Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
and that he cannot accept as good that worship which has originated with ourselves.
I consider( ,חאטchēt,) sin, to be a noun; 592 as if he had said, "Whenever you behold idols, behold your guilt; acknowledge the proofs of your treachery and revolt; and if you are truly converted to God, shew it practically, that is, by throwing away idols and bidding adieu to superstitions; for this is the true fruit of conversion."
8. Then the Assyrian. The copulative( וvau) is better translated as an adverb of time: "Then the Assyrian shall fall down;" that is, "When you shall have turned to the Lord, and when your life shall testify a sincere repentance, then the enemy shall fall down;" for, as the Lord raised up the Assyrian to punish the Jews for their crimes, and especially for idolatry, so he promises that the Assyrians shall be brought down, when they shall have ceased to sin and worship idols. Hence he informs us, that our obstinacy is the reason why the Lord adds evil to evil, and doubles his strokes, and pursues us more and more; for we continually supply fresh materials to inflame his vengeance against us more and more. If therefore we wish that God's chastisements should be less severe, if we wish that the enemies should fall to the ground and perish, let us endeavor to be reconciled to him by repentance; for he will speedily put an end to the chastisement, and will take away from enemies strength and power to injure us.
By the sword not of a man. 593 The Prophet means that the deliverance of the Church is God's own work, that the Jews may know that, although no earthly power is visible, God's secret power is sufficient to deliver them. If therefore enemies are subdued, if their rage is restrained, let us know that it proceedeth from the Lord. By various methods, indeed, he represses the force and violence of wicked men, but by his own hand alone he delivers his Church; for, while the Lord makes use of human means, he preserves his own people miraculously and by extraordinary methods, which may be seen to have happened since the beginning of the world, and which we may even now behold, if we are not blind. And yet this does not hinder the Lord from employing his servants to deliver the Church; but he employs them in such a manner that his own hand is peculiarly and illustriously displayed in it.
We know that this prediction of Isaiah was fulfilled when the Assyrian army was destroyed, and Sennacherib was put to flight; for "not by the arm of man" was he destroyed, but the Lord displayed his power, that it might be known that he alone is the deliverer of his Church. (2 Kings 19:35; Isaiah 37:36.) By delivering Jerusalem at that time from the siege, God thus exhibited, as in a picture, spiritual redemption. He alone, therefore, 592That is, he does not follow the ancient versions, by viewing it as an adjective, qualifying the word "hands," — "your sinful hands." — Ed
593( איש לאlōīsh,) not of a man, that is, of one who is totally different from a man. The word( לאlō) often unites with a substantive, so as to form one word, which shall bear a quite different and even opposite meaning; as( דרך לא תהוtōhūlōdĕrĕch
not-a-way,' that is, `an impassable way.' Psalm 107:40; and( לו, שם לאlōshēm lō,) `he shall have not-a-name,' that is, `he shall have public disgrace.' (Job 18:17.)'' --- Rosenmüller. ``An Hebrew idiom; of one far different from a man, viz., an angel.''
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