Isaiah 33:8

8 [The] Ways be destroyed, a goer by the path ceased; the covenant is made void, he casted down [the] cities, he areckoned not men.

Isaiah 33:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 33:8

The highways lie waste
No man walking in them, for fear of the enemy; "the ways of Zion", which are said to "mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts", ( Lamentations 1:4 ) none daring to attend the ministry of the word and ordinances; see ( Isaiah 35:8 ) : the wayfaring man ceaseth;
or, "the traveller rests" ^F26; or stops; he does not proceed on his journey; a stop is put to a religious course and conversation; there is an entire cessation of religious worship; a sabbath is kept, but not a religious one; he that would walk in Zion's ways is forbid, and is obliged to sit still: he hath broken the covenant;
some, as Kimchi's father, interpret this of the Jews' complaining that God had broken his covenant with them, as in ( Psalms 89:39 ) but most of Sennacherib's breaking his covenant with Hezekiah, ( 2 Kings 18:14-17 ) rather this is to be understood of antichrist, whose doctrine is, that faith is not to be kept with heretics, and which will abundantly appear at this distressing time: he hath despised the cities;
as Sennacherib did the fenced cities of Judah; he despised their fortifications, and easily took them, and treated the inhabitants with disdain and contempt; and so will the reformed Protestant cities and countries be invaded, seized upon, and insulted, by the Romish antichrist: he regardeth no man;
so as to keep covenant with them, have compassion on them, and spare them, he fearing neither God nor man.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (xra rbe tbv) "cessaverat viator", Junius & Tremellius; "desiit viator", Cocceius.

Isaiah 33:8 In-Context

6 And faith shall be in thy times; the riches of health is wisdom and knowing; the dread of the Lord, that is the treasure of him. (And faith shall be in thy times; wisdom and knowledge be the riches of salvation, or of deliverance; the fear of the Lord is thy treasure.)

7 Lo! the seers withoutforth shall cry, [the] angels of peace shall weep bitterly. (Lo! the brave shall cry outside, or aloud, the messengers of peace shall weep bitterly.)

8 [The] Ways be destroyed, a goer by the path ceased; the covenant is made void, he casted down [the] cities, he areckoned not men.

9 The land mourned, and was sick; the Lebanon was shamed, and was foul; and Sharon is made as desert, and Bashan is shaken, and Carmel. (The land mourned, and was sick; Lebanon was shamed, and defiled; and Sharon is made a desert, or a wilderness, and Bashan, and Carmel, be shaken bare.)

10 Now I shall rise (up), saith the Lord, now I shall be enhanced (now I shall be exalted), and now I shall be raised up.