John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 2:9

"And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low: therefore forgive them not." — Isaiah 2:9 (ASV)

And the mean man boweth down. Some commentators read these words in immediate connection with what precedes, as if the Prophet were proceeding even further to show the extent of their criminality. If we adopt this meaning, then by the mean man and the mighty man we must understand all the Israelites, as if the Prophet said that no one is pure and free from this stain.

Others, not improperly, believe that he repeats in other words what he had said about punishment, and that in this way he expresses the destruction that awaits a people forsaken by God. This interpretation will agree best with the scope of the passage: that all, both small and great, will quickly be overtaken by the ruin that lays low a whole nation, because amidst such great wickedness there was no reason to expect deliverance from the vengeance of God.

Besides, in those two expressions, bow down and humble, there is a rapid allusion to that bowing down which he mentioned a little earlier, as if he had said, “They have bowed themselves down before idols; therefore, God will lay them low under a vast weight of calamities.” Yet I have no doubt that he also attacks their pride, for it was difficult to believe that a nation so abundantly supplied with wealth would, in a short time, be overwhelmed by calamities.

Therefore forgive them not; or, thou wilt not forgive them. This latter clause is explained in two ways, though the specific view adopted does not greatly affect the real meaning, for the Prophet’s intention is to show that God will not be appeased toward such obstinate men.

If it is taken in the future tense, thou wilt not forgive them, the meaning will be more easily understood; but if it is taken as a prayer, forgive them not, it amounts to the same thing. For we know that when the prophets, inflamed by zeal for God, pour out prayers as if under the dictation of the Spirit, they threaten just punishment against the ungodly. We need not wonder that the Prophet, offended by crimes so numerous and shocking, becomes so impassioned that he consigns his countrymen to destruction, for nothing was dearer to him than the sacred honor of God.

But at the same time, it must be understood that he makes a tacit reservation for a remnant, because he is not here speaking of every individual, but of the body of the people, which was so deeply infected by its vices that there was no hope of cure. Otherwise, it would have been unreasonable to give exhortations to repentance and to hold out the hope of pardon to people who were incurable and thoroughly obstinate. The meaning, therefore, amounts to this: that the restoration of a new Church must not be expected until God has executed his judgments by destroying the temple.