John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 50:11

"Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves about with firebrands; walk ye in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of my hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow." — Isaiah 50:11 (ASV)

Lo, all of you kindle a fire. He rebukes the Jews for choosing to kindle their own light for themselves, instead of drawing near to the light of God. This passage has been poorly explained; and if we wish to understand its true meaning, we must pay attention to the contrast between the light of God and the light of men. This is the contrast between the consolation brought to us by the Word of God and the empty words of comfort uttered by men, who by idle and useless things attempt and toil to alleviate their distresses.

Having previously spoken of light and darkness, and having promised light to believers who hear the voice of the Lord, he shows that the Jews had rejected this light in order to kindle another light for themselves, and threatens that ultimately they will be consumed by this light, as by a conflagration.

Thus Christ rebukes the Jews for rejoicing in John’s light (John 5:35), because they misused his official role to obscure, or rather to extinguish, the glory of Christ. To bring forward John’s official role in order to cover Christ's glory with darkness was nothing else than to extinguish the light of God shining in a mortal man, so that they might kindle another light for themselves—not one that might guide them by pointing out the road, but one by which, foolishly rejoicing in it, they might be driven about in every direction.

When he says that they are surrounded by sparks, he alludes to their various thoughts, by which they were agitated and carried about in uncertainty, sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another. In this way he mocks their folly, because they willingly and eagerly ran wherever their foolish pleasures drew them.

Walk in the light of your fire. It is as if he had said, “You will know by experience how useless and transitory your light is, when your unwarranted hopes have deceived you.” The ironical permission denotes disappointment. Others explain it to mean that wicked men kindle against themselves the fire of God’s wrath; but the Prophet looked higher, and that interpretation does not seem to agree with this passage.

From my hand. Because wicked men, being intoxicated by false confidence, think they are placed beyond the reach of all danger and, viewing the future with reckless disregard, trust in their own light (that is, in the means of defense with which they imagine themselves very abundantly provided), the Lord declares that they shall lie down in sorrow, and that this will proceed from his hand. In short, men who have forsaken the light of the Word and who seek consolation from some other source will miserably perish.

CHAPTER 51.