Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
deaf and hardened against thy warnings, but bring to thee hearts really submissive, and study so to devote ourselves to thee, that it may be evident that we have not received thy grace in vain; and may we also continue in the constant fruition of it, until we shall at length fully attain that blessed glory, which having been obtained for us, id daily set before us by the teaching of the Gospel, that we may be confirmed in it. May we therefore make such continual advances, through the whole course of our life, that having at last put off all the corruptions of our flesh, we may be really united to thee in that perfect purity to which thou invitests us, and which we hope for, through the grace of thine only Son. --- Amen.
Lecture One Hundred and Thirty Five
Zechariah 1:5, 6
5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
5. Patres vestri, ubi sunt? et prophetas, an in perpetuum vivent?
6. But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
6. Atqui verba mea et statuta mea, quae mandavi servis meis prophetis, annon apprehenderunt patres vestros? et reversi sunt et dixerunt, Sicut cogitaverat Iehova exercituum facere nobis secundum vias nostras, et opera nostra, ita fecit nobiscum.
In what we considered yesterday Zechariah reminded the Jews of the conduct of their fathers, in order that they might not, by their continued sins, bring on themselves new punishments. Many interpreters think that the sentiment contained at the beginning of the fourth verse is now confirmed, your fathers, where are they? for it seems t them that God is here exulting over the Jews --- ``Think now what has happened to your fathers; are they not all gone and destroyed?'' They suppose also that the Jews answer, taking the latter clause as spoken by them, ``The Prophets also, have they not perished? Why do you mention to us the fathers? There is no difference between them and the Prophets; it is not therefore a suitable argument.''
And then in the third place, they consider that God refutes the answer given by the Jews, ``But my word and my statutes, what I had entrusted to the Prophets, have not been without their effect.'' This view of the passage has been adopted by many, and by all of the most ancient interpreters; and those who followed them have been disposed to subscribe to it. 167 But more probable is the opinion of Jerome, who understands the latter clause of false Prophets, --- ``Your fathers and your Prophets, where are they?'' as though God thus reproved the Jews: ``See now, have not your fathers miserably perished, and also the Prophets by whom they were deceived?''
Thus Jerome thinks that the object in both clauses is to shake off the delusions of the Jews, that they might not harden themselves against God's judgments, or give ear to flatterers. This interpretation comes nearer to the design of the Prophet, though he seems to me to have something else in view.
I join the two clauses together, as they may be most fitly united --- ``Your fathers
167This notion was originated by the Targum. The second was adopted by Cyril and others, as well as by Jerome; but Drusius, Grotius, Mede, Marckius, Newcome, and Henderson agree with the view given by Calvin. — Ed.
MINOR PROPHETS
and my Prophets have both perished; but after their death, the memory of the doctrine, which has not only been published by my servants, but has also been fully confirmed, is to continue, so that it ought justly to terrify you; for it is very foolish in you to enquire whether or not the Prophets are still alive; they performed their office to the end of life, but the truth they declared is immortal. Though then the Prophets are dead, they have not yet carried away with them what they taught, for it never perishes, nor can it at any age be extinguished. The ungodly are also dead, but their death ought not to obliterate the memory of God's judgments; but after their death these judgments ought to be known among men, and serve to teach them, in order that posterity may understand that they are not presumptuously to provoke God.''
This seems to be the real meaning of the Prophet.
By saying, Your fathers where are they? and the Prophets do they live for ever? he makes a concession, as though he had said, ``I allow that both your fathers and my Prophets are dead; but my words are they dead?'' God, in a word, distinguishes between the character of his word and the condition of men, as though he had said, that the life of men is frail and limited to a few years, but that his truth never perishes.
And rightly does he mention the ungodly as well as the Prophets; for we know that whenever God punishes the despisers of his word, he gives perpetual examples, which may keep men in all ages within the boundaries of duty. Hence, though many ages have passed away since God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, yet that example remains, and retains its use to this day; for the ruin of Sodom is a mirror in which we may see at this time that God is the perpetual judge of the world. Since then the ungodly have perished, the punishment with which God visited their sins ought not to be buried with them, but to be ever remembered by men. This is the reason why he says, ``your fathers are dead: this you must admit; but as they had been severely chastised, ought ye not at this day to profit by such examples?'' Then he says, ``my Prophets also are dead; but it was my will that they should be the preachers of my truth, and for this end, that after their death posterity might know that I had once spoken through them.'' To the same purpose are the words of Peter, who says, that he labored that the memory of what he taught might continue after he was removed from his tabernacle.
then,'' he says, ``the time of my dissolution is at hand, I endeavor as far as I can, that you may remember what I teach after my death.'' (2 Peter 1:15.)
We now perceive the object of the Prophet.
He then immediately adds, But my words and my statutes 168 which I have committed to my Prophets, have they not laid hold on your fathers? We have seen that he made a concession in the last verse; but here God expressly declares what I have stated --- that though men vanish, or are hence removed after a short time, yet heavenly truth is ever firm, and retains its own power. But the Prophet uses another form of expression, My words, he says, which I have committed to my servants, the 168"Statuta mea," [{;[{`` חקיdecreta,'' Dathius; ``decrees,'' Henderson. The word means what is defined or appointed, as an order or a course, or a portion. It signifies here the portion defined and allotted to the Jews, the judgments denounced on them, which had been executed. They were God's defined and allotted portions, what he had exactly described and defined by his Prophets. He says first, ``my words,'' a general term, and then, to express more distinctly what was intended, he adds, ``my decrees,'' or my appointments, or my allotted portions. --- Ed.