Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH
statement. Having said that it is the purpose of the Lord, in order to show that it cannot be broken or made void, (Psalm 33:11,) he puts a question as if about a thing impossible, Who shall disannul his purpose? or, who shall turn back his hand? By this exclamation he speaks disdainfully of all the creatures; for as soon as the Lord has decreed, he stretches out his hand, and when his hand is stretched out, the execution of the work must undoubtedly follow. Nor is it only men whom he declares to be incapable, but he also declares everything else to be incapable of preventing the decree of God; at least if there be anything but man and Satan that opposes his will. In short, he intimates that there can be no repentance or change in God, (Numbers 23:19,) but that whatever may happen, even amidst an endless diversity of events, he continues always to be like himself, and that no occurrence can thwart his purpose.
If it be objected that God sometimes changed his purpose, as when he spared the Ninevites, (Jonah 1:2, 3:10,) Abimelech, (Genesis 20:3, 17,) or Pharaoh, (Genesis 12:17,) the answer is easy. When the Lord sent Jonah to the Ninevites, he did not reveal what had been decreed in his secret purpose, but wished to arouse their minds by the preaching of Jonah, that he might have compassion on them. The same thing might be said, when he threatened Abimelech and Pharaoh, because they wished to lay hands on Abraham's wife; for thus the Lord, by terrifying them, intended to keep them back, that they might not suffer the punishment of their obstinacy.
28. In the year that King Ahaz died. Here the fifteenth chapter ought to have begun, for the Prophet enters on a new subject; and this plainly shows how absurdly the chapters are divided, or rather torn asunder. Having spoken of the Babylonians, he passes to the Philistines; 233 or, perhaps, before speaking of the Babylonians, he addressed the Philistines, who, being the near neighbors of the Jews, cherished deadly hostility against them. They were the remainder of those nations whom the Israelites spared, though the Lord had commanded that they should be removed out of the midst of them. (Numbers 33:52; Deuteronomy 7:16.) Their unbelief in this matter was the reason why the Lord left these nations to be thorns, that they might prick their eyes; as the Scripture shows that the Lord had formerly threatened against them. (Numbers 33:55.) In consequence of the deadly animosities which existed between these two nations, whenever the Jews sustained any defeat, the Philistines reckoned it to be so much gain to themselves; for they wished the ruin of the Jews, and no occurrence could give them greater delight than when the Jews were reduced to the deepest adversity and distress. The Prophet therefore prophesies against them as against the constant enemies of the Church.
It is proper to attend to the time when this vision was exhibited to the Prophet. So long as Ahaz lived, the Philistines were victorious. That wicked hypocrite, who had forsaken God, and eagerly sought the outward assistance
233Palestina. — Eng. Ver.