John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 43:22

"Yet thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel." — Isaiah 43:22 (ASV)

And you have not called on me. He confirms by an indirect reproof what he said in the preceding verse, that it was not by any merits of his people that he was induced to act so kindly towards them. This deliverance, therefore, ought to be ascribed to no other cause than to the goodness of God. In order to prove this, he says, You have not called on me. Calling on the name of God includes the whole of the worship of God, the chief part of which is “calling upon him;” and, therefore, following the ordinary manner of Scripture, he has put a part for the whole. But in other passages the Lord plainly shows that calling upon him is the chief part of his worship; for, after having said that he despises sacrifices and outward ceremonies, he adds,

Call upon me in the day of trouble (Psalms 50:15).

Hence also Scripture, when it speaks of the worship of God, chiefly mentions “calling on him;” for when Moses states that the worship of God had been restored, he says, Then began men to call on the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:26).

But you have been wearied of me. In this second clause I consider the particle כי (ki) to be disjunctive, “But rather you have been wearied of me.” Others render it “Because you have wearied;” as if he had said, “You have received with dislike what was enjoined on you;” which amounts to nearly the same thing.

As the Lord demands obedience, so he wishes all that worship him to be ready and cheerful; as Paul testifies, that the Lord loveth a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7), and they who obey reluctantly cannot be called, and are not reckoned by him, true and sincere worshippers. Thus, in order to show that the Jews have not worshipped him as they ought to have done, he says that they did it reluctantly.

If anyone chooses rather to view it as assigning the reason, and render it thus, — “You have not called on me, for you have rendered to me no worship without regret, and what may be said to have been extorted from you by violence”—as it makes little difference in the meaning, I do not greatly object; but the translation which I have given appears to convey more clearly what the Prophet intends.

Besides, the contrast contains within itself the assigning of a reason; and therefore, if we wish that God should accept our service, let us obey him with a cheerful disposition.