Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
opere manuum vestrarum (alii vertunt, et omne opus, sed male, et potius hic debet resolvi quemadmodum dictum est, in omni ergo opere) et vos non ad me, dicit lehova.
18. Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD'S temple was laid, consider it
18. Ponite quaeso super cor vestrum a die hac et supra, a die vicesimo quarto noni mensis, a die quo fundatum fuit templum Iehovae, ponite super cor vestrum.
19. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you
19. An adhuc semen in horreo? et adhuc vitis, et ficus, et malusgranata, et arbor olivae non protulit; a die hac benedicam vobis.
I am under the necessity of joining all these verses together, for the Prophet treats of the same thing: and the import of the whole is this---that the Lord had then openly punished the tardiness of the people, so that every one might have easily known that they acted very inconsistently in attending only to their private concerns, so as to neglect the Temple. The Prophet indeed speaks here in a homely manner to earthly men, addicted to their own appetites: had they really become wiser, or made greater progress in true religion, he might have addressed them differently, and would have no doubt followed the rule mentioned by Paul, `We speak wisdom among those who are perfect.'
(1 Corinthians 2:6.)
But as they had their thoughts fixed on meat and drink, and were intent on their private advantages, the Prophet tells them what they could comprehend that God was angry with them, and that the proofs of his curse were evident, as the earth did not produce fruit, and they themselves were reduced to want. We hence perceive the object of the Prophet: but I shall run over the words, that the subject may become more evident.
Lay it, he says, on your heart. Here the Prophet indirectly condemns their insensibility, as they were blind in things quite manifest; for he does not here direct their thoughts to heaven, nor announce deep mysteries, but only speaks of food and daily support. Since God, then, impressed clear marks of his wrath on their common sustenance, it was an intolerable stupidity in them to disregard these. And the Prophet often repeats the same thing, in order to shame the Jews; for their tardiness being so often reproved, ought to have made them ashamed. Lay it on the heart, he says; that is, Consider what I am going to say; from this day and heretofore, 158 he says, 158Supra, [{;[{`` מעלהupward,'' Newcome; ``backward,'' Henderson; ``forward,'' Secker. The last refers to 1 Samuel
16:13, and 30:25, as the only places besides here and in verse 18, where it is applied to time: and clearly in Samuel it means
or hereafter. It means the same when applied to age, Numbers 1:20, and when applied to place, Deuteronomy 28:43
If we retain this meaning, we must consider this verse, and its repetition in verse 18, as the commencement of a sentence, which is completed at the end of verse 19, as intervening clauses. Then the passage would be as follows--- 15. And now take, I pray, notice; From this day and forward, From the time of setting a stone on a stone In the Temple of Jehovah, 16. From the time you came to a heap of twenty, And it was ten, And came to the vat to draw fifty measures, And there were twenty; 17. I smote you with blight, and with mildew, And with hail, even all the work of your hands; But ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah;--- 18. Take, I pray, notice; From this day and forward, From the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, From the day in which was founded The Temple of Jehovah;---take notice; 19. Is yet the seed in the granary?--- And as yet the vine and the fig tree, And the pomegranate and the olive, it hath not borne;--- From this day will I bless you. I prefer ``Take notice,'' or, ``mark,'' to ``consider,'' as the