malum et bonum ex ore Excelsi?)
JOHN CALVIN
perceive what the Prophet means.
But whence came such madness? even because the Jews, as I have said, would not humble themselves under the mighty hand of God; for hypocrisy had so blinded them, that they proudly clamored against God, thinking that they were chastised with unjust severity,. As then, they thus flattered themselves in their sins, this expostulation arose which the Prophet mentions, that man's judgment was perverted, that the innocent failed in a good cause, that the miserable were trodden under foot; and whence all this? because God did not see, or did not regard these things. Now follows the reproof of this delirious impiety, ---
Lamentations 3:37-38
37. Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
37. Quis iste, dixit; fuit, Deus non praecepit?
38. Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
38. Ex ore Excelsi non egredietur malum et bonum (vel, quasi non egrediatur malum et bonum ex ore Excelsi?)
The Prophet, after having mentioned the blasphemy which prevailed everywhere at that time, strongly condemns so gross a stupidity. Who is this? he says. He checks such madness by a sharp rebuke --- for the question implies an astonishment, as though the Prophet had said, that it was like a prodigy to find men who imagined that God was content with his own leisure, and exercised no care over the world; for this was to annihilate him altogether. God is not a dead being, he is not a spectre; what then? God is the judge of the world. We hence see that it was a monstrous thing, when men entertained the notion that God is idle or forgetful, that he gives up the world to chance. This is the reason why the Prophet asks as of a thing absurd and extremely disgraceful. Who is this? he says; Could it be that men should give themselves up to such a degree of madness? for when they said, that anything could happen without God's command, it was the same as if they denied his power; for what is God without his judgment?
The other verse may be explained in two ways; but as to the meaning, there is but little difference. It may, then, be read as a question, ``Cannot good and evil proceed from the mouth of the most High?'' or it may be rendered thus, ``As though good and evil should not proceed from the mouth of God.'' As to the substance of what is said, we see that there is no need of disputing, for the Prophet confirms what he had said, that men are to be abhorred who imagine God to be as it were dead, and thus rob him of his power and of his office as a judge. And, doubtless, except we hold this truth, no true religion can exist in us; for except all the sayings and doings of men come to an account before the tribunal of God, and also their motives and thoughts, there will be first. no faith and, secondly, there will be no integrity, and all prayer to
God will be extinguished. For if we believe that God does not regard what is done in pronoun "his, before "feet." It seems to refer to "man" in the last verse; for the words are, "the sons (or children) of man," not of "men." The verb {,{ראהwhen followed by ,{}לmeans to look on, at, or simply to see. Psalm 64:5. Then the literal rendering of the passage would be as follows, --- On the tearing under his feet Of all the bound of the land, On the diverting of a man's judgment, In the presence of the most High, On the wronging of a person in his cause The Lord doth not look. Or if the ``on'' be dropped, the last line may be, The Lord doth not see. This is manifestly the saying of unbelieving men, or of those weak in faith, as proved by the next verse, when rightly rendered. --- Ed.