John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 27:7

"Hath he smitten them as he smote those that smote them? or are they slain according to the slaughter of them that were slain by them?" — Isaiah 27:7 (ASV)

Has He smitten him? He confirms the former statement and shows that, even in chastisements, there are certain and clear proofs of the goodness and mercy of God; for while the Lord chastens His people, He moderates the severity so as always to leave some room for compassion.

There are various ways of explaining this verse. Some interpret it as follows: “Did I smite Israel as his enemies smote him? The Assyrians did not at all spare him: they acted towards him with the utmost cruelty. But I restrained my wrath, and did not smite as if I wished to destroy him; and so I gave abundant evidence that I am not his enemy.” But I prefer another and commonly received interpretation, which leads us to understand that a difference between believers and the reprobate is declared here; for God punishes both indiscriminately, but not in the same way.

When He takes vengeance on the reprobate, He gives free rein to His anger; because He has no other purpose than to destroy them; for they are “vessels of wrath, appointed to destruction” (Romans 9:22), and have no experience of the goodness of God. But when He chastens the godly, He restrains His wrath and has another and entirely different purpose; for He wishes to bring them back to the right path and to draw them to Himself, so that provision may be made for their future happiness.

But it may be asked, why does the Prophet employ a roundabout expression, and say, “according to the stroke of him that smote him?” I answer that he did so because the Lord often employs the agency of wicked men in chastening us, to depress and humble us all the more.

It is often a severe temptation to us when the Lord allows us to be oppressed by the tyranny of wicked men; for we doubt whether it is because He favors them, or because He deprives us of His assistance, as if He hated us. To address this doubt, he says that He does indeed allow wicked men to afflict His people, and to exercise their cruelty on them for a time, but that He will eventually punish them for their wickedness more severely than they punished the godly. Yet, if anyone chooses to adopt the former interpretation, namely, that the Lord will not deal with us as He would with enemies, I have no objection. From this also comes the saying that “it is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men;” for the Lord can never forget His covenant, that He will deal in a gentle and fatherly way with His Church (2 Samuel 24:14; 1 Chronicles 21:13).