John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 34

Draw near, you nations. Until now the Prophet, intending to comfort the children of God, preached, so to speak, in their midst; but now, directing his message to the Gentiles, he pursues the same subject, but in a different manner. Having previously shown (Isaiah 33:6, 20) that the Lord takes such care of his people as to find the means of preserving them, he now also adds, what we have often seen in earlier parts of this book, that, after having permitted wicked men to harass them for a time, He will at last be their avenger. He therefore pursues the same subject, but with a different kind of consolation; for he describes what terrible vengeance the Lord will take on wicked men who had injured his people.

Hearken, you peoples. To arouse them further, he opens the address with this exclamation, as if he were about to perform the duty of a herald and summon the nations to appear before the judgment seat of God. It was necessary in this way to shake off the apathy of wicked men, who, amidst ease and prosperity, despise all threats and do not think that God will take vengeance on their crimes. Yet amidst this vehemence, he has his eye principally on the Church; for otherwise he would have spoken to the deaf, and to no avail.

Let the earth hear. He addresses the Edomites who would arrogantly despise these judgments, and therefore he calls heaven and earth to bear witness against them; for he declares that the judgment will be so visible and striking that not only all the nations but even the mute creatures will behold it. It is customary for the prophets in this way to address mute creatures when people, though endowed with reason and understanding, are senseless, as we have previously seen (Isaiah 1:2; Deuteronomy 32:1).

For the indignation of Jehovah is on all the nations. He undoubtedly means “the nations” that were hostile to the Jews, and at the same time were neighboring them; for, being surrounded on all sides by various nations, they had almost as many enemies as neighbors. Though this hatred arose from other causes, such as envy, yet the diversity of religion greatly inflamed their rage, for they were extremely offended at having their superstitions condemned. This provided an even stronger reason why God promised that He would be a judge and avenger.

On all their army. This is added because the Jews were few in number when compared with the rest of the nations. Therefore, although “the nations” were proud of their vast numbers and despised the Jews because they were few, yet he declares that God will easily diminish and crush them, in order to preserve His little flock, of which He is the guardian.

He hath destroyed them. Though he speaks of future events, yet he chose to employ the past tense, in order to place the event immediately before the eyes of those who were lying low and overwhelmed with adversity. These predictions were made, as I briefly noted earlier, not on account of the Edomites, who paid no attention to this doctrine, but for the sake of the godly, whom He wished to comfort, because they were miserably harassed by their enemies.

Their slain shall be cast out. By this circumstance, he shows that it will be a great calamity. For if a few persons are slain, they are committed to the earth; but when so great a multitude is slain at one time that not enough people remain to bury them, there is no thought of interment, and therefore the air is polluted by the stench of their carcasses.

Hence it is evident that God is sufficiently powerful to lay low innumerable armies. Perhaps also, the Prophet intended to heighten the depiction of God's judgment, because shame and disgrace will be added to the slaughter of the nations, so that they will be deprived of the honor and duty of burial.

And the mountains shall melt on account of their blood. Another figure of speech is employed to show more fully the extent of the slaughter, for the blood will flow from the mountains as if the very mountains were melted, just as when the waters run down violently after heavy showers and sweep away the soil along with them. Thus also, he shows that there will be no means of escape, because the sword will rage as cruelly on the very mountains as on the field of battle.

And all the armies of heaven shall fade away. Isaiah employs an exaggerated style, as other prophets are accustomed to do, to represent vividly the dreadful nature of God’s judgment and to make an impression on people’s hearts that were dull and sluggish. Otherwise, his discourse would have lacked energy and would have had little influence on careless people.

He therefore adds that the stars themselves, amidst such slaughter, will gather blackness as if they were ready to faint, and he does so to show more fully that it will be a mournful calamity. Similarly, just as in a dark and troubled sky the clouds appear to be folded together, the sun and stars to grow pale and, so to speak, to faint, and all those heavenly bodies to totter and show signs of ruin, he declares that it will happen this way at that time, and that everything will be full of the saddest lamentation.

These statements must be understood to relate to people’s perception, for heaven is not moved from its place. But when the Lord gives displays of his anger, we are terrified as if the Lord were folding up or throwing down the heavens. This is not because anything of this kind actually happens in heaven; rather, he speaks to careless people, who needed to be addressed in this way, so that they would not imagine the subject to be trivial or a fitting subject for scorn. You will be seized with such terror that you will think the sky is falling on your heads. It is the just punishment of indifference that wicked people, who are not moved by any fear of God, dread their own shadow and tremble at the rustling of a falling leaf (Leviticus 26:36), as much as if the sun were falling from heaven. Yet it also denotes a dreadful revolution of affairs, by which everything will be subverted and disturbed.

For my sword is made drunken in the heavens. He says that the “sword” of the Lord is bloody, as extensive slaughter makes the “swords” wet with gore; and, to give greater weight to his style, he represents the Lord as speaking. But why does he say that it is in heaven? For God does not call people to heaven to inflict punishment on them, but executes His judgments openly in the world, and by human hands.

Here the Prophet looks at the secret decree of God, by which He appoints and determines everything before it is executed. He does not mean the act itself, but extols the efficacy of the prediction, because the certainty of the effect is manifest from the unchangeable purpose of God.

This is so that unbelievers may know that the Lord in heaven takes account of the crimes of wicked people, although for a time they may pursue their career of iniquity without being punished. And, although they enjoy profound peace, still the sword by which they will be slain is even now bloody in the sight of God when He determines to inflict punishment on them.

Similarly, Sodom (Genesis 19:28) was already burning in the sight of God while it freely indulged in wine and feasting, and in satisfying its lust. The same thing must be said of other wicked people who, while they are wallowing in pleasures, are held as appointed by God to be slain.

We should not, therefore, fix our attention on the present state when we see wicked people enjoy prosperity and do everything according to their wish. Though no one annoys them, they are still not far from destruction when God is angry with them and is their enemy.

So it shall come down on Edom. He expressly mentions the Edomites, who were hostile to the people of God, though related to them by blood and distinguished by the same mark of religion. For they were, as we have formerly mentioned, descended from Esau (Genesis 36:8) and were the posterity of Abraham. At the present day, similarly, we have no enemies more deadly than the Papists, who have publicly received the same baptism as ourselves, and even profess Christ, yet cruelly persecute and would wish utterly to destroy us, because we condemn their superstitions and idolatry. Such were the Edomites, and therefore the Prophet has chiefly selected them from the whole number of the enemies.

On the people of my curse. By giving them this appellation, he confirms the sentence which he had pronounced, for they would endeavor in vain to escape that destruction to which they were already destined and devoted. By this term, he declares that they are already destroyed by a decree of heaven, as if they had been already separated and cut off from the number of living people. So that it may not be thought that God has done it unjustly, he adds, to judgment; for there is nothing to which people are more prone than to accuse God of cruelty, and the greater part of people are unwilling to acknowledge that He is a righteous judge, especially when He chastises with severity. Isaiah, therefore, shows that it is a just judgment, for God does nothing through cruelty or excessive severity.