Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH
also by the authority of the word.
If an angel from heaven, says Paul, preach anything else, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8, 9.)
How much more boldly, therefore, shall we condemn men who set themselves in opposition to God? The mode of expression is emphatic, If they shall not speak according to this word. He brings an accusation of blindness against every man who does not instantly and without dispute adopt this sentiment, that we ought not to be wise beyond the law of God.
21. Then they shall pass through that land. Not to permit believers to be ensnared by the common errors, he adds how dreadful is the punishment which awaits the ungodly when they have revolted from God, and have labored to induce others to join in the same revolt. The passage is somewhat obscure; but the obscurity arises from the want of proper attention in examining the words. The verb( עברgnabar) is emphatic; for by passing through he means that uncertainty in which men wander up and down, and are not able to find a resting-place, or any permanent abode. To the indefinite verb we must supply a noun, The Jews shall pass. By the pronoun ( ,בהbahh,) in it, 139 he means Judea, which the Lord had preferred to all other countries; and therefore it is easily understood, though the Prophet does not express it. As if he had said, "I promised indeed that that country would be the perpetual inheritance of my people, (Genesis 13:15; 17:8;) but they shall lead a wandering and restless life, as is the case with those who, driven from their habitations, and afflicted with hunger and pestilence and every kind of calamities, seek, but nowhere find, a better condition and abode." These words are therefore contrasted with the extraordinary kindness of God, which is so frequently mentioned by Moses, namely, that they will have a fixed residence in Judea; for here he threatens that they will be stragglers and wanderers, not in their own, but in a foreign country; so that, wherever they come, they will be attacked and hunted down by innumerable vexations.
When they shall be hungry. The Prophet appears to point out the conversion of the Jews, as if he had said, "When they have been weighed down by afflictions they will at length repent;" and undoubtedly this is the remedy by which the Lord generally cures the disease of obstinacy. Yet if any one suppose that the word hunger describes the indignation and roaring of the wicked without repentance, it may be stated that it includes not only hunger and thirst, but, by a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, (συνεκδοχικῶς,) every other kind of calamity.
They shall fret themselves. 140 They will begin to be displeased with themselves, and to loathe all the supports on which they had formerly relied; 139Not satisfied with the Latin word irritentur for conveying the import of the Hebrew ,התקצף (hithkatzeph,) Calvin illustrates it by a phrase taken from his own vernacular, Ils se despiteront, which means, they will fume, or chafe, or burst into furious passion. --- Ed
140The Hebrew particle ,( כיki,) which is placed at the beginning of this verse, is rendered in the English version by Nevertheless; but Calvin says that he is willing to translate it for --- Ed