Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
denominated by the word( ,אליליםelilim) which the Prophet here employs, for they are empty things, and of no value. 43 And undoubtedly the Holy Spirit intended by this word to reprove the madness of men who imagined that, by relying on such inventions, they approached nearer to God; as the papists of the present day, in order to plead for the usefulness of their idols, boast that they are the books of the unlearned: but we ought rather to believe the testimony of the Holy Spirit; and even the facts themselves plainly show what advantage the unlearned derive from them; for, led away by gross fancies, they imagine to themselves earthly and carnal gods. Hence Jeremiah justly declares not only that idols are useless, but that they are teachers of falsehood and lies. (Jeremiah 10:14.)
And they have bowed down 44 before the work of their own hands We must also attend to this description, in which the Prophet relates that the people bowed down before the works of their own hands; for how stupid was it that men should not only worship wood and stone instead of God, but should honor their own workmanship with the appellation of Deity, which they cannot bestow on themselves! It is truly shocking and monstrous that, as soon as a block of wood which lay neglected has received the finishingstroke from a mortal man, he presently worships it as if it had been made a God. Although the Prophet addresses the ancient people, the same reasoning applies to the papists, who acknowledge no majesty of God but in the works of their own hands.
Before that which their own fingers have made The repetition is emphatic, and to the hands he adds the fingers, in order to exhibit more strongly the grossness of the crime. We must also attend to the mode of expression, which denotes adoration by means of outward gesture; not that it is unlawful among men to bend the knee or the head for the sake of paying public respect, but because he who bows down before an idol professes to render divine worship. Consequently, the silly talk of papists about that adoration which they call Dulia 45 (δουλεία) is a childish evasion; for when the Prophet speaks of religious worship he condemns universally every token of homage. 46
9. And the mean man boweth down Some commentators read these words in immediate connection with what goes before, as if the Prophet were proceeding still farther to show the extent of their criminality. If we adopt this meaning, then by the mean man and the mighty man we must understand all the Israelites; as if the Prophet said that no man is pure and free from this stain. Others not improperly are of opinion that he repeats in other words what he had said about punishment, and that in this way he expresses the
43"So called," says Buxtorf, "because they are absolutely nothing, agreeably to that saying of the Apostle, an idol is nothing in the world," (1 Corinthians 8:4.)( אלל, רפאיrophee elil) physicians of no value, (Job 13:4,) is an instance of the literal use of the word. --- Ed
44They worship. — Eng. Ver. 45The popish distinction between an inferior kind of adoration, called and a higher kind of adoration, called , is illustrated and refuted by our Author, in the Institutes, vol. 1, p. 141, and in the Harmony of the Evangelists, vol. 1, p. 221. — Ed
46That is, of homage paid to idols. — Ed.