Isaiah 30

Wesley: behold—here he gives them an earnest of those greater mercies in times to come, by assuring them of the approaching destruction of the Assyrian forces. The name—the Lord himself. From far—from a remote place: even from heaven. Heavy—he will inflict heavy judgments upon them. Indignation—he hath pronounced a severe sentence against them, and will give command for the execution of it. The name from afar is still the Lord himself against Asshur.

They might yet behold. Burning anger is the Lord’s sentence on that army, already pronounced. Wesley’s earnest is the Assyrian fall as pledge of mercies still named in Isaiah’s hearing.

Calvin: behold the name of the Lord cometh. He threatens the destruction of the Assyrians, who were at that time the chief enemies of the Church. By the name of God he unquestionably means God himself. Ungodly men, when they do not perceive the hand of God, think that he is at a great distance, and mock at the confidence of believers as groundless. God, whom they thought to be at a great distance, will come, or rather, has already come, and is at hand. To the ungodly he holds out nothing but fear and terror. His burden is heavy: the Lord will bring with him dreadful calamities, which the ungodly will not be able to endure.

They shall learn that the sound which proceedeth from the sacred name of God is not idle thunder. The coming is against Asshur in Isaiah’s century.

Wesley: his breath—God's anger. A stream—coming from him as vehemently, as a mighty torrent of waters. To sift—to shake and scatter, as it were with a sieve. The nations—the Assyrian army, which was made up of several nations. With—not with an ordinary sieve, which casteth away the chaff only, but with a sieve, which should shake them so long and so vehemently, as to cast away altogether. A bridle—God will over-rule them by his powerful providence. To err—whereas other bridles guide into the right way, this shall turn them out of the way, by giving them up to their own foolish counsels, which shall bring them to certain ruin.

They might yet see Asshur given up to his own counsel.

Calvin: the Church will indeed be chastised, but yet the Assyrians shall utterly perish; they will be plunged into the deep by the Spirit of God. He will shake the Assyrians with a sieve of vanity, a useless sieve, intended not to preserve, but to destroy; for, in another sense, the Lord is wont to sift his own people also, so as to gather them like good grain into the barn. A bridle causing to err: the Lord commonly restrains his own people by a bridle in order to bring them to obedience; he restrains wicked men in such a manner as to cast them down headlong to destruction.

The Lord chastises both, but in different ways—the children of God, that they may be purified and preserved—and the reprobate, that they may be cast down headlong and destroyed.

Wesley: a song—you shall have songs of praise. The night—he seems to have a particular respect to the solemnity of the passover, in which they spent some considerable part of the night in rejoicing, and singing psalms before the Lord. As when—like the joy of one that is going up to the solemn feasts with musick.

They might yet sing.

Calvin: all the punishments which he threatened against the Assyrians shall tend to the advantage of the Church; the Lord punishes the outrages committed against his people not less severely than if they had been committed against himself. This song will be sacred, and compared to a holy solemnity, in order to excite believers to thankfulness; they shall not dance, as irreligious men do, but shall raise and fix their eyes on God. He calls it a song of the night, because the Jews began the day at sunset. By the mountain he means the temple which was built on the mountain. He calls God the Mighty One of Israel, because it was by his assistance that they had been redeemed and preserved.

In future they will not be safe in any other way than by placing their hope in God alone. The flute and the Rock stay with that generation’s feast.”

Wesley: his voice—his thunder, metaphorically taken for some terrible judgment. The lightning—upon the Assyrian. With—with great wrath; which is signified by heaping so many words of the same signification together.

God’s voice and arm are revealed in storm and fire against Assyria. The imagery of thunder and hail recalls his great acts of deliverance in Israel’s past.

Calvin: the destruction shall be such that men will be constrained to hear the voice of God; that is, to acknowledge his judgment, and to confess that this calamity hath proceeded from him, as if he had spoken openly. The event will be so manifest, that there shall be no one who does not understand that this calamity proceeded from the mouth, that is, from the decree of God. Whatever he has decreed he likewise executes, and his hand can never be separated from his mouth. We must not dream, as the Rabbins do, that the Assyrians were struck by a thunderbolt, for their conjecture is excessively frivolous; the Prophet, by these comparisons, describes the judgment of God.

Though they were heavily afflicted, a far more dreadful judgment would soon fall on their enemies. The storm is still over Asshur.

Wesley heads these verses: the approaching destruction of the Assyrian forces. He does not gloss this verse. The Assyrians terror-stricken at the voice sit between the hailstones of v. 30 and the founded rod of v. 32: Asshur is beaten by that voice, not by Egypt’s horses.

They might yet hear that the name from afar is enough.

Calvin: surely by the voice of Jehovah. He added this for two reasons; first, to shew why the Assyrian must be bruised; since he was cruel and savage to others, it is proper that the same measure which he meted should be measured to him again. The second reason is, because the power of the Assyrian king appeared to be so great that he could not fall. Although he was fortified on every hand, yet by the voice of God alone he shall be bruised. In order to destroy them, the Lord will have no need of any other arms than his own voice; by the slightest expression of his will he will lay them low.

The Prophet intends to withdraw the minds of believers from earthly means, that they may not inquire how it shall be done, but may be satisfied with the bare promise of God. Asshur falls in that history.

Wesley: the rod—Hebrew. The founded rod, the judgment of God, called a founded rod, because it was firmly established, by God's immutable purpose. Him—upon the Assyrian. With harps—their destruction shall be celebrated by God's people, with joy and musick, and songs of praise. Of shaking—or, shaking of the hand, of which kind of shaking this Hebrew word is constantly used. God will fight against them, and destroy them by his own hand. With it—with the army of the Assyrians.

They might yet keep feast while the founded rod falls. Immutable purpose here is the Lord’s settled stroke on Asshur. Believers should not rename tambourines and lyres every generation.

Calvin: the Assyrians will in vain try every method of escaping from the hand of God; wherever they go, whether they attempt to go forward or to turn back, the hand of God shall pursue them. That wound is so deeply fixed that it cannot be shaken off or removed. In like manner, the weight of God's wrath lies on the reprobate, and holds them weighed down to the end. With tabrets and harps: the issue of the battle will not be doubtful; as soon as God determines to go forth to fight, he already holds the victory in his hand. Tabrets and harps are expressive of the joy of conquerors, when they shout aloud and chant the song of victory.

We, too, are chastened by the hand of God, but the wounds do not always last; our grief is turned into joy. The appointed staff stays with Asshur, not a later cipher for brandished arm.

Wesley: Tophet—this was a place near Jerusalem, in which the idolatrous Israelites used to offer up their children to Moloch. It may be put, for any place of torment; and particularly it is put for hell. For the king—for the king of Assyria. Fire—he alludes to the ancient custom, of burning sacrifices, and particularly of burning children to Moloch. The breath—the immediate hand of God, or his word of anger. Brimstone—he seems to allude to that shower of fire and brimstone, Gen. xix, 24. The burning place is still prepared for that king.

They might yet fear the breath that kindles it. Wesley and Calvin both keep this fire as the Lord’s against Asshur’s king.

Calvin: for Tophet is ordained. The Prophet goes on to threaten the vengeance of God, and says that not only a temporary calamity, but also everlasting destruction awaits the wicked; for hell is prepared for them, and not merely for persons of ordinary rank, but likewise for the king himself and the nobles. By Tophet he unquestionably means Hell; not that we must fancy to ourselves some place in which the wicked are shut up, as in a prison, after their death; but it denotes their miserable condition and excruciating torments. Since yesterday: of old, since the beginning of the world, the Lord hath determined what punishments he shall inflict on them. Yea, for the king. He has prepared: not even kings, who are supposed to enjoy some peculiar privilege, are exempted from this punishment. He speaks of the punishments of the life to come, in addition to the distresses which they suffer in this life.

Let us not judge of the lot of the wicked according to outward appearances; let us wait for the Lord, who in due time will execute his righteous judgment.