Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
wickedness, and frequently, through the estimation in which they are held, and the splendor of their reputation, they dazzle the common people who are less clear-sighted. It is a dreadful and monstrous thing when the governors of the Church not only are themselves blinded, but even blind others, and excite them to despise God, and ridicule godly doctrine, and taunt it by their jeers, and, in short, employ their utmost ingenuity for overturning religion; but in opposition to such persons we ought to encourage our hearts by the example of the Prophet, that we may not sink or lose heart in this contest. He shews us also the way in which we ought to treat such persons. 497
We ought not to spend much time in teaching them, (for instruction would be of little use,) but must threaten them severely, and terrify them by the judgment of God.
This people which is in Jerusalem. Their guilt is highly aggravated by the consideration that they inhabit the very sanctuary of God, and infect with their pollution God's chosen people.
15. Because ye have said. The Prophet next assigns the reason why he called them "scorners;" it was because they had thrown off all fear of God. He likewise describes the manner in which they acted, by saying that they promised to themselves that they would escape punishment amidst all their crimes and enormities, and became the more daring, and, as if they had obtained greater liberty to pursue wicked courses, rushed forward without dread wherever their unruly passions carried them.
We have struck a league with death, and with hell have we made a compact. This is what he means by the league into which they had entered with death and the grave; for by despising and boldly ridiculing all God's threatenings and chastisements, they thought that they were out of all danger.
( חזהchōzĕh) means what he had formerly expressed by( ,בריתbērīth,) for it is a repetition of the same statement. Literally it signifies seeing, 498 and denotes what is conveyed by the French phrase, avoir intelligence, or by the English phrase, "to have a mutual understanding." There appears to be also an implied contrast between prophetic visions and that deceitful craftiness on which veterans in wicked arts value themselves.
We have made lies our refuge. It is certain that those cunning men never broke out into such boasting as to utter those offensive words, for that would have been childish and absurd. 499 Besides, though they despised God and set at nought all his admonitions, they undoubtedly wished to be held in 497"Ces moqueurs;" — "Those mockers." 498( חזהchōzĕh) is properly a participle (seeing) often used as a noun to denote a seer or prophet. Here the connection seems distinctly to require the sense of league or covenant. That there is no error in the text may be inferred from the substitution of the cognate form( חזותchŭzūth) in verse 18. Hitzig accounts for the transfer of meanings by the supposition that in making treaties it was usual to consult the seer or prophet. Ewald supposes an allusion to the practice of necromantic art or divination as a safeguard against death, and translates the word orafel, (oracle.) The more common explanation of the usage traces it to the idea of an interview or meeting, and the act of looking one another in the face, from which the transition is by no means difficult to that of mutual understanding or agreement.'' --- Alexander. Buxtorf renders it ``a seer, or prophet,'' and, by a transferred meaning, ``provision,'' or ``foresight,'' ``We have made provision, we have looked forward, we have acted with foresight;'' and adds, that the Chaldee version renders it ,( שלמאshĕlūmā,) peace. --- Ed
499"Car c'eust esté une chose trop ridicule et dont les petits enfans se fussent moquez;" "For it would have been too absurd, and even young children would have laughed at it."