John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 10:3

"And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?" — Isaiah 10:3 (ASV)

And what will you do? Here the Prophet severely threatens princes who were careless and indolent in their distresses, as men intoxicated by prosperity are accustomed to haughtily despise every danger. He therefore warns them that, though God delays, He has still fixed a time for judgment, and it is already close at hand. Because they had vanquished the neighboring nations in war and fortified themselves by an alliance with a very powerful nation, they no longer had any fear. Therefore, he expressly declares that their calamity will come from afar.

In the day of visitation. By visitation, judgment is meant here, for God visits us in two ways: in mercy and in judgment. In both ways He reveals Himself and His power to us, both when, in compassion for us, He rescues us from dangers, and when He punishes those who are ungodly and who despise the word. Both kinds of visitation have the same object in view, for we do not see the Lord except in His works; and we think He is absent unless He gives us a token of His presence. Therefore, Scripture presents this visitation in a way suited to our understanding. For when we are pressed down by afflictions, and when the ungodly freely give themselves up to wickedness, we suppose that God is far away and takes no interest in our affairs.

Accordingly, visitation must here be understood to mean the judgment by which God, in opposition to the waywardness and insolence of the ungodly, will bring them back like deserters. But if the judgments of God are so dreadful in this life, how dreadful will He be when He finally comes to judge the world! All the instances of punishment that now produce fear or terror are nothing more than preparations for that final vengeance with which He will thunder against the reprobate. Many things He appears to pass by, He purposely reserves and delays until that last day. And if the ungodly cannot bear these chastisements, how much less will they be capable of enduring His glorious and inconceivable majesty when He ascends that awful tribunal, before which the angels themselves tremble!

And when the desolation shall come from afar. When he says from afar, it is important to observe that we must not allow the prosperity we now enjoy to deprive us of our senses. For those who carelessly sleep in their vices, and by this wicked indifference call God's power into question, will quickly feel that He can, in a moment, whenever He pleases, shake heaven and earth from east to west.

To whom will you flee? He declares that it is in vain for them to rely on their resources, for, in opposition to the hand of God, they will be fruitless and of no use at all. At the same time, He likewise shows that this will be a most righteous reward, for when they are cruel toward others, they will justly be made to feel that they now have no help either from God or from men.

They will have judgment without mercy who have showed no mercy (James 2:13).

This applies especially to the judges, who ought to have been a protection to the whole people, for they have been appointed to defend the poor and wretched. But if they neglect and betray, and even plunder them, it is right that they should be made to feel, through their own destitute condition, how greatly this cruelty offends God.

Where will you deposit your glory? This is understood by commentators to mean that they will be thrown down from their high rank. They suppose it to be an ironical and contemptuous question from the Prophet: “What will become of that illustrious rank of which the nobles cruelly and foolishly boast whenever God spares them for a short time?”

But as this was a strained interpretation, I think instead that Isaiah asks, “Where will they find a safe hiding-place in which they may deposit their glory?” Thus, I consider the meaning to be to leave, for the sake of preservation. The two clauses correspond to each other: To whom will you flee? and, “Where will you find a refuge for your glory to preserve it?”

But perhaps preference will be given to a different view, which I have noted in the margin, for the verb עזב (gnazab) also signifies to strengthen.

Again, if God thus condemns to destruction princes who are thrown down from an elevated position, what will become of the lowest? No one, therefore, has any reason to flatter himself, for we will all be like stubble when the Lord’s wrath has been kindled against us (Psalms 83:13).