John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 48:10

"Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." — Isaiah 48:10 (ASV)

Lo, I have tried thee. The Lord shows that He exercises such moderation in chastising His people that He makes provision for their salvation. Formerly, He had said that He had spared or would spare them, because He had regard to His glory. He now declares that He does indeed lay stripes upon them, but of such a nature as to be beneficial to them; for it is for the purpose of proving and trying that He chastises them, and we prove that which we do not wish to be lost. Therefore, since He has this end in view, it follows that He makes provision for our salvation.

Besides, it is by way of anticipation that He mentions the trial, lest anyone should object that God’s forbearance did not appear at all amidst such severe afflictions. The Prophet therefore comes forward promptly to meet this objection, and points out that, although God does not permit His people to go entirely free, yet He deals gently with them.

And not like silver. He adds that He does not try us like silver, because we would be entirely consumed.

For silver contains something that is pure, but in us nothing will be found but chaff. Even if God did not make us silver, we would be reduced, like chaff or stubble, to ashes and to nothing.

Chastisement itself would undoubtedly bring out nothing that is pure. Accordingly, in the very trial, the Lord considers what we can endure, so as not to proceed beyond measure. At the same time, by the secret influence of His Spirit, He makes those punishments profitable to us, which would otherwise have been destruction.

I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. To choose here means to distinguish. We choose that which we desire to preserve and defend, as He formerly said in the same sense, to choose the good and refuse the bad (Isaiah 7:15).

By this word, therefore, He shows how wide the difference is between the punishment inflicted on good men and that which wicked men endure, which ends in their destruction.

We, on the other hand, though the Lord burns and pierces us, are accepted by Him. He retains His kindness toward us in the midst of afflictions and even causes us to come out of them more fully tried, and to be to Him a sacrifice of good savor.

In a word, this means that God, even when He appears to abandon His people to destruction, is still gracious to them.