CHAPTER 14

From Habakkuk.

That it was prophesied that the Word of God that cometh will come and will not tarry.

[Passage quoted, Hab. ii. 2.]

AND here it is clearly foretold that the subject of the prophecy who is coming will come. Who could this be but he who is referred to above in the words, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the Lord God also has shone upon us"? With which also Zechariah agrees, when he says: "Behold a man, the Dawn is his name, and - 19 - he shall rise from below." The same prophet, too, noting the time adds, "At eventide it shall be light. If he delays, wait for him." Instead of which Aquila reads, "If he tarry expect him, for he that cometh will come, and will not tarry." And the Epistle to the Hebrews has this in mind when it says:

"Cast not away then your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, doing the will of God, ye may receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that cometh will come, and will not tarry. And the just shall live by my faith. And if he draw back, my soul hath no pleasure in him."

And note how clearly the Epistle arranges what was obscure in the prophetic writing, because of the inversion of the clauses. For the prophecy says," He that cometh will come and will not tarry, and adds, "If he draw back, my soul hath no pleasure in him," and this addition would seem to refer to him that cometh and doth not tarry, which is absurd. For how could it be said of him that God takes no pleasure in him? But the placing side by side of the divided clauses by a change in the arrangement of them preserves the sense. For after, "Yet a little while and he that cometh will come and shall not tarry," it adds next, "The just shall live by my faith. Then what was first in the prophecy it places second in, "And if he draw back my soul taketh no pleasure in him." For as Scripture has already once foretold through the prophecy, that the light promised, to all nations by Christ's Coming "shall rise late and in the evening, and shall not deceive" (for so Aquila interprets instead of "come to nothing,") it next exhorts to patience, because the coming of the subject of the prophecy is to be late and in the evening, in the words, "If he tarry await him, or if he delay expect him, for he that cometh - 20 - will come and will not tarry," and encourages the hearer to trust the prediction, saying, that he that trusts it, shewn by his very faith to he just, shall live the life according to God, as on the other hand he that does not trust, drawing back through lack of boldness, and putting no faith in the words, "My soul hath no pleasure in him." So, then, if we follow this course and place the first clause last, and the last first, we shall preserve the sense of the passage, putting, "The just shall live by my faith," after, "For he that cometh will come and will not tarry," by transposing the clauses, and (278) adding to this, "If he draw back my soul taketh no pleasure in him." And Aquila agrees with this interpretation saying, "If he delay, expect him, for he that cometh will come, and will not tarry. Lo, if he be sluggish, my soul is not true in him, and the just shall live by his faith."