Commentary on Isaiah Volume 2 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
these men obstinately persevere in their error. This word therefore draws attention more strongly to that obstinacy, and shews that they are altogether blinded. Excessively foolish, as I have said, is this stupidity, when men adore a god which they have made with their own hands.
7. They shall carry them on the shoulder. The picture is still more heightened by the description contained in this verse; for, since the idols have no feeling of any kind, they who fly to them to ask assistance must be not only very stupid but very obstinate.
8. Remember this. This verse may be explained in two ways, either that the Lord addresses the Jews, or that he addresses the Gentiles. Men who otherwise are not well instructed in the Law are led into mistakes, because they extinguish that knowledge which God kindles in their hearts; for there is no person who has not some seed of religion implanted in him by nature, but men choke it by their unbelief, or corrupt and debase it by their inventions. On this account we might extend it to the whole human race. But I am more disposed to adopt a different opinion, which is also demanded by the context; for the Prophet will soon afterwards add what does not apply to any but the Jews, whom he calls transgressors, because, having been vanquished by a slight temptation, they revolted from the true God, as if captivity ought to have obliterated from their hearts all the benefits which he had bestowed on them. Since, therefore, they had shaken off the true religion, he sharply rebukes their ingratitude in having been so easily led away to sinful inventions.
Return to the heart. 218 By giving them this injunction he means that they are not of sound understanding. Others render it, "Recall." This is feeble and inappropriate, and, a little before, he had bid them remember, and will immediately repeat the same thing. Now, therefore, he rather bids them "return to the heart," because forgetfulness of God's benefits was a sort of madness.
Blush. Others render it, "Act a manly part," and derive the word from {( ,}אישish.) Others derive it from {( ,}אשישashish,) which means "a foundation;" as if he had said, "Take courage, do not despair of my assistance." But I rather agree with Jerome, who derives it from {( ,}אשesh;) for it is more appropriate, when their disgrace has been exposed, to "be ashamed" than to assume manly courage; though I leave it to every person to form his own judgment. He therefore means that they blush for their madness, 218"By a bird of prey is here meant the Eagle; for the Greek word {ἀετός} is derived from {( }עיטait.)
There can be no doubt that he means Cyrus, who, in a former passage, (Isaiah 41:25,) is said to have been called by Jehovah 'from the East,' that is, from Persia, which lay to the east of Judea. In other passages also, (as in Jeremiah 49:22; Ezekiel 17:3,) kings and princes are compared to eagles, because, in the opinion of the ancients, the eagle is the king of birds. Thus also
Cyrus is represented under the image of a 'bird of prey,' chiefly on account of the astonishing swiftness with which he rode in his expeditions from Persia into very distant countries, and on account of the violence with which he flew upon his enemies and seized them as his prey. There may also be an allusion to the circumstance, that Cyrus ordered a golden eagle, with outstretched wings, laid on a long spear, to be carried before him as his military standard; for so Xenophon describes it. {Ην} {δὲ} {αὐτῷ}
{σημεῖον} {ἀετὸς} {χρυσοῦς} {ἐπὶ} {δόρατος} {μακροῦ} {ἀνατεταμένος}, {καὶ} {νῦν} {δὲ} {τοῦτο} {ἔπι} {σημεῖον} {τῳ}
{Περσῶν} {βασιλεῖ} {διαμένει} 'And his standard was a golden eagle stretched on a long spear, and even now this continues to be the standard of the king of Persia.' (Xen. Cyrop. 7.)" — Rosenmuller.