Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin (continued)
MINOR PROPHETS
God had returned into favor with the people. There are then two things to be noticed, --- that God was now pacified towards Jerusalem, --- and that the fruit of reconciliation would be the building of the temple, the establishment of divine worship and of the dignity of the kingdom. The Prophet teaches us at the same time, that the building of the temple was not to be expected but as an instance of God's gratuitous favor, so that the Jews might know that every hope would have been cut off, had not God been pleased to abolish their guilt.
This doctrine ought also to be extended to the state of the Church at all times: for whence comes it that the Church remains safe in the world? Nay, how is it that it sometimes increases, except that God indulges us according to his infinite goodness?
For we cease not daily to provoke him, and deserve to be wholly exterminated from the world. There would then be no Church, were not God to preserve it in a wonderful manner through his goodness and mercies, and also to restore it when it seems to have wholly fallen. He at length adds ---
Zechariah 1:17
17. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose
Jerusalem.
17. Adhuc clama, dicendo, Sic Iehova exercituum, Adhuc conterentur (alii vertunt, dispergentur, vel, se diffundent, vel, segregabuntur; sed dicemus de proprio sensu, conterentur ergo) urbes prae bono; et consolabitur Iehova adhuc Sion, et eliget adhuc Ierusalem.
I cannot finish today.
Prayer
Grant, Almighty God, that though we are continually tossed here and there by various trials, and Satan ceases not to shake our faith, --- O grant, that we may yet stand firm on the promise that thou hast once given us, and which thou hast also confirmed through thine only-begotten Son, even that thou wilt ever be propitious and reconcilable to us, so that we may not despair in our greatest troubles, but relying on thy goodness may utter our groans to thee, until the ripened time of our deliverance shall come: nor let us in the meantime envy the evanescent happiness of thy enemies; but patiently wait, while thou showest that the chief object of desire is to have thee propitious to us, and that accursed is every good thing which the ungodly receive while they provoke thee and make thee angry, until Christ shall at length reveal to us the real happiness and glory of thy Church, when he shall appear at the last day for our salvation --- Amen.
Lecture One Hundred and Thirty-seventh
I was not able in my last lecture fully to explain the verse in which the Prophet says that he was commanded by the angel to cry again, that God had returned to Jerusalem in mercies. The design of the words is this, --- that though it was difficult to believe the restoration of Jerusalem, it was yet to be fully expected, for the Lord had so appointed. But he enlarges on what I have before stated; for the blessing of God is extended to the cities of Judah, though an express mention is made only of Jerusalem. Yet cities, he says, shall wear out through abundance of blessings; for so I
JOHN CALVIN
think the verb {,}תפוצנהtephutzne, is to be taken, as futs means to spread, and also to wear out, and to break. Some elicit a forced meaning, that cities would spread themselves; others, that they would be separated, that is, that security would be so great, that cities, though distant from one another, would be in no danger or fear.
But the meaning of the Prophet is clear, unless we designedly pervert it in a matter so manifest and easy. The cities, he says, shall be worn out or wearied through abundance of blessings, or as we say, elles seront entassees; for where there is a great heap, there is crushing. He therefore says, that so great and so full would be the abundance of all things, that the corn would press down itself, and that the vessels would hardly contain the vintage. We now perceive what the Prophet means, --- that Jerusalem would yet be made complete, and also that other cities would be filled with all good things, because God would extend his favor to the whole people. 178
He then adds, Comfort Zion will yet Jehovah, and he will yet choose Jerusalem.
The particle {,}פוףoud, yet, is repeated; for the suspension of favor, of which we have before spoken, might have somewhat prevented the faithful from realising the promise. As then God's favor was for a time hid, the angel declares, that such would be the change, that God's goodness and love towards his chosen people would again shine forth as in former days.
As to the word ``chosen,'' it must be observed, that it is applied, not in its strict sense, to the effect or the evidence of election; for God had chosen before the creation of the world whom he had designed to be his own. But he is said to choose whom he receives into favor, because their adoption seems obliterated in the eyes of men, when there appears no evidence of his paternal favor. As for instance, whenever we read that God had repudiated his own people, it is certain, as Paul says, that the calling of God is without repentance, (Romans 11:29:) nor does he declare this only of the secret election of each, but also of that general election, by which God had set apart the race of Abraham from the rest of the nations. At the same time many of Abraham's children were reprobates, as he instances in the case of Esau and of others: yet the election of God was unchangeable; and hence it was that there remained still some hope as to that people, that God would at length gather to himself a Church from the Jews as well as from the Gentiles, so that those who were then separated might be hereafter united together. Since then the calling of God is without repentance, {αμετα} {μελητος}, how is it that the Lord is often said to choose, and is also said to reject his chosen? These expressions refer to the outward appearance of things. God therefore will secure his own election to the end; but as we cannot otherwise perceive but that we are rejected by God when he turns away his face from us, he is said to choose again those whom he has repudiated, that is, when he really and by a clear evidence proves that he has not forgotten their first
178The verb here used is rendered, "shall be filled," by the Targum; "shall abound," by Jerome; "{διαχυθησονται} --- shall be spread out,'' by the Septuagint; ``shall spread themselves,'' by Grotius; ``shall be spread abroad,'' by Newcome; ``shall overflow,'' by Henderson. There are here two ideas; one derived from the Targum, and the other from the Septuagint. The original verb means properly to burst out, to dilate, to spread; and the line may be rendered.
Burst out again shall my cities through abundance. The reference seems to be to their enlargement, and not to their multiplicity, as Newcome thinks, and that through abundance of blessings, literally, ``though good,'' ,[{]}מטובor good things, the poetical singular instead of the plural. --- Ed.