Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin
MINOR PROPHETS
19. Haec erit poena Egypti et poena omnium gentium, quae non ascenderint ad celebrandum celebritatem tabernaculorum.
He repeats the same thing, and almost in the same words; but yet it is not done without reason: for we ought to consider how difficult it was to believe what is said, as the Jews who had returned to their country were few in number, and unwarlike, and on every side opposed by their enemies. Since then the Church was almost every moment in danger, it was no wonder that the faithful had need of being strengthened under their trials, which often disturbed and harassed their minds. This then is the reason why the Prophet repeats often the same thing.
This, he says, shall be the sin of Egypt and of all nations, etc. The word {,}חטאת chethat, properly means wickedness, sin; but as piaculum in Latin sometimes means sin, and sometimes expiation, so {,}חטאתchethat, in Hebrew: it signifies at one time sin, at another the sacrifice by which sin is atoned: and hence Christ is said to have been made sin; for when he offered himself as an expiation, he sustained the curse which belonged to us all, by having it transferred on himself (Galatians 3:13.) As Christ then was an expiation, he was on this account called sin. And the Greek translators did not change the name, because they saw that {,}חטאתchethat, in Hebrew, is taken for a sacrifice or punishment as well as for sin; hence they used the word hamartia indiscriminately. 350
So then the Prophet says that this would be the sin or the punishment of Egypt and of all nations, as though he had said, ``If they despise the God of Israel and condemn his worship, such a contumacy shall not be unpunished; for God will show himself to be the vindicator of his own glory.'' And hence we conclude, that nothing ought to be more desired by us than that God should reveal himself to us, so that we may not presumptuously wander after superstitions, but purely worship him; for no one rightly worships God, except he who is taught by his word. It is then a singular favor, when the Lord prescribes to us the rule by which we may rightly worship him: but when we assent not to his true and legitimate worship, we here see that our whole life is accursed. It now follows ---
Zechariah 14:20
20. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness Unto The Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
20. Die illo erit super fraena (aut, phaleras; alii vertunt, frontalia; alii, collaria; dicemus postea de hac voce; vel, stabula, hoc meum est, et postea dicam rationem; super stabula ignitur) equi (hoc est, equorum, est mutatio numeri) sanctitas Iehovae; et erit (hoc est, erunt; iterum est mutatio numeri) lebetes in domo Iehovae sicuti phialae (sic vertit Hieronymus, alii vertunt, pelves) coram altari.
Zechariah teaches us in this verse, that God would become the king of the world, so that all things would be applied to his service, and that nothing would be so profane as not to change its nature, so as to be sanctified for the service of God. This is the import of the whole. There is some obscurity in the words; but interpreters for the most part have been led astray, because they have not sufficiently attended to 350The Targum paraphrases it "the punishment of sin," and so do Jun., and Trem., and Piscator. The word "sin" is retained by Jerome, Cyril, and Marckius. But Newcome and Henderson, in accordance with our version and that of Calvin, render it "punishment." — Ed.
JOHN CALVIN
the design of the Prophet; and thus they have wrested the words to their own views, while they did not understand the subject.
There will be, he says, an inscription on the shades or head coverings of horses, Holiness to Jehovah. No interpreters have perceived that there is here an implied comparison between the mitre of the high priest and all profane things; for since the high priest was a type of Christ, there was inscribed on his tiara, Holiness to Jehovah, {,}קדש{ }ליהוהkodash la-Ieve, and as the holiness of the temple, and of everything belonging to the service under the law, depended on the priesthood, this inscription must be viewed as extending to everything in the temple, to the altar, to the sanctuary, to the sacrifices, to the offerings, to the candlestick, to the incense, and in short, to all sacred things.
What now does the Prophet mean? There shall be, he says, that inscription which the high priest bears on his head, Holiness to Jehovah; there shall be, he says, this inscription on the stables of the horses
As to the word {,}מצלותmetsalut, it is only found here. Some derive it from {,}צול tsul, and others from {,}צלעtsale; but the more received opinion is that it comes from {,}צללtsalal, in which the {,}לlamed, is doubled. And some render it trappings; others, reins; others, bells; and all only conjecture, for there is no certainty. 351
Some also render it the deep; and this sense may be also suitable. But what I have already stated seems to me more probable --- that the shades or blinkers of horses are meant, and are here metaphorically called stables. Though then the stable of a horse is a mean and sordid place, and often filthy, yet the Prophet says that it would become holy to the Lord.
The meaning then is, that no place was so profane which would not be made holy when God reigned through the whole world. But if any one prefers trappings, or warlike harness, I do not object; for this view also is not unsuitable. Nothing is less holy than to shed human blood; and hence the Scripture says, that their hands are polluted who justly slay an enemy in war; not because slaughter is of itself sinful, but because the Lord intended to strike men with terror, that they might not rashly commit slaughter. It would not then ill suit this place to say, that the Lord would make holy the trappings of horses, so that nothing disorderly would hereafter be done in war, but that every one putting on arms would acknowledge God to be a judge in heaven, and would not dare, without a just cause, to engage with his enemy.
Ridiculous and puerile is what Theodore says in the first book of his Ecclesiastical history. He quotes this passage, and says that it was fulfilled when Helena, the mother of Constantine, adorned the trappings of a horse with a nail of the cross; for her purpose was to give this to her son as a sort of charm. One of those nails by which she thought Christ was crucified, she put in the royal diadem; of the other she caused the bit of a bridle to be made, or according to Eusebius, to be partly
351It is rendered "bridle — [{τὸν} {χαλινὸν}],'' by the Septuagint, the Syriac, and Jerome; ``trappings,'' by the Targum; ``the deep --- [{βυθον}],'' by Aq. and Theod; ``shady procession --- [{περίπατον} {συσχιον}],'' by Sym; and ``bells,'' by Drusius, Grotius, Marckius, Newcome, and Henderson. The last says, that they ``were small metallic plates, suspended from the necks or heads of horses and camels for the sake of ornament, and making a tinkling noise by striking against each other like cymbals.'' The notion of Blayney, that the horses and their bells were trophies taken from enemies and dedicated to God, seems not consistent with the tenor of the passage: for the things employed by the Jews are here mentioned, which were to be used in a holy manner, to the glory of God. --- Ed.