Ver. 1. The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.] An august title or inscription, such as is not to be found in the whole book again, unless it be in the former chapter. There, alas! he had laboured in vain, and spent his strength for nought, and in vain. [as Isaiah 49:4] Howbeit, he will try again, as considering that he had lost many a worse labour; and although his report were not believed, (Isaiah 53:1) yet he would bestow one more sermon upon them, the short notes and general heads whereof we have in this and the two following chapters: I say, the general heads, for Calvin in his preface to this book telleth us, that it was the manner of the holy prophets to gather a compendious sum of what they had preached to the people, and the same to affix to the gates of the temple, that the prophecy might be the better viewed and learned of all, after which it was taken down by the priest, and put into the treasury of the temple, for the benefit of after ages.
Ver. 2. And it shall come to pass, &c.] [See Trapp on “Mic 4:1”] where we shall find that that prophet ha th the same words with this αυτολεξει. So hath Obadiah the same with Jeremiah, St Mark with St Matthew, St Jude with St Peter, the blessed Virgin in her Magnificat with holy Hannah in her Canticle, &c.
Ver. 3. And many people shall go and say, &c.] [See Trapp on “Mic 4:2”] where we shall find that that prophet hath the same words with this αυτολεξει. So hath Obadiah the same with Jeremiah, St Mark with St Matthew, St Jude with St Peter, the blessed Virgin in her Magnificat with holy Hannah in her Canticle, &c.
Ver. 4. And he shall judge among the nations, &c.] [See Trapp on “Mic 4:3”] where we sh all find that that prophet hath the same words with this αυτολεξει. So hath Obadiah the same with Jeremiah, St Mark with St Matthew, St Jude with St Peter, the blessed Virgin in her Magnificat with holy Hannah in her Canticle, &c.
Ver. 5. O house of Jacob.] So Micah 2:7, “O thou that art called the house of Jacob, and the house of Israel.” (Isaiah 5:7) Thou that art “called a Jew, and makest thy boast of God.” (Romans 2:17) This Rupertus maketh to be the voice and advice of the converted and Christian Gentiles to the Jews; others, of our prophet to his perverse countrymen to join with the Gentiles, or rather to go before them as worthy guides in heavenly ways, and not to lie behind those whom they have so much slighted. Let us walk in the light of the Lord.] That is, in the law of the Lord (for Lex est Lux, Law is light, Proverbs 6:23) and not by the sparks of our own tinder boxes, (Isaiah 50:11) not by the rush candle of philosophical prescriptions. Let us “walk in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.” [as Acts 9:31] Per semulationem provocat. -Oecolamp.
Ver. 6. Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people.] Or, But thou hast, &c. By a sad apostrophe to God, he sets forth the Jews’ dereliction and destruction irrecoverable, together with the causes of it, their impiety, cruelty, &c., but especially their contempt of Christ and his kingdom. Let us beware and be warned by their example. (Romans 11:7-10) To be forsaken of God is the greatest mischief. Lay hold upon him, therefore, with Mary Magdalene, and say, Nobiscum, Christe, maneto: Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam. Because they be replenished from the East.] Or, They are fuller than the East—-that is, more superstitious than the Syrians and Mesopotamians, Balaam’s countrymen. Ethnicismum illis improperat. Josephus tells us, that a little before Christ came in the flesh, Herod had brought into Judea many superstitions of the Gentiles; and it appeareth by the first of Maccabees, that the Greeks had their schools at Jerusalem; and by the gospel, that the Pharisees held Pythagoras’s transanimation, and many other pagan traditions. And are soothsayers like the Philistines.] These were west of Judea. (Isaiah 9:12) The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind. These were great soothsayers and sorcerers, and the Jews were tainted with that contagion, as sin is more catching than the plague. The vanity of this practice Cicero saw when he said, potest augur augurem videre et non ridere? And they please themselves in the children of strangers.] They applaud and approve of their customs and commerces. Some think they are there taxed of paederasty, or sodomy, and that they boasted of it, as that odious Johannes a Casa did in print. Δεινωσις est in apostrophe. Antiq., lib. xvi. cap. 10. Augurium, quasi avigerium. Adhaeserunt. -Vulg. In usu habent. -Chald.
Ver. 7. Their land also is full of silver.] They had forsaken the fountain of living waters, and now they hew them out broken cisterns; they have made their gold their god, which is a more subtle kind of idolatry, (Colossians 3:5) dum sibi ipsis numen quoddam larariura constant. But though their houses were full of silver and gold, their hearts were not; for they were vexed with the curse of dissatisfaction. (Ecclesiastes 5:10) “ Auri nempe fames parto fit maior ab auro. ’’— Prudentius. Neither is there any end of their treasures.] Josephus saith that there was a world of money found at Jerusalem when taken by the Romans; so there was at Constantinople when taken by the Turks; and therefore taken, because the inhabitants could not find in their hearts to part with it, though for their own defence. Their land also is full of horses.] And their hearts of creature confidence, -trust in the arm of flesh; as Josephus testifieth that the Jews were this way very faulty about the time of the last devastation.