Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 32

Behold, a king shall reign ... — More accurately, the king.Isaiah 32:1–8 form a separate section, standing in the same relation to the preceding chapter that the picture of the ideal king in Isaiah 11 does to the anti-Assyrian prophecy of Isaiah 10.

“The king” is accordingly the true Anointed one of the future—not, of course, without a reference to the character of Hezekiah as the partial and present embodiment of the idea. The addition of “princes” worthy of their king emphasizes this reference. The words are as an echo of Proverbs 8:15-16.

A man shall be ... —The word is that used in Isaiah 31:8 for mighty man, in Isaiah 2:9 for great man, and probably retains that meaning here. The nobles of Judah, who had been tyrannous and oppressive (Isaiah 1:23), should become a true aristocracy, beneficent and protecting. Of both the king and the man it is true that they find their fulfilment in the true servant of the Lord, who is also the ideal king.

As rivers of water ... —The words paint the picture of the two great blessings of an Eastern landscape: the streams that turn the desert into an oasis, the rock throwing its dark shadow as a shelter from the noontide heat. The word for rock is the same as that used for Assyria in Isaiah 31:9, and is obviously chosen to emphasise the contrast.

The eyes of them that see ... —Another reversal, like that of Isaiah 29:18, of the sentence of judicial blindness with which Isaiah’s work as a prophet had begun (Isaiah 6:10).

The heart also of the rash ... —“Heart,” as in Proverbs 4:23 and elsewhere, signifies the intellect rather than the emotions. The “rash” are those who are “hurried,” precipitate, reckless; the “stammerers” are those who have no power to speak clearly of the things of God, who hesitate and are undecided.

The vile person shall be no more called liberal. —Better, noble, the καλοκάγαθος of the Greeks, the ingenuus of the Latin. So for “bountiful,” read gentle. Here, again, we have a picture, the exact contrast of that which we encountered at the beginning of Isaiah’s work, when men called good evil, and evil good (Isaiah 5:20).