John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 22:7

"And it came to pass, that thy choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate." — Isaiah 22:7 (ASV)

And the choice of the valleys was full of chariots. I do not find fault with the translation given by some interpreters, “in a chariot of horsemen,” but I have chosen rather to translate the Prophet’s words literally, for I think that he means “a military chariot.” At that time they used two kinds of chariots: one for carrying baggage and another for the field of battle. Here he means those chariots in which the horsemen rode.

If it had been a threat, it would have been proper to translate it in the future tense, “And it shall be;” but since the words that immediately follow are in the past tense, and since there is reason to believe that the Prophet is relating events that have already taken place, I have not hesitated to make this beginning agree with what follows. “The choice of the valleys” means “the choicest valleys.”

He reminds the Jews of those straits to which they were reduced when the enemies were at their gates. They ought to have sought help from God at that time. But those wretched people became more strongly alienated from God and more shamefully manifested their rebellion, which showed them to be people utterly abandoned. Therefore, he reproaches them with this hardened obstinacy.