John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 52

Awake, awake. He confirms the former doctrine, to further arouse the people who had been weighed down by grief and sorrow. These things needed to be added as spurs, so that the doctrine might more easily penetrate their drowsy and stupefied hearts. For he addresses the Church, which appeared to be in a numb and drowsy condition, and commands her to “awake,” so that she might collect her strength and revive her courage. He repeats it a second time, and very appropriately, for it is difficult to arouse and reanimate those whose hearts have been struck, and even laid prostrate, by a sense of God’s anger.

Put on your strength. As if he had said, “Formerly you were dejected, and wallowed in filth and pollution; now prepare for a happy and prosperous condition, to which the Lord will restore you.” Thus he contrasts “strength” with despondency, such as is usually found when affairs are desperate; and he contrasts garments of beauty with filth and pollution.

For henceforth there shall no longer come to you. The reason he assigned is that from now on God will not permit wicked men to indulge their sinful inclinations for destroying it. Freed from their tyranny, the Church already has cause to rejoice, and security for the future offers solid ground for joy and gladness.

Yet Isaiah exhorts us to mutual congratulation when God is reconciled to his Church. Indeed, if we have any piety in us, we ought to be deeply affected by her condition, so that we rejoice in her prosperity and are grieved in her adversity. In short, it ought to be the height of our gladness, as the Psalmist also says,

Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember you, and if you are not the crown of my gladness (Psalms 137:6).

By the word come, he means what we commonly express by the phrase (Avoir e entree,) “to have access.”

By the uncircumcised and unclean, he means all irreligious persons who corrupt the worship of God and oppress consciences by tyranny. It was customary to apply the term “uncircumcised” to all who were estranged from the Church, which had for its symbol “circumcision,” by which all believers were distinguished. But as very many people, though they bore this outward mark of the covenant, were not better than others, to remove all doubt, he added the word “unclean;” for the mark of circumcision is nothing in itself, (Galatians 5:6) and (unless, as Paul says, purity of heart is added) is even reckoned uncircumcision. (Romans 2:25).

Accordingly, he declares that from now on such people will not be admitted into the Church, so that, by the removal of corruptions and the restoration of the worship of God, she may possess perfect joy. Yet I do not object to viewing these words as applied to external foes, whom he calls by hateful names, so that even the severity of the punishment may warn the Jews of the heinousness of their offenses.

Shake yourself from the dust; arise. He explains more fully the deliverance of the Church and exhibits it prominently by hypotyposis, “a lively description.” When he commands her to “shake off the dust and arise,” we should not therefore think that our liberty is in our own power, so that we can obtain it whenever we choose.

For it belongs to God alone to raise us from the dust, to lift us up when we are prostrate, and, by breaking or loosening our chains, to set us at liberty. Why then does the Prophet use the imperative mood? For it is unreasonable to demand what we cannot perform. I answer that the imperative form of address has a much more powerful tendency to arouse than if he had used plain narrative. Therefore, he declares that when God has restored her to her former freedom, she will come out of the mire.

Sit, O Jerusalem. The word “sit” denotes a flourishing condition and is contrasted with the word “to lie,” which denotes the lowest calamity. Indeed, it sometimes means “to be prostrate,” as when he previously said to Babylon, sit in the dust. (Isaiah 47:1). But here the meaning is different. For, after ordering her to arise, he also adds, “that she may sit;” that is, that she may no longer lie down, but may regain her former condition, and not be laid prostrate by enemies in the future.

For thus says Jehovah. This verse has been poorly explained by many commentators, who have chosen here to enter into philosophical subtleties, for they have imagined many things inconsistent with the Prophet’s meaning. It agrees with what he had previously stated:

To which of my creditors have I sold you? (Isaiah 1:1).

For here, in the same manner, he says, You have been sold for nothing; as if he had said that he has received no price and is under no obligation to a creditor who could claim them as having been purchased by him.

This greatly confirms the promise, because the Jews might doubt the liberty promised to them, since they had long been held in possession by the Babylonians, the most powerful of all nations. The Lord meets this doubt, declaring: “I did not sell or hand you over to them; for you were sold for nothing; and therefore I can justly claim you as my property and sell you. So do not consider how great your difficulties are when I promise you liberty, and do not reason about this matter with human arguments; for the Babylonians have no right to detain you and cannot prevent you from being set at liberty.”

Therefore you shall be redeemed without money. Lastly, as he had previously said that he is not like a spendthrift who is compelled to sell his children or offer them in payment, so in this passage he declares that “for nothing he sold” and gave them up to their enemies.

This was for no other reason than because they had provoked him by their sins. Therefore, there will be no greater difficulty in delivering them than there was in giving them up to their enemies.

Some explain it more ingeniously, saying that Christ has redeemed us by free grace. This doctrine must indeed be maintained, but it does not agree with the Prophet’s meaning. The Prophet intended to correct the distrust of the Jews, so that they might have no doubt about being set at liberty.

Let it suffice to know that when God is pleased to deliver his people, it will not be necessary to make a financial bargain with the Babylonians. In spite of their opposition, he will have no difficulty in driving them out of their unjust possession.

Into Egypt my people went down aforetime. Here also the commentators miss the mark entirely, for the Jews speculate about three captivities, and Christians differ from them by thinking that this denotes a third captivity, which will be under Antichrist, and from which Christ will deliver them.

But the Prophet’s meaning, in my opinion, is quite different. He argues from the lesser to the greater by citing the example of the Egyptian captivity, from which the people were previously recalled by the wonderful power of God (Exodus 14:28). The argument therefore stands thus: “If the Lord punished the Egyptians because their treatment of his people was harsh and unjust (Genesis 15:14), much more will He punish the Babylonians, who have cruelly tyrannized over them.”

But the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause. There was much greater plausibility in Pharaoh’s claim of dominion over the Jews than in that of the Babylonians. For Jacob, having voluntarily gone down to Egypt with his family (Genesis 46:5), undoubtedly became subject to the power of Pharaoh, who, in return for the kindness received from Joseph, had assigned to him a large country and abundant pastureland.

Pharaoh’s successors, ungrateful and forgetful of the benefit bestowed on them by Joseph, afflicted all the descendants of Jacob in various ways. The Lord severely punished this ingratitude and cruelty. But far more vile and savage was the wickedness of the Babylonians, who drove the Jews out of a lawful possession and dragged them into bondage.

If then the Lord could not bear the Egyptians, who were ungrateful and ruled by unjust laws—though in other respects they had a just title to possession—still less will He endure the violent and cruel Babylonians, who have no right to govern his people and oppress them by tyranny.

By “the Assyrian,” he means the Babylonians, who were united under the same monarchy with the Assyrians. However, he takes special notice of “the Assyrian” because this power was the first that severely distressed the Jews and prepared the way for this captivity.

What have I here? He elaborates on and confirms what I have already said: that it is not reasonable that He should silently permit His people to be oppressed any longer. By these words He, in some measure, reproves His own delay, as if He had said, “Shall I not stretch out my hand? Shall I not avenge my people? If Pharaoh did not hinder me, though he was a lawful master, shall the violence of robbers hinder me?” He next enumerates the reasons that should move Him to bring back the people.

That my people should be carried away for nought. An implied contrast must be understood with the participle “carried away”; for the Egyptians did not “carry away” Jacob by force. He went down to Egypt of his own accord when he was pressed by famine, yet he was delivered from there. How much more shall he be rescued out of the hand of those who tore him from his native country and carried him by violence into captivity?

That they should cause them to howl. To express the baseness of this conduct more forcibly, He says that they are constrained to howl without ceasing. Some translate the verb as neuter, but I think that it is intended to express the strength of their hatred. Therefore, I consider it to be an active verb, expressing the violence that the Babylonians exercised towards the Jews, for they not only ruled unjustly over them but also treated them harshly.

To “howl” is more than to sigh or weep, for there is reason to believe that the pain that sends forth loud and strong cries is exceedingly severe. The metaphor is taken from wild beasts and denotes extreme despair.

The third and principal reason why the Lord will deliver His people is that his name is continually exposed to the reproach and blasphemy of wicked men. For the sake of His own honor, the Lord preserves the Church and defends the pure worship of His name. Because wicked men seize on the Church’s calamitous state as a reason for blasphemy and insolently mock God, He says with good reason that by delivering His people, He will plead His own cause. I do not relate the various interpretations here, nor do I pause to refute them, for it will be enough for me to have briefly explained the Prophet’s real meaning.