John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 8:19

"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living [should they seek] unto the dead?" — Isaiah 8:19 (ASV)

And when they shall say to you. Isaiah continues the former subject, which is, that all the godly should not only use the authority of God as a shield, but should fortify themselves with it as a brazen wall, to contend against all ungodliness. He therefore entreats them to resist courageously if anyone should tempt them to superstition and unlawful modes of worship. He employs the plural number to signify that it was a vice which pervaded all ranks and which abounded everywhere; as if he had said, “I see what will happen; you will be placed in great danger, for your countrymen will endeavor to draw you away from the true God; for, being themselves ungodly, they will wish you to resemble them.” At the same time, he shows how wickedly they had departed from God’s law and covenant, by shamelessly promoting diviners and soothsayers, whose name they ought to have held in abhorrence.

Should not a people ask counsel of their God? Some read these words in connection with what goes before, applying them to the ungodly, as if this were a pretense which they abused to deceive the simple; because there is no nation that does not have oracles and revelations, but every nation consults its gods, or, in place of them, magicians and soothsayers.

But what I reckon to be the more correct view is that Isaiah advises his disciples to give this answer if they should happen to be tempted to wicked modes of worship. Still, the meaning is not fully clarified, for this passage is commonly expounded as if it were a comparison drawn from the lesser to the greater.

“What! Since the Gentiles consult their gods, and yet these gods are false, should we not more highly esteem Him whom we know to be the true God, and who has revealed Himself to us by so many proofs? What a shame it will be if their idols are more highly valued by the Gentiles than God is by us!”

But I interpret this as referring to the Jews themselves, who were called by way of eminence (κατ’ ἐξοχήν) the people, because God had adopted them. Nor is it of any importance that the Prophet employs the plural form אלהיו (elohaiv), for אלהים (elohim) is used as in the singular number.

This is a shield by which all the superstitions that come imperceptibly upon us ought to be repelled. While some ponder and hesitate whether or not it is proper to consult diviners, let us have this answer ready: that God alone ought to be consulted.

The Prophet alludes to that passage in Deuteronomy in which the Lord forbade them to go to magicians and soothsayers. Lest they should excuse themselves on the pretense that every nation had its interpreters or fortune-tellers, He added that they would not cease to have a Prophet or be deprived of necessary instruction (Deuteronomy 18:10–15). It was therefore the will of the Lord that they should depend entirely on His word, learn from it alone whatever was useful for them to know, and render obedience to Him.

From the living to the dead. The preposition בעד (begnad) is variously rendered: frequently it is translated for; and in that case, the meaning will be, “Shall the dead be consulted for the business of the living?” But as that meaning is forced, it would perhaps be better to explain it thus: “The Lord desires to be our teacher, and for that purpose has appointed prophets, that we may learn from them His will, for a prophet is the mouth of the Lord. It is therefore unlawful to go to the dead, who have not been appointed for that end, for God did not intend to make use of the dead for instructing us.”

But when I examine the whole matter more closely, I prefer to consider בעד (begnad) to mean from, that is, from the living to the dead; as if he had said, “One God is sufficient for us for the living and the dead. If you search through heaven, earth, and hell, you will find that one God is sufficient for us.” This is, I think, the best sense and flows naturally.

Accordingly, the Prophet arms the godly against the schemes and contrivances of wicked men, by whom they might otherwise have been tempted to revolt, with the exhortation to be satisfied with God alone as their teacher, and not to offer Him such an insult as to disregard His instruction and seek other teachers, but to cast away everything else and depend on His truth alone, which the Prophet immediately afterwards again repeats and confirms.