John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 33

Woe to thee that spoilest. If these words are to be interpreted as relating to the Babylonians, the interpretation will flow easily enough. After having promised freedom to the prisoners (Isaiah 32:15), he now appropriately taunts the conquerors.

They particularly needed this confirmation to believe a prediction that seemed incredible, for they could not consider it probable that such vast power would be destroyed and overthrown. Nor could they easily imagine that the wretched prisoners, now in a state of despair, would quickly be permitted to return to their native country.

Amid such distresses, therefore, they might have fainted and given up all hope of safety if the Prophet had not met them with these exhortations. Accordingly, he anticipates the doubts that could have tormented their minds and tempted them to despair after being carried away by the Babylonians and reduced to slavery, because they saw none of the things promised here but experienced everything entirely opposite.

Yet, as it is almost universally agreed that this is the beginning of a new discourse and is addressed to Sennacherib and his army, I am inclined to believe that the Prophet pronounces against the Assyrians—who unjustly oppressed all their neighbors—a threat intended to alleviate the distresses and anxieties of the people. He therefore means that there will be a remarkable turn of events that will overthrow the flourishing condition of Nineveh, even though it seems invincible. For the Babylonians will come as enemies to punish them for the cruelty they inflicted on other nations.

To give greater energy to this discourse, he addresses the Assyrians themselves: “Woe to thee that plunderest; you may now ravage with impunity; no one has power to resist you; but one day there will be those who in their turn will plunder you, as you have plundered others.” He speaks to them in the singular but in a collective sense, which is very common.

Others read it as a question: “Will you not be spoiled? Do you think that you will never be punished for that violence? One day there will be those who will repay you in kind.” But we may follow the common interpretation, according to which the Prophet clearly shows the injustice of enemies, who were so eager for plunder that they spared no one, not even the innocent who had never injured them; for that demonstrates the utmost cruelty.

I am therefore more inclined to adopt this interpretation, according to which he describes in this first clause what the Assyrians are, shows them to be base and cruel robbers, and strongly shows their cruelty in harassing and pillaging harmless and inoffensive persons; so that, when the Jews witnessed such unrestrained injustice, they might realize that God is just and that such actions will not always go unpunished.

When thou shalt have ceased to plunder. This is the second clause of the sentence, by which the Prophet declares that the Assyrians now plunder because God has given them free rein, but that He will one day stop them, so that they will have no power to do harm.

If we were to understand him to mean, “when they would no longer wish to plunder,” that would be a weak interpretation. Instead, the Prophet goes further and declares that the time will come “when they will make an end of plundering,” because the Lord will restrain and subdue them.

The meaning is therefore the same as if he had said, “When you will have reached the height.” For we see that tyrants have boundaries assigned to them that they cannot cross. Their career is rapid as long as they keep their course, but as soon as the goal—their utmost limit—has been reached, they must stop.

Let us take heart from this consolation when we see tyrants insolently and fiercely attack the Church of God. For the Lord will eventually compel them to stop, and the more cruel they have been, the more severely will they be punished. The Lord will destroy them in a moment, for He will raise up enemies against them who will instantly ruin and punish them for their iniquities.

Here we should also acknowledge the providence of God in the overthrow of kingdoms. For wicked men imagine that everything moves at random and by the blind violence of fortune. But we should take quite another view, for the Lord will repay them what they deserve, so that they will be made to know that the cruelty they inflicted on harmless people does not go unavenged.

And the event showed the truth of this prediction. Not long afterward, Nineveh was conquered by the Babylonians, lost the monarchy, and was even so completely destroyed that it lost its name.

But as Babylon, which took her place, was no less a “spoiler,” the Prophet justly foretells that other robbers will rob her. He predicts that the Babylonians, when their monarchy is overthrown, will themselves be plundered of those things they seized and pillaged from others.

O Jehovah, have pity upon us. This sentiment was added by the Prophet to remind the godly where they ought to turn in such distresses, even when they appear to be deprived of all hope of safety. They ought to resort to prayer, to supplicate God for the fulfillment of these promises, even when they are most wretched and when the enemy's power to oppress them cruelly is very formidable.

And here we should carefully observe the order the Prophet has followed, by first presenting the promise of God and immediately exhorting to prayer. Not only so, but he interrupts the flow of his discourse and suddenly bursts out into prayer. This is because although the Lord hastens to perform what He has promised, yet He delays for a time to exercise our patience.

But when we ought to wait, we find no steadfastness or perseverance in ourselves; our hearts immediately faint and languish. We ought, therefore, to resort to prayer, which alone can support and gladden our hearts while we look earnestly toward God, by whose guidance alone we will be delivered from our distresses.

Yet let us patiently, with unshaken hope and confidence, await what He has promised us. For in the end He will show that He is faithful and will not disappoint us.

At the same time, the Prophet tells us to consider not only in general the judgment of God against the Assyrians, but also God’s fatherly kindness toward His chosen people. It is as if he had said that the Assyrians will be destroyed, not only so they may receive the just reward of their avarice and cruelty, but because in this way God is pleased to provide for the safety of His Church. But while he exhorts us to pray for mercy, he likewise declares that we will be miserable.

In You we have hoped. To cherish the hope of obtaining favor, believers next declare that they “have hoped in God,” on whom they now call. Indeed, our prayers must be idle and useless if they are not founded on this principle.

“Let Your mercy be upon us,” says David,
“according as we have hoped in You” (Psalms 33:22).

For to go into the presence of God, if He did not open up the way by His word, would be excessively rash. Therefore, as He kindly and gently invites us, so we ought to embrace His word whenever we approach Him.

Besides, patience must be added to faith. Therefore, when faith is taken away, we do not deserve for the Lord to hear us, because it is by faith that we call upon Him. Now faith alone is the mother of calling on God, as is frequently declared in many passages of Scripture. And if faith is lacking, there can be nothing left in us but hypocrisy, than which nothing is more abhorred by God (Romans 10:14).

And from this it is evident that there is no Christianity in the whole of Popery. For if the chief part of the worship of God consists of prayer, and if they do not know what it is to pray (for they tell us to doubt continually, and even accuse the faith of the godly of rashness), what kind of worshippers of God are they? Can that prayer be lawful which is perplexed by uncertainty and does not rely with firm confidence on the promises of God? Do not those Rabbins, who wish to be reckoned theologians, show that they are mere babes? Certainly, our children excel them in knowledge and in the true light of godliness.

Let us also learn from these words that our faith is proved by adversity. For the actual trial of faith is when, with unshaken patience despite all dangers and assaults, we continue to rely on the word and the promises. Thus we will give practical evidence that we have sincerely believed.

Be what You have been, their arm in the morning. Others render it as if it were a continued prayer, “Be our arm in the morning, and our salvation in tribulation.” Regarding believers speaking in the third person, they consider it to be a change frequently employed by the Hebrews.

But I think the Prophet’s meaning is different, for he intended to express that desire which is made more intense by benefits formerly received. Therefore, in my opinion, that clause is appropriately inserted, “their arm in the morning,” in which I supply the words “who has been,” to bring forward the ancient benefits bestowed by God on the fathers. It is as if they said, “You, Lord, did listen to the prayers of our fathers; when they fled to You, You gave them assistance. Now also be You our salvation, and relieve us from our afflictions.”

“Arm” and “salvation” differ in this respect: “arm” denotes the power the Lord exerted in defense of His Church, and that before she was afflicted, while “salvation” denotes the deliverance by which the Lord rescues the Church, even when she appears to be ruined. He therefore records ancient benefits that the Lord formerly bestowed on the fathers, so that this might serve as a plea for God to exercise the same compassion toward the children. It is as if he had said, “O Lord, You formerly turned away the dangers that threatened Your Church; relying on Your favor she flourished and prospered. You also delivered her when oppressed. In the same way You will act on our behalf, especially since it belongs to Your character to render assistance when matters are desperate and at their worst.”

The particle אף, (aph,) even, is very emphatic for confirming our faith, so that we may not doubt that God, who always continues to be like Himself and never degenerates from His nature or swerves from His purpose, will also be our deliverer; for believers have found Him to be such. We ought, therefore, to continually place before our eyes the manner in which the Lord formerly assisted and delivered the fathers, so that we may be fully convinced that we also will not fail to obtain assistance and deliverance from Him.

At the voice of the tumult the peoples fled. He now returns to the former doctrine, or rather he continues it, after having inserted a short exclamation. He had already shown that the Assyrians would be defeated, though they appeared to be out of the reach of all danger; and now he tells the Jews to look upon it as having actually taken place, for their power was vast, and all men dreaded them and considered them invincible. Isaiah therefore places before the eyes of the Jews the dreadful ruin of the Assyrians, as if it had been already accomplished. He uses the plural number, saying that they were peoples; for the kingdom of the Assyrians consisted of various “peoples,” and their army had been collected from various nations; and therefore he affirms that, although their number was prodigious and boundless, yet they would miserably perish.

At thy exaltation. The word “exaltation” is explained by some to mean the “manifestation” by which the Lord illustriously displayed what he was able to do. But I explain it in a simpler manner: that the Lord, who formerly seemed as if to remain at rest when he permitted the Babylonians to ravage with impunity, now suddenly appeared in public view. For his delay was undoubtedly treated with proud scorn by the enemies, as if the God of Israel had been humbled and vanquished; but finally he arose and sat down on his judgment seat, and took vengeance on the crimes of the ungodly. There is therefore an implied contrast between “exaltation” and that kind of weakness which the Lord appeared to exhibit when he permitted his people to be afflicted and scattered.

By “the voice of the tumult,” some take it to mean that the Lord will put the enemies to flight by merely making a noise; but that interpretation, I fear, is more ingenious than solid. I therefore willingly interpret the word “voice” to mean the loud noise that would be raised by the Medes and Persians.

And your prey shall be gathered. Here he addresses the Assyrians, unless it is considered preferable to refer it to the Jews and to take the word “prey” in an active sense. But the former opinion is more appropriate; and this sudden turn of direct address gives great vehemence to the prediction, when he openly and expressly taunts the proud adversaries.

Yet it is doubtful whether it denotes the final ruin of the nation or the defeat of King Sennacherib, when his army was destroyed by the hand of an angel before the walls of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35). The latter opinion has been adopted by almost all commentators, but it appears to me to be too limited. For I think that the Prophet, from the beginning of the chapter, intended to express something more when he spoke of the destruction of that nation.

The prophecy might even be further extended, as I suggested a short while ago, to include the Babylonians as well, who were the latest enemies of the Church. But setting this aside, it is sufficiently evident that his writing is directed against the monarchy of Nineveh.

By your gathering of caterpillars. He compares that warlike nation to “caterpillars” because they will have no power to resist, but will all tremble and faint, so that they will be gathered into large heaps to be destroyed. The comparison is highly appropriate and is also employed by the Prophet Nahum (Nahum 3:15), though in a somewhat different sense. For that insect, we know, is exceedingly destructive to trees, and exceedingly hurtful, so that it may justly be called The calamity of the earth.

But as their vast number gives them no power to defend themselves, even children can easily shake them off, gather them, and slay them in heaps wherever they meet them.

This also, the Prophet declares, will happen to those insatiable robbers. For, although they did much injury by plundering for a long period, they will eventually be slain and destroyed without the smallest effort.

Deprived of vigor and almost of life, they will fall into the power of their enemies; and the wealth of Nineveh, amassed by robbery, will be carried to Babylon.

According to the running of locusts. He now adds another comparison: that the Babylonians will “run like locusts” to devour the whole country. For those creatures, being exceedingly voracious, moving forward without interruption, and leaping with astonishing rapidity, consume all the fruits of the earth.

Some refer this to the same Assyrians, as if the Prophet compared them to “locusts” because they will be easily dispersed. But that interpretation does not apply.

For the Prophet depicts an army of “locusts” that completely covers the whole land in its march. And he beautifully draws a comparison between the “caterpillars” and the “locusts” because of their insatiable avarice and vast numbers.

Jehovah is exalted. He explains more fully what we briefly noted a little earlier about the exaltation of God and develops the subject we previously mentioned: that the destruction of such a powerful monarchy will make it evident how highly God values the salvation of his Church, for whose sake he will utterly ruin Nineveh, the queen of cities, and her inhabitants. This lesson is highly useful: God does not spare reprobate and irreligious men. For by opposing their unlawful desires, his object is to testify how much he loves his elect. Moreover, it is no ordinary consolation that the glory of God shines most brightly in the salvation of the Church.

Who dwells on high. First, he declares that God is raised on high, whereas wicked men imagine that he was cast down and humbled by the destruction of the people. Again, lest anyone should think that God has only recovered what he lost (as it frequently happens in the world that those who have been vanquished exert fresh vigor as soon as a favorable change takes place), he expressly declares that God is exalted before the eyes of men. This status is due to him on account of his greatness, for he inhabits the heavens.

Hence it follows that although he frequently conceals his power, yet he never loses his right, but, whenever he thinks proper, openly displays his exalted rank. For to dwell in the heavens denotes, as we know, supreme authority, to which the whole world is subject (Psalms 115:3). In this manner, he not only shows that God can easily and readily cast down all that is lofty in the world, but he also argues from God’s eternal nature that when God is despised by wicked men, he cannot, eventually, do otherwise than manifest his glory. This is because otherwise he would deny himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

He has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. Thus he again confirms the statement that it will be a proof of God’s wonderful kindness when the Jews are delivered from the tyranny of the Babylonians. It was proper to place before their eyes the Author of such a great blessing, for we see how basely his glory is obscured by our ingratitude. Now, “the fullness of righteousness and judgment” means that God will largely and copiously pour forth his kindness in restoring the Church. Yet it will not be unsuitable to view these words as referring to lawful order, where everything is justly and properly administered, for without this the Church will never enjoy prosperity, even if everything else succeeds as desired. Holy and well-adjusted order, therefore, and not corruptible riches, is the standard by which our prosperity should be judged.