Commentary on Isaiah Volume 2 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
he pours contempt on the power of God. In like manner, when Dionysius the tyrant ridiculed his gods, he fought with God and defied him to a contest; for he attacked, in opposition to his conscience, such a deity as his mind could comprehend. The same observation might be made on all other infidels who treated with scorn false religions which they supposed to be from God.
Here we ought also to observe another kind of blasphemy, by which the majesty of God is wickedly dishonored; which is, that Rabshakeh confounds God with idols, and represents him to be one of the multitude. For what blasphemy is it to confound the immortal God and creator of all things with what is most detestable, to confound truth with falsehood, glory with shame, heaven with earth?
"The Lord is great," says David, "and worthy of the highest praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are nothing; but the Lord made the heavens. Majesty and honor are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." — (Psalm 96:4-6.)
19. Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? It is supposed that Hamath was Antioch in Syria, that Arpad was that city from which colonies were brought to Damascus, and that Sepharvaim was a city situated in the country of Damascus. If this be true, Rabshakeh mentions the ancient names of cities, from which many nations had formerly come, and which afterwards lost not only their celebrity, but likewise their distinctive names, and aims at producing in them greater alarm, by reminding them of so great revolutions. However that may be, he mentions chiefly the neighboring cities, the destruction of which might affect them more deeply on account of their being better known to the Jews. And I have no doubt that these places belonged to Syria and Israel; as if he had said, "Look at these two kingdoms subdued, which were presided over by their gods as their guardians. Will your God resist me?"
20. That Jehovah should rescue Jerusalem out of my hand? 45 The particle {( }כיki) is taken by commentators in both places interrogatively, "Did the gods of the nations deliver? And will your God deliver?" But in order to make the meaning flow more smoothly, I have preferred to render the second clause, "that your God should deliver;" for the repetition of the same word marks a resemblance. Yet the words appear also to contain irony; as if he had said in mockery, "Yes; as the gods of the nations delivered their worshippers, so will your God assist you."
This insolence of ungodly men arises from their not understanding that God punishes the sins of men when they suffer any adversity. And first they go wrong in this respect that they institute a wicked and absurd comparison, "I have conquered that nation, and therefore I am better or stronger." They do not perceive that they were appointed to be the executioners of God's
45"And (when or where was it) that they delivered Samaria out of my hand? {{( כיki) is not an interrogative pronoun, (Who have delivered?) nor an interrogative particle, (Have they delivered?) but a connective particle, dependent upon something not expressed." — Alexander.