response of men’s hearts and lives to God. Jesus combined the two when He interpreted His healings as parables as well (Mark 7:32-36; Mark 8:22-26 with Isaiah 8:18).

A Comparison of the Wise and Honourable With The Foolish And The Crafty (Isaiah 32:4-8).

In describing what will happen in the coming kingdom Isaiah analyses wisdom and folly. The king will deliver His people from folly and craftiness, and will give them understanding in the truth, and make them noble.

Analysis.

a The heart also of the hasty will understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly (Isaiah 32:4).

b The fool will no longer be called freethinking, nor will the crafty be said to be bountiful, for the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity (Isaiah 32:5-6 a).

c To practise profaneness, and to utter error against Yahweh (Isaiah 32:6 b).

c To make the soul of the hungry empty, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail (Isaiah 32:6 c).

b The instruments also of the crafty are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy says what is right (Isaiah 32:7).

a But the noble plans noble things, and he will continue in noble things (Isaiah 32:8).

In ‘a’, in the kingdom that is coming those who usually interpret things too superficially will understand knowledge, and those who usually stutter over things will be able to speak them plainly, while in the parallel the noble will plan noble things, and will continue in noble things. All ignorance and folly will be put aside. In ‘b’ the fool will no longer have any place, nor will the ‘crafty’ be able to pretend to be bountiful, for firstly the fool will be seen to speak folly, and will be seen as a worker of iniquity, while in the parallel the methods of the ‘crafty’ will be exposed as evil, and his devices revealed as lying words . In ‘c’ the activity and consequence of the fool in his foolery is described.

Isaiah 32:4

The heart also of the hasty will understand knowledge,

And the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.’

When this king reigns men’s hearts will be open to knowledge, for even those who are hasty and superficial in their thinking will understand knowledge (some see it as meaning that people will be in a hurry to hear His words). To this is also added the fact that those who found talking difficult will now be able to speak plainly. For their teachers will now speak truth to them, and they will be well taught. The result is that all His true people will respond totally to Him. They will receive and see knowledge, they will hear and obey gladly, they will be careful to hear His word, they will plainly tell out the Lord’s glory from the heart.

And we have only to see the life of Jesus to see how this wonderfully came about, for He had come to enlighten His people and bring them under God’s Kingly Rule.

Isaiah 32:5

‘The fool will no longer be called freethinking (or ‘noble’),

Nor will the crafty be said to be bountiful.’

When the king reigns and teaches, people will be shown up as they really are. Nothing will be hidden. Both the fool and the crafty will be exposed.

The word for ‘fool’ means one who thinks foolishly, especially in moral terms. He will accept no moral or spiritual obligation. Thus in his heart he rejects God and His ways (Psalms 14:1). He thinks of himself as freethinking and noble but his mind is in fact bound by sin and its ways. Thus the truth about him will now be known, that he is not freethinking but bound by his own prejudices and desires. He will be exposed for what he is. He will be seen to be in contrast with the truly noble and liberal person (Isaiah 32:8).

And those who make a great show of being bountiful, but really give very little, will be shown up for what they are. The crafty (or ‘conspirers’) are those who make a great outward show in the right places. They want to impress and increase their reputations, and to win people to their own ways (Numbers 25:18). But their minds are really fixed on what they can obtain for themselves from their actions, and in dragging others to their own level, and the true mainspring of their actions will now be made clear.

Life As It Will Be Before the King Comes In Terms Of The Fool and The Crafty (Isaiah 32:6-8).

Having mentioned the fool and the crafty Isaiah expands on them. Firstly he deals in detail with the fool and his folly (Isaiah 32:6), then he deals with the crafty and his deceit (Isaiah 32:7). This is a general description of what the king will deliver His people from in terms of the fool and the crafty, whom Isaiah clearly sees as generally representing the condition of many of the people prior to the king’s coming.

Isaiah 32:6-7

‘For the fool will speak folly,

And his heart will work iniquity,

To practise profaneness,

And to utter error against Yahweh.

To make the soul of the hungry empty,

And to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

The instruments also of the crafty are evil.

He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words,

Even when the needy says what is right.’

Here life as it will have been before the king comes and exposes them is described in terms of the fool and the crafty. The fool reveals what he is by turning people away from Yahweh by his supposed freethinking. He leads them into error. But his heart is wicked, deceitful and profane (he is not really freethinking at all), and what he says about Yahweh is untrue. Having deceived himself by his own cleverness he goes on to deceive others, and by doing so he steals their spiritual food and drink and leaves them empty and in hopelessness. We cannot but be reminded here of Jesus’ castigation of the Scribes and the Pharisees (Matthew 23) as He revealed to them how they had failed in the responsibility that they saw as having been given to them by God. This is one reason why He spoke of them as ‘fools and blind’ (Matthew 23:17)

The crafty, on the other hand, use their craftiness to deceive the poor and lowly. They take advantage of their trust and lack of discernment, persuading them otherwise even when the needy are actually right, so that they can gain advantage from them. No doubt they called it ‘doing business’, but they are really swindlers. Many an ‘investment adviser’ is in mind here, as well as many a one who persuades people to part with their money for one reason or another in a way that is deceptive or not for their good. But these are examples only, for man is deceitful at heart.

So between them the fool and the crafty lead men astray from the truth and keep them in poverty by clever dealings and trickery. Both are common in every age. But the point is that when the king comes both will be revealed as what they are, and inherent in that is that they will one day be called to account.

Isaiah 32:8

‘But the noble plans noble things,

And he will continue in noble things.’

In contrast with the fool and the crafty are the noble. They seek to do noble things. They are honest and reliable and truly consider the good of others. There were always such, even when things were at their worst. In modern terms we would say that they were ‘godly men’. Of such has always been the Kingly Rule of God.

Life As It Will Be Before The King Comes In Terms of Careless Women At Ease (Isaiah 32:9-14).

Isaiah showed neither fear nor favour. He was as ready to draw attention to the sins of the womenfolk as well as those of the men. He was concerned that none should be able to hide behind a cloak of anonymity. Here he castigates the better off women who enjoy their ease and are overconfident and complacent, we might almost say ‘cocky’, about themselves and their importance. He no doubt met many of them around the court, full of their opinions and derogatory of others. It is probable that he saw them as depicting the spiritual barrenness of the nation more than most, for they paraded their condition openly (Isaiah 3:16-23), and because it is often the women who are the most openly devout, their behaviour emphasised what little devoutness there was in the nation.

Analysis.

a Rise up you women who are at ease, and hear my voice. You complacent (overconfident) daughters, give ear to my speech. For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you complacent (overconfident) women (Isaiah 32:9-10 a).

b For the vintage will fail, the ingathering will not come (Isaiah 32:10 b).

c Tremble you women who are at ease, be troubled you complacent (overconfident) ones (Isaiah 32:11 a).

c Strip yourselves and make yourselves bare, and gird sackcloth on your loins (Isaiah 32:11 b).

b They will smite on the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine (Isaiah 32:12).

a On the land of my people will come up thorn-briars, yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city. For the palace will be forsaken, the populous city will be deserted, the hill and the watchtower will be dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks (Isaiah 32:13-14).

In ‘a’ the women at ease are to rise up because trouble is coming, while in the parallel thorn-briars will come up and all in which they trust will be done away. In ‘b’ the vintage will fail, and in the parallel they will smite on their breasts for the fruitful vine. In ‘c’ they are to tremble and be troubled, and in the parallel they are to publicly demonstrate their despair.

Isaiah 32:9-12

‘Rise up you women who are at ease, and hear my voice.

You complacent (overconfident) daughters, give ear to my speech.

For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you complacent (overconfident) women.

For the vintage will fail,

The ingathering will not come.

Tremble you women who are at ease,

Be troubled you complacent (overconfident) ones,

Strip yourselves and make yourselves bare,

And gird sackcloth on your loins.

They will smite on the breasts for the pleasant fields,

For the fruitful vine.’

These women enjoyed plentiful leisure and indulgence, and this had made them somewhat above themselves. They were at ease and complacent. They felt that nothing could disturb the equanimity of their lives. As they paraded themselves they no doubt looked down arrogantly on the poor and lowly women who had to work in the fields or do menial labour. But now Isaiah warns them that hard times are coming, even for them, shortage of wine and summer fruits, their treasured delicacies. And it would go on for more than one bad year. It would be better for them therefore if they now took off their splendid clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn. For shortly would come the time for the beating of breasts at the lack of harvest, at the emptiness and devastation of the fields that always results from invasion or drought.

Indeed the stripping off of the clothes may be intended to signify more than mourning. Perhaps he is here already preparing them for the long march into exile, for in Isaiah 20:2-3 stripping off the clothes indicates exile and captivity as men are led off in shame and ignominy. As the following verses make clear it is finally exile that is in mind. But we must accept that Isaiah in his warning probably still hoped for a repentant people, and therefore longed that they might show signs of returning to God.

Isaiah 32:13

‘On the land of my people will come up thorn-briars,

Yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.

This is the picture of a deserted land. Thorn-briars (wilderness weeds) would spring up everywhere, even in the houses in the cities where there was so much hilarity. The complacent women at ease would no longer be complacent but would feel the prick of the thorns.

Isaiah 32:14

For the palace will be forsaken,

The populous city will be deserted,

The hill and the watchtower will be dens for ever,

A joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks.’

All that the women at ease looked to would be gone. The palace would be forsaken, the city, once so populous, deserted, and even the watchtowers would be home to the wild ass. ‘The hill’ was probably a recognised watch place, possibly the southern projection of the temple mount, the Ophel, paralleling the watchtower. They will no longer have a use but will instead be made use of by wild asses and flocks who will enjoy them to the full.

This is either speaking of exile or of a land so devastated that comparatively few are left. In view of Isaiah 6:11-12 we may presume the first, although both were no doubt true. While he was aware that God would deliver Jerusalem from Sennacherib he looked beyond that and recognised what the end must be. Indeed these words may well have been spoken after that great deliverance when it was apparent how little real effect it had had on the lives of the people. Either way he had his inaugural instructions which had told him how it must finally be. ‘For the cities will be waste without inhabitant, and the houses without men, and the land become utterly waste. And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land’ (Isaiah 6:10-11). And he knew now with sinking heart that it had to be. Even Hezekiah had shown himself as unreliable (Isaiah 39:1-6).

(The one piece of light in the darkness was that this fate did not affect the whole of the promised land. While different groups were taken into exile, from Galilee, from Samaria and from Jerusalem, this did not cover the whole land. The poor were not taken and there were many parts which were not left so empty of population (even though for a time they had fled to the mountains) and would recover. Those who were exiled were the leadership and the artisans, the aristocratic and the educated from the targeted places. The ordinary people were left behind. So the picture was not quite as bleak as it seemed, looked at from the point of view of the whole land. But it undoubtedly was for Jerusalem and for those directly involved).

The Great Turn-Around (Isaiah 32:15-20).

Analysis.

a Until the Spirit is poured on us from above, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest (Isaiah 32:15).

b Then ‘judgment’ (justice and fair-play) will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will abound in the fruitful field (Isaiah 32:16).

c And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence for ever (Isaiah 32:17).

c And my people will live in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places (Isaiah 32:18).

b But it will hail in the downfall of the forest, and the city will be utterly laid low (Isaiah 32:19) .

a Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send forth the feet of the ox and the ass (Isaiah 32:20).

In ‘a’ the Spirit will be poured forth from above, and the land will blossom, and in the parallel those who ‘sow beside all waters’ and plod on through the times of trouble and patiently watch over their ox and ass can be sure that they will be blessed. In ‘b’ justice will dwell in the wilderness and in the fruitful field, but in the parallel hail will be poured out on the forest and the city. In ‘c’ righteousness will prevail, and will bring peace and quiet confidence, and in the parallel the people will live in peaceable habitation in security and quietness.

The Pouring Out Of The Spirit (Isaiah 32:15-20).

As ever Isaiah sees beyond the gloom. God will finally work on behalf of His remnant (Isaiah 6:12). After the destruction and the coming exile will also come the time when God acts again on behalf of His true people. Isaiah does not know how long after but he knows that it will happen. The picture is put in terms of both a transformed land and a transformed people, the result of the Spirit being poured forth. Then the land will blossom and so will the people.

Isaiah 32:15-17

‘Until the Spirit is poured on us from above,

And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,

And the fruitful field be counted for a forest.

Then judgment will dwell in the wilderness,

And righteousness will abound in the fruitful field,

And the work of righteousness will be peace,

And the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence for ever.’

God will act on behalf of His people through His Spirit. The verb ‘poured out’ demonstrates that rain is in mind in the description, thus the Spirit is seen as active in producing rain on the land resulting in fruitful fields where there was wilderness, and the land which was once fruitful field becoming so luxurious that they will appear like a forest (compare Isaiah 29:17). It is the picture of a redeemed earth, another Eden, a new creation, an agriculturalist’s heaven (compare Psalms 104:30), but as Isaiah 44:1-5 makes clear it will also result in the transformation of the people.. To Israel it is finally a picture of the new heaven and the new earth (Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22; Revelation 21:1) when evil has been done away.

But we are here dealing with God, And the commencement of the pouring out of the rain producing the heavenly fruitfulness need not mean that we limit this to happening within a man-period. The time between the commencement of the pouring out of the ‘rain’ of the Spirit, and the final Paradise could be ‘a thousand years’ or even ‘a thousand generations’ (a long period designated by God), for this is the heavenly harvest.

So the Spirit Who initially hovered over creation ready to act (Genesis 1:2), will now act in full measure in the restoration of God’s purposes, directly intervening to restore what has been spoiled.

But stress is also laid on true judgment and righteousness which will result in peace, quietness and confidence (compare Isaiah 30:15), and while to some extent the fruitfulness will be a vindication to Israel, that can only be so because the nation has itself become just and righteous in the sight of God. There could be no vindication otherwise, as previous chapters have made clear. Like Abraham they will have believed God and it is counted to them for righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Genesis 50:11).

Thus the working of the Spirit must be seen as also producing righteousness in men’s hearts through faith, resulting in right judgments and righteous living (compare Isaiah 44:1-5). And the result of that righteousness will be peace, and its continual effect everlasting quietness and confidence. So the overall picture of the Spirit’s outpouring is of heaven-like fruitfulness and heavenly righteousness in men’s hearts, resulting in perfect spiritual rest and joy, the result of their new trust in Yahweh (contrast Isaiah 30:15).

This pouring out of the Spirit has already been indicated in Isaiah 11:2 where it makes the coming king righteous and successful, and in Isaiah 28:6 where it gives true judgment to the one who judges and strength to the people of God who defend against the enemy. It is therefore seen as powerfully effective through men’s lives. We will come across more of this in a short while (Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 44:1-5), and it is also taken up even later by Joel 2:28, and in a slightly different way in Ezekiel 36:25-32.

That is why John the Baptiser will drench men and women (baptise) in expectancy of this promised pouring out of the Spirit, of which he sees himself the forerunner (that is what his baptism pictured as coming), and will preach in terms of a harvest of men and destruction of the unfruitful (Matthew 3:7-12). He considered rightly that he was introducing the end days. He just did not know how long they would be.

And Jesus Himself was drenched in the Holy Spirit at His baptism as the One Who would finally drench with the Holy Spirit all Who are His. Indeed the New Testament sees Him as the One Who brings about this outpouring of the Spirit, both through His life, when the working of the Spirit was already apparent (Luke 4:1; John 3:1-7), then in those who responded to Him (Luke 11:13), and then in the Upper Room and at Pentecost (John 16:7; John 20:22; Acts 2:1-2).

There would be a partial fulfilment in the inter-testamental period when ‘Israel’ once again began to flourish, and their fields became abundantly fruitful, and there would also be a spiritual fulfilment in the coming of the king in His humility, the king Who would reign in righteousness, and in the coming of the Holy Spirit. But the final fulfilment undoubtedly awaits His second coming, and the new heaven and the new earth, the eternal realm. This distinction was not, however, specifically known to Isaiah. He knew that full deliverance would come about, what he did not know was how, and on what time-scale. He saw the future as one whole. What he did not know was the intermediate process, what he did know was the final result. For the prophets were not predicting events as such, (although they did also do that). Rather they were predicting the triumph of God as He acted in His own way to bring about His will.

Isaiah 32:18

‘And my people will live in a peaceable habitation,

And in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.’

The result of the Spirit’s work will be that God’s true people, refined and purified (Isaiah 4:4), will have peace and security and wherever they dwell, peace, security and rest will be all-prevailing (compare Isaiah 11:1-10; John 14:1-2). It is a picture of Heaven on earth for them in their spiritual lives (as citizens of Heaven - Philippians 3:20) followed by Heaven above, an eternal Paradise.

Isaiah 32:19

‘But it will hail in the downfall of the forest,

And the city will be utterly laid low.’

In contrast with the pouring out of the Spirit on the righteous will be the hail, which results in the downfall of the forest. The forest has in past chapters been symbolic of Israel’s enemies (Isaiah 10:18-19; Isaiah 10:34), and the city is ever symbolic of corrupt and rebellious man (Isaiah 24:10; Isaiah 24:12; Isaiah 25:2; Isaiah 26:5), while hail is symbolic of judgment (Isaiah 28:2; Isaiah 28:17), and the result of this downfall will be that the world cities with all their pretensions and arrogance will be laid low (Isaiah 25:10-12; Isaiah 26:5). As ever mercy and glory is paralleled with judgment and destruction (Isaiah 30:25).

Note the contrast between righteousness coming in the wilderness and in the fruitful field (Isaiah 32:16), whereas judgment comes on the forest and the city (Isaiah 32:19). The one represents living freely and openly away from evil influences, the other those who cause harm and danger (both man and wild beast) and those who live in sin and corruption.

This contrast can be interestingly compared with the laws of uncleanness. The ‘clean’ animals were those who lived in the fields and partook of what was ‘clean’. The ‘unclean’ lived in the bare mountains and the forests, and scrabbled after what was ‘unclean’, and connected with the dust of death.

Isaiah 32:20

‘Blessed are you who sow beside all waters,

Who send forth the feet of the ox and the ass.’

Finally Isaiah ends on an encouraging note for the present believers. Blessed are those who sow beside all waters, both when times are hard, and when times are promising. They make use of all God’s provision. They never fail to send forth the feet of the ox and ass to do their work, they never slacken in the service of Yahweh. They will be truly blessed, because God has blessed them for their faithfulness. In the analysis this parallels with the pouring out of the Spirit. These already enjoy the work of the Spirit, which is available through all ages (Psalms 51:10-11; Psalms 139:7; Psalms 143:10), even before His pouring out at Pentecost.