IN OUR STUDY of the "Book of Woes" we have investigated the pronouncements made against Samaria and Jerusalem. Only six verses were devoted to Samaria. The rest of the oracles in this section were addressed to Jerusalem. Why such seemingly disproportionate treatment? one may ask. The answer is that with increased light and advantages come added responsibilities. At the time of Isaiah's speaking the contents of this "Book of Woes" Samaria was on the verge of disappearing from history. On the other hand, Jerusalem has stood and will continue to stand. Great have been the changes which that city has experienced. Great will be its changes in the Tribulation; but glorious will be the transformation at the time of the return of our Lord--as we have seen repeatedly in our study of the Book of Isaiah.

But in our present study we are to examine Section V which presents the fifth woe, directed against Assyria the world power of Isaiah's day and sections VI and VII, presenting what one might term the "aftermath" and the "epilogue" of the "Book of Woes." The "aftermath" deals with Edom, a typical nation of the world in its attitude toward Israel; the "epilogue" presents one of the beautiful pictures of the Old Testament, giving us another glimpse of the wonderful conditions which will prevail throughout the world during the reign of our Lord.

"Woe to thee that destroyest, and thou wast not destroyed; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! When thou hast ceased to destroy, thou shall be destroyed; and when thou hast made an end of dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee" (33:1).

As a man sows so shall he reap. This is an unchangeable law. Assyria dealt treacherously with Israel. She "double crossed" Hezekiah in a most shameful manner, ignoring the treaty of peace which she had made with the King of Judah and for which Israel paid a tremendous price. God is a moral Being. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He is therefore capable of dealing out justice and righteousness to everyone. According to the verse given above everyone has to deal with God, whether he recognizes the fact or not. What is true of the individual also holds good with nations, which are as the small dust of the balances (Isa. 40:15).

God uses individuals and nations for the accomplishment of His purposes. If anyone is upright, honorable, and true, the Lord will deal with him upon that basis; if, on the other hand, he is unrighteous and unjust, taking advantage of others simply because it is within his power, the Almighty will deal with him accordingly. The principle is set forth in II Timothy 2:20,21 as well as in other places in the Scriptures. God uses men and nations to accomplish His plans and purposes. Someone had to perform the dastardly act of betraying the Son of God. The Lord therefore chose a man who by his life and actions had fitted himself for such a dreadful crime. Judah had to be punished for her sins and had to be dealt with in a most ruthless and merciless manner by a strong, intolerant power. Sennacherib and his government qualified for doing such a task. The Lord therefore used him; though as far as he was concerned, he was unaware of being thus employed. (See Isaiah 10:5-7.) When, however, God had finished with him, He destroyed him (Isa. 10:12). Thus verse 1 of chapter 33 is a compressed, concentrated resume of the prediction found in Isaiah, chapter 10.

When the Lord revealed to the Prophet Isaiah the fact that Assyria would thus deal with Israel, he prayed that the Lord would be gracious to her, as is seen in verse 2 of our chapter, and become her Deliverer.

In a most dramatic manner, according to verse 3, God answered the prayer. "At the noise of the tumult the peoples are fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations are scattered."

As we have seen, in verse 1 Assyria alone is mentioned; but in verse 3 the peoples of the earth are to be seen and Israel is delivered. The following verses, as one will see by reading them, set forth the fact that at the time here seen Israel will be enjoying the wonderful blessings of her Golden Era. In view of all these facts we discover here another instance of the "law of double reference." The picture of God's dealing with treacherous Assyria is blended with the one in which God overthrows all of her enemies, the nations of the world. This event will occur at the end of the Tribulation and at the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to take the reins of government into His own omnipotent hands.

In verse 4 is a prediction that the spoils of war left by the defeated nations of the world in the final conflict will be gathered by the victorious Israelites. Following this forecast is the prediction in verse 5 that Jehovah is exalted and is dwelling on high; and He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. We must notice the expression, "dwelleth on high." This phrase does not necessarily refer to heaven where the throne of God is; for, in verse 16 of this same chapter, we see a prediction that the faithful remnant of Israel will be dwelling on high during the Tribulation. But an examination of the context, as we shall see, reveals the fact that this expression simply indicates in this context the remnant's being protected by the power of God--being exalted by His mighty arm to a position high above the nations of the world so that they cannot touch her. Moreover, since the clause, "for he dwelleth on high," is parallel to the following one, "he hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness," it is clear that the verse is referring to Jehovah's being exalted in the city of Jerusalem and reigning there over the nations. Jerusalem will be located, as we see, on a very high mountain (Ezek. 40:1-4). At that time, according to 33:6, there will be stability, abundance of salvation, wisdom, knowledge, and the worship of God. This prediction therefore is a forecast of the glorious condition which will obtain when Messiah returns to Zion and assumes His regal powers.

IN THE following paragraph, verses 7-12, the prophet again returns to the theme with which he began the discourse; namely, the treacherous manner in which Sennacherib, king of Assyria, had dealt with Hezekiah and the Jews. Read the historical account in II Kings 18:13-37. When Sennacherib was besieging Lachish, he demanded of Hezekiah a terrible indemnity in order not to fight against him. Hezekiah impoverished the nation, depleted the Temple treasury, and sent the money demanded. No sooner had he received the money, then he sent his commander-in-chief with a large force to Jerusalem in order to besiege it. By the time the ambassadors who had taken the tribute money were returning to Jerusalem, the Assyrian army was standing without the gates of Jerusalem demanding complete capitulation. Thus Hezekiah's ambassadors of peace, according to verse 7, were standing without the city weeping--because their mission had failed. In the following verses, 8-12, is a very vivid description of the condition of the country after it had been overrun by the Assyrian army. One gathers from this description that it was in the fall when the leaves of the trees were falling and the picture of dismay greeted the eyes of everyone.

The Lord seeing the treacherous manner in which Sennacherib had dealt with Hezekiah declared that He would arise, lift Himself up, be exalted. He therefore asserted that He would deal summarily with such double-dealers. A reading of verses 11 and 12, however, shows that the vision had enlarged to a world outlook when God deals with the peoples of the earth who become "as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire." Thus again there is a blending of the situation of Isaiah's day with that which will obtain in the end-time when God deals with the nations of the earth.

IN VERSES 13-16 we have a vivid description of the two classes into which Jewry will be divided at this future time. The sinners, the apostates in Israel, will be brought to their wit's end and will be unable to understand the situation. They will realize that it is too late for them and that they cannot continue to live under the mighty sledge-hammer blows of the judgments of the Almighty.

On the other hand, there is a beautiful picture of the faithful remnant of Israel that is living up to the light it has. We see that these will be endeavoring to live upright, honorable lives. To them the Lord makes the promise that He will supply everything which they need--protection from the enemy, water and food--as He did for Israel in her wilderness wanderings at the time of the Exodus. There are other references to the special protection which God will extend to the faithful remnant of the nation during the Tribulation.

IN THE paragraph consisting of verses 17-24 appears one of the most beautiful pictures of the millennial Jerusalem and the reign of our Lord to be found anywhere in the Scriptures. The King will be there in His beauty--in Jerusalem. The land will not be rough and rugged as it is now. On the contrary, the topography of the country will be changed. Men shall "behold a land that reacheth afar." The vision of Balaam (Numbers, chapter 24) will be fulfilled. The mountains will be thrown down, the valleys filled, and the Holy Land will look like a valley that reaches afar and will be enjoying Edenic conditions.

At that time the faithful remnant that survives the Tribulation and enters the great Millennial Era will muse upon the experiences of that time of trouble saying, "Where is he that counted, where is he that weighed the tribute? where is he that counted the towers? In answer to this meditation the Lord declares that they will never again see such a fierce people, cruel and ruthless.

Then again, in verse 20, the prophet called his auditors' attention to the beauty of the city of Jerusalem of that day and compared it to a tent whose cords and whose stakes can never be removed. It will be the royal palace of Jehovah himself, who will be there in majesty. It will be a place of broad rivers and streams in which no battleship or man-of-war will ever sail. From Zechariah, chapter 14, we learn that there will go forth a stream from Jerusalem and that it will divide, part going toward the western sea and part toward the eastern. There will be ships upon those waters but no warships, the reason being "For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Jehovah is our king; he will save us." The reign of King Messiah in the literal city of Jerusalem in Palestine is asserted in the most beautiful manner in Zephaniah 3:14-17.

In Isaiah 33:23 the present Jerusalem is represented by a ship whose tacklings are loosed. The mast is insecure and the ship cannot be sailed. In other words, the city is represented as a disabled ship left to the mercy of the storm. But it will not be that way when Jehovah in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ returns to Zion. At that time "the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity." All will be glory, joy, and happiness at that time.

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