Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
beyond all hope came from heaven. 69
The import of the whole is---that when the miserable Israelites were without any protection, and exposed to the rage and cruelty of their enemies, they had been miraculously helped; for the Lord destroyed their enemies by their own swords; and that when they came, as it were to enjoy a victory, to take the prey, they were laid prostrate by the hand of God: hence his power shone forth more brightly. It follows---
Habakkuk 3:15
15. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
15. Viam fecisti in mari equis tuis per acervum aquarum magnarum.
Some read, ``Thou hast trodden thy horses in the sea;'' but it is a solecism, that is quite evident. Others, ``Thou hast trodden in the sea by thy horses.'' But what need is there of seeking such strained explanations, since the verb {,}דרךdarek, means to go or to march? The Prophet's meaning is by no means doubtful---that God would make a way for himself in the sea, and on his own horses. How? even when great waters were gathered into a mass. The Prophet again refers to the history of the passage through the Red Sea; for it was a work of God, as it has been said, worthy of being remembered above all other works: it is therefore no wonder that the Prophet dwells so much in setting forth this great miracle. Thou then didst make a way for thy horses ---where? in the sea; which was contrary to nature. And then he adds, The heap of waters: for the waters had been gathered together, and a firm and thick mass appeared, which was not according to nature; for we know that water is a fluid, and that hardly a drop of water can stand without flowing. 70 How then was it that he stopped the course of Jordan, and that the Red Sea was divided? These were evidences of God's incomprehensible power, and rightly ought these to have added courage to the faithful, knowing, as they ought to have done, that nothing could have opposed their salvation, which God was not able easily to remove, whenever it pleased him. It follows---
Habakkuk 3:16
16. When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
16. Audivit, et contremuit (vel, tumultuatus est) venter meus; ad vocem trepidarunt labia mea; ingressa est putredo in ossa mea; et apud me tumultuatus sum (ad verbum, tumultuabitur; sed diximus heri de temporibus verborum,) ad ascendedum ad populum, excidet eum (vel, colliget se.)
Those interpreters are mistaken in my view, who connect the verb, ``I have 69"To devour the poor in secret," seems to have an allusion to the practice of wild beasts, who take their prey to their dens to devour it there. The poor her, as in many other places, mean the helpless, such as are destitute of aid or power to resist their enemies. The line may be thus rendered— Their joy was, as it were, to devour the helpless in secret. —Ed.
70The word is [{,[{חמרwhich many have rendered acervus---heap; but there is no clear instance in which it has such a meaning. It is without a preposition, and the Septuagint render it by a participle, {ταρασσοντας}, which agrees with ``horses.''
It is singular in Hebrew, and, if a participle, it agrees with the nominative case to the preceding verb, ,[{`` ]}דרכתthou didst guide'' or direct. The two lines might then be rendered thus,--- Thou didst guide through the sea thy horses, Disturbing mighty waters. Both Marckius and Henderson think that the passage through the Red Sea is not what is meant; but the subjugation of the Canaanites, conveyed in a language derived from that event.---Ed.
MINOR PROPHETS
heard,'' with the last verse, as though the Prophet had said, that he had conceived dread from those evidences of God's power: for the Prophet had no occasion to fear in regarding God as armed with unexpected power for the salvation of his people; there was no reason for such a thing. Hence these things do not agree together.
But he returns again to that dread which he had entertained on account of God's voice in those terrific threatenings which we before referred to. We must always bear in mind the Prophet's design---that his object was to humble the faithful, that they might suppliantly acknowledge to God their sins and solicit his forgiveness. His purpose also was to animate them with strong hope, that they might nevertheless look for deliverance. He had already said at the beginning, ``Lord, I have heard thy voice; I feared.'' He now repeats the same thing: for if he had spoken only of that terrific voice, the faithful might have been overwhelmed with despair; he therefore wished opportunely to prevent this evil, by interposing what might have comforted them. For this reason he recited these histories, by which God had proved that he was armed with invincible power to save his Church. Having done this, he applies his general doctrine to present circumstances, and says, ``I have heard.'' What had he heard? even those judgements with which God had determined to visit the contumacy of his people. Since, then, God had threatened his people with a horrible destruction, the Prophet says now, that he had heard and trembled, so that he had been confounded. He speaks in the singular number; but this was done, as we have said, because he represented the whole people, as was the case before (which escaped my notice) when he said, his enemies came like whirlwind to cast him down; for certainly he did not then speak of himself but of the ancient people. As, then, the Prophet here undertakes the cause of the whole Church, he speaks as though he were the collective body of the people: and so he says that he had heard; but the faithful speak here as with one mouth, that they had heard, and that their inside trembled
Some read, ``I was dismayed, or I feared, and my inside trembled at his voice.''
He takes {,}קולkul, voice, not for report, but, as it has been said, for threatening. The faithful, then, declare here, that they dreaded the voice of God, before he had executed his judgements, or before he inflicted the punishment which he had threatened. He says, quiver did my lips. The verb {,}צללtsalel, means sometimes to tingle, and so some render it here, ``Tingle did my lips;'' but this is not suitable, and more tolerable is the rendering of others, ``Palpitate did my lips.'' The Hebrews say that what is meant is that motion in the lips which fear or trembling produces. I therefore render the words, ``quiver did my lips;'' as when one says in our language, Mes levres ont barbate; that is, when the whole body shakes with trembling, not only a noise is made by the clashing of the teeth, but an agitation is also observed in the lips.
Enter, he says, did rottenness into my bones and within myself I made a noise, (it is the verb {,}רגזregaz, again,) or I trembled. No doubt the Prophet describes here the dread, which could not have been otherwise than produced by the dreadful vengeance of God. It hence follows that he does not treat here of those miracles which were, on the contrary, calculated to afford an occasion of rejoicing both to the