John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 40:27

"Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah, and the justice [due] to me is passed away from my God?" — Isaiah 40:27 (ASV)

Why will you say? The Prophet now reasons earnestly either with the Jews, because they were almost overcome by despair and did not look to the promises of God, by which they ought to have supported their minds; or he makes provision for posterity, that they may not sink under any distresses, however long continued.

The verbs are in the future tense, which might also be explained by the subjunctive mood, Why would you say? For Isaiah justly infers from the preceding statement that the chosen people, whatever may happen, ought to wait patiently for God until he gives assistance in due time. He argues from the less to the greater: “Since God keeps every part of the world under his authority, it is impossible that he will forsake his Church.” Yet it is probable that at that time complaints were heard among the people, in which they murmured against God, as if he did not care about their salvation, or were slow in rendering assistance, or even shut his eyes and did not see their distresses.

The fault which is now corrected is that they thought God did not care about them, as usually happens in afflictions, in which we think that God has forsaken us and exposed us as prey, and that he takes no concern about the affairs of this world.

O Jacob and Israel! By these names he reminds them of the Lord’s covenant, which had been ratified by promises so numerous and so diversified; as if he had said, “Do you not think that you are that people whom God has chosen peculiarly for himself? Why do you imagine that he who cannot deceive does not attend to your cause?”

My way is hidden from Jehovah. He employs the word way to mean ‘condition’ and ‘cause’, and hidden, to mean ‘disregarded’ or ‘unknown’; for if God delays his assistance for a short time, we think that his care does not extend to us. Some explain it differently, arguing that the people are here reproved for thinking that they would not be punished for sinning, and they believe this sentiment resembles the one in passages like, The wicked man has said in his heart, There is no God (Psalms 14:1). But the Prophet’s meaning unquestionably was, “Do you think, O Israel, that the Lord takes no concern about your affairs?” For he exclaims against the distrust of the people and chides them sharply, so that he may afterward comfort them and show that the Lord will continually assist his people whom he has undertaken to defend.

And my judgment passes away from my God. The word judgment confirms our interpretation of the preceding clause; for ‘judgment’ is implored in affliction, when we are unjustly oppressed, or when anyone does us wrong. God is said to favor and undertake ‘judgment,’ or ‘our right,’ when, after having known our cause, he defends and guards us; and he is said to pass by it when he overlooks us and permits us to be devoured by our enemies. It is as if he had said that the Jews act unjustly in complaining that God has disregarded their cause and forsaken them; and by that reproof he prepares them for receiving consolation, for they could not receive it while their minds were occupied with wicked or foolish thoughts. It was therefore necessary first to remove obstructions and to open up the way for consolation.