Christ’s righteous kingdom
32
📚See, a king will reign in righteousness,
and princes will rule
with justice.
2 📚And a man 📖 will be like
a hiding place from the wind,
and a shelter 📖 from the storm,
like rivers of water in a dry place,
like the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land.
3 📚And the eyes of those
who see will not be dim,
and the ears of those
who hear will listen.
4 📚And the heart of the rash
will understand 📖 knowledge,
and the tongue of the stammerers
will be ready to speak plainly.
32:4 In that day a great change will appear in people both in body and mind.⚜
5 📚The fool will no longer
be called noble,
or the villain said to be
generous.
32:5 In the Bible “fool” often refers to those who lack moral and spiritual sense, not necessarily to those who are unintelligent. Notes at Ps 14:1; Prov 1:7. In those days many such “fools” and “villains” were highly regarded by others. Nor is it any different now. In Christ’s coming kingdom this lack of discernment, this high regard for “fools” will vanish.⚜
6 📚For the fool speaks
foolishness,
and his heart is at work
on evil to practice
ungodliness,
and to speak error
against the LORD,
to keep the hungry
unsatisfied,
and to withhold water
from the thirsty.
32:6 As good a description of the “fool” as any in the Bible. He speaks foolishly (see Isa 29:15-16; Ps 14:1). He thinks foolishly. He acts foolishly, and is foolish also in what he does not do (compare Matt 25:31-33, 41-46).⚜
7 📚The villain’s methods also
are evil.
He devises wicked schemes
to destroy the poor
with lying words,
even when the needy speaks
what is right.
32:7 The scoundrel is even more foolish, if possible, than the fool. He vainly imagines he can behave as he does in God’s world and escape God’s judgment.⚜
8 📚But the noble man devises
noble things,
and by noble things
he will stand 📖.
32:8 Just as the fool and scoundrel, the noble man is revealed by his plans and actions (Matt 7:16-20).⚜
9 📚Rise up,
you women who are at ease!
Hear my voice,
you careless daughters.
Give ear to my words.
10 📚You will be troubled
many days and years,
you careless women;
for the grape harvest
will fail,
the gathering will not come.
32:10 This probably refers to the invasion of the armies of Assyria in 701 B.C. For a time they controlled the countryside around Jerusalem and took or destroyed what they wanted.⚜
11 📚Tremble,
you women who are
at ease!
Be troubled,
you careless ones!
Strip yourselves,
and make yourselves bare,
and tie sackcloth
on your waists!
12 📚Beat your breasts for
the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine!
13 📚On the land of my people
thorns and briars will
come up;
yes, on all the happy homes
in the city of joy 📖.
32:11-13 A warning that there would be great cause for mourning and weeping.⚜
14 📚Because the palaces
will be forsaken,
the populous city
abandoned.
The forts and towers will become
permanent dens,
the delight of wild
donkeys,
a pasture for flocks,
32:14 The Assyrian invasion was a warning of what would one day happen.⚜
15 📚Until the Spirit 📖 is poured
on us from on high,
and the wilderness
becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field
is counted as a forest.
16 📚Then justice will dwell
in the wilderness,
and righteousness remain
in the fruitful field.
17 📚And the work of righteousness
will be peace,
and the effect of righteousness
quietness and assurance forever.
18 📚And my people will live
in a peaceful dwelling place,
and in secure houses,
and in quiet resting places;
32:18 Hardly true of Israel from that day to this. But it will be fulfilled eventually (vs 1,2).⚜
19 📚Though hail comes down
on the forest,
and the city 📖 be laid
completely low.
20 📚Blessed 📖 are you
who sow 📖 beside all waters,
who send out freely the feet
of the ox and the donkey.
32:14-20 This seems to look far beyond anything that happened at the time of the Assyrian invasion. None of the events described here occurred then.⚜
32:19-20 Compare Ps 46:1-3.⚜