Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin (continued)
MINOR PROPHETS
simile in Zephaniah 3:1. We now see the drift of the Prophet's words.
He adds that their horsemen would be numerous 19 He now sets forth their power, lest the Jews should have recourse to vain hopes, because they might obtain some help either from the Egyptians or other neighbors. The Prophet shows that all such hopes would be wholly vain; for had they gathered auxiliaries from all quarters, still the Chaldeans would exceed them in power and number.
He afterwards says, that their horsemen would come from a distance. Though they should have a long journey, yet weariness would not hinder and delay them in coming from a remote part. The toil of travelling would not weaken them, until they reached Judea. How so? Because it will fly, he says, (he speaks throughout of the nation itself,) as an eagle hastening to devour. This metaphor is also most suitable to the present purpose; for it signifies, that wherever the Chaldeans saw a prey, they would instantly come, as an eagle to any carcass it may observe. Let the distance be what it may, as soon as it sees a prey, it takes a precipitate flight, and is soon present to devour; for the rapidity of eagles, as it is well known, is astonishing.
We now see that what we learn from the Prophet's words is substantially this,--- that God's judgement ought to have been feared, because he purposed to employ the Chaldeans as his servants, whose cruel disposition and inhumanity would be dreadful: he also shows that the Chaldeans would be far superior in power and number; and in third place he makes it known, that they would possess an astonishing rapidity, and that though length of journey might be deemed a hindrance, they would yet be like eagles, which come like an arrow from heaven to earth, whenever a prey is observed by them. And eagles are not only rapid in their flight, but they possess also sharpness of sight; for we know that the eyes of eagles are remarkably keen and strong: and it is said that they cast away their young, if they find that they cannot look steadily at the sun; for they regard them as spurious. The Prophet then intimates that the Chaldeans would from a distance observe their prey: as the eagles, who are endued with incredible quickness of sight, see from mid air every carcass lying on the ground; so also would the Chaldeans quickly discover a prey, and come upon it in an instant. Let us proceed.
Habakkuk 1:9
9. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
9. Tota (semper de ipsa gente loquitur, hoc est. totus ipse populus) ad praedam venict; occursus vultus ipsorum (jam in plurali numera loquitar) ventus orientalis, et colliget quasi arenam captivitatem.
By saying that they would come to the prey, he means that they would have no trouble or labor, for they would be victorious before they had any contest, or had any
19Multiples, various: but this is not the meaning of the verb [{;[{פשהit signifies to range at large, or to spread far and wide. The whole verse may be thus rendered,--- And swifter than leopards shall be its horses, And more eager than the wolves of the evening; Spread far and wide shall its horsemen; Yea, its horsemen from far shall come, And fly as an eagle hastening to devour. The horsemen are represented as sweeping the whole country, spreading themselves in all directions; and when espying a prey at a distance, they are said to fly to it like an eagle. The idea of being ``numerous'' or ``abundant,'' as Junius and Tremelius render the verb, is derived from the Rabbins, and is not sanctioned by examples in Scripture. The rendering of the Septuagint is {ἐξιππασονται}, shall ride forth, and of Jerome, diffundentur, shall spread themselves. There is no occasion to borrow a meaning from Arabic, as Henderson does, and to render it ``spread proudly along.'' Newcome follows our common version.---Ed.