Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 33:17

"Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold a land that reacheth afar." — Isaiah 33:17 (ASV)

Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty ... —Torn from their context, the words have been appropriately used to describe the beatific vision of the saints of God in the far-off land of heaven. So the Targum gives, “Your eyes shall see the Shekinah of the King of Ages.” Their primary meaning is, however, obviously historical.

The “king” is Hezekiah, who shall be seen no longer in sackcloth and ashes, and with downcast eyes (Isaiah 37:1), but in all the “beauty” of triumph and of majesty, of a youth and health renewed like the eagle; and the “land that is very far off” is the whole land of Israel, all prosperous and peaceful, as contrasted with the narrow range of view which the people had during the siege, pent up within the walls of Jerusalem. (Compare Genesis 13:14-15.) Compare regarding form, Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 30:20.