Isaiah 32

Isaiah started with his Messianic description of Christ as King Who will reign righteously. Christ said that the faithful will be like kings and thus Isaiah saw them after the Second Coming of Christ as “leaders [that] will lead unto justice” (v. 1). The Syriac translation had it “like rulers in a court they shall rule” and the Targum had its own shake “the righteous shall be appointed”. Each one will be like a refuge from the winds of persecution during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble or like a shelter from the storm (v. 2a-b). They will be like streams of water in a dry country because during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble the faithful will run from the cities to the wilderness to seek refuge (v. 2c). At that glorious post-Advent time the blind are seeing and the deaf are hearing (v. 3) and the mind of the hasty discerns truth (v. 4). It is no longer the Period of Laodicea described in Revelation 3:14-22 which started from 1798 when it was the end of the Holy Roman Empire or Vatican Rule. The hasty ones will discern truth (v. 4a) and the tongue of the stammerers will speak clearly (v. 4b). The Targum read “clearly” but the corrupt Greek of the Byzantine survivals had an acoustic misperception or slip of the ear and misheard two consonants and substituted it for similar ones and ended with “peace”. This is not the original. Isaiah saw total perfection. The Period of Laodicea at the end of time will be one of haste (v. 4a); spiritual blindness (v. 3a); spiritual deafness (v. 3b); the fool will be called noble (v. 5a); the violent will be called generous (v. 5b). The word “noble” was mistranslated by the Targum due to a slip of the hand in which the ugly scribbled notepad copy caused him to misread certain letters and ended with “righteous” in the Aramaic. The New Testament times and later were difficult for scribes. A better solution to the word “noble” is to use the Assyrian of Isaiah day’s nidbu as “freely brought”. Translate rather: “the fool will be called freely brought”. This is a better balance with the synonymous parallelism of the next part of the verse. The Syriac scribe had a slip of the ear and translated “good”. Isaiah defines a fool as someone who practices ungodliness (6c) and who speaks error against the Lord (v. 6c); who speaks nonsense (v. 6a); who inclines his heart to wickedness (v. 6b); he keeps the hungry unsatisfied (v. 6d); he withhold drink from the thirsty (v. 6e); the violent’s weapons are evil (v. 7a); he devices wicked schemes (v. 7b); he slander (v. 7c) even though the needy speak the right. These are the conditions of the wayward faithful and his/her linked friends in the Period of Laodicea. The Targum sees the hungry as the righteous who desire instruction and the thirsty as one who is after the words of the Law. The Targum and Syriac left out a word in the original in their translations. If one uses Assyrian kallû as “caretaker” and kalû as “priest”, then translate rather “the caretakers of his priests are wicked ones” (v. 7a). The faithful during this period devises noble plans (v. 8a) and by noble plans they stand (v. 8b). The end of the Period of the Loadicea condition of the church is a call for the sleeping Ten Virgins of Jesus parable to wake up: “Women who are at ease, rise up”. The Targum thought it means “dwells at ease” but there is an Assyrian word šanânu that means “similar”. Translate thus: Women, similarly, rise up.” They are to “hear” His voice (v. 9b). In a synonymous parallelism it is repeated twice (v. 9c). “Days upon a year will you quake confident ones, because an end is to the vintage, the harvest will not (Phoenician word) come” (v. 10d). The confident churches in the Laodicea situation are sleeping but will then quake for a period of a year because of the lack of soul-harvesting? It may be the real agricultural harvest due to plaques and global warming that will fail during that period of the Small time of Trouble will before the Great Time of Jacob’s Trouble (Daniel 12:1) will come (v. 10d). It is a time of bad days and those shamanistic inclined heathen nations that undress and has harvest rituals of females dancing naked, as was probably common in Phoenicia, (since Isaiah is using a Phoenician word) are during this bad future end-time period dancing for nothing. An Assyrian word sipdu for “wailing”, well used in the time of Isaiah, makes me think that we should translate: “over breasts wailing”. There will be wailing over “pleasant fields” and “fruitful vines.” The land where the people of the Lord use to live “the land of my people” there “thorns and briars shall come up” during the Small Time of Trouble (v. 13a) at the houses where there was joy and jubilant cities (v. 13b). The word jubilant is also in Assyrian as elêṣu. The Targum translated it as “strong” and the Byzantine corrupt Greek translation misdivided the words in the sentence and ended with “rich”. The remnant was asked to leave the cities at this time in prophecy “Come out of her My people so that you do not get her plaques” and that is why they are desolate now “city forsaken” (v. 14). Hill and watchtower have become caves “unto eternity” (v. 14b). It is so close to the Coming of Christ the Messiah that no change of situation is in sight here. Scholars were so confused at this expression “unto eternity” that they suggested it was added and it should be deleted. Until the Latter Rain “until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high” (v. 15). These deserted conditions will last until the Latter Rain. The wilderness where the remnant has fled for refuge from the plaques will become a “fertile field” (v. 15b). The fertile field will not be a forest but be considered one (v. 15c). Since Joel 2:28 said that the outpouring is on all flesh “that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind” and whoever call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. It is the final call. The Remnant swells by increasing numbers. What was lost in the Laodicea Period and pre-Latter Rain period will be made up at this time with a surplus addition. “Justice will dwell in the wilderness” (v. 16a) which is a reference to people and not agricultural benefits. “Righteousness will abide in the fertile field” (v. 16b). Christ the Judge as King and Christ our Righteousness will have come and now Isaiah is back where he started his description in verse 1: “the work of Righteousness will be peace” (v. 17a). The service of Righteousness = “king will reign righteously” (v. 1) will be quietness opposed to the Time of Trouble’s noise; confidence opposed to the doubt in the Period of Laodicea and this unto eternity (v. 17b). We know it is the final absolute Eschaton for these absolute terms appears. Isaiah saw “a peaceful habitation” which is Zion of Joel and New Jerusalem of the New Testament and “in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places” (v. 18). Consulting the Targum the Byzantine Greek text scribe elaborated it as “a city of peace” for the Targum “in their cities” which is not in the original. Persecution times took also a toll on the scribes copying the Versions. In verse 19 Isaiah rewind back to the mechanism how the cities were desolate and destroyed after the remnant left answering the call “Come out of her My people” for the plaque that will fall on it is hail as Revelation of John also indicated “the city will be utterly laid low”. The Remnant will be in contrast in heaven sowing beside all waters with no agricultural wars and by letting the ox and donkey walk feely because there are no thieves (v. 20). The Targum indicated that the hail would fall on the enemies “armies or camps of the nations” and also the Byzantine Greek translation of the corrupt Septuagint translated an addition “it shall not come upon you”. Even though the Septuagint is wrong, the truth is it shall not come upon the faithful.

Dear God

In spiritual security we want to live and we wish to grow in your Grace and when the Latter Rain is poured out, we wish to remain in the Spirit and not forsake Him. Amen.

Koot van Wyk, (DLitt et Phil; ThD) Kyungpook National University, Department of Liberal Education, Sangju, South Korea; conjoint lecturer of Avondale College, Australia