John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 11:14

"And they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines on the west; together shall they despoil the children of the east: they shall put forth their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them." — Isaiah 11:14 (ASV)

And they shall fly on the shoulders of the Philistines. He means that there is also another way in which the Lord will assist His people: He will conquer their enemies and subdue them under His dominion. Having spoken of the safety of the Church, He now declares that she will be victorious over her enemies.

He mentions those nations with which the Jews unceasingly waged wars. On one hand were the Philistines, and on the other the Ammonites and Moabites—to whom they were bound by ties of relationship and kinship—who were continually harassing and attacking them. On another side were the Edomites, who were not restrained by ties of blood from being most resolute enemies, for they were descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob (Genesis 25:25–26; Genesis 36:1, 8, 9). The remembrance of this kinship should have dissuaded them from enmity and hatred. The Lord, therefore, promises that the Church, though she is not absolutely without enemies, will gain advantage over them by suffering, and in the end be victorious.

Edom and Moab shall be the stretching out of the hands. The stretching out of the hands means the dominion that the Church obtained over her enemies, for by the word hand, power is usually meant. The Hebrews use the phrase to stretch out the hand instead of “to place this or that under subjection.” Thus it is said:

I will set his hand in the sea,
and his right hand in the rivers.
(Psalms 89:25)

The stretching out of the hand, therefore, is full power to rule. On the other hand, He adds the obedience that the enemies will yield to her: and the children of Ammon shall be their obedience.

The Jews, who dream of an earthly kingdom of Christ, interpret all this in a carnal sense and apply it to I do not know what external power; but they should rather judge it according to the nature of Christ’s kingdom. Partly, no doubt, the accomplishment of this prediction was seen when the Jews returned from captivity and God brought them into moderate prosperity, contrary to the wish and in spite of the opposition of all the neighboring nations. However, believers were led to expect a more splendid victory, which they eventually obtained through the preaching of the gospel.

Although we must continually fight under the cross, we still vanquish our enemies when we are rescued from the tyranny of the devil and of wicked men, and are restored to liberty by Christ. This is so that the flesh may be subdued, our lusts laid low, and that we may thus live to Him, and, in patience may possess our souls (Luke 21:19), calmly and patiently enduring everything that happens. And thus we even heap coals on the head (Romans 12:20) of enemies, to whose attacks and reproaches we seem to be subject.