John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 47:13

"Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee." — Isaiah 47:13 (ASV)

You have wearied yourself. He now declares still more plainly what he had previously expressed in somewhat obscure language—namely, that all the schemes Babylon had previously adopted would lead to her ruin. She nourished within herself a vain confidence, arising from a belief in her power and wisdom, as if nothing could injure her.

In the multitude of your counsels. He calls them not only “counsels” but “a multitude of counsels” to declare that there is no good reason for being puffed up or exalting themselves, whatever the ingenuity or skill of their efforts to deceive. This is because their crafty counsels, the more numerous and plausible they are, will cause them greater annoyance. This is a general statement against those who, trusting to their own ability, contrive and form counsels of every sort and, relying on their prudence, collect all the stratagems and troubles that can be invented for oppressing others. For God scatters all their contrivances and overturns their fraudulent designs, as he threatened that all unlawful means would be unsuccessful. “They dare,” he says, “to take counsel, but not from me; they weave a web, but not from my Spirit” (Isaiah 30:1).

Thus, the consultations of many people altogether fail because they do not ask counsel of God, from whom all wisdom should be sought (James 1:5). For the more they toil, the greater annoyance they suffer, and they can obtain no advantage. David rightly says (Psalms 127:2) that “in vain do they toil who rise early in the morning, and go late to rest, and eat the bread of sorrow.”

For he speaks of unbelievers, who do not cast their cares on the Lord but, trusting to their industry, make many daring efforts. The Lord ridicules this confidence and causes them to be eventually disappointed and to feel how worthless all their wicked labors and efforts are, and how in this way they are punished for their rashness. Meanwhile, “the beloved of God sleep pleasantly,” as is said in that passage. This is not because they are freed from all annoyances, but because they do not weary themselves with useless labor, and they commit to God the result of all their affairs.

Let them stand now. Here we perceive which counselors the Prophet chiefly means: namely, those diviners who boasted to the people about the empty name of science, as if they understood all future events by looking at the stars. But we have previously spoken of that judicial astrology and its uselessness. If it is objected that those men did not have the power to mitigate the dangers hanging over them, I reply: the Babylonians would have done so at their suggestion if they had foreseen the calamity. Since they did not foresee it, the conclusion is that their art had no foundation whatever. It is futile to pretend, as some do, that the Prophet reproves unskillfulness in the art and not the art itself, for he addresses the Babylonians, who were the authors of this science.

The binders of the heavens. He says wittily that they “bind the heavens” because they utter their decisions as boldly as if, by binding and tying the stars, they held mankind in chains. Yet, if anyone chooses to render the term “enchanters,” the meaning will also be applicable, as both are denoted by the verb חבר (chabar). Although observing the position of the stars is not in itself sinful, the Prophet says that it is carried further than is proper by those who draw conclusions from it about doubtful events. He appears to indirectly contrast these observers with the prophets to make them more detested, because they extinguish all divine predictions. For when people attach a fatal necessity to the stars, all the judgments of God must fall to the ground.