Isaiah 33:17
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Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Over this picture the prophet forgets the sinners in Zion, and greets with words of promise the thriving church of the future. "Thine eyes will see the king in his beauty, will see a land that is very far off." The king of Judah, hitherto so deeply humbled, and, as Micah instances by way of example, "smitten upon the cheeks," is then glorified by the victory of his God; and the nation, constituted as described in Isa 33:15, Isa 33:16, will see him in his God-given beauty, and see the land of promise, cleared of enemies as far as the eye can reach and the foot carry, restored to Israel without reserve, and under the dominion of this sovereign enjoying all the blessedness of peace.
Open source ↗This chapter relates to the same events as the foregoing chapter, the distress of Judah and Jerusalem by Sennacherib's invasion and their deliverance out of that distress by the destruction of the Assyrian army. These are intermixed in the prophecy, in the way of a Pindaric. Observe, I. The great distress that Judah and Jerusalem should then be brought into (Isa 33:7-9). II. The particular frights which the sinners in Zion should then be in (Isa 33:13, Isa 33:14). III. The prayers of good people to God in this distress (Isa 33:2). IV. The holy security which they should enjoy in the midst of this trouble (Isa 33:15, Isa 33:16). V. The destruction of the army of the Assyrians (Isa 33:1-3), in which God would be greatly glorified (Isa 33:5, Isa 33:10-12). VI. The enriching of the Jews with the spoil of the Assyrian camp (Isa 33:4, Isa 33:23, Isa 33:24). VII. The happy settlement of Jerusalem, and the Jewish state, upon this. Religion shall be uppermost (Isa 33:6), and their civil state shall flourish (Isa 33:17-22). This was soon fulfilled, but is written for our learning.
Open source ↗33:17-24 This vision is about God’s reign in Zion. 33:17 The king is the human representative (32:1) of the Great King, God himself (33:22). • The land belonging to God’s people would appear to be without borders because the foreign enemies had been judged (54:3).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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How lovely they will be,and how beautiful!Grain will make the young men flourish,and new wine, the young women.
Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”
My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.
On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.
You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; You have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for Yourself; You have extended all the borders of the land.