John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 5:9

"In mine ears [saith] Jehovah of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant." — Isaiah 5:9 (ASV)

This is in the ears of Jehovah of hosts. Here something must be supplied; for he means that the Lord sits as judge and takes notice of these things. When covetous men seize and heap up their wealth, they are blinded by their desire for gain and do not understand that they will one day give an account.

Certainly, men were never so utterly stupid as not to ascribe some judgment to God; but they flatter themselves to the point of imagining that God does not observe them. In general, therefore, they acknowledge the judgment of God: when it comes to particular cases, they take liberties and suppose that they are not bound to that extent.

If many houses be not laid desolate. Having warned them that none of these things escape the eyes of God, so that they would not imagine that it is a knowledge which does not lead to action, he immediately adds that vengeance is near. He also uses an oath; for the expression If not is a form of swearing that frequently occurs in the Scriptures.

To strike them with greater terror, he breaks off the sentence with deliberate abruptness. He could indeed have delivered this threat fully, but the incomplete form is better suited to keep the hearer in doubt and suspense and is therefore more alarming. Besides, by this example of reserve, the Lord intended to train us in modesty, so that we may not be too free in using oaths.

But what does he threaten? Many houses will be laid desolate. This is a just punishment by which the Lord chastises the covetousness and ambition of men who did not consider their own lowliness, so that they might be satisfied with a moderate portion.

In a similar manner, the poet ridicules the mad ambition of Alexander the Great, who, after learning from the philosophy of Anacharsis that there were many worlds, sighed to think that, despite exhausting himself with so many toils, he had not yet made himself master of one world. “One globe does not satisfy the Macedonian youth. He writhes in misery on account of the narrow limits of the world, as if he were confined to the rocks of Gyaros or to the puny Seriphos. But when he enters the city framed by potters, he will be content with a tomb. Death alone acknowledges how small are the dimensions of the bodies of men.”

Examples of the same kind occur every day, yet we do not observe them; for the Lord shows us, as in a mirror, the absurd vanity of men who spend a vast amount of money building palaces that are afterwards to become receptacles for owls, bats, and other animals.

These things are plainly before our eyes, and yet we do not apply our minds to consider them. So sudden and various are the changes that happen, so many houses are laid desolate, so many cities are overthrown and destroyed, and, in short, there are so many other evident proofs of God's judgment; and yet men cannot be persuaded to lay aside this mad ambition. The Lord threatens by the Prophet Amos:

“You have built houses of hewn stones,
but you shall not dwell in them.” (Amos 5:11)

And again,

“He will smite the great house with breaches,
and the little house with clefts.” (Amos 6:11)

These things happen daily, and yet the lawless passions of men are not abated.