John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 4

In that day shall seven women take hold of one man. He pursues the same subject, and unquestionably this discourse is immediately connected with what precedes it. This verse certainly should not have been separated from the preceding one. By this circumstance, he describes more fully the nature of that desolation and calamity which he had formerly threatened against the Jews.

For hypocrites, unless the threatening is expressed in strong terms, either disregard or downplay warnings, so that God’s severity never produces its proper effect on them. From the effect, therefore, he describes the appalling nature of the approaching calamity, so that they may not indulge the hope of making an easy escape. It is as if he had said, “Do not imagine that it will be of moderate extent, lessening your numbers only to a small degree; for utter destruction awaits you, so that hardly one man will be found for seven women.”

The phrase take hold of conveys the same meaning. It is, no doubt, inconsistent with female modesty that a woman should, of her own accord, offer herself to a man. But the Prophet says that not only will they do this, but that seven women will, as it were, lay hands on a man and keep hold of him; so small will be the number of men.

The greatness of the calamity is likewise denoted by what immediately follows: we will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel. For as it is a duty that belongs to a husband to support his wife and family, the women ask for a husband for themselves on unreasonable conditions when they release him from all responsibility for supplying them with food.

Very great, therefore, must be the scarcity of men when a great number of women, laying aside modesty, are not only compelled to solicit one man but also do not shrink from the agreement to procure their own food, requesting nothing more from a husband than to accept them in marriage.

Let thy name be called on us. It may be rendered, Let us be called by thy name; for when a woman passes into the family of her husband, she is called by his name and loses her own, because the husband is her head (1 Corinthians 11:3). Hence the veil is a token of subjection, and Abimelech said to Sarah,

Thy husband Abraham shall be a covering to thy head (Genesis 20:16).

But if she remains unmarried, she is concealed under the name of her family. That this is the true meaning of that mode of expression is sufficiently evident from what Jacob says when blessing his grandchildren,

Let my name, and the name of my fathers,
Abraham and Isaac, be called on them (Genesis 48:16).

That is, “Let them be reckoned as our descendants, and let them be partakers of the covenant, and never excluded from it, as Esau and Ishmael were.” In the same manner, heathen writers also speak; as, in Lucan, Marcia, wishing to return to Cato, says: “Grant me only the bare name of marriage; let permission be given that it may be inscribed on my tomb, Marcia the wife of Cato.”

And take away our reproach. Their reason for saying so is that women are sometimes treated with disdain when they do not obtain husbands, not only because they appear to be despised as unworthy, but also because among the ancient people offspring was considered an important blessing.

Therefore, the Prophet says that they will be desirous of wiping away this reproach and will employ every argument for that purpose. Lastly, he declares that the calamity will be so great that almost all the men will be carried off.

In that day shall the branch of the Lord be for beauty and glory. This consolation is timely added, for the announcement of a dreadful calamity might have alarmed the godly and led them to doubt the stability of God’s covenant being maintained amid the destruction of the people.

For there is a wide difference between the two statements: that the people will be like the sand of the sea (Genesis 22:17; Isaiah 10:22), and yet that they would be cut down by such a frightful massacre that in the remnant there would be found no dignity, no magnificence, and hardly any name.

Isaiah, therefore, according to the custom he and the prophets generally followed, provides against this alarm. By adding a consolation, he alleviates their excessive terror, so that believers may still rest assured that the Church will be safe and may strengthen their hearts with good hope. Just as he spoke of the restoration of the Church in the second chapter, so he now promises that a new Church will arise, as a bud or shoot springs up in a field that was previously uncultivated.

This passage is usually interpreted as referring to Christ, and this opinion, plausible in itself, gains further probability from the words of the prophet Zechariah:

Behold the man whose name shall be The Branch.
(Zechariah 6:12).

This view is further strengthened by the consideration that the Prophet does not merely name this Branch but mentions it with a title expressive of respect, as if he intended to honor the divinity of Christ. When he later adds the fruits of the earth, they consider this to refer to his human nature.

But after a careful examination of the whole, I do not hesitate to regard the Branch of God and the fruit of the earth as denoting an unusual and abundant supply of grace, which will relieve the hungry. For he speaks as if the earth, barren and exhausted after the desolation, would offer no promise of future produce, so that the sudden fertility might make God’s kindness all the more desirable—as if the parched and barren fields would yield unexpected vegetation.

This metaphor, that the gifts of God spring up in the world, is frequently employed in Scripture.

Truth shall spring out of the earth, and
righteousness shall look down from heaven. (Psalms 85:11).

Likewise, the Prophet later says:

Let the earth open and bring forth salvation. (Isaiah 45:8).

These words undoubtedly denote a rich supply of both spiritual and earthly blessings. That this is the meaning of the passage now under consideration is evident from the context, for Isaiah immediately afterwards adds that it will be for honor and lustre to the delivered of Israel—that is, to those who are left, whom the Lord will rescue from destruction.

The word פליטת (pheletath) is commonly translated as escape, but here, as in many other passages, it is a collective noun, denoting those who have escaped. He declares that the elect will enjoy that happy fertility which He had promised, and therefore (Isaiah 4:3) that those who shall be left will be holy.

The Prophet’s meaning is that God’s glory will be magnificently displayed when a new Church shall arise, as if God would create a people for Himself out of nothing and enrich it with every kind of blessing.

Those who limit this passage to the person of Christ expose themselves to the ridicule of the Jews, as if, due to a scarcity of supporting texts, they distorted passages of Scripture for their own convenience. But there are other passages of Scripture from which it may be more clearly proved that Christ is true God and true man, so that there is no need for clever interpretations.

Yet I acknowledge that the Prophet speaks here about the kingdom of Christ, on which the restoration of the Church is founded. However, it ought to be observed that the consolation is not addressed indiscriminately to all, but only to the remnant, which has been miraculously rescued from the jaws of death.

Besides, as it might be considered a cold consolation if he had only said that a small number would be saved, he speaks about the magnificent glory and dazzling brightness to lead believers to hope that this reduction in number will do no harm. This is because the excellence of the Church does not consist in large numbers but in purity, when God bestows splendid and glorious workings of His Spirit on His elect.

From this, we should draw a very useful doctrine: that though believers may be extremely few, when they are like brands plucked out of the fire (Zechariah 3:2), God will still glorify Himself among them and will display among them a proof of His unspeakable greatness, no less illustrious than among a large number.

And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion. He elaborates on the same statement, that when the pollution of the people has been washed away, what remains will be pure and holy. The explanation given by some, that those who are found written in the book of life will be called holy, seems too limited to me. These two clauses should rather be read separately: that all who will be left in Zion will be holy, and that those who will be left in Jerusalem will be written in the book of life. And this repetition is very frequent and customary among the Hebrews, when the prophets present under various titles the same gift of God. Thus, when it is said,

There shall be salvation in Jerusalem,
and forgiveness of sins in Zion, (Joel 2:32)

both must be viewed as referring to the same subject; but the grace of God is more fully magnified when the cause of salvation is declared to consist of a free pardon.

In this passage, the argument is of the same kind; for he says that, when the filth has been washed away, the Church will be clean, and that all who have a place in her will truly be the elect of God. Now, it is certain that this does not apply universally to the external Church. Many have been admitted into it under the designation of believers who have nothing that corresponds to their profession. Indeed, they even exceed the small number of good people, just as the chaff exceeds the wheat in the barn.

And although the captivity in Babylon was employed by God as a sieve to remove a large portion of chaff, yet we know that the Church was still very far from being as pure as she should have been. But as at that time there was displayed, in some measure, a resemblance of that purity which will be truly and perfectly manifested after that

the lambs shall have been separated from the kids, (Matthew 25:32)

when Isaiah speaks of those beginnings, he includes, as is his custom, a period extending to the end, when God will bring to perfection what He then began.

It is the same thing which we see happening every day; for although chastisements and punishments do not entirely remove all spots from the Church, yet when spots have been washed out, she recovers a part of her purity. Thus she suffers no loss by the strokes inflicted on her; because, while she is diminished, she is at the same time comforted by casting out many hypocrites, just as it is only by casting out the offensive or corrupt matter that a diseased body can be restored to health.

From this we obtain a most useful consolation; for we usually desire a multitude, and estimate by it the prosperity of the Church. On the contrary, we should rather desire to be few in number, so that in all of us the glory of God may shine brightly. But because our own glory leads us in another direction, the consequence is that we value a large number of people more than the excellence of a few.

We should also learn what is the true glory of a Church; for she is truly prosperous when the saints have a place in her; though they are few and despised in the world, yet they make her condition prosperous and desirable. But as it will never happen in the world that the saints alone will hold a place in the Church, we should patiently endure a mixture, and, in the meantime, we should consider it a most valuable blessing when she draws near to the cleanness that should be found in her.

And they shall all be written among the living [or, to life] in Jerusalem. We have already said that by "those who are written in the book of life" is meant the elect of God, as if He had said that the profane multitude, who only have a name on the earth, will be cut off.

The Prophet alludes to a manner of expression that often occurs in the Scriptures. For example, Moses desires that he should be blotted out of the book of life (Exodus 32:32) rather than that the whole nation should be destroyed. Christ also says to the Apostles,

Rejoice because your names are written in heaven, (Luke 10:20)

and Ezekiel says, They shall not be written in the catalogue of my people.

Now, although God has no other book than His eternal counsel, in which He has predestined us to salvation by adopting us as His children, this comparison is extremely suitable for our weakness. This is because in no other way could our minds conceive that God’s flock is known to Him, so that none of the elect can ever be deprived of eternal life.

Therefore, since God has the names of His people written down in some manner, the decree of adoption, by which their eternal blessedness is secured, is called the book of life. The reprobate, though for a time they appear to be on a level with the sons of God, are excluded from this catalogue, as we see that they are cut off when He collects and separates His own people.

This matter will not be fully completed until the last day; but as the children of God, by continually persevering when the reprobate fall away, make their election sure, it is no small consolation in the midst of their afflictions when the temptations that assail them do not cause them to fall from their steadfastness.

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion. He still develops the same statement; for because it is generally believed that those calamities by which the Church is diminished inflict severe injury upon her, the Prophet more zealously instills the opposite opinion. And now, to refute that error, he argues, on the contrary, that by this method God washes away the filth, and removes the corruptions, of his Church.

The blood of Jerusalem. By blood I understand not only murders or other atrocious crimes, but defilements and stains of every description. This metaphor is a reduplication (ἀναδίπλωσις), by which he repeats the same thing twice; for, having formerly spoken of pollution in general, he now particularly mentions blood as one kind of ceremonial uncleanness. In short, he shows the fruits which spring from God’s chastisements. By them our spots are washed away. When abounding iniquity is not punished, we become corrupted along with others; therefore, it is necessary that God should earnestly warn us and, like a physician, apply medicine and the lancet, and sometimes proceed to burning.

By the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. Here judgment stands for uprightness from its effect. That is, when those who had deeply fallen are restored to their former condition. He adds, the spirit of burning, by which the filth must be burned and consumed. In this expression, two things are to be observed:

1. That the purification of the Church is accomplished by the Spirit;
2. And that from the effects which he produces, the Spirit receives the name, sometimes of judgment and sometimes of burning, as if he had said, The judgment of the Spirit, The burning of the Spirit.

Whenever, therefore, expressions of this sort occur in Scripture, “The Lord will do these things by the Spirit of truth, of power, of righteousness,” we may change the expression thus: “by the truth, by the power, by the righteousness, of the Spirit.” In this manner the Spirit of God works in us, from whom comes both the beginning and the end of our salvation.

From these terms, therefore, we should learn what are the chief effects that he produces. By his Spirit the Lord purifies our affections that he may renew and sanctify us.

The word judgment explains what is of chief importance in the restoration of the Church: that is, when those things that were confused or decayed are restored to good order. Burning points out the plan and method by which the Lord restores the Church to her purity.

And Jehovah will create on every dwelling-place of Mount Zion. It is as if he had said that “there will not be a corner of Mount Zion on which the grace of God does not shine.” I understand dwelling-place and assembly to mean the same thing, for assembly here does not denote a congregation, but the place where people assemble. To express a full blessing, he alludes to what Moses relates: when the Lord delivered the people from Egyptian bondage, He sent pillars of cloud by day and pillars of fire by night (Exodus 13:21).

It was customary for the prophets, in describing any remarkable blessing, to remind the people of that deliverance from Egypt as an extraordinary work of God. On that occasion, God made a remarkable display of the boundless treasures of His grace in establishing His Church and left out no proof of His kindness to make known the happiness of that nation. But what chiefly deserved to be commemorated was that by the covering of a cloud by day He protected them from excessive heat, and that by night a pillar of fire went before them, to prevent them from wandering or going astray.

It amounts to this: when God will bring back the Church from the captivity in Babylon, the deliverance will be of a kind no less striking and magnificent than when, at an earlier period, the nation went out of Egypt. This does not mean that during their journey from Babylon to Judea they would be accompanied, as in the wilderness, by a cloud and a pillar of fire, but that He would display His grace and kindness by other methods no less remarkable.

It is just as if we were to say today, “God will enlighten us by His Spirit of fire; He will give cloven tongues (Acts 2:3) to spread His Gospel throughout the whole world.” Such expressions should not be understood literally, as if the Spirit would be sent down from heaven under that visible sign. Instead, by reminding them of the miracle, it leads believers to expect that the same power of God, which the Apostles formerly experienced, will now be displayed in restoring the Church.

Furthermore, the Prophet, by this mode of expression, points out an uninterrupted continuance of blessing. It is as if he had said, “Not only will God for a moment stretch out His hand for your deliverance, but as He always accompanied your fathers in the wilderness, so likewise He will deliver and protect you to the end.”

For on all the glory shall be a defense. This is connected with what he previously said, that the bud or branch which should afterwards spring up would be for glory. It is as if he had said, “on all who shall bear the proof and marks of their deliverance.”

Perhaps he also alludes to the passage in which it is related that the destroying angel passed over the houses which were marked without doing them any injury (Exodus 12:23). For as the sprinkling of blood at that time protected and saved them, so Isaiah promises that believers, when God has marked them, will be safe.

This must be carefully observed, for we are reminded that we will not become partakers of the grace of God in any other way than by bearing His image and by His glory shining in us.