Isaiah 32 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 32

A King Will Reign in Righteousness

32:1   Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,
    and princes will rule in justice.
2   Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
    a shelter from the storm,
  like streams of water in a dry place,
    like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
3   Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
    and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
4   The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
    and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
5   The fool will no more be called noble,
    nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
6   For the fool speaks folly,
    and his heart is busy with iniquity,
  to practice ungodliness,
    to utter error concerning the LORD,
  to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
    and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7   As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil;
    he plans wicked schemes
  to ruin the poor with lying words,
    even when the plea of the needy is right.
8   But he who is noble plans noble things,
    and on noble things he stands.

Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

9   Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
    you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
10   In little more than a year
    you will shudder, you complacent women;
  for the grape harvest fails,
    the fruit harvest will not come.
11   Tremble, you women who are at ease,
    shudder, you complacent ones;
  strip, and make yourselves bare,
    and tie sackcloth around your waist.
12   Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
    for the fruitful vine,
13   for the soil of my people
    growing up in thorns and briers,
  yes, for all the joyous houses
    in the exultant city.
14   For the palace is forsaken,
    the populous city deserted;
  the hill and the watchtower
    will become dens forever,
  a joy of wild donkeys,
    a pasture of flocks;
15   until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
    and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
    and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
16   Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
    and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17   And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
    and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust¹ forever.
18   My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
    in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19   And it will hail when the forest falls down,
    and the city will be utterly laid low.
20   Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
    who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

Footnotes

[1] 32:17 Or security

Commentary

v1-8: The king reigning in righteousness; a clear picture of Jesus Christ.

v1: The king of the Jews, Christ, characterised by righteousness. He will have His rulers, princes, although no further reference is made of them; the emphasis is rightly on Him.

The people of Israel return to God, in 31.6-9, and experience His mighty deliverance from foreign enemies. They return to the King of righteousness and justice.

v2: A man will be a tabernacle, 4.6; 25.4; our protection from hardship, our strength to endure; our refreshment in difficult times.

v3-4: The people will become attentive to Him, having a spiritual appetite. The people will be changed, having a spiritual attitude. As we come to Christ, our hearts are changed, we gain spiritual understanding.

v5: No more overlooking of ungodliness, no more injustice; He will always judge fairly. The righteous king will expose sin for what it is. Man's sin will be exposed, Rev 22.11. The Lord is hard with those who offer much but deliver nothing, and with those who lead His people astray. The Lord always judges rightly, and His people must learn to do likewise.

v7: The evil of men to remove justice from the poor.

v8: The noble men is rewarded, for the Lord makes a distinction between good and evil. The prophet speaks here of a godly remnant, standing apart from the prevalent evil of his day.

v9: The complacency of riches, see 3.13-26; the effect was that they ceased looking to the Lord.

v10-11: Although there was wealth, spiritually the people were barren and poor; the command was to mourn over the reality, leaving aside the appearance.

v12-14: Mourning and desolation. Unless they chose mourning, they would find desolation.

v15: After this time there is promised fruitfulness; which is in God' time. Israel had to endure trials, as God's punishment and purification; yet His restoration brings much more than was lost, as the desert is made fertile. God's Spirit is poured out, an indication of God's generosity towards His people.

v16-20: This great fruitfulness is in Christ the king, linking with v1-2. Justice and righteousness will be dominant, even where there was once mourning and trials. The wilderness becomes the place of rebuke, Ezek 20.36. The people of God will dwell securely, in eternal peace and confidence.