John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 57:10

"Thou wast wearied with the length of thy way; yet saidst thou not, It is in vain: thou didst find a quickening of thy strength; therefore thou wast not faint." — Isaiah 57:10 (ASV)

You are wearied. He means that men undertake superfluous and useless labors when they do not follow God. They vex themselves in vain, as has already been said, for nothing that is attempted in opposition to God can ever be successful. Besides, he wittily ridicules the wicked practices of those who choose rather to waste themselves by incessant toil than to advance calmly wherever God calls them.

And have not said, There is no hope; that is, “Although you see that your labors are fruitless, yet you obstinately persevere and pursue your designs; whereas even fools, when they are unsuccessful, commonly repent.” Men must therefore be obstinate and desperate when an unhappy and unsuccessful outcome of their schemes does not sometimes lead them to ask themselves, "What are you doing?" Jeremiah alludes to this obstinacy, but in different words, for he says that the Jews were so foolhardy as to say,

“We are undone, yet we will follow our own thoughts. This has been determined by us, and our opinion cannot be changed” (Jeremiah 18:12).

But here he censures that stupidity which bewildered them so much that they could not acknowledge their folly and repent, and return to the right road.

You have found the life of your hand. “Life” is here supposed by some to mean “food,” as if the Prophet had said, “Your labor was as delightful to you as if you were gaining food for yourself by your hand.” Others take “the life of the hand” to mean delight, or the highest pleasure, and both interpretations amount to the same thing.

But there is some greater difficulty in the question, “Does he speak sincerely or ironically?” If the words are taken in the literal sense, the meaning will be, “You did not grieve, because fortune appeared to favor you for a time.” When unbelievers succeed as they wish, they encourage themselves the more in their unbelief, and, as the common saying is, “Men are blinded by prosperity.” This especially happens when men have forsaken God and abide by their own ways and schemes, for then they fearlessly despise God.

But they may also be viewed as ironical: “How is it that you do not retrace your steps and repent? Why do you not acknowledge your folly? Is it because you have life in your hand, and because everything goes prosperously with you?”

I prefer the latter interpretation, though I do not reject the former. It is plain enough from history that the Jews had no good reason for being proud of their prosperity or success. The treaty into which they entered—first with the Egyptians, next with the Assyrians, and lastly with the Babylonians—was destructive and fatal to them. They found by experience how rash they had been in calling allies to their aid, so that the Prophet justly taunts them with having found “the life of their hand.”

Thus he heightens his description of the foolishness of this people, who willingly rush forward to their own destruction and obstinately bring down ruin on themselves, when they ought, at least, to have gained wisdom from the misery they had experienced, as even fools might.