Isaiah 32:1

Isaiah 32:1 says, Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.  This seems to be a prophesy made about the time during the reign of Hezekiah with the overall prophesy referring to the reign of Jesus Christ after He died for the sins of all mankind, which each person must accept for His gift of salvation to apply to them.  Hezekiah was to reign in righteousness and all the princes under him would rule with honest judgment, but it would be a temporary reign.  Jesus Christ reigns in righteousness forever. 

Verse two adds, And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.  This would be a time of rest for the people of Israel.  Once the people returned to worshipping and obeying God, He would gain bless them.  I don’t believe that we should ever obey and worship God because we expect material blessings, but often when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, God will bless us materially as He meets our needs. 

Verse three continues, And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.  Isaiah said that the people would be able to clearly see God at work in the nation and would be able to hear and understand His word.  When we become a follower of Jesus Christ, we should be able to clearly see God at work in the world and to hear and understand His word. 

Verse four states, The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.  When they turned to God for guidance, those who had acted rashly would now act out of understanding of what God wants from His people.  They would be able to clearly speak His word.  As Christians, we should act out of obedience to God and His word and not just go through life acting rashly.  We should also be able to clearly speak His truth to the world. 

Verse five adds, The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.  Those who were bad, or proclaiming things that went against God and His commandments would no longer be preferred by the princes, those in power, to give advice.  They would look to those who gave advice from God.  We need to have leaders today who give advice and make laws based on the truth of God.  Isaiah also said that they would speak in error against the Lord and leave the soul thirsty.  We will never be fulfilled spiritually by anything other than by putting our f faith in Jesus Christ and living by the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Verse six continues, For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.  Vile and evil people would speak of bad things and practice hypocrisy in what they said.  They would speak of good and do evil, and this goes on a lot in the world today. 

Verse seven says,  The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.  A churl is an impolite or mean-spirited person, and this churl would look to do evil and devise wicked devices to destroy the poor.  This would be done by lying words even when the poor were speaking the truth.  Sometimes today we become churlish toward the poor even when what they are saying is the truth.  We almost demonize the poor instead of reaching out to them with compassion and the love of God. 

Verse eight adds, But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.  We have also demonized the word liberal too often, but here the liberal is said to be a good person.  They look forward to helping the poor instead of looking for ways to keep them down.  I believe that just as the liberal was said to be good then, that God expects us to be liberal in helping the poor and needy today.  Of course, our main objective should always to be to reach them with the gospel, but sometimes it may be hard for them to hear the gospel if we are speaking of them as if they are less than human.