Commentary on Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah and Nahum John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
and then to what I deem the most correct view. This sentence, that the earth trembles, when it is smitten by God, is usually regarded as a general declaration; and the Prophets do often exalt the power of God in order to fill us with fear, and of this we shall see an instance in the next verse. Yet I doubt not but that this is a special threatening. The Lord Jehovah, then, he says, will smite the land, and it will tremble.
Then follows the similitude of which we spoke yesterday, Mourn shall all who dwell in it; and then, It will altogether ascend as a river Here he intimates that there would be a deluge, so that the face of the earth would not appear. Ascend then shall the land as a river. The ascent of the earth would be nothing else but inundation, which would cover its surface. He afterwards adds, ``and it shall be sunk''; that is, every convenience for dwelling: this is not to be understood strictly, as I have said, of the land, but is rather to be referred to men, or to the use which men make of the earth.
Sunk then shall it be as by the river of Egypt We have said that Egypt loses yearly its surface, when the Nile inundates it. But as the inundation of the river is given to the Egyptians for fertilizing the land and of rendering its produce more abundant, so the Prophet here declares that the land would be like the sea, so that there would no longer be any habitation. It now follows ---
Amos 9:6
6. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.
6. AEdificans in coelis ascensiones suas, et coagmentationem suam super terram fundans (qui fundat,) qui vocat aquas maris et effundit eas super faciem terrae, Jehova nomen ejus. 68
The Prophet describes now in general terms the power of God, that he might the more impress his hearers, and that they might not heedlessly reject what he had previously threatened respecting their approaching ruin; for he had said, `Lo, God will smite the land, and it shall tremble.' This was special. Now as men received with deaf ears those threatening, and thought that God in a manner trifled with them, the Prophet added, by way of confirmation, a striking description of the power of God; as though he said, ``Ye do hear what God denounces: now, as he has clothed me with his own authority, and commanded me to terrify you by setting before you your punishment, know ye that you have to do with God himself, whose majesty ought to make you all, and all that you are, to tremble: for what sort of Being is this God, whose word is regarded by you with contempt? God is he who builds for himself chambers 69 in the heavens, who founds his jointings 70 (some render it bundles) in 68This verse and the preceding are connected together, and form but one period, as it evidently appears from the construction of the words in Hebrew. The following may be considered a literal version: — 5. And the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, — Who touches the earth and it melts, And mourn do all who dwell on it, And it heaves up as a river, the whole of it, And sinks down as the river of Egypt, — 6. Who builds in the heavens his ascents, And fixes on the earth his station, Who calls the waters of the sea, And pours them forth on the face of the earth, — Jehovah is his name. — Ed.
69Caenacula, in other places, ascensiones, and more correctly; for {{מעלותis properly ascents, steps to ascend, stairs; and hence, the places ascended to, chambers.
70Coagmentationes suas — his joinings, cementings; but {{אנדתוis in the singular number. It is difÏcult to ascertain its meaning. It occurs not as a verb, but from its application, its ideal meaning seems to be, to join or bind together, so as to form a compact body. It is applied in 2 Samuel 2:25, to designate a troop, a compact body of men. It signifies in Exodus