John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 6:13

"And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remaineth, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock thereof." — Isaiah 6:13 (ASV)

Till there shall be in it a tenth. There is some obscurity in these words, but let us first ascertain the meaning, and then we will easily discover the signification of the words. There are two ways of explaining this passage. Some explain עשיריה (asiriyah) to mean decimation; others interpret it as a tenth part, considering it a collective noun.

Undoubtedly, the Hebrew word עשירית (asirith), and not עשיריה (asiriyah), denotes a tenth part, though the difference between them is not great. Those who translate it as decimation think that a respite is promised to the people, because from the reign of Uzziah to the destruction of Jerusalem there would be ten kings. Indeed, that is the number of kings, reckoning from Uzziah to Zedekiah. His prophetic teaching would derive considerable support from the fact that he could foretell the number of kings who would reign even after his death, and that he described not only the event itself, but also the time and the day.

Yet I am not sure if another meaning is not somewhat more appropriate. For the Prophet appears to offer the people this consolation: that they will retain some hidden vigor and be capable of sprouting again, though they may appear for a time to be entirely dead, just as trees renew their foliage when the winter is past. But as the former interpretation carries sufficient probability, I will therefore explain the whole verse according to the opinion of those who think that mention is made here of ten kings, meaning that when the ten kings have completed their reign, the people will be carried into captivity, and then, as by a conflagration, the whole land will be consumed.

At the same time, the reader should be aware that whether עשיריה (asiriyah) is translated as a tenth part or decimation, it may very appropriately be viewed as referring to the people. Then the meaning will be, Till the people are diminished to a tenth part. He had previously spoken of a remnant, and a very small remnant (Isaiah 1:9), and afterwards he will speak of it again (Isaiah 10:22), for it was a very small number that remained. It might therefore be naturally understood as meaning that out of a thousand, a hundred would be left; out of a hundred, ten; and out of ten, one.

And shall return. That is, a change will take place for the better: the Jews will return from captivity to their homeland, and the land will take on a new appearance. But this may be thought to be somewhat at variance with what follows, for the Prophet immediately adds, It shall be destruction. What cold comfort it will offer the people to be restored, if soon after they are again destroyed! Some commentators solve this difficulty by supposing that Isaiah spoke about the final destruction of the people. But in my opinion, he rather means that the destruction will not be complete, but like that which happens to trees when their leaves fall off in the winter and nothing appears but dead timber; yet when spring returns, they bud forth anew, and so it will also be with this people.

לבעל (lebaer) means to burn, and therefore it means here that they will be consumed by a conflagration. But we should read it in connection with the metaphor that immediately follows, for Isaiah does not merely mean that it will be consumed, but that it will be consumed like the teil-tree—that is, with the hope of immediate recovery. When Jerome translated it as for exhibition, I do not know on what he based that opinion, unless it was that he made a free translation, focusing more on the meaning than on the etymology of the word. For when trees blossom or produce leaves, their life is again brought forth and displayed; and this meaning will be very appropriate.

As a teil-tree and an oak. It appears that Isaiah did not select these two kinds of trees at random, for one of them produces its leaves, and also sheds them, sooner than the other. So it happened to the tribe of Judah. First, the ten tribes, with the half-tribe of Benjamin, were carried into captivity; and thus those who were the first to blossom were also the first to decay. This tribe was the last of all to decay, not without high expectation of blossoming again, for here the hope of deliverance is offered. This was different from the captivity of the Israelites. There appears, therefore, to be some appropriateness in this metaphor of the trees, but I would not press it too far.

When they cast their leaves. By the phrase casting of leaves, we must understand that throwing of them down which takes place when trees are stripped of their leaves as if of their garment. For trees, in that bare state, appear to be dry and withered, though a hidden vigor remains in them, through which they are eventually revived by the returning mildness of the season.

So in it shall be substance. This is the application of the metaphor, which is extremely powerful. For when we see the spiritual grace of God in the natural order itself, we are strongly confirmed. As Paul presents an analogy of the resurrection in the sowing of grain (1 Corinthians 15:36)—a daily occurrence—so similarly Isaiah in this passage describes the restoration of the Church by using a metaphor from trees, which wither at the end of autumn but blossom again at the return of spring and produce new leaves. This could not happen if they did not retain some vigor during the winter, though outwardly they appear dead.

He foretells that a similar event will happen to this people, so that although during their hard and oppressive captivity they resemble dry timber, and it may be thought that they can never be delivered, still some vigor will always be preserved in them. Through this vigor, they will be supported amid these calamities and will eventually emerge and blossom.

This teaching, as we have said, is not unique to a single age, and therefore it should be carefully observed. For it frequently happens that the Church, amid the numerous afflictions she endures, appears to have no strength and is supposed to be utterly ruined. Whenever this takes place, let us fully believe that, despite these appearances, there is still some concealed energy which, though not immediately manifest to our eyes, will eventually yield its fruit. That energy lies hidden in the word of the Lord, by which alone the Church is sustained.

The holy seed. He shows what that substance is: that it consists of a small number of the godly, whom he calls the holy seed. For he means the elect, who would be preserved by the free mercy of God and thus would survive that captivity. That exile might be regarded as a cleansing of the Church, by which the Lord removed the ungodly; and when they had been cut off, He collected a people, small in number, but truly consecrated to Himself. Some commentators consider this phrase to refer to Christ, but the interpretation seems too far-fetched. It will be more consistent to extend it to all the godly, for the holy seed is the substance of the Church.