Isaiah 32 Study Notes

32:1 Scholars are divided over whether the king who will reign righteously is a direct reference to the Messiah or whether it describes a historical king like Hezekiah or Josiah. Of course, the Messiah is the ideal king, and Hezekiah and Josiah were pale anticipations of him. The point is that the future will bring just leadership.

32:2 The benefits the people will experience because of their righteous leaders are described metaphorically. They are protection and provision in difficult circumstances.

32:3 Righteous rule will result in greater discernment among the subjects of the just king.

32:4-5 The Teacher in Ecclesiastes (Ec 10:16-17) pointed out how dangerous it is when a fool becomes a ruler; the world turns upside down. Here there may be a wordplay on fool (Hb nabal) and noble (Hb nadiv).

32:6-7 The book of Proverbs makes it clear that a fool is someone who rejects God and has a detrimental effect on the community. Here Isaiah claims that folly among the leadership leads to hunger and thirst among the people.

32:8 Noble (Hb nadiv) speaks of character, “someone who is generous and large-hearted, someone who knows that an all-wise God supplies his needs and therefore can afford to be generous to those less well off than he” (John Oswalt).

32:9 The prophetic pronouncement now addresses the women in the community of the people of God. They also show pride in human resources rather than in the Lord. They are complacent and overconfident. For an earlier pronouncement against women, see notes at 3:16,17-24,25-4:1.

32:10 It appears that the security of these women is in the abundant produce of the land, but Isaiah pointed out that this prosperity is temporary. In the next year wine (grapes) and crop production (harvest) will fail.

32:11-12 Tearing and removing one’s clothes (strip yourselves bare) and replacing them with sackcloth along with beating one’s breast were mourning customs. The pronouncement suggests the people should move directly into ritual mourning in anticipation of future judgment.

32:13 The land will produce thorns and briers, useless plants, instead of grains and vines. The idea is similar to the curse against Adam in Gn 3:17-18.

32:14 Not only will the fields be desolate and unproductive, but so will the city of Jerusalem. It will be turned into the haunt of wild animals.

32:15 However, because of God (the Spirit from on high) a miraculous transformation will take place in the future. What has been unproductive will produce fruit-bearing trees.