Commentary on Isaiah Volume 2 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH
of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
25. Excitavi ab aquilone, et venit; ab oriente solis vocabit in nomine meo; et veniet ad principes, quasi ad lutum, et tanquam figulus calcabit lutum.
26. Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that dcclareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.
26. Quis nuntiavit ab initio, ut cognoscamus? Jam ante, et dicemus, justus. Utique non est annuntians; utique non audire faciens; utique non audiens verba vestra.
27. The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
27. Primus Sioni, Ecce, ecce ipsi; et Ierosolymae nuntium dabo. 28. For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
28. Aspexi, nec nullus erat; de istis inquisivi, et nullus erat consiliarius; interrogavi cos, nec responderunt verbum.
29. Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing; their molten images are wind and confusion.
29. Ecce onmes vanitas, et defectus opera; eorum; ventus et chaos simulachra eorum.
1. Be silent to me, 133 O islands. Though the Prophet's discourse appears to be different from the former, yet he pursues the same subject; for, in order to put the Jews to shame, he says that he would have been successful, if he had been called to plead with unbelievers and blind persons. Thus he reproves not only the sluggishness, but the stupidity of that nation, "to whom God had been so nigh" and so intimately known by his Law. (Deuteronomy 4:7.) Yet we need not wonder that the people, overtaken by many terrors, trembled so that they scarcely received solid consolation; for we have abundant experience how much we are alarmed by adversity, because amidst; this depravity and corruption of our nature, every man labors under two diseases. In prosperity, he exalts himself extravagantly, and shakes off the restraint; of humility and moderation; but, in adversity, he either rages, or lies in a lifeless condition, and scarcely has the smallest perception of the goodness of God. We need not wonder, therefore, that the Prophet dwells so largely on this subject, and that he pursues it in many ways.
He gives the name of islands to the countries beyond the sea; for the Jews, having no intercourse with them, gave to all that lay beyond the sea the name of "islands;" and therefore he addresses not only the nations which were at hand, but likewise those which were more distant, and requires them "to 133"He alludes to the method observed in courts of judicature, where silence is always commanded to prevent interruption; he calls upon the idolatrous nations to appear at the bar with him, and see if they could give so convincing proofs of the divinity of their gods as he could of his own." — White.