Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH
the waves by posts of wood and embankments, in order to obtain a large extent of available soil.
9. Therefore I will bewail. The Prophet here takes upon him the character of another person, as we have formerly remarked; for in the name of the Moabites he laments and groans. It is undoubtedly true that believers always shudder at the judgments of God, and cannot lay aside the feelings of human nature, so as not to commiserate the destruction of the wicked. Yet he does not describe his own feelings; but his intention is to give additional weight to his instruction, that no one may entertain a doubt as to the accomplishment. He therefore represents in the person of a Moabite, as on a stage, the mourning and grief which shall be felt by all after that calamity, in order to hold out to the Jews a confirmation of this promise, which otherwise might have been thought to be incredible.
Because on thy summer-fruits and on thy harvest a shouting shall break forth, or shall fall. 270 This last clause of the verse is variously explained by commentators.( ,נפלnaphal,) signifies to fall, or to burst forth. Those who translate it, to burst forth, consider the word( ,הידדhedad,) shouting, to refer to the enemies themselves; as if he had said, "The shouting of enemies bursts forth on thy harvest;" so that there is an implied contrast between this shouting and the joy of which he will afterwards speak. Others explain it to mean, that the shoutings will be laid; that is, "there shall be no more shouting, and no longer shall the glad and merry voices of the reapers be heard, cheering themselves after the harvest." But I would rather refer it to the shouting of enemies; and on this point I follow a most faithful interpreter of this passage, the Prophet Jeremiah, who says that the spoiler bursts forth, (Jeremiah 48:32,) where Isaiah speaks of the shouting of the enemy; as if he had said, "When thou shalt make preparations for gathering in thy harvest and thy vintage, the enemies will rush in, and, instead of joy and cheerful song, their shouting shall be heard, which shall drive thee far away."
10. Joy is taken away. He confirms, by different words, what he has now said, that the whole country shall be desolate and forsaken, so that there shall never again be in it a harvest or a vintage. When he threatens that God will cause the vine-dressers to cease to sing, he refers to an ancient custom; for when they gathered the vintage, they usually testified their joy both by dancing and by singing. Hence these words of Virgil, The exhausted vine-dresser now addresses by song his farthest rows 271 In like manner, the sailors, when they approach the harbour, raise their shout of joy, (κἐλευσμα,) because, having finished their toils, and escaped dangers, they see that they have hope of obtaining some leisure or refreshment. It is as if the Prophet had said, "When the produce of the harvest shall be taken away, nothing will be left to them but to lament their poverty."
11. Therefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab. Assuming the
270Jam canit extremos effoetus vinitor antes. — Virg. Georg. 2:417. 271But he shall not prevail. — Eng. Ver.