John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 2:20

"In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for them to worship, to the moles and to the bats;" — Isaiah 2:20 (ASV)

In that day a man will cast away his idols. Idolaters are exceedingly delighted with their own superstitions and ungodly worship. Although they abound in great wickedness and crimes, they still resort to this refuge, imagining that their worship appeases God.

Just as in the present day, if we were to describe the crimes and lawless passions of every kind that abound among the papists, they certainly would not be able to deny our statements. Instead, they would flatter themselves on this ground: that they have a plausible form of worship, and they would believe that this veil covers all their crimes.

Accordingly, the Prophet deprives idolaters of this cloak, threatening that they will no longer be able to conceal their pollution. For the Lord will compel them to throw away their idols, so that they may acknowledge they had no good reason for placing their hope and confidence in them.

In short, they will be ashamed of their foolishness. In prosperity, they think they enjoy God's favor, as if He showed that He takes delight in their worship. They cannot be convinced otherwise until God actually makes evident how greatly He abhors them.

It is only when they are brought into adversity that they begin to acknowledge their wickedness. Hosea strikingly illustrates this by comparing them to prostitutes, who do not acknowledge their wickedness as long as they make a profit and live in splendor. However, when they are deprived of those enjoyments and forsaken by their lovers, they begin to think of their wretchedness and disgrace, and enter into the way of repentance—something they had never considered while they enjoyed luxury (Hosea 2:5).

The same thing almost always happens with idolaters: they are not ashamed of their wickedness enough to cast away their idols until they have been visited by very severe distress and are almost made to think that they are ruined.

Which they made; that is, which were made for them by the work of craftsmen. Nor was this an unnecessary addition, for he means that false gods are not entitled to adoration. And what sort of gods can they be that have been made by men, since God exists from Himself and never had a beginning? It is therefore highly foolish, and contrary to reason, that men should worship the work of their own hands.

So then, by this expression, he aggravates their guilt: idols, though composed of gold or silver or some other perishable material and manufactured by men, are yet worshipped instead of God. At the same time, he states the reason why they are displeasing to God: it is because they are worshipped.

Under what pretext will the papists now excuse their ungodliness? For they cannot deny that they render adoration to images; and wherever such worship is performed, their ungodliness is clearly proven.

Into the holes of the moles and of the bats. By the holes of the moles, he means any filthy places in which they are disgracefully concealed.