Isaiah 43

Yet you have not called on me, Jacob; but you have been weary of me, Israel. Wesley: For—God called to the Gentiles to be his people, because the Jews forsook him. Weary—thou hast not esteemed my service to be a privilege, but a burden and bondage.

The Jews’ forsaking is why God called the Gentiles; weariness is treating his service as bondage, not privilege. Jacob did not call; Israel was weary of the LORD. They forsook him; he is not discovering whether they would call. The Gentile-turn is Wesley’s reading of this verse’s “For.”

Thou hast not called on me. Calvin: Confirms they have no merits that induced him to act kindly. Calling on the name includes the whole worship of God, the chief part of which is calling upon him (Ps 50:15). Thou hast been wearied of me: they obeyed reluctantly; the Lord loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7); reluctant obedience is not sincere worship.

The charge is meritless, reluctant worship; calling-on-me is the whole of worship, not a Gentile-turn in this verse. Wesley reads it the same way: Jacob did not call; Israel was weary of the LORD.

You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings, neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense. Wesley: Honoured—either thou didst neglect sacrificing to me; or didst perform it merely out of custom or didst dishonour me, and pollute thy sacrifices by thy wicked life. Although—God had not laid such heavy burdens upon them, nor required such costly offerings, as might give them cause to be weary, nor such as idolaters did freely perform in the service of their idols.

Neglect, custom, or a wicked life pollutes the altar; God had not wearied them with costly demands the way idolaters wearied themselves. Empty cult; he had not burdened them.

God says they have not brought him their offerings. Calvin: why this reproach when they were careful to offer according to the Law? The rebuke is not limited to the captivity. They sacrificed but were wanting in faith and obedience; hands full of blood (Isa 1:15). God rejects services rendered in a slavish spirit.

The altar was busy and still rejected; faith and obedience were wanting; slavish spirit is not worship. Wesley says as much: they did not honor him with sacrifices; empty cult. Law and Isa 1:15. Largely shared with v. 24’s ceremonies without faith.

You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities. Wesley: Sweet cane—used in the precious ointment, Exod 30:34, and for the incense, Exod 30:7. Thou hast been niggardly in my service, when thou hast spared for no cost in the service of thine idols. Nor filled me—thou hast not multiplied thy thank-offerings and free-will offerings, though I have given thee sufficient occasion. But—thou hast made me to bear the load and burden of thy sins.

Niggardly toward the LORD, lavish toward idols; thank-offerings withheld; he bears the load of their sins. Both readings: empty cult; burden of sins.

Thou hast not bought cane. Calvin: They lost pains in ceremonies without faith. Made me to serve with thy sins: they endeavored to make God submit to them; treated him as a slave by rebellion. Ye have wearied me: God suffered much uneasiness; we wound him when we reject his voice.

Ceremonies without faith waste the cane; rebellion treats God as a slave; wearied means wounded by a rejected voice. Wesley agrees: niggardly or empty cult; he bears the burden of their sins.

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Wesley: I—I whom thou hast thus provoked. Mine own sake—not for thy merits, but my own mere goodness. Hear the second clause with his mere goodness—do not invent a unique Wesley sentence on forgetting.

The same “I” they provoked is the one who blots; pardon is mere goodness, not their merits. Shared loudly with Calvin: he blots out for his own sake, not for merits. He blots because he is he, already provoked, for his own sake—not because he learned whether to forgive.

I, I am he that blotteth out thy iniquities for mine own sake. Calvin: Contrasts his mercy with all other causes; not induced by anything else; wrong to ascribe redemption to merits or sacrifices. Freely bestowed redemption; pardon before deliverance. Speaks of punishment remitted, not guilt only—against sophists’ satisfactions, indulgences, purgatory. For mine own sake: he pays no regard to us; Ezekiel 36:22, not for your sakes. I will not remember thy sins: consolation to the godly; no one can be certain of pardon unless he rely on the absolute goodness of God.

Mercy has no other cause; Ezekiel 36:22, not for your sakes; certainty of pardon rests on absolute goodness. Shared loudly with Wesley: blot out for his own sake, not merits—Wesley’s mere goodness and Calvin’s absolute goodness name the same fountain. Calvin’s polemic against sophists’ satisfactions is Rome, not an Arminian-versus-Reformed atonement split.

Declare your case, that you may be justified. Wesley: Put me—I remember nothing by which thou hast deserved my favour.

The courtroom is empty; they have no remembered desert of favor. Both affirm: argue together; they will not be proved right by merits. He remembers nothing of their merit because there is none, not because he is still learning the file.

Put me in remembrance. Calvin: liberty to say whatever they please in their cause; vehement mockery that shuts mouths more completely than a sentence. Must strip the Jews of the mask of personal worth so they receive grace humbly.

The invitation to argue is mockery that closes the mouth; personal worth is a mask to be stripped so grace is received. Wesley concurs: they have no desert; the case is empty.

Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me. Wesley: Thy father—this may be put for their forefathers; as they were sinners, so also were their progenitors, yea even the best of them. Teachers—thy priests and prophets, who were their intercessors with God; if these were transgressors, the people had no reason to fancy themselves innocent.

Even the best fathers sinned; priests and prophets as intercessors were transgressors, so the people cannot plead innocence. Where they meet: first father and teachers; forefathers even the best; priests and prophets.

Thy first father sinned. Calvin: Not only Adam or Abraham; under Father he includes many ancestors. Teachers: priests and prophets who ought to have been guides were first to stumble. No class free from vices. Let them produce the smallest reason why I ought to protect them except my own goodness.

First father is many ancestors, not Adam-only or Abraham-only; guides stumbled first; no class is clean; the only remaining reason to protect them is his own goodness. Wesley reads it the same way: forefathers even the best; priests and prophets as teachers. Calvin’s “not only Adam or Abraham” is a refusal to pin the verse to one name, not a fight with Wesley’s “even the best of them.”

Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult. Wesley: Therefore—I have exposed them to contempt and destruction. Princes—the highest and best of your priests. Curse—to utter destruction, to which persons or things accursed were devoted.

The highest priests are exposed; curse here is devoted destruction, the old devoted-thing. Princes of the sanctuary profaned; Jacob delivered to destruction and Israel to reviling. Skip a thin fork with Calvin’s Deut 28 byword: both still read profaned priests and Jacob given over.

Therefore I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary. Calvin: God is said to pollute, that is, profane, his Church when he throws it aside. Jacob a curse and Israel a reproach: borrowed from Deut 28:37. So they might not complain the punishments were too severe.

Profane is God throwing his Church aside; curse and reproach echo Deut 28:37; the sentence is not too severe. Wesley says as much: princes of the sanctuary exposed; Jacob to destruction, Israel to reviling.