John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 65:2

"I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, that walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;" — Isaiah 65:2 (ASV)

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).