The Prophet and His Day: Isaiah 1-39 - Free Bible Commentary

} “locusts” Locust invasions were common in the ANE. They are often compared to an invading army(cf. Deut. 28:38,42; Joel 1:4; 2:25; Amos 7:1-2). God directs armies as He directs all things! Theselocusts gather the ill-gotten spoils of Assyria.There are many Semitic words for this insect which apparently denote (1) different species or (2)different stages of growth.33:5 “He dwells on high” This phrase is a metaphor for heaven (cf. 32:15; Job 16:19; 31:2). The ANEviewed heaven as above. For the Israelites the smoke from their sacrifices rose to God, therefore, Hemust be up. There was also the theological contrast with “down” as a metaphor for death. Sheol wasdown, but heaven was up. In our modern era these spacial metaphors seem inaccurate, but rememberthey are ancient metaphors never intended to carry a literalness. The language of the OT isphenomenological, which means the language of description using the five human senses. The Bible isnot anti-scientific, it is pre-scientific! Taking ancient metaphors literally is not a sign of biblicalconservatism, but of missing the intended meaning of the original historical setting of inspired authors.} “justice and righteousness” See note at 32:16.33:6NASB, NKJV,NRSV “He shall be the stability of your times”NJB“You can count on this all your days”Peshitta “Faith shall be the stability of your times”REB“her strength will be in your unchanging stability”YHWH brings “stability,” lit. “faithful,” BDB 53, cf. 25:1. Judah’s hope and stability is thefaithful character of her God (cf. Deut. 32:4; Ps. 36:5; 89:1-2,5,24,33,49; 88:11; 92:2; 143:1). This isthe answer to the prayer of v. 2. Because of His faithful character He gives to His wayward people1. a wealth (BDB 340) ofa. salvation (BDB 447)b. wisdom (BDB 315 with change of final consonant from ; to %, cf. 11:2)c. knowledge (BDB 395, cf. 11:2)2. the fear (BDB 432, in the sense of reverential awe, cf. 11:2; Pro. 1:7,29; 2:5) of YHWH is histreasure (BDB 69, in the sense of a full storehouse, cf. I Chr. 27:27-28; II Chr. 11:11)33:7-9 This reflects the sad state of the impending siege because negotiations have failed (cf. II Kgs.18:13-16).33:7 These two poetic lines are not synonymous. Biblical scholars have been influenced by RobertLowth, who tried to fit all Hebrew parallelism into three or four categories. Today scholars areunderstanding the multiplicity of poetic parallelism. Currently it is best to say that the second line “addssomething” or “goes beyond” (Adele Berlin, The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism: Revised andExpanded, p. 64).Two different groups are addressed.1. line one – soldiers of Jerusalem2. line two – the ambassador of peace sent to Egypt by Hezekiah (cf. v. 8)They do similar/parallel things– “cry,” BDB 858– “weep,” BDB 113Parallelism is one of the main keys in interpreting Hebrew poetry, but we must recognize it is used inmany forms and at many literary levels.327