John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 3:1

"For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water;" — Isaiah 3:1 (ASV)

For, behold. We stated a little earlier that this is the same subject the Prophet began to address near the end of the previous chapter. He warns the Jews that their wealth, however great, will be of no use to prevent the wrath of God, which, once kindled, will burn up all their defenses. Therefore, it follows that they are guilty of extreme folly when, to drive away their alarm, they accumulate their forces, strength, military equipment, strategies, armor, abundant provisions, and other resources.

The demonstrative particle הנה (hinneth), “behold,” is used not only to denote certainty but also to express imminence, as if Isaiah made wicked men eye-witnesses of the event. For it frequently happens that those who do not dare to openly ridicule God’s judgments ignore them, as if they did not concern them at all, or were still far off. “What is that to us?” they say. “Or, if these things ever happen, why should we be miserable before it is time? Will it not be soon enough to think of those calamities when they actually happen to us?” Since, therefore, wicked men dig such hiding places for themselves to disregard God’s judgments, the Prophet confronts them more directly and urgently, so that they may not imagine God’s hand is far off, or foolishly expect it to be lenient.

The Lord Jehovah of hosts will take away from Jerusalem. This is also why he calls God the Lord and Jehovah of Hosts: so that God’s majesty might terrify their drowsy and sluggish minds. For God does not need titles, but our ignorance and stupidity must be stirred by perceiving His glory.

First, the Prophet threatens that the Jews will have their entire harvest taken from them, so that they will perish from famine. Immediately afterward, he speaks similarly about military guards and everything related to the good order of the state. From this, we can infer that the Jews boasted of the prosperity they enjoyed at that time, leading them to foolishly believe they were protected against every danger.

But Isaiah threatens that not only the whole country but Jerusalem herself, which was the nation’s invincible fortress, will be exposed to God’s chastisements. It is as if he were saying, “The wrath of God will not only fall on every part of the body but will pierce the very heart.”

The power and the strength. Regarding the words משען ומשענה (mashgnen umashgnenah), which differ only in that one is masculine and the other feminine, I have no doubt that the Prophet, by this change, intended to express more fully the certainty that supports of every kind would be broken. Therefore, I have translated them as the power and the strength. I do not agree with those interpreters who see it as referring to people, because it more appropriately denotes all supports, whatever their nature.

It is still doubtful whether the Prophet limits this to food or extends it to all other kinds of support, which he mentions immediately afterward. But it is natural to suppose that משען ומשענה (mashgnen umashgnenah) generally includes everything necessary to sustain the order of the city or the people, and then, for explanation, he lists some particulars. The first clause therefore means: “God will take away every help and assistance by which you think you are supported, so that absolutely nothing will be left to sustain you.”

Next, he adds what their need and destitution will be. He begins, as we have said, with food and nourishment, which are primary in sustaining human life. Now, there are two ways in which God takes away the strength of bread and water: either when He deprives us of food, or when He takes from food its power to nourish us. For unless God gives our food a hidden power, the greatest abundance of it we might possess will do us no good (Leviticus 26:26).

Hence, in another passage, God is said to break the staff of bread (Ezekiel 4:16) when the bakers deliver the bread by weight, and yet it does not yield satisfaction. This comparison should be carefully observed to inform us that, even if the belly is well filled, we will always be hungry, since only God's secret blessing can feed or support us.

Although the hunger the Prophet threatens in this passage may be understood to mean that the fields will be unproductive, or that God will take away every kind of food from the Jews, yet, since the Prophets generally borrow their expressions from the Law, this interpretation applies very well.

For he might simply have said, “I will take away the bread and wine.” But he expresses something more profound when he speaks of the support of bread and water, as if he were saying that, though the people are not reduced to famine, God will make them, even while they are indulging in gluttony, to pine with hunger. For when God's blessing is withdrawn, all its usefulness will vanish.

We may summarize it this way: the people will have no food to strengthen them, either because they will not have bread and water, or, if they do, they will derive no benefit from them.