John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 13:3

"I have commanded my consecrated ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even my proudly exulting ones." — Isaiah 13:3 (ASV)

I have commanded my sanctified ones. Here the Prophet introduces the Lord as speaking and issuing his commands. He calls the Medes and Persians sanctified ones, that is, those whom he has prepared. The verb קדש (kadash) is used in various senses; for sometimes it refers to the spirit of regeneration, and this belongs specifically to the elect of God.

But sometimes it means to wish or prepare, and that meaning is more appropriate to this passage. All who are created by the Lord are likewise appointed by him for a fixed purpose. He does not throw down men at random on the earth, to go wherever they please, but guides all by his secret purpose, and regulates and controls the violent passions of the reprobate, so as to drive them in whatever manner he sees fit, and to check and restrain them according to his pleasure.

He therefore calls them sanctified ones, “set apart and prepared to execute his will,” though they had no such intention. Therefore, we are also taught to ascribe to the secret judgment of God all violent commotions, and this yields wonderful consolation; for whatever attempts may be made by wicked men, yet they will accomplish nothing but what the Lord has decreed.

I have also called my mighty ones. The phrase, I have called, conveys more than the phrase, I have commanded, which he had used in the former clause. It means that they will be roused to action, not only at the command of God, but by the very sound of his voice; as if I were to call a person to me, and he were immediately to follow. He threatens, therefore, that Babylon will be destroyed by the Medes and Persians, in the same manner as if they obeyed the call of God; for though they were prompted to battle by their own ambition, pride, and cruelty, yet God directed them, without their knowing it, to execute his judgment.