Chapter Thirty-Two

1–8. A righteous king will reign in Jerusalem and as a result justice and honesty will triumph in society. 9–20. The punishment awaiting Jerusalem’s women and the future glorification of the Jewish people.

Isa 32:1-8. As in chapter 11, after the depiction of Assyria’s fall in chapter 10, Isaiah immediately begins to paint a picture of the future Messianic time, so in chapter 32 he depicts the reign of a righteous ruler in Jerusalem, coinciding with Assyria’s defeat. Under the new ruler, all Jerusalem’s governors will uphold justice and care for the people’s welfare. He who is now incapable of listening to divine revelation will then be able to understand and explain everything in that revelation. Also, at that time, the worship of unworthy people will end, and virtue will be honored as it deserves.

Isaiah 32:1. Behold, a King will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice; Isaiah 32:2. and each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the tempest, like streams of water in the desert, like the shadow of a great rock in a parched land. “King.” As is evident from other places in the book of Isaiah (mainly from chapters 9 and 11), the righteous king – righteous in the full sense of the word – the prophet called the Messiah. Consequently, here too he also designates the Messiah. But in contrast to chapters 9 and 11, the prophet does not describe the personal activity of this king but depicts mainly the officials around him – his ministers. This is apparently explained by the fact that the prophet and the people recognized King Hezekiah, under whom this speech was composed, as a good ruler, but were dissatisfied with the composition of his ministry or the secret royal council. “Desert” – properly a dry, waterless wasteland. In the Hebrew text here the word zajon stands, which greatly resembles the name of Jerusalem – zijon (a play on words). “Rock” represents an excellent refuge for a traveler going through the desert – better than a tree.

Isaiah 32:3. And the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. Isaiah 32:4. And the heart of the rash will understand knowledge; and the tongue of the stammerer will speak clearly. “Eyes of those who see... – ears of those who hear.” Some commentators see here simply the designation of people possessing all their senses but unwilling to use them, closing their eyes and ears so as not to see and hear what they dislike (Nägelscbach). But, taking into account what the prophet said earlier about the condition of the prophets and seers of his time (Isa 29:9), we also see here an indication precisely of the prophets, who were granted to see visions and hear revelations from God. Then these prophets will freely carry out their great ministry. “The rash... and the stammerer.” These are false prophets or rather the leaders of public opinion at that time, incapable themselves of distinguishing truth from falsehood, unable to convey their thoughts to others in understandable language.

Isaiah 32:5. The fool will no longer be called noble, nor the schemer said to be honorable. Isaiah 32:6. For a fool speaks folly, and his heart devises wickedness, to practice ungodliness and speak error against the Lord, to deprive the hungry of food and to withhold drink from the thirsty. Isaiah 32:7. The villain’s devices are evil; he plans iniquities to destroy the poor with lies, even when the poor man’s plea is just. Isaiah 32:8. But the noble man devises noble things, and by noble things he stands. From the rulers and leaders of Judah the prophet now turns to the depiction of simply noble men. At the present time noble people are often called not according to their actual merits. Those called noble, i.e., of good birth, are fools and schemers, i.e., those who plot against their neighbors. Under the Messiah, however, this will not be. Each will be rewarded according to his deserts. To show how wrong people now act in improperly assessing nobility and lack of nobility, the prophet says that a fool or simpleton causes great harm to society. He not only speaks nonsense but harbors evil intentions in himself, denies the Lord, and harms defenseless people, taking from them the last means of livelihood. Similarly, it is sinful to bow before people who are schemers, who are ready to ruin the poor man by every dishonest means. On the contrary, the noble man both thinks and does what is in accordance with the rules of honor – this should not be subjected to the least doubt. So, in the times of the Messiah, honors will not be given to anyone for free. Only a man with a definite high moral worldview and capable of putting his thoughts into practice will be respected! Isa 32:9-20. Turning now to the careless noble women of Judah, the prophet paints the desolation of the land of Judea – in particular, the desolation of Jerusalem. In such a condition the land of the chosen people will remain until the time when the Spirit poured out from on high renews the people’s life; then throughout Judea justice and peace will prevail and in general every kind of prosperity. The prophet addresses the prediction of the desolation awaiting Judea to the women because noble women, whom he has in view here, will find it hardest of all to bear the deprivations connected with the coming desolation of the land.

Isaiah 32:10. Yet a little while, beyond a year, and you will be appalled, careless ones! For there will be no gathering of grapes, and the harvest time will not come. In chapter 29 (verses 2 and following) the prophet said that until the siege of Jerusalem one year remained. Here he adds to the year an indefinite number of days, since he has in view the desolation of all Judean land, which was to occur somewhat later than the siege of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 32:11. Tremble, you who are at ease; shudder, you who are complacent! Strip your clothes and gird your loins. “Undress yourselves.” – As a sign of mourning, women would remove their upper, most valuable clothes. “And gird your loins” – with sackcloth, so as not to go completely naked (cf. Isa 3:23).

Isaiah 32:12. They will beat their breasts over the beautiful fields, over the fruitful vineyard. The refined women will first of all lament that what was brought to Jerusalem from the rich fields of Judea and from the luxurious vineyards, which of course will all be destroyed by the Assyrian troops, will be lost. Here one can see a hint that the women of Judea, like their husbands, were devoted to the passion for wine.

Isaiah 32:13. Upon the soil of my people will grow up thorns and nettles, and also upon all the houses of joy in the joyful city; Isaiah 32:14. for the palaces will be forsaken; the bustling city will be abandoned; Ophel and the watchtower will forever become a refuge instead of caves for wild asses and pasturing flocks, The prophet here apparently speaks not of the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians under Hezekiah, when the enemies of the Jews were to flee shamefully from the walls of Jerusalem, but of the desolation of Jerusalem by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, here, as in other cases, the prophet leaps from the nearest future to more distant times. “Ophel” – (a hill, a goddess) was a part of Jerusalem and apparently represented the southeast slope of the temple mountain. On the summit of Ophel stood a tower (cf. Nehem 3:26). “Wild ass.” This animal loves the solitude of the deserts (Job 39:5). Consequently, where it appears – all is quiet and deserted, as in a wilderness. And so it will be in Jerusalem, which formerly teemed with life! “Forever” – an expression that sometimes means a very long time, as is evident from the following verse (cf. Isa 63:16).

Isaiah 32:15. until the Spirit is poured out on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is reckoned as a forest. Here the prophet depicts the future Messianic times, when the situation of the chosen people will change for the better in all respects – both in terms of moral and material prosperity. “The Spirit from on high.” The power that will bring about this great transformation in the internal and external life of the people will be the Spirit that is to be poured out upon the people and land in excessive abundance from on high. This Spirit – the renewing principle of human life, the wonderful power of God. The prophet Joel spoke of this Spirit even earlier (Joel 2:28), but in the latter case, the increase in fertility of the promised land precedes the pouring out of the Spirit, whereas in Isaiah it is the result of the pouring out of the Spirit.

Isaiah 32:16. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will abide in the fruitful field. Isaiah 32:17. And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, calmness and confidence forever. Isaiah 32:18. Then my people will dwell in a peaceful abode, in secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places. The prophet just now (verses 13–14) depicted Judea as a barren wilderness, and therefore as a place where one could not count on any safety and on the functioning of ordinary laws: the Bedouins with travelers are governed by their own customs. But in the days of the Messiah, Palestine will again be a land where justice is respected and where it will be completely safe to live.

Isaiah 32:19. And hail will fall on the forest, and the city will be laid low in the valley. Isaiah 32:20. Blessed are you who sow by all waters, and send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey. And external natural calamities will also pass by the populated places of Judea at that time. “Hail” – in that blessed time, if hail falls at all, it will only on the forest, and not on the fields and dwellings of the Jews, so that only the forest trees will suffer from it. “The city will descend to the valley,” i.e., Jerusalem or, properly speaking, its population will not hide behind the city walls but will boldly walk through the valleys surrounding the city. This means that there will no longer be enemies in the surroundings of Jerusalem. “Sow by all waters.” In Palestine, farmers usually scattered their seeds directly on soil loosened by spring floods and then drove oxen and donkeys over this sown soil, which thus trampled the seeds into the earth with their hooves. In the future time there will be very many such valleys for the Jews (by all waters), which indicates the time when they alone will possess all of Palestine. The stanzas in the poem of chapter 32 are divided as follows: 1st stanza – verses 1–5 – (3, 3) 2nd stanza – verses 6–8 – (3, 3) 3rd stanza – verses 9–11 – (2, 2, 2) 1st stanza – verses 12–14 – (3, 3) 2nd stanza – verses 15–20 – (3, 3) * * * In the Slavonic translation, it is written clearly enough – “Until the Spirit comes upon us from on high” – an evident indication of the active member of the Holy Trinity. Editor’s note. In the Slavonic translation from the LXX, regarding hail it is said more definitively: “And hail, if it comes down, will not come upon you.” Editor’s note.