Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew Mark and Luke John Calvin (continued)
Luke 1:51-55
LUKE 1:51-55
Luke 1:51-55 51. He hath done might 55 with his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the thought of their heart. 52. He hath cast down the nobles from their thrones, and hath exalted mean persons. 53. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and hath sent the rich away empty. 54. He hath lifed up his servant Israel, so as to be mindful of his mercy, 55. As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
51. He hath done might This means, "he hath wrought powerfully." The arm of God is contrasted with every other aid: as in Isaiah, "I looked, and there was none to help," (Isaiah 63:5;) "therefore," says he elsewhere, "his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him," (Isaiah 59:16.)
Mary therefore means: God rested satisfied with his own power, employed no companions in the work, called none to afford him aid. What immediately follows about the proud may be supposed to be added for one of two reasons: either because the proud gain nothing by endeavoring, like the giants of old, to oppose God; or, because God does not display the power of his arm for salvation, except in the case of the humble, while the proud, who arrogate much to themselves, are thrown down To this relates the exhortation of Peter, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God," (1 Peter 5:6.)
He hath scattered56 the proud in the thought of their heart57 This expression is worthy of notice: for as their pride and ambition are outrageous, as their covetousness is insatiable, they pile up their deliberations to form an immense heap, and, to say all in a single word, they build the tower of Ba-
55"Il a besongne puissament par son bras." — "He hath wrought powerfully by his arm." 56{διεσχόρπισεν},, he utterly discomfits, a metaphor derived from putting to flight a defeated enemy. The word not unfrequently occurs in the Septuagint, but very rarely in the classical writers; though one example is adduced by Kuinoel from Aelian, Var. Hist. 13:46: {τοὺς} {μέν} {διεσχόζπισεν}, {οὓς}, (read {τοὺς}) {δὲ} {ἀπέχτειενε}." — Bloomfield's Greek Testament.
57"La ou nous avons rendu, Il a dissipe, le mot Grec signifie proprement, Il a escarte ou espars."