Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
Prophet and to the whole of the chosen people; but that the vengeance of God, such as had been predicted, is described here.
He now adds, That I may rest in the day of affliction 71 There seems to be here an inconsistency---that the Prophet was affected with grief even to rottenness, that he trembled throughout his members with dread, and now that all this availed to produce rest. But we must inquire how rest is to be obtained through these trepidations, and dreads, and tremblings. We indeed know that the more hardened the wicked become against God, the more grievous ruin they ever procure for themselves. But there is no way of obtaining rest, except for a time we tremble within ourselves, that is, except God's judgement awakens us, yea, and reduces us almost to nothing.
Whosoever therefore securely slumbers, will be confounded in the day of affliction; but he who in time anticipates the wrath of God, and is touched with fear, as soon as he hears that God the judge is at hand, provides for himself the most secure rest in the day of affliction. We now then see, that the right way of seeking rest is set forth here by the Prophet, when he says, that he had been confounded, and that rottenness had entered into his bones that he could have no comfort, except he pined away as one half-dead: and the design of the Prophet, as I have already said, was to exhort the faithful to repentance. But we cannot truly and from the heart repent, until our sins become displeasing to us: and the hatred of sin proceeds from the fear of God, and that sorrow which Paul regards as the mother of repentance. (2
Corinthians 7:10.)
This exhortation is also very necessary for us in the present day. We see how inclined we are by nature to indifference; and when God brings before us our sins, and then sets before us his wrath, we are not moved; and when we entertain any fear, it soon vanishes. Let us, then, know that no rest can be to us in the day of distress, except we tremble within ourselves, except dread lays hold on all our faculties, and except all our soul becomes almost rotten. And hence it is said in Psalm 4:4, ``Tremble, and ye shall not sin.'' And Paul also shows that the true and profitable way of being angry is, when one is angry with his sins (Ephesians 4:26,) and when we tremble within ourselves. In the same manner does the Prophet describe the beginnings of repentance, when he says, that the faithful trembled in their bowels, and were so shaken within, that even their lips quivered, and, in short, (and this is the sum of the whole,) that all their senses felt consternation and fear.
71The word [{,[{אשרwhich Calvin renders ut, ``that,'' has occasioned great trouble to critics. Marckius reads qui---
shall rest,'' etc.; Henderson, ``yet,'' ``Yet I shall have rest,'' etc. But it is never found as an adversative. The construction of this line and the following is very difficult; and many have been the forms in which they have been rendered. The verb [{]}נוחmeans not only to rest from action or labor, but also to rest in the sense of remaining or continuing. See 2 Kings
2:15, and Isaiah 2:2. And were it taken in this latter sense here, there would be a consistency in the whole passage. The Prophet describes first the dread which seized him on hearing the report of God's vengeance; and then in the two last lines he accounts for his consternation, because he should remain to witness this vengeance; and he proceeds in verse 17 to set forth the effects of it, and in verse 18 he states that he would still rejoice in the God of his salvation. The three verses may be thus rendered,---
16. I heard, --- and tremble did my bowels; At the voice my lips quivered; Enter does rottenness into my bones, And on my own account I tremble; Because I shall remain to the day of distress, To his coming up to the people, who shall invade me. 17. For the fig-tree shall not shoot forth, And no produce shall be on the vines; Fail shall the fruit of the olive, And the fields, none shall yield food; Cut off from the fold shall be the sheep, And no ox shall be in the stalls: 18. But as for me, in Jehovah will I rejoice, I will exult in the God of my salvation. ``On my own account,'' or for myself, :[{]}תחתיthe preposition, ,[{]}תחתis often taken in this sense; See 2 Samuel 19:21, Proverbs 30:21. ``Invade us'' or assault us, or them, the people, ;[{]}יגודנוfor [{]}נוis either us or him, but in our language them, for so we speak of people. ``And the fields, none,'' etc. There are instances of ,[{]}לאas here, in which it may be rendered ``none'' and ``nothing.'' See Ezekiel 20:38, Job 6:21, 8:9. ``In the God,'' etc.; it may be rendered, ``In my God, my Savior,'' as it is in the Septuagint and the Vulgate.---Ed.