John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 56:11

"Yea, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds that cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter." — Isaiah 56:11 (ASV)

And those dogs strong of appetite. The third vice that he observes in wicked pastors is insatiable avarice. Though they are lazy in all that relates to good government, yet they have a strong and ravenous appetite for food. Some view the Prophet’s words as still more extensive, and as meaning that they rule tyrannically. Ezekiel expressly rebukes them for this vice, for false prophets are commonly fierce and act cruelly and barbarously towards the people of God (Ezekiel 34:4). But if anyone examines the matter carefully, they will perceive that the Prophet speaks of their insatiable avarice, which he later describes by a variety of expressions.

They look to their ways. That is, “They attend eagerly to their own affairs; every person consults his own advantage.” In short, he means that there is no one who does not wish to be preferred to others, as if everyone had been born for themselves.

Every one to his gain from his end. מקצהו (mikkatzehu) has received various expositions. Some render it, “In his end,” that is, “In his affairs;” as if the reading had been, בקצהו, (bekatzehu). But this does not agree with the Prophet’s meaning. Others render it, “From the end of his avarice.” I think that a simpler interpretation is, “From his end,” that is, “On his part;” or as we commonly say, (Chacun en son endroict,) “Everyone in their place.” Thus everyone is bent on avarice, draws and appropriates everything to themselves, and consults their own advantage, without attending to the duties of their office.

From this we learn that no one can serve God who is given up to wicked desires; and anyone who labors to amass wealth will not apply their mind to build up the Church of the Lord. No kind of blindness can be more dangerous than avarice; and all the more it ought to be avoided by pastors, if they wish to be faithful servants of God. When we see the Prophet complaining of the bad pastors of his time, let us not be alarmed if we encounter the same thing today, and let us not consider it an unusual occurrence that so few are earnestly employed in the work of the Lord.