John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 34:5

"For my sword hath drunk its fill in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment." — Isaiah 34:5 (ASV)

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.