John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 7:13

"And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also?" — Isaiah 7:13 (ASV)

And he said, Hear now, O house of David. It was intolerable wickedness to exclude the power of God—which would maintain the truth of the promise—under the pretense of honor. Therefore, the Prophet is kindled to greater indignation and more sharply rebukes wicked hypocrites. Although it would have been honorable for them to be considered the descendants of David, provided that they imitated his piety, it is instead for the sake of reproach that he calls them the posterity or family of David. Indeed, it was no small aggravation of their baseness that the grace of God was rejected by that family from which the salvation of the whole world would proceed. Grievous disgrace must have been brought on them by naming their ancestry, from which they had so basely and shamefully degenerated.

This order should be carefully observed, for we should not begin with severe reproof, but with doctrine, so that people may be gently drawn by it. When plain and simple doctrine is not sufficient, proofs must be added. But if even this method produces no good effect, it then becomes necessary to employ greater vehemence. This is the manner in which we hear Isaiah thundering on the present occasion. After having presented to the king both doctrine and signs, he now resorts to the last remedy, sharply and severely reproving an obstinate man—and not him only, but the whole royal family, which was guilty of the same kind of impiety.

Is it a small thing for you to weary men? He makes a comparison between God and men. This is not because it is possible to make an actual separation between God and the prophets and holy teachers about whom he speaks—who are nothing other than God’s instruments and make common cause with Him when they discharge their duty. For about them the Lord testifies:

He who despiseth you despiseth me.
He who heareth you heareth me. (Luke 10:16)

The Prophet, therefore, adapts his message to the impiety of Ahaz and of those who resembled him, because they thought that they had to deal with men. Those very words were undoubtedly spoken in ancient times which we hear today from the mouths of the ungodly: “Are they not men that speak to us?” And in this way, they endeavor to disparage the doctrine which comes from God.

Since it was customary at that time for irreligious despisers of doctrine to use the same kind of language, the Prophet, by way of admission, says that those who performed the sacred office of teaching the word were men. He says, in effect: “So be it. You tell me that I am a mortal man. That is the light in which you view the prophets of God. But is it a small thing to weary us, if you do not also weary God? Now, you despise God by rejecting the sign of His astonishing power which He was willing to give to you. In vain, therefore, do you boast that you do not despise Him, and that you have to do with men, and not with God.” This, then, is the reason why the Prophet was so greatly enraged.

From this, we see more clearly what I mentioned a little before: that the proper time for giving reproofs is when we have attempted everything that God commanded and have neglected no part of our duty. We should then break out with greater vehemence and expose the ungodliness which lurked under those cloaks of hypocrisy.

My God. He formerly said, Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; for at that time Ahaz’s obstinacy and rebellion had not been clearly proven. But now the Prophet claims God as peculiar to himself, for Ahaz and those who resembled him had no right to boast of the name of God. He therefore implies that God is on his side and not on the side of those hypocrites. In this way, he testifies to his confidence, for he shows how conscientiously he promised deliverance to the king, as if he had said that he did not come unless God sent him, and that he said nothing but what he was commanded to say. All ministers should be endowed with the same boldness, not only to profess it but to have it deeply rooted in their hearts. The false prophets also boast of it loudly, but it is empty and meaningless talk, or a blind confidence arising from rashness.