Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 33:14

"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?" — Isaiah 33:14 (ASV)

The sinners in Zion are afraid—This verse is evidently designed to describe the alarm that was produced in Jerusalem among impenitent sinners and hypocrites by their view of God's judgment on the army of Sennacherib. They would see His wrath on His enemies then; and in view of the terrors of His indignation concerning that army, they would be alarmed and would ask how it would be possible for them to endure such wrath forever. If the effect of God's wrath, even for a night, when it blazed against that great army, was so terrible, how could it be borne forever? This seems to be the general idea of the passage. A great variety of interpretations have been proposed, which may be seen in Vitringa and Poole. The phrase ‘sinners in Zion’ here refers to the wicked and rebellious in Jerusalem.

Fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites—Those who professed to serve God, and yet who were secretly depending on the aid of Egypt (compare the note at Isaiah 9:17). The sentiment here is that those who profess to be friends of God, but who are secretly and really His enemies, are often alarmed at His judgments. When God's judgments overtake sinners, they are conscious that they also deserve His wrath, and their minds are filled with consternation. So in a time of prevailing sickness or pestilence, those who really have no confidence in God and no evidence that they are prepared to die are filled with alarm. A true friend of God will be calm in such scenes; a hypocrite will show by his consternation that he has no religion.

Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire?—Some have understood this as referring to the fires they supposed the Assyrian would kindle in Jerusalem, apprehending that he would capture and burn the city. But the more probable interpretation is that which refers it to the judgment that would be brought on the Assyrians—the burning wrath of God like fire that would consume them. The destruction of the Assyrians is repeatedly represented under the image of a storm and tempest, where there would be the flame of devouring fire (see the note at Isaiah 29:6). The sense is this: ‘God has suddenly consumed that immense army of His foes. Such must be the awful punishment of the wicked. How can we endure it? We also, though among His people, are His foes and are exposed to His wrath.

How can we endure the terrors of that day when His burning indignation will also overtake us?’

Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?—Who among us could endure suffering amid such burning wrath forever? If that wrath is so fierce as to consume such an immense host in a single night, who could endure it if it were continued forever and ever? This is the obvious sense of this passage; and it implies:

1. That hypocrites will be greatly alarmed when they see punishment come on the open and avowed enemies of God.
2. That in such times they will have none of the peace and quiet confidence which His true friends have.
3. That such an alarm is evidence of conscious guilt and hypocrisy.
4. That the persons spoken of here had a belief in the doctrine of eternal punishment—a belief which hypocrites and sinners always have, otherwise why would they be alarmed?
5. That the punishment of hypocrites in the church will be dreadful and terrific. This seems to have been the conviction here. They saw that if such judgments came on those who had no knowledge of the true God, it must be infinitely more terrible for those who had been trained amid the institutions of religion and who had professed attachment to Yahweh. And so it will be in a preeminent degree among those who have been trained in the Christian church and who have been the professed but insincere followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.