Matthew Henry on Isaiah 33:1-12
Here we have,
I. The proud and false Assyrian justly reckoned with for all his fraud and violence, and laid under a woe, Isa 33:1. Observe, 1. The sin which the enemy had been guilty of. He had spoiled the people of God, and made a prey of them, and herein had broken his treaty of peace with them, and dealt treacherously. Truth and mercy are two such sacred things, and have so much of God in them, that those cannot but be under the wrath of God that make conscience of neither, but are perfectly lost to both, that care not what mischief they do, what spoil they make, what dissimulations they are guilty of, nor what solemn engagements they violate, to compass their own wicked designs. Bloody a…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 33:8
broken . . . covenant--When Sennacherib invaded Judea, Hezekiah paid him a large sum to leave the land; Sennacherib received the money and yet sent his army against Jerusalem (Kg2 18:14, Kg2 18:17).
despised--make slight of as unable to resist him (Isa 10:9; Isa 36:19); easily captures them.
John Gill on Isaiah 33:8
The highways lie waste,.... No man walking in them, for fear of the enemy; "the ways of Zion", which are said to "mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts", Lamentations 1:4 none daring to attend the ministry of the word and ordinances; see Isaiah 35:8,
the wayfaring man ceaseth; or, "the traveller rests" (z); or stops; he does not proceed on his journey; a stop is put to a religious course and conversation; there is an entire cessation of religious worship; a sabbath is kept, but not a religious one; he that would walk in Zion's ways is forbid, and is obliged to sit still:
he hath broken the covenant; some, as Kimchi's father, interpret this of the Jews' complaining that God had brok…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Isaiah 33:8
The roads are deserted. He now adds, that "the roads" will be shut up, so that no one shall go in or out; which commonly happens when war has been declared. The Prophet appears to represent the ambassadors as declaring that henceforth there will be no opportunity of carrying on merchandise, and even that the highways will not be safe. [9] It is immediately added, --
They have violated the treaty. These words are viewed by some commentators as a complaint made by hypocrites that God does not fulfill his promises. If it were thought proper to view them as referring to God, still it would not be necessary to say that such a complaint proceeds from none but wicked men; for sometimes believers a…
