John Calvin on Isaiah 19:25

25. Because the Lord of hosts will bless him. {Bogus footnote} He assigns a reason, and explains the former statement; for he shews that, through the undeserved goodness of God, the Assyrians and Egyptians shall be admitted to fellowship with the chosen people of God. As if he had said, “Though these titles belonged exclusively to Israel, they shall likewise be conferred on other nations, which the Lord hath adopted to be his own.” There is a mutual relation between God and his people, so that they who are called by his mouth “a holy people,” (Exodus 19:6,) may justly, in return, call him their God. Yet this designation is bestowed indiscriminately on Egyptians and Assyrians.

Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands. Though the Prophet intended to describe foreign nations as associated with the Jews who had belonged to God’s household, yet he employs most appropriate marks to describe the degrees. By calling the Egyptians “the people of God,” he means that they will share in the honor which God deigned to bestow in a peculiar manner on the Jews alone. When he calls Assyrians the work of his hands, he distinguishes them by the title peculiar to his Church. We have elsewhere remarked {Bogus footnote} that the Church is called “the workmanship” (τὸ ποίημα) of God, (Ephesians 2:10,) because by the spirit of regeneration believers are created anew, so as to bear the image of God. Thus, he means that we are “the work of God’s hands,” not so far as we are created to be men, but so far as they who are separated from the world, and become new creatures, are created anew to a new life. Hence we acknowledge that in “newness of life” nothing ought to be claimed as our own, for we are wholly “the work of God.”

And Israel my inheritance. When he comes to Israel, he invests him with his prerogative, which is, that he is the inheritance of God, so that among the new brethren he still holds the rank and honor of the first-born. The word inheritance suggests the idea of some kind of superiority; and indeed that covenant which the Lord first made with them, bestowed on them the privilege which cannot be made void by their ingratitude; for “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance,” as Paul declares, (Romans 11:29,) who shews that in the house of God they are the first-born. (Ephesians 2:12.) Although therefore the grace of God is now more widely spread, yet they still hold the highest rank, not by their own merit, but by the firmness of the promises.

CHAPTER 20

Isaiah Chapter 20:1-6

1. In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;

1. Anno quo venit Thartan in Asdod, cum misisset eum Sargon rex Assyriæ, oppugnassetque Asdod, et cepisset;

2. At the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah the son Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

2. Tempore illo, inquam, loquutus est Iehova iu manu Isaiæ filii Amoz, dicendo: Vade et solve saccum de lumbis tuis, et calceamentum tuum exrahe de pede tuo; fecitque sic, ambulans nudus et discalceatus.

3. And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;

3. Et dixit Iehova: Sicut ambulavit servus meus Isaias nudus et discalceatus tribus annis, signum et portentum super Ægypto et Ethiopia;

4. So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

4. Ita abducet rex Assur captivitatem Ægypti, et transmigrationem Æthiopiæ juvenum et senum, nudam et discalceatam, et discoopertos natibus in ignominiam Ægypti.

5. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.

5. Et timebunt, et pudefient ab Æthiopia respectu suo, et ab Ægypto gloriatione (vel, pulchritudine) sua.

6. And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?

6. Dicetque incola insulæ hujus in die illa; Ecce, quomodo habeat respectus noster, quo confugimus auxilii causa, ut liberemur a facie regis Assur; et quomodo effugiemus nos?