Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 33

Woe to thee that spoilest ... — No chapter in the prophet’s writings presents so little traceable connection. A thought is expressed in one, or it may be two, verses, and then another follows without anything to connect it. This may, perhaps, be explained either by the strong emotion which filled the prophet’s mind as he looked on the coming perils of his country, or, as I think, more probably, on the assumption that we have a series of rough notes, memoranda for a long discourse, which was afterwards delivered in a more continuous form. They would, perhaps, be more intelligible if they were printed separately, as we print Pascal’s Pensées, the verse arrangement giving a fictitious semblance of continuity.

The opening words are addressed to Sennacherib when he began his second campaign against Judah, as it seemed to Isaiah, without the slightest provocation. Hezekiah had submitted, and had paid an enormous indemnity for the costs of the war (2 Kings 18:13–16) at the close of the first campaign, and had, in the meantime, taken no aggressive action. The invasion was one of undisguised spoliation and rapacity. (For “treacherously,” read rapaciously.) For such aggressiveness, there was sure to come a righteous retribution, and in that thought the prophet finds comfort.

O Lord, be gracious ... —Faith transforms itself into prayer. The prophet will still “wait” upon God. In the change of person, “their arm,” “our salvation,” we hear the very words of the prayer as it was spoken, the first referring to the soldiers who were to fight the battles of their country, the second to the non-combatants who were assembled with Isaiah in supplication.

At the noise of the tumult ... —The people are the mingled nations of the Assyrian armies; the tumult is that of the rush and crash, as of a mighty tempest, when Jehovah should at last uplift Himself for the deliverance of His chosen ones.

Your spoil ... —The words are addressed to the invader. He who came to spoil should find himself spoiled. As caterpillars and locusts devour the green vegetation, so should he (or they, the indefinite pronoun standing for the people of Jerusalem) strip his camp of all its treasures.

The Lord is exalted ... —The vision of the seer takes in the ideal city of God, Jehovah dwelling on high in His holy Temple, the city at last filled with judgment and righteousness.