Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH
tower. To us also in the present day Isaiah has, as it were, pointed out with the finger what was then hidden. In his predictions we behold God sitting on his judgment-seat, and regulating everything according to his pleasure; and although the wicked in various ways vented their mad rage, still the Lord made use of their agency to execute his judgments. The second design which the prophets had in view was, that while the whole world was shaken, the Jews might know that God took care of their safety, and that he testified the warmth of his affection for the Church, by taking vengeance on her enemies by whom she had been barbarously treated.
Ar-Moab. The Hebrew word( ערAr) means a city; as( קירkir) means a wall; but as( ער מואבAr-Moab) was one of the chief cities of the Moabites, it is supposed to be here a proper name. We might indeed explain both words as appellatives, to convey a threatening of the overthrow of the fortified towns of which the Moabites are proud; but I rather adopt the ordinary interpretation. Here therefore Isaiah has given a description, that we may behold in it the overthrow of the Moabites, when their chief cities are destroyed.
In the night. By the night he means a sudden and unexpected occurrence, which the Moabites did not dread. Night being appropriated to rest, if anything happen at that time, it is viewed as sudden and unlooked for, and therefore excites violent alarm. Besides, he intended to rebuke the Moabites for being free from anxiety, considering themselves to be fortified by defences on every hand, and placed beyond the reach of all danger.
Is brought to silence. That is, is destroyed, and hence also Silence sometimes means Death. Others disregard the metaphor, and choose to render it, She is cut off; but I leave that point undecided. What Isaiah declares as to the Moabites, Scripture pronounces as to the reprobate, that destruction is at hand, and, when they are looking for nothing of that kind, will fearfully overwhelm them. (Jeremiah 23:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3.)
2. He shall go up into the house. 239 So far as relates to the words, some pass by the Hebrew noun( ,ביתbaith;) but as it signifies a house and a temple, it is probable that it was the word commonly used for a temple, as in many other passages the house of God means the temple 240 (Exodus 23:19, 34:26; Deuteronomy 23:18; Joshua 9:23.) By representing the Moabites as bowing down before their idols, he at the same time condemns their superstition in worshipping their idol Chemosh, as may easily be inferred from 1 Kings 11:7, Jeremiah 48:7, 13. "The Moabites," says Isaiah, "shall betake themselves to their god when matters are so desperate, but to no purpose; for they shall find in him no assistance."
And to Dibon to the high places. This makes it still more evident that he is speaking of the Temple; and it is beyond a doubt that the Moabites
239He is gone up to Moab into the house. — Jarchi. Breithaupt remarks that the Hebrew word( הביתhabbaith) is sometimes viewed as a proper name, and that in the version of Junius and Tremellius it is rendered
Bajith. --- Ed
240"Shaving the head and face are the eastern tokens of mourning for the dead. (Isaiah 3:24; Jeremiah 41:5; Micah 1:16.)" — Rosenmuller