John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 2:12

"For there shall be a day of Jehovah of hosts upon all that is proud and haughty, and upon all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low;" — Isaiah 2:12 (ASV)

For the day of the LORD of hosts will be on every one that is proud and lofty. In this verse, he confirms the same thing more fully. From the vehement manner in which he accumulates words, we may easily infer how bold the wickedness was that abounded at that time.

But we will not wonder that he labors so hard to subdue the arrogance of people, if we consider how difficult it is to bend the stubbornness of those who, relying on their wealth, are afraid of nothing, and who suppose that the purpose of their elevated rank is that whatever they do will pass unpunished.

For even today we experience how sensitive and passionate those people are who make arrogant claims for themselves, and how obstinately they reject all admonitions. This is also the reason why the Prophet uses sharp language against them, instead of threatening vengeance, in general terms, against the whole nation.

Yet his invectives are not launched against the princes alone, whose high rank raised them far above other people; for not only they, but even persons of the lowest rank, often swell with pride. As the common proverb says, “Every man carries within him the heart of a king.”

Similarly, we find that even the lowliest persons, if you merely prick them with a pin, vomit out the poison of intolerable arrogance. Therefore, since this vice was so widespread, Isaiah includes both the highest and the lowest of the people, declaring that the severity of the impending judgment is in proportion to the forbearance God had exercised toward them. For, as a consequence of their abundance, their hearts had swollen with fierceness.

Moreover, though the letter ל (lamed), which is the sign of the dative case, is sometimes superfluous, in this passage it retains its force; for it would appear that Isaiah appoints a fixed day, as usually happens in judicial trials. Accordingly, I interpret it to mean that God Himself has previously appointed a day on which proud people must be summoned to the judgment seat of God to receive a sentence of condemnation.

We may also learn from these words that God declares Himself to be the enemy of all the proud. This appointing of a day is therefore to the same effect as if God declared that He cannot endure people wickedly indulging in pride, and that those who unduly exalt themselves cannot escape being crushed by His hand. And if our minds were sincerely convinced of this, who would not abhor pride, which provokes the anger of God against us? If any person chooses rather to interpret (superbum et elatum) proud and lofty as in the neuter gender, meaning that which is proud and lofty, we must understand them to refer to the fortresses, bulwarks, and fortifications; but the rules of grammar do not allow them to be applied in any other way than to persons.