Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin (continued)
MINOR PROPHETS
them to dwell, that is, give them a fixed habitation in their country. 274
He then adds, Because I have pitied them. Some read this in the future tense, but I retain the past, for the Lord assigns here a reason for their future gathering, even because he would deal mercifully with his people. He recalls then the attention of the Jews to the fountains of his mercy, as if he had said, ``Though they have deserved perpetual ruin, He will yet hear their greenings, because he will be propitious to them.'' As their calamity was an hindrance, which prevented the Jews from expecting any such thing, he adds, They shall be as though I had not cast them away.
By which words he reminds them that the punishment which had been inflicted on the people, would be only for a time. He then bids them to take courage, though they were like the lost or the dead, for he would put an end to their miseries. And when God says that he had cast away his people, it ought to be taken according to the perceptions of men, as we have observed elsewhere; for adoption was unchangeable, but external appearance could have led to no other conclusion, but that the people had been rejected by God. The meaning of the Prophet is, however, clearly this --- that though God had dealt severely with that people, and inflicted on them the heaviest punishment on account of their perfidy, yet his vengeance would not be for ever, for he would give place to mercy.
He adds another reason, For I Jehovah am their God. He means by this sentence that adoption would not be void, though he had for a time rejected the Jews: for by calling himself their God, he reminds them of his covenant, as though he had said, that he had not in vain made a covenant with Abraham, and promised that his seed would be blessed. Since then God had pledged his faith to Abraham, he says here that he would be the God of his people; not that they deserved anything, but because he had gratuitously chosen both Abraham and his seed.
He in the last place says, And I will hear them 275 He seems here to exhort them to prayer, that, relying on this promise, they might ask of God what had been promised.
Though this verb is often taken in a sense not strictly correct, for God is said to hear those who do not flee to him; but what I have stated is more suitable to this place --- that the people are stimulated to prayer, as God freely invites us to himself for this end, that is, that our prayers may harmonise with his promises. This is the meaning.
It now follows ---
Zechariah 10:7
7. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
7. Et erunt quasi gigas Ephraim, et laetabitur cor eorum sicuti a vino, et filli eorum videbunt et gaudebunt; exultabit core eorum in Iehova.
He declares the same in other words: he had said in the last verse, that he would strengthen both the house of Judah and the house of Joseph, that is, the ten tribes; 274Kimchi says that [{,[{ישבto dwell, and ,[{]}שובto return, are included in this verb; but of such amalgamation there are no examples. The true reading no doubt is either ,[{`` ]}והשבתיםand I will restore them,'' supported by six MSS. the Targum, the Syriac, and the Vulgate; or ,[{`` ]}והושבתיםand I will settle them,'' supported by the Septuagint. --- Ed.
275Literally it is, "and I will answer them," [{{και}]---;[{{ ואענםἐπακούσομαι} {αυτοις}]---''and I will hear them,'' is the Septuagint; but the proper meaning of the verb is to answer; and so Henderson renders it. --- Ed.