Isaiah 65

Wesley: the primary sense is the conversion of the Gentiles upon the rejection of the Jews for contempt and crucifying of Christ; St. Paul, Rom. 10:20, expressly so applies it. Sought—a diligent enquiry in things relating to God. I invited whole nations by the preaching of my gospel, doubling my words, unto a nation not called by my name, with whom I was not in covenant.

Here I am, here I am is importunity—the gospel sincerely held out to those who had not asked. Nations first; then the church gathered from them. Shared ground with Calvin: Paul reads Gentiles here.

Calvin: the Gentiles were anticipated by grace and brought no merit; they neither call on the Lord, nor seek him, nor think about him. Behold I, behold I—he has manifested himself so that foreign nations do not doubt he dwells in the midst of them. Paul says Isaiah boldly affirms the Gentiles have been called; we were called by an eternal purpose long before the event.

Grace first, no seeking merit. Same Here I am to a nation not called by his name; the accent is anticipation of the unseeking, not their inquiry.

Wesley: applied to the Jews, Rom. 10:21. I have stretched out my hands, I have used all means to reduce them: the hands of a passionate orator to persuade them, of a liberal benefactor to load them with my benefits; this I have done continually in the whole course of my providence with them.

All means, all day, persuasion. They could have been reduced; they followed their own devices. Judah; the church still sees those hands.

Calvin: he accuses the Jews of ingratitude; there is no reason they should say the Lord does them wrong if he bestow grace on others. Stretching out the hands is the daily invitation by the word; he even embraces us, so that if we do not comply it is owing entirely to our own fault. Nothing is more displeasing than for men to be self-willed, devoted to their own inclinations.

“Hands”—the word near; they alienated themselves through madness. Same stretched hands; the fork is how the invitation lands, not whether it was held out.

Wesley: to my face—with the utmost impudence, not taking notice of God’s omnipresence and omniscience. In gardens—directly contrary to the divine rule.

Judah practices idolatry in its gardens. They provoke a God who already sees. Shared ground with Calvin: invented worship to his face.

Calvin: they forsook the command and polluted themselves by superstitions. The origin of all superstitions is that men are delighted with their own inventions. To my face—they sin more heinously, having been warned by his word. Gardens and bricks are altars he abhorred, contrary to his word, even if they imitated the appointed form.

God asks for obedience, not invention. Same gardens; the beginning and perfection of lawful worship is a readiness to obey.

Wesley: they remained among the graves, consulting with devils, who were thought to delight in such places, or to practice necromancy, all forbidden (Deut 18:11). Monuments—idol temples, or caves in which the heathens worshipped. Broth of abominable things—flesh unclean by the law.

Necromancy and unclean meat in Judah. Shared ground: they chose what he forbade.

Calvin: instead of consulting God alone they consulted demons in graves and deserts. How solemnly the Lord had forbidden it appears from Deuteronomy 18:10. God demands nothing more than obedience, which he prefers to slain beasts (1 Sam 15:22). Swine’s flesh is not trivial: nothing the Lord has forbidden ought to be reckoned trivial.

Disobedience in small-looking things is still revolt. Same graves and pig’s flesh; the issue is his word, not their taste.

Wesley: thus they esteemed themselves holier than others, though all their holiness lay in rituals, and those too such as God never commanded. These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day—a continual provocation; as smoke is an offense to our noses.

Their ritual pride is not holiness. Hypocrites; the church still hates that smoke. Shared ground with Calvin: Keep to yourself is disdain, not devotion.

Calvin: hypocrites disdainfully repel faithful advisers. Hypocrisy is never free from supercilious disdain; Remain by thyself means Away with thee. They boast of holiness and despise the word. The verse is in close connection with the preceding: not only revolt, but obstinate inventions.

They will not be reproved. Same fire all the day; hope of repentance lasts only while the ear is still lent to warnings.

Wesley: they may think I take no notice of these things; but I will as certainly remember them as princes that record things in writing which they would not forget.

He is not silent from ignorance. The record is already before him. Repayment; the church still knows he will not keep silent. Shared ground: it is written before me.

Calvin: judges keep processes in writing; the Lord testifies these things can never fade into oblivion. We must not abuse God’s patience; all our faults are written before him. To recompense into the bosom is frequent in Scripture; men think sins concealed, but he will recompense into their bosom.

Slow judgment is not forgetfulness. Same repayment into the lap; he is a righteous judge.

Wesley: when I reckon with them, I will punish them not only for their personal sins, but for the sins of their parents, which they have made their own by imitation. I will not only punish the late sins, but the former sins of this kind which those that went before did commit, and they have continued in.

Imitation makes the fathers’ sins their own. Hills; the church still refuses that heritage. Shared ground: offerings on the mountains insult him.

Calvin: this treason is ancient; they follow the fathers’ footsteps. The son does not bear the father’s iniquity (Ezek 18:20) as if innocent, but they carry on the crimes and are condemned in the same judgment. Incense on the mountains stands for the whole revolt; pretended worship from human contrivance is abominable. Antiquity is no shield for superstition.

“Measure”—long obstinacy, not a surprise in heaven. Same lap-payment; length of years does not turn error into law.

Wesley: these words may be conceived as a gracious answer from God to the prophet, pleading God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. His threatening should be made good upon the generality of this people. Yet as in a vineyard generally unfruitful there may be some vine that brings forth fruit: Destroy it not, for a blessing. So will I do for my servants’ sake—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—that I may not destroy them all.

A remnant for the patriarchs’ sake; not all destroyed. Judah first; the gospel still finds wine in the cluster.

Calvin: he softens the preceding hardness so believers may not think salvation past hope. As a man finding a grape in a cluster spares it, the Lord will not tear up those in whom he finds flavor. He will punish so as to have regard to his own, and not involve all universally in the same destruction. The remnant will be small compared with the multitude (Isa 1:9).

His own, not the whole mass. Same blessing in the cluster; the accent is the elect plants he will not tear up by the roots.

Wesley: God farther promises to bring out of Judah an inheritor of his mountains, which refers to the Jews’ return out of the captivity of Babylon to Jerusalem, to worship God in his temple upon mount Zion. Mine elect—my chosen ones; the term signifies such as are dignified with some special favour. The whole nation of the Jews are called a chosen people.

Return to Zion first; elect can name the nation he favored. Gospel church still dwells as servants. Shared ground: offspring from Jacob; servants shall dwell there.

Calvin: the Lord reserves some seed that shall call upon him; the Church shall exist as the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim 3:15). Heirs of my mountains are those who, having returned from captivity, inhabit their native land. This grace is confined to the elect and true worshippers of God, that every one may not apply it to himself without distinction.

Elect possessors, not every Judahite. Same mountains after exile; do not judge the Church from the present ruin.

Wesley: Sharon was a place of great fruitfulness for pastures. It was become like a wilderness; God here promises that it should again be a place for the flocks.

Sharon and Achor restored for those who sought him. Gospel people still seek. Shared ground with Calvin: my people who have sought me.

Calvin: the land that was a desert shall be again inhabited; Sharon and Achor fit for flocks and herds. Earthly blessings invite us to heavenly ones. He excludes the reprobate who glory vainly in the name of God. The sure mark that distinguishes lambs from kids is to seek the Lord; it is not enough to shelter under a title.

Those who seek the LORD are blessed, not those who merely bear his name. Same Sharon; seeking with a pure conscience is the mark.

Wesley: to forget God’s holy mountains signifies not to regard the true worship of God. Zion is his holy mountain. That troop—the idols of the ten tribes and of the Assyrians were a troop, whereas the God of Israel was one God. Preparing a table—the feasts they made upon their sacrifices. Number—the multitude of their idols.

They set a table for Fortune and fill cups for Destiny. Shared ground: they forget my holy mountain.

Calvin: hypocrites must not abuse the restoration promises. Forsakers have forgotten Mount Zion—the rule of a holy life laid down in the word. Gad he takes as a troop or army of false gods; they fill an oblation to the number, honoring many idols. Superstition has no limit.

Many gods, one forgotten mountain. Same Fortune and Destiny; no faith without the word (Rom 10:17).

Wesley: a great number of you shall perish by the sword; God saith he will number them, tell them out one by one to the sword. Bow down—as you have bowed down to idols. I called—by my prophets; you did not answer by doing the things which I enjoined. Chuse—you sinned deliberately, choosing sinful courses, the things which I hated.

They could have answered; they chose what he did not delight in. He called, they refused. Sword; the church still hears that because. Shared ground: when I called, you didn’t answer.

Calvin: I will number you to the sword—an allusion to the number of their gods. They sinned through deliberate malice rather than ignorance; those to whom the word is proclaimed will be condemned more severely. To hear the Lord is to obey; they did evil before mine eyes, as if to his face. They are condemned not for gross crimes only but for foolish devotions that corrupted worship. Men may take pleasure in these things; the Lord abhors them.

The word was near; they chose. Same slaughter for unanswered calling; no free choice to worship as we think fit.

Wesley has no separate note on vv. 13–14; the heading is judgments on the wicked and blessings on the godly (vv. 11–16). Servants eat, drink, and rejoice; the forsakers hunger and are shamed.

“Servants”—split inside Judah, then the gospel church. Shared ground with Calvin: my servants versus you.

Calvin: he distinguishes hypocrites who held a place in the Church from the true children. Empty titles shall avail them nothing. Eat and drink denote a prosperous condition, yet the kingdom of Christ is described under figures. Contentment does not lie in abundance but in calm peace of mind and spiritual joy; unbelievers have no relish for such things.

“Servants”—true children eat from the Father’s hand; the wicked, however full, cannot enjoy with a good conscience. Same contrast; prosperity is from God alone.

Wesley: still the godly/wicked split of the unit. Gladness of heart is the servants’ song; breaking of spirit is the wail of those who forsook the mountain.

The heart’s gladness is given, not seized. Servants; the church still sings. Shared ground: servants sing; you wail.

Calvin: he intends to state that contentment is spiritual joy. A persuasion of God’s fatherly love is more delightful than all earthly enjoyments. The wicked have continual fear and trembling; their conscience can never be at ease.

Fatherly love tasted; shame is already in the conscience.

Wesley: they shall use your names as examples of the eminent wrath of God upon sinners. Another name—he will not suffer his own people to be called by a name by which idolaters are known.

The chosen will not wear the forsakers’ label. Judah split; gospel servants receive another name (62:2). Shared ground: his servants he will call his servants by another name.

Calvin: God will separate hypocrites from true servants. Their name shall be a curse, a formula of cursing. He will adopt a new people; he is not confined to the Jews so as not to find others whom he shall adorn with the name of his people. Another name is not a curiosity about the word Christian; it is election of another people without being accused of fickleness.

New servants, old name a curse. Same putting to death of false boasting; he keeps his purpose against those who obscure his glory.

Wesley: God of truth—because they shall see what God promised is fulfilled. Are hid—that is, they are at an end.

Promises kept; former troubles ended. Return’s comfort first; the gospel church blesses itself by the same God of truth.

Calvin: the whole world is contrasted with a corner of Judea; God is worshipped in all places (John 4:21; 1 Tim 2:8). Blessing and swearing denote the whole worship of God. The true God is faithful to his promises. Former afflictions surrendered to forgetfulness began when the people came out of Babylon, and is extended to Christ.

Worldwide worship of the faithful God. Same forgotten troubles; the blessing is his truth, not a corner’s monopoly.