John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 3:12

"As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." — Isaiah 3:12 (ASV)

The oppressors of any people are children. Here also the madness and foolishness of the people are reproved, because they shut their eyes at noonday. There is nothing that men are more reluctant to allow than to have a yoke laid on them; nor do they willingly submit to be governed by nobles. Therefore, the minds of those who obey delicate and effeminate men, and permit themselves to be oppressed by them, must be feeble and cowardly. Nor can it be doubted that God has struck with a spirit of cowardice those who offer their shoulders, like donkeys, to bear burdens. The power of a tyrant must indeed be endured, even by men of courage; but the reproach Isaiah brings against the Jews is that, while they obstinately shake off the yoke of God, they are ready to yield abject submission to men and to perform any services, however shameful or degrading.

For the Jews could not complain that they were compelled by violence, when of their own accord they obeyed those whose authority they would gladly have declined. Thus it is evident that they were struck by the hand of God and were shaken with terror, so that they had no strength either of body or of mind.

This is also the vengeance God had previously threatened through Moses, for the general doctrine of Moses, as we have already said, is continually alluded to by the prophets. Or how was it possible that men who had the power of resistance should, of their own accord, undergo a slavery from which they would willingly have escaped, if God had not deprived them of understanding and forethought, so that he might in this manner take vengeance on their crimes? Whenever, therefore, anything of this kind befalls us, let us not imagine that it came by chance. On the contrary, whenever it happens that we are governed by men who are of no estimation, and who are more insignificant than children, let us acknowledge the wrath of the Lord, if we do not want the Prophet to charge us with the grossest stupidity.

They who govern thee. He continues to teach the same doctrine: that when God loosens the reins on the wicked, so as to disturb everything, he shows that he is highly offended with the Jews. For if they had enjoyed his favor, there was reason to hope that his government would be most holy and blessed. At the same time, it is probable that the common people were so foolishly devoted to their rulers that they revered both their commands and their conduct as oracles; and from this arose all the corruption that prevailed everywhere. Since, therefore, the contagion was spreading further without being perceived by the people, Isaiah cries out that they ought to guard against the governors themselves, who corrupt and destroy the people.

Others explain it, they who bless thee; but as the participle he employs may be taken from ישר (yashar), which signifies to rule, I shall rather adopt that interpretation, for it is more consistent with the context. I do acknowledge that the false prophets flattered the people, but I see no reason why their flatteries should be mentioned here. But it applies very well to the rulers and leaders that they were the cause of the destruction; for as princes are raised to their office for the sake of public safety, so no plague is more destructive than when they are bad men and rule according to their own caprice. He says, therefore, that those who rule are the causes of the evils, and that they corrupt everything, since it was their duty to correct others and to point out the way by their own example.