Commentary on Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah and Nahum John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
be that God will think of us;'' others ``If so be that God will favor us. {,}עשתoshit, is properly to shine; but when put as here in the conjugation Hithpael, it means to render one's self clear or bright: and it is a metaphor very common in Scriptures that the face of God is cloudy or dark, when he is not propitious to us; and again, God is said to make bright his face and to appear serene to us, when he really shows himself kind and gracious to us. As then this mode of speaking altogether suits this place, I wonder that some seek extraneous interpretations. 96
He afterwards adds, Lest we perish. Here the pilot clearly owns, that he thought the life of man to be in the power of God; for he concluded, that they must perish unless the Lord brought aid. Imprinted then in the minds of all is this notion or {προληψις}, that is, preconception, that when God is angry or adverse, we are miserable, and that near destruction impends over us; and another conviction is found to be in the hearts of men, --- that as soon as the Lord looks on us, his favor and goodwill brings to us immediate safety. The Holy Spirit does not speak here, but a heathen, and we know too how great is the impiety of sailors, and yet he declares this by the impulse of nature, and there is here no feigning; for God, as I have already said, extorts by necessity a confession from the unbelieving, which they would gladly avoid.
Now what excuse can we have, if we think our safety to be in our own hands, if we depend not wholly on God, and if we neglect him in prosperity, as though we could be safe without his help? These words then, spoken by the sailor, ought to be weighed by us, 'If so be that God's face may appear bright to us, and that we perish not. 97 It now follows ---
Jonah 1:7
7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
7. Et dixit vir (hoc est, quisque) ad socium suum, Venite et jaciamus sortes, ut sciamus ob quam causam 98 malum hoc nobis: et jecerunt sortes, et cecidit sors super Jonam.
Jonah did not without reason mention this, --- that the passengers consulted together about casting lots; for we hence learn, that it was no ordinary tempest: it
96Calvin is quite right here. The verb {{תשעתיoccurs only here in Hithpael; and once as a verb in Kal, Jeremiah
5:28, ,{}ותשעthey ``shine,'' applied to fat men, and once as a participle, applied to iron, {`` }לזרב{, }תושעbright iron,'' or iron brightened, or made to shine, Ezekiel 27:19. It occurs as a noun in three other places, ,{}תשעCanticles 5:14, {}תותשעin Job 12:5, and {}תוחשעin Psalm 146:4. The idea of shining, brightness, or splendor, comports better with the context than that of thought, as given in our version in the two last places. It occurs once in its Chaldec form in Daniel 6:3, and there, no doubt, it means thought, or intention, or design. Following the usual import of the Hithpael conjugation, we may render the word here, ``It may be, that God will himself shine upon us;'' which means ``will show himself gracious to us.'' The Septuagint gives the sense, but not the ideal meaning of the verb, {διασωση}, may save, and so does Pagininus, placeatur --- may be pacified. Both Newcome and Henderson are wrong here: they follow our common version. Dathius retains the right idea, ``se nobis clementem exhibeat.''
97"The servants of God are sometimes surpassed, reproved, and stimulated, by those far below them, yea, even by brute animals: a salutary admonition, from whatever quarter it may come, ought never be despised." — Marckius. "If the professors of religion do an ill thing, they must expect to hear of it from those who make no such profession." — M. Henry.
98{,{בשלמיthis is a singular combination, two relatives with two prepositions --- ``through what --- for what.'' It is in a more complete form in the next verse, {}ש{ }למי{; }באשרin the first instance stands for ,{}אשרwhat. The first may be rendered consistently with the context, ``through whom --- for whom:'' but the context in the eight verse requires it to be ``through what --- for what.'' --- Ed.