Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 33:18

"Thy heart shall muse on the terror: Where is he that counted, where is he that weighed [the tribute]? where is he that counted the towers?" — Isaiah 33:18 (ASV)

Your heart - The heart of the people of Jerusalem.

Shall meditate terror - This is similar to the expression in Virgil:

- forsan et haec olim meminisse jurabit.

Aeneid 2.203.

The sense here is, ‘You will hereafter think over all this alarm and distress. When the enemy is destroyed, the city saved, and the king will reign in magnificence over all the nation then enjoying peace and prosperity, you will recall these days of terror and alarm, and will then ask with gratitude and astonishment, Where are they who caused this alarm? Where are now they who so confidently calculated on taking the city? They are all gone—and gone in a manner suited to excite astonishment and adoring gratitude.’

‘Sweet is the recollection,’ says Rosenmuller, ‘of dangers that are past.’

Where is the scribe? - How soon, how suddenly he has vanished! The word “scribe” here (ספר sı̂phēr) evidently refers to some prominent class of officers in the Assyrian army.

It is from ספר sâphar—to count, to number, to write. It probably refers to a secretary, perhaps a secretary of state or of war, or an inspector-general, who had charge of reviewing an army (2 Kings 25:19; Jeremiah 37:15; Jeremiah 52:25).

Where is the receiver? - The margin, as in Hebrew, reads ‘Weigher.’ The Vulgate asks, ‘Where is he that ponders the words of the law?’ The Septuagint has, ‘Where are the counselors? (ουμβουλεύοντες sumbouleuontes)’

Probably the word refers to him who weighed the tribute or the pay of the soldiers. It doubtless means some officer in the Assyrian army, likely one whose office it was to have charge of the military chest and to pay the army.

Where is he that counted the towers? - That is, who made an estimate of the strength of Jerusalem—either Sennacherib or someone appointed by him to reconnoiter and report on the means of defense the city had .