Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
for they would be furnished with necessaries, having an abundance of gold and silver.
For what purpose then would they come? Not to satiate their avarice, but only to gorge human blood, and thus to extinguish the memory of the chosen people. Even to hear this was terrible; but it was necessary to warn the faithful, lest they should be surprised by any sudden event. He afterwards adds ---
Zechariah 14:15
15. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
15. Et talis erit plaga equi, muli, cameli, et asini, et cujuslibet jumenti (vel, animalis,) quod erit in castris istis, sicuti plaga haec.
Zechariah in this verse raises up the minds of the godly, so that they might know that their energies would effect nothing, but that after having tried every thing they would be put to flight by the power of God. And hence appears more evident what has been twice repeated, --- that the Prophet does not simply denounce calamities to terrify the Jews, but to animate them to constancy, that they might boldly exult, even when nearly overwhelmed by a vast heap of evils.
The meaning then is, --- that after Satan had tried every thing to effect the ruin of the Church, and the ungodly had left nothing undone, there would yet be a successful issue to the faithful; for God would execute his vengeance, not only on men, but also on horses and camels, and on all cattle: and since God's wrath would burn against all animals, which are in themselves innocent, it may with certainty be concluded, that those enemies who had provoked him by their cruelty, could not escape his judgment, and the punishment described here by the Prophet. He then subjoins -
Zechariah 14:16
16. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
16. Et erit, (hoc est, accidet,) ut quisque residuus fuerit ex cunctis gentibus quae venerint contra Ierusalem, ascendat ab anno in annum ad adorandum, (vel, ad supplicandam,) Regem Iehovam exercituum, et celebrandum celebritatem tabernaculorum.
Zechariah here advances farther, --- that those who shall have escaped the ruin of which he had spoken shall be so humbled that they would of their own accord submit to God. He said before, that God would take vengeance and destroy all the enemies of his Church; but the promise here is still more valuable, --- that he would turn the hearts of those who escaped punishment, so that without any constraint they would become obedient; for come, he says, shall they every year to worship
God in his temple. Then the sum of what is said is this, that God would subdue all the enemies of his Church, and in two ways, for some he would destroy, and he would humble others, so as to make them willing servants and ready of themselves to obey his authority. It shall be then that every one who shall remain of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall ascend to supplicate God, or humbly to worship God.
If the time be inquired, I answer, that whenever the Prophets speak of the conversion of the nations, they are wont to speak always in general terms; but that this is