Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 30:33

33. For Tophet is ordained of old : yea, for the king it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large : the pile thereof is fire and much wood , the breath of the LORD , like a stream of brimstone , doth kindle it .

This was a place near Ierusalem, in which the Idolatrous Israelites used cruelly to Offer up their Children to Moloch, 2 Chron. 28. 3. and 33. 6. See also Ier. 7. 31. and 19. 6. And it may be put Synecdochically, for any place of Torment or Misery: And particularly it is put for Hell, as well in the Writings of the ancient Iewish Doctors, as in holy Scripture, as Mat. 18. 8, 9. and 23. 15. Mark 9. 43. 44. And so this place may be understood: Either 1. literally of Tophet in the Valley of Hinnom, in which the Assyrian Host was, either slain by the Angel, as Iosephus reports, or buried, or burnt. For although the Assyrians did not make any great attempt upon Ierusalem, Isa. 37. 36. yet Rabshakeh came very near it with a great Army, Isa. 36. 2. Or 2. figuratively of Hell.

Or, was ordered or prepared. And it might be said, in some sort, to be Prepared by Hezekiah for this end, by the care which he took to Purge this and other places, abused to Idolatry, which made them more fit to receive so great a Favour and Deliverance from God. But for Hell, that doubtless was Ordained or Prepared by God, for the punishment of impenitent Sinners.

Heb. From yesterday: Which phrase is sometimes used of a time but lately past, as Iob. 8. 9. 2 Sam. 15. 20. and sometimes of any time past, without limitation.

For the King of Assyria, Either 1. for the Kings, the Singular Number being put for the Plural, whereby he may understand the Princes, or chief Commanders of the Host, by comparing Isa. 10. 8. Are not my Princes altogether Kings. Or 2. for Rabshakeh, the General of this Army, who, according to the style of Scripture, might very well be called King. Or 3. for Sennacherib; for whom this place might be said to be Ordained or Prepared: partly because it was Ordained for the Destruction of his Host; nothing being more ordinary, both in sacred and prophane Writers, than to intitle the King, or General of the Army, to all the Victories procured, or Losses and Slaughters sustained by his Army: And partly because the sudden Destruction of the Assyrian Army, supposed to be in this place, was the occasion of the Conspiracy of that King's Sons, and so of the King's Death. But if this Tophet design Hell, this is Emphatically den[illegible: 1+ letters]nced against him, to intimate, That although he escaped that sudden Plague which cut off his Army, yet there was a more terrible Judgment appointed for him, which he should be utterly unable to escape.

The Lord, who is oft designed by this Pronoun, as in the next foregoing Verse, and elsewhere; and who is expressed in the following words. Or it is an indefinite Expression; for, it is made deep and large.

Capable of receiving vast Numbers; whereby He intimates, That He designed to make a great and general Destruction of the Assyrians; and withal, that it was a vain and foolish Confidence which the Assyrians had in their numerous Host, seeing the greatest Numbers of God's Enemies are wholly unable, either to oppose Him, or to Save themselves from His Wrath and Power.

Whereby He further implies, That He intended to make a great Slaughter among them. And He alludes in this phrase, to the ancient Custome, either of burning▪ Sacrifices, and particularly burning Children to Moloch, or of burning the dead Bodies of Men.

The immediate Hand of God, or His Word of Anger: See on ver. 28.

He seems to allude to that shower of Fire and Brimstone, Gen. 19. 24.

The pile of Fire and Wood now mentioned.

Marginal references: Heb. from yesterday.; chap. 33. 11.