John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 65

I have manifested myself. The Prophet now passes on to another doctrine; for he shows that God has good reason for rejecting and casting off the Jews. It is because they have profited nothing by either warnings or threats to be brought back from their errors to the right way.

But so that they might not think that the Lord’s covenant would be made void on that account, he adds that he will have another people who formerly were no people, and that where he was formerly unknown, his name will be well known and highly celebrated. The Jews looked on this as monstrous and considered it to be altogether inconsistent with the covenant which the Lord made with Abraham (Genesis 17:7), if such a benefit were extended to anyone other than his posterity.

But the Prophet intended to strip them of the foolish confidence of imagining that God was bound to the posterity of Abraham, for the Lord had not restricted himself to them except on an absolute condition. If this were violated by them, they would be deprived, like covenant-breakers and traitors, of all the advantage derived from the covenant. Nor was this promise made to Abraham alone, and to those who were descended from him, but to all who should be grafted by faith into his family.

But it will be more convenient to begin with the second verse, in which he explains the cause of the rejection, so that we may more fully understand the Prophet’s design.

To them that asked not. When he says that God manifested himself to them that asked not, he shows that the Gentiles were anticipated by the grace of God, and that they brought no merit or excellence as an inducement for God to give it to them. This obviously agrees with that passage we quoted, in which Moses calls them a foolish nation (Deuteronomy 32:21). Thus, under a universal type, he describes what the nature of human beings is before the Lord anticipates them by his mercy; for they neither call on the Lord, nor seek him, nor think about him.

And this passage should be carefully observed to establish the certainty of our calling, which may be said to be the key that opens to us the kingdom of heaven; for by means of it peace and rest are given to our consciences, which would always be in doubt and uncertainty if they did not rest on such testimonies. We see, therefore, that it did not happen accidentally or suddenly that we were called by God and considered to be his people, for it had been predicted long before in many passages. From this passage Paul earnestly contends for the calling of the Gentiles, and says that Isaiah boldly exclaims and affirms that the Gentiles have been called by God, because he spoke more clearly and loudly than the circumstances of his own time required. Here we see, therefore, that we were called by an eternal purpose of God long before the event happened.

Behold I, behold I. By repeating these words twice, he confirms still more the declaration that God has manifested himself in so friendly a manner to foreign and Gentile nations, that they do not doubt that he dwells among them. And, indeed, that sudden change needed to be confirmed, because it was difficult to believe, although by that very novelty the Prophet intended to magnify the unexpected grace of God.

The meaning may be thus summed up: “When the Lord shall have offered himself to the Gentiles, and they shall have been joined to the holy family of Abraham, there will be some Church in the world, after the Jews have been driven out.”

Now we see that all that is here predicted by the Prophet was fulfilled by the Gospel, by which the Lord actually offered and manifested himself to foreign nations. Whenever, therefore, this voice of the Gospel is sounded in our ears, or when we heed the word of the Lord, let us know that the Lord is present and offers himself, so that we may know him intimately and may call on him boldly and with confident assurance.

I have stretched out my hands. He accuses the Jews, and complains of their ingratitude and rebellion; and in this manner he proves that there is no reason why they should say that the Lord does them wrong if he bestow his grace on others. The Jews conducted themselves proudly and insolently toward God, as if they had been elected through their own merit. On account of their ingratitude and insolence the Lord rejects them as unworthy, and complains that to no purpose did he “stretch out his hands” to draw and bring them back to him.

By “the stretching out of the hands” he means the daily invitation. There are various ways in which the Lord “stretches out his hands to us;” for he draws us to him, either effectually or by the word. In this passage it must relate chiefly to the word. The Lord never speaks to us without at the same time “stretching out his hand” to join us to himself, or without causing us to feel, on the other hand, that he is near to us.

He even embraces us, and shows the anxiety of a father, so that, if we do not comply with his invitation, it must be owing entirely to our own fault. The heinousness of the guilt is greatly aggravated by its long duration, for during a long succession of ages, God did not cease to send one Prophet after another, and even, as he says elsewhere, to rise early in the morning and continue the same care until the evening (Jeremiah 7:13; Jeremiah 11:7; Jeremiah 35:14).

To a rebellious people. First, he calls them “rebellious” or disobedient, but immediately afterwards he declares what is the nature of that rebellion, namely, that the people walk after their own thoughts. Nothing is more displeasing to God than for men to be αὐθάδεις “self-willed,” (2 Peter 2:10); that is, devoted to their own inclinations; for he commands us to surrender our own judgment, that we may be capable of receiving the true doctrine. The Lord therefore testifies that it was not because of him that he did not retain and continue to exercise towards them his usual favor, but that they alienated themselves through their own madness, because they chose to abide by their own natural inclinations rather than to follow God as their leader.

Having pointed out the cause of this rejection, we must come to the calling of the Gentiles, who succeeded in the place of the Jews; for that is undoubtedly the subject treated in the first verse. The Lord had long ago foretold it by Moses, so that they ought not to have thought that there was anything new in this prediction.

They have provoked me by that which is not God; they have moved me to anger by their vanities; and I also will provoke them by that which is not a people, by a foolish nation I will enrage them. (Deuteronomy 32:21).

Finally, the Prophet now threatens the same thing which was afterwards foretold by Christ when that blinding was at hand.

The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation which shall bring forth fruit. (Matthew 21:43).

A people that provoketh me. Here he describes and illustrates more fully in what ways the Jews were rebellious against God. It was because they had forsaken God's command and had polluted themselves with various superstitions.

He had said a little before (Isaiah 63:17) that the Jews had become estranged from God because they wandered after their own inventions. Now he points out the fruit of that unrestrained behavior: by giving free rein to their thoughts, they overturned the pure worship of God.

Undoubtedly, this is the origin of all superstitions: people delight in their own inventions and choose to be wise in their own sight rather than curb their own inclinations in obedience to God.

People bring forward their devotions, as they call them, and their good intentions in vain. God holds these in such abhorrence and detestation that those who have followed them are guilty of breaking the covenant and abandoning their allegiance. For there is nothing we should undertake on our own initiative; instead, we should obey God when He commands. In short, the beginning and perfection of lawful worship is a readiness to obey.

By the word “provoke,” he describes the impudence of the people, who deliberately, as it were, provoked God and lacked sufficient reverence for His majesty to submit to His authority. He intensifies the description by saying, To my face; for since God may be said to be present and actually seen by those whom He warns by His word, they sin more heinously and are guilty of greater impudence and rebellion than those who have never heard the word.

That sacrificeth in gardens, and offereth incense on bricks. He mentions the “gardens” that they had consecrated to their idols and says that they provoked Him with them. Some think that “bricks” are mentioned as an expression of contempt and are indirectly contrasted with the altar on which alone God wished that they should sacrifice. Consequently, they think that here he mentions the roofs on which superstitious people were accustomed to offer sacrifices, because they were made of “bricks.” But I think it simply means the altars that they had built for idols. For, although they were not without the plausible pretense of wishing to imitate the form of altar that God had prescribed, yet God abhorred it, because it was contrary to His word.

Who dwell in the graves. He enumerates other kinds of superstitions; and although, due to its brevity, the description is obscure, yet we may easily learn from other passages what their nature was. For as necromancy was generally practiced among pagan nations, the Jews also consulted demons “in graves and deserts,” instead of consulting God alone, which they should have done; and, as if they were seeking answers from the dead, they took pleasure in being deceived by the illusions of demons.

How solemnly the Lord had forbidden it appears very clearly from Deuteronomy 18:10-11, and other passages; and we have seen something of this kind in an earlier part of this book (Isaiah 8:19). In general, we are taught that God demands nothing more than obedience, which he prefers to slain beasts and sacrifices (1 Samuel 15:22).

Who eat swine’s flesh. Previously, he complained that the worship of God was polluted by strange inventions. Now he adds that they set aside every distinction, so that they do not distinguish between the clean and the unclean; and he brings forward a single instance: that they do not abstain from “swine’s flesh.”

But it may be thought that this was a small matter. Very far from it; for we should not judge from our own opinion, but from that of the legislator, how heinous a sin it is; and nothing that the Lord has forbidden should be considered trivial (Leviticus 11:7; Deuteronomy 14:8).

This related to the external profession of faith, by which the Jews were duty-bound to testify how widely they differed from the pollution of the Gentiles. Therefore, from that rule which the Lord enjoins on us, we must not swerve even a hair’s breadth.

Remain by thyself. He points out extreme impiety in the Jews, who obstinately and rebelliously opposed God’s worshippers, and refused to listen to any warnings. There is some hope of repentance, so long as we lend an ear to warnings and reproofs; but if we reject them, our case is undoubtedly hopeless.

Though the words are apparently obscure, their meaning amounts to this: hypocrites disdainfully and fiercely repel faithful advisers because they either make false claims to holiness or, on account of pride, do not allow themselves to be reproved. For hypocrisy is never free from supercilious disdain and haughtiness.

Let us not wonder, therefore, that those who are infected by this vice swell with insolent pretensions, boast of their virtue and holiness, and value themselves more highly than all others. Satan has blinded them to make an idle and ostentatious boast of what they call their devotions and to despise the word of God.

Commentators think that this is a general statement, which reproves the Jews for refusing to submit to the prophets. But it appears to me that we should take into account a circumstance to which they do not give sufficient weight: this verse is in close and immediate connection with the preceding verses. It contains a sharp reproof of the Jews, not only for revolting from the true worship but also for obstinately following their own inventions, so that they turn with disdain from everyone who did not flatter them. For that phrase, “Remain with thyself,” means nothing else than “Away with thee!” as if they declared that they would have nothing to do with honest instructors.