John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 59

Behold, the hand of Jehovah is not shortened. This discourse closely resembles the preceding one; for, after having torn off the mask from hypocrites, who vainly boasted of themselves, and after having shown that the punishment inflicted on them was just, he now replies to other objections. Hypocrites are accustomed to accuse God either of weakness or of excessive severity. He shows, therefore, that He lacks neither the power nor the will to save His people, but that He is prevented by their wickedness from exercising His kindness towards them. Therefore, they do wrong in blaming God and in uttering those slanders against Him, when they ought, on the contrary, to accuse themselves.

The word הן (hen) “behold,” is emphatic, as if the Prophet spoke of something actually present and pointed it out with his finger for the sake of expressing certainty, in order to remove any pretext from hypocrites, so that they could no longer practice evasion. We must also supply the contrasts to the words “shortened” and “benumbed.” It is as if He had said that formerly there were abundant resources in the hand of God to render assistance to His people, and that He always was ready to be reconciled and lent a willing ear to prayers. And now, He is not unlike Himself, as if His hand were broken or His ears had grown dull, so that He did not hear distinctly.

But your iniquities have made a separation. The essence of what is said is that they cannot say that God has changed, as if He had deviated from His inherent nature, but that the whole blame lies with themselves; because by their own sins they, to some extent, hinder His kindness and refuse to receive His assistance. From this we infer that our sins alone deprive us of the grace of God and cause separation between us and Him; for what the Prophet testifies concerning the people of his time is applicable to all ages, since He pleads the cause of God against the slanders of wicked people. Thus God is always like Himself and is not weary in doing good; and His power is not diminished, but we hinder the entrance of His grace.

It will be objected that people cannot anticipate God by deserving well of Him, and that consequently He must do good to those who are unworthy. I reply, this is undoubtedly true; but sometimes the perversity of people grows to such an extent as to shut the door against God’s benefits, as if they purposely intended to drive Him far away from them. And although He listens to no one without pardoning them (as we always bring before Him supplication for the removal of guilt), yet He does not listen to the prayers of the wicked. We need not wonder, therefore, if the Prophet accuses the people of rejecting God’s benefits by their iniquities, and rendering Him irreconcilable by their obstinacy, and, in a word, of making a divorce, which drives away or diverts the ordinary course of grace.

For your hands. He now brings forward their actions, so that they may not practice evasion or question which sins have “caused the separation.” He therefore removes every excuse from them by bringing forward particular instances, as if their shameful life were displayed on an open stage.

Now, he speaks in the second person because, like an advocate, he argues and pleads God’s cause. Therefore, he speaks of himself as not belonging to the ranks of the wicked, with whom he did not wish to be grouped, though he was not entirely free from sin but feared and served God and enjoyed freedom of conscience.

No one could be free to condemn others who was involved in the guilt of the same vices; and no one could be qualified for pleading God’s cause who deprived himself of that right by living wickedly.

We must be unlike those whom we reprove if we do not wish to expose our doctrine to ridicule and be considered impudent. On the other hand, when we serve God with a pure conscience, our doctrine gains weight and authority, and more fully convicts even adversaries.

Are polluted with blood. The picture he gives of the wicked life of the people is not unnecessary, for people seek various evasions and cannot be brought to obedience unless they have first acknowledged their sins.

By mentioning blood, he does not mean that murders have been committed everywhere. Instead, by this word, he describes the cruelty, extortions, violence, and great wickednesses committed by hypocrites against the poor and defenseless. For they were not dealing with robbers and assassins, but with the king and the nobles, who were highly respected and honored.

He calls them manslayers because they cruelly harassed the innocent and seized the property of others by force and violence. And so, immediately afterwards, he uses the word “iniquity” instead of “blood.”

And your fingers with iniquity. Though he appears to extend the discussion further, it is a repetition, or rather, a reduplication, such as is frequently used by Hebrew writers, accompanied by amplification. For he expresses more by “fingers” than by “hands”; as if he had said that not even the smallest part was free from unjust violence.

Your lips have uttered falsehood. Next, he notes one kind of wickedness: when people deceive each other by tricks, falsehood, or perjury. For that iniquity by which we wound our neighbors is most frequently defended either by cruelty as a bodyguard, or by cheating and falsehood.

Here the Prophet takes a rapid view of the second table, and from the crimes they commit against it, he shows that they are wicked and lacking all fear of God. For cruelty and treachery, by which human society is violated, proceed from contempt of God.

Thus, from “the hands”—that is, from extortion and violence—he descends to falsehoods and deceitful practices, to perjuries and crafty devices, by which we take advantage of our neighbors.

There is none that cries for justice. He means that there is no concern among them for what is right or proper. No one opposes the acts of injustice committed by the strong against the weak, and this leads to growing licentiousness because all overlook it, and no one cares about defending justice. It is not enough that we abstain from violence if we do not, as far as we are able, prevent it from being committed by others. Indeed, whoever permits what he is able to prevent, in a sense, commands it, so that silence is a kind of consent.

None that contends for truth. This clause has the same meaning as the previous one. Some take נשפט (nishpat) in a passive sense and suppose the Prophet means, “None is rightly judged, for everything is full of corruption, and yet no one makes any opposition.” But the active meaning is more appropriate, for these two statements are closely connected: “None cries for justice” and “None defends truth or uprightness.” The interpretation given by some, “No man judges himself truly,” is rather harsh.

However, because this verb in Niphal is understood in many passages to mean “to contend,” the whole passage seemed to flow more freely this way: that “none comes forward to protect what is right, to openly and loudly defend justice, and to plead against the wicked.” Yet it might be thought preferable to view the words “cry for justice” as referring to miserable people who are unjustly harassed, as if he had said that they are silent because they would gain nothing by crying out. But this interpretation would also be harsh.

If God condemns so severely those who pay no attention to the righteous causes of people and do not aid those who are in difficulties, what will become of us if no zeal for defending the glory of God prompts us to rebuke iniquities? If we overlook the mockeries by which wicked men mock God’s sacred doctrine and profane His name; if we pay no attention to their efforts to destroy the Church of God, will not our silence be justly condemned as treachery? In short, Isaiah says that good order decays because of our fault if we do not, as far as we can, resist the wicked.

They trust in vain things. He next points out that this signifies extreme confusion when no one stands up to defend justice. When he says that they “trust in vain things,” he means that they accumulate perverse reliances, through which they bring insensibility upon themselves. This is the extreme limit of iniquity, when, by seeking flatteries from every direction, they willingly harden themselves to despise God. By such allurements Satan entices the reprobate until he completely enchants them, so that, shaking off all fear of God, they not only despise sound counsel but also become arrogant and fearless mockers.

Therefore, since recklessness drives us headlong when we place false hopes against God's judgment, the Prophet rightly portrays this confidence, under which cunning men take shelter, as a mark of desperate malice. This is because the disease is clearly incurable when openly wicked men do not hesitate to flatter themselves and, relying on their obstinate wickedness, think they are free to do whatever they please.

They talk idly. He adds that their conversation plainly reveals the nature of their dispositions and morals, as the proverb says, “The tongue is the image of the mind.” However, this clause can be explained in two ways: either that they speak nothing sincerely, but through constant practice their tongues are trained to deceive, or that their wickedness erupts into open boasting. Personally, I prefer the latter of these explanations.

They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. These are elegant metaphors by which he compares wicked men to women who carry a child in the womb and later give birth to it. Thus he says that the wicked, while they inwardly devise their crimes, can be described as pregnant until they give birth at the proper time—that is, when they have found the occasions and opportunities. “They conceive,” he says, “purposes of mischief, that afterwards they may unjustly harass unsuspecting people.” It is as if he had said that they prepare for their crimes through long meditation and are always ready for any mischief, because they continually search everywhere for indirect ways to harm those who are causing them no trouble.

They hatch the eggs of the basilisk. The Prophet proceeds further, comparing the Jews not only to women but also to venomous beasts, to make it more evident that everything that proceeds from them is destructive and deadly. First, then, he says that they hatch the eggs of the basilisk. This is because, just as a viper cannot lay an egg that is not venomous, so they are so hardened in wickedness and so full of it that they can produce nothing but poison.

And weave the webs of spiders. By the webs of spiders he means that they are so barren and lacking anything good that they deceive even by the appearance of virtues.

He describes wicked men by two marks:

1. First, the works they perform reveal their corrupt nature.
2. Second, they are of no value whatever and contribute nothing towards making them kind, amiable, charitable, and faithful to those with whom they interact.

I am aware that this is explained in a different manner by other commentators: namely, that the wicked, while contriving the destruction of others, ruin themselves, and, while they think they are industrious, labor fruitlessly and to no purpose; that they are snared in their own nets (Psalms 9:15) and fall into the pit which they had digged (Psalms 7:15).

But I believe that the Prophet meant what I have just said: namely, that the wicked do mischief everywhere, always, and in all their dealings, and that they never do anything good. Furthermore, everyone who deals with them will find them to be venomous and destructive.

This is the meaning of what he says: that a deadly venom lurks in their eggs, and that if they are broken, a serpent will come out of them.