John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 5:14

"Therefore Sheol hath enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth among them, descend [into it]." — Isaiah 5:14 (ASV)

Therefore hell has enlarged his soul. In this verse, the Prophet intended to heighten the alarm of people who were at ease and not yet sufficiently affected by the threats that had been made against them. Though it was shocking to behold captivity and also famine, yet the dullness and insensitivity of the people were so great that they did not pay serious attention to these signs of God’s anger. Accordingly, the Prophet threatens something still more dreadful: that hell has opened his belly to swallow them all up.

I said a little while ago that what is stated here in the past tense refers partly to the future. Nor is it without good reason that the Prophet speaks of the events as clear and evident, for he intended to bring them immediately before the people, so that they might see with their own eyes what they could not be persuaded to believe. Again, when he compares hell or the grave to an insatiable beast, by the soul he means the belly into which food is thrown. The general meaning is that the grave is like a wide and vast gulf, which, at God’s command, yawns to devour those who are condemned to die. This personification carries greater emphasis than if he had simply said that all are condemned to the grave.

And her glory has descended, and her multitude. He joins together the nobles and people of low rank, so that no one may flatter themselves with the hope of escape. It is as if he had said, “Death will carry you away, and all that you possess, your delicacies, wealth, pleasures, and everything else in which you place your confidence.”

This is therefore a confirmation of the former statement, and we should always pay attention to the particle לכן (laken), therefore; for the people ascribed their calamities to fortune or, in some other way, hardened themselves against the Lord’s chastisements. For this reason, Isaiah says that these things do not happen by chance.

Besides, people are accustomed to argue with God and are so daring and presumptuous that they do not hesitate to call Him to account. Therefore, to restrain that pride, he shows that the punishments they receive are just and that it is entirely due to their own folly that they are miserable in every respect.