Iehova exercituum, mittam (copula hic abundat) in vos maledictionem et maledicam (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
not propitious to them. Blessings then are evidences of God's bounty and paternal favor.
But he immediately adds, Yea, I have cursed. By which words he proves their senselessness: for they were not even taught by their evils, which yet produce some effect even on fools, who, according to the common proverb, begin to be wise when they are chastised. God then here reproves the stupidity of the Jews; for they had already been deprived of his benefits, and they might have known by experience that he was not propitious to them, but on the contrary an angry judge; and yet they were touched by no penitence, according to what we have seen in the other
Prophets.
We now understand the import of the words, and at the same time the object of the Prophet: I will then curse your blessings, and what is more, (so I explain, {,}וגם ugam,) I have already cursed them: but ye are like blocks of wood or stones; for the very scourges avail nothing with you. He again repeats, because ye lay it not on your heart, in order to show that he could not bear the contempt of his word, for it was, as we have said, a sign of extreme impiety. It follows
Malachi 2:3
3. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
3. Ecce ego corrumpo (vel perdo) vobis semen (vertunt Graeci, brachium; sed decepti sunt in una litera,) et spergam stercus super facies vestras, stercus solemnitatum vestrarum; et tollet vos ad se (alii vertunt, tollet vos ad ipsum; sed coacta est illa expositio.)
He confirms here again what he had said in the last verse, --- that they would perceive God's curse in want and poverty. The curse of God is any kind of calamity; for as God declares especially his favor by a liberal support, so the sterility of the land and defective produce most clearly evidence the curse of God. The Prophet then shows, by mentioning one thing, what sort of curse was nigh the Jews, --- that God would destroy their seed. Some read, but improperly, ``I will destroy you and the seed.'' I wonder how learned men make such puerile mistakes, when there is nothing ambiguous in the Prophet's words. I will destroy then for you the seed; that is, ``Sow as much as you please, I will yet destroy your seed, so that it shall produce no fruit.'' In short, he threatens the Jews with want and famine; for the land would produce nothing when cursed by God. 367
But as the Jews flattered themselves on account of their descent, and ever boasted of their fathers, and as that preeminence with which God had favored them proved to them an occasion of haughtiness and pride, the Prophet here ridicules this foolish confidence, I will scatter dung, he says, on your faces: ``Ye are a holy nation, ye are the chosen seed of Abraham, ye are a royal priesthood; these are your boastings; but the Lord will render your faces filthy with dung; this will be your nobility and preeminence! there is then no reason for you to think yourselves exempt from punishments because God has adopted you; for as ye have abused
367The word {,{זרעmeans ``the shoulder'' as well as ``seed,'' and it is so rendered by the Septuagint, and the Arabic, and also by Grotius and Newcome, --- Behold, I will withhold from you the shoulder. The shoulder belonged to the priests, see
Leviticus 7:32; Deuteronomy 18:3. This rendering suits the context better than the other. --- Ed.