Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
Lecture One Hundred and Seventeenth
We explained yesterday why the Prophet says that God went forth for the salvation of the elect people with his Christ. His purpose was to confirm still more the faithful in the hope of their deliverance; for God is not only the same, and never changes his purpose, but the same Mediator also performs his office, through whom the people were formerly preserved. We must also notice this difference, to which I referred yesterday; for as God had then more clearly manifested Christ, with more cheerfulness it behaved the faithful to go on, as they had so remarkable a pledge of God's favor, inasmuch as God had promised that the kingdom of God would be for ever.
He adds, that wounded was the head from the house of the wicked; that is, that there was no power which had not been laid prostrate by God for the sake of his people; and we know that all the great kings were formerly destroyed, in order that favor might be shown to God's people. The other comparison seems different, and yet its object is the same---that God had made bare the foundation to the neck; that is, that he had destroyed from the roots his enemies; for by foundation he means, in a metaphorical sense, whatever stability there was in these enemies, and that this was torn up and overthrown to the very neck, that is, to the very summit; for the body of men, we know, is covered from the neck to the feet. And he says that their houses, that is their families, were made bare to the neck, for the Lord had destroyed them all from the bottom to the top. We now understand what the Prophet meant.
As to the word {,}סלהselah, I have hitherto said nothing; but I shall now briefly refer to what the Hebrew interpreters think. Some explain it by {,}לעולםlaoulam, ``for ever;'' and by {,}עד{ }ועדod uod, ``yet and yet;'' as though, when this word is inserted, the Holy Spirit pronounced what is to be for ever. Others render it by {,}אמןamen, as though God testified that what is said is true and indubitable. But as it never occurs except in this song and in the Psalms, and does not always comport with what they say, that is, that it denotes certainty or perpetuity, I prefer embracing the opinion of those who think that it refers to singing, and not to things. And what they add is also probable, if we regard its etymology, for the word means to raise or to elevate; and it was therefore put down to remind the singers to raise their voice.
But as it is a thing of no great importance, it is enough shortly to state what others think. Let us now go on--- Habakkuk 3:14
14. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
14. Perforasti baculis ejus caput villarum ejus; prosilierunt instar turbinis ad dispellendum me; exultatio eorum sicut ad vorandum pauperem in abscondito.
At the beginning of this verse the Prophet pursues the same subject---that God had wounded all the enemies of his people; and he says that the head of villages or towns had been wounded, though some think that {,}פרזיםperezim, mean rather the inhabitants of towns; for the Hebrews call fortified towns or villages {,}פרזות perezut, and the word is commonly found in the feminine gender; but as it is here a masculine noun, it is thought that it means the inhabitants. At the same time
MINOR PROPHETS
this does not much affect the subject; for the Prophet simply means, that not only things had been overthrown by God's hand, but also all the provinces under their authority; as though he had said that God's vengeance, when his purpose was to defend his people, advanced through all the villages and through every region, so that not a corner was safe. 67 But we must also notice what follows---with his rods.
The Prophet means that the wicked had been smitten by their own sword. Though the word rods is put here, it is yet to be taken for all kinds of instruments or weapons; it is the same as though it was said that they had been wounded by their own hands. 68
We now perceive the import of this clause---that God not only put forth his strength when he purposed to crush the enemies of his people, but that he had also smitten them with infatuation and madness, so that they destroyed themselves by their own hands. And this was done, as in the case of the Midianites, who, either by turning their swords against one another, fell by mutual wounds, or by slaying themselves, perished by their own hands. (Judges 7:2.) We indeed often read of the wicked that they ensnared themselves, fell into the pit which they had made, and, in short, perished through their own artifices; and the Prophet says here that the enemies of the Church had fallen, through God's singular kindness, though no one rose up against them; for they had transfixed or wounded themselves by their own staff.
Some read---``Thou hast cursed his sceptres and the head of his villages;'' but the interpretation which I have given is much more appropriate.
He adds, that they came like a whirlwind. It is indeed a verb in the future tense; but the sentence must be thus rendered---``When they rushed as a whirlwind to cast me down, when their exultation was to devour the poor in their hiding-places.'' It is indeed only a single verb, but it comes from {,}סערsor, which means a whirlwind, and we cannot render it otherwise than by a paraphrase. They rushed, he says, like a whirlwind. The Prophet here enlarges on the subject of God's power, for he had checked the enemies of his people when they rushed on with so much impetuosity.
Had their advance been slow God might have frustrated their attempts without a miracle, but as their own madness rendered them precipitate, and made them to be like a whirlwind, God's power was more clearly known in restraining such violence.
We now understand the import of what is here said; for the Prophet's special object is not to complain of the violent and impetuous rage of enemies, but to exalt the power of God in checking the violent assaults of those enemies whom he saw raging against his people.
He subjoins, their exultation was to devour the poor. He intimates that there was nothing in the world capable of resisting the wicked, had not God brought miraculous help from heaven; for when they came to devour the poor, they came not to wage war, but to devour the prey like wild beasts. Then he says, to devour the poor in secret. He means, that the people of God had no strength to resist, except help
67The Keri and many MSS. read [{,[{`` פרזיוhis villages;'' but there is no need of this change, for the singular is used throughout instead of the plural, until we come to the two following lines; and this proves that the singular is to be taken in a collective sense. Henderson renders it ``captains,'' contrary to the meaning of the word in other parts. It means an open unfortified village, as it were scattered, and without any boundaries.---Ed.
68Newcome and some others, without any authority, read "thy rod;" but conjecture, without some solid reason, cannot be allowed.—Ed.