John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 46:3

"Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne [by me] from their birth, that have been carried from the womb;" — Isaiah 46:3 (ASV)

Hear me. Here the Prophet beautifully points out the vast difference between the true God and idols. Having previously said that the Babylonian gods must be drawn on wagons and carts, because they consist of dead matter, he now ascribes a widely different office to the God of Israel, namely, that he carries his people, like a mother, who carries the child in her womb, and afterwards carries it in her bosom.

He addresses the Jews, so that they may return an answer from their experience; for this should have powerfully affected them, when they actually felt that he bore them and their burdens. He, therefore, makes use of a highly appropriate contrast, and concludes from the preceding statements: Acknowledge that I am the true God, and that I differ widely from idols, which are useless and dead weights.

For you have known and experienced my power by constant benefits, which I have not ceased to bestow upon you from the womb. God is not only powerful in himself, but diffuses his power through all the creatures, so that we feel his strength and energy.

Who are carried from the womb. This is a very expressive metaphor, by which God compares himself to a mother who carries a child in her womb. He speaks of the past time, when he began to give them testimonies of his grace. Yet the words might be taken as meaning simply that God kindly nourished that people, like an infant taken from its mother’s womb, and carried it in his bosom, as the Psalmist says, I was cast upon you from the womb, you are my God from my mother’s belly (Psalms 22:10).

But as God did not only begin to act as the father and nurse of his people from the time when they were born, but also begat them (James 1:18) spiritually, I do not object to extending the words so far as to mean, that they were brought, as it were, out of the bowels of God into a new life and the hope of an eternal inheritance.

If it is objected that God is everywhere called a Father (Jeremiah 31:9; Malachi 1:6), and that this title is more appropriate to him, I reply, that no figures of speech can describe God’s extraordinary affection towards us; for it is infinite and various. So, if all that can be said or imagined about love were brought together into one, it would still be surpassed by the greatness of the love of God. By no metaphor, therefore, can his incomparable goodness be described. If you understand it simply to mean that God, from the time that he begot them, gently carried and nourished them in his bosom, this will agree admirably with what we find in the Song of Moses, He bore them, and carried them, as an eagle carries her young on her wings (Deuteronomy 32:11).

In a word, the intention of the Prophet is to show that the Jews, if they do not choose to forget their descent, cannot arrive at any other conclusion than that they were not begotten in vain, and that God, who has manifested himself to be both their Father and their Mother, will always assist them. Likewise, they have known his power by uninterrupted experience, so that they should not pay homage to idols.

All the remnant of the house of Israel. By calling them a remnant he means, as we previously remarked, that the greater part had been alienated from the Church by their revolt, so that the hope of deliverance belonged only to a very small number. For this reason he demands a hearing from them; for unbelievers, no less than pagan nations, were utterly deaf to his voice.

Now, although the people were so far from being in their unbroken strength that their dispersion had left but a small number behind, yet God bids them consider how wonderfully they have been preserved until now, so that they may not doubt that he will from now on act towards them, as he has acted until now, the part of both father and mother.

And when he demands that they listen to him, he shows that the true and indeed the only remedy for our distresses and calamities is to hang on his mouth, and to be attentive to the promises of grace. For then we will have sufficient courage to bear every affliction; but if not, the way is opened for despair, and we should not expect anything else than destruction.