John Calvin Commentary Habakkuk 2:19

"Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it." — Habakkuk 2:19 (ASV)

He pursues, as I have said, the same subject, and sharply inveighs against the stupidity of men, that they call on wood and stone, as if there were some hidden power in them. They say to the wood, Awake; for they implored help from their idols. Shall it teach? Some interpret it this way as a question; but I take it in a simpler form, “It will teach;” that is, “It is a wonder that you are so willfully foolish; for if God were to send you no Prophet, if there were no one to instruct you, yet the wood and the stone would be sufficient teachers for you: ask your idols, that is, correctly ascertain what is in them.

Undoubtedly, the god that is made of wood or of stone sufficiently declares by his silence that he is no god. For there is no motion in wood and stone. Where there is no vigor and no life, is it not right to feel assured that there is no deity?

There are, indeed, many creatures endowed with feeling and motion; but the God who gives power, motion, and feeling to the whole world and to all its parts, does He not surpass in these respects all His creatures? Since, then, wood and stone are silent, they are sufficient teachers for you, provided you are apt scholars.”

We thus see how the Prophet in this way amplifies the lack of awareness in men, for they did not perceive what was very clear. The design of what follows is the same. Behold, it is covered over with gold and silver; that is, it is made splendid, for idolaters think that their gods are better when adorned with gold and silver; but yet there is no breath in the midst of them. “Look,” he says, “within; look within, and you will see that they are dead.” The rest we shall elaborate on tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as there is in us so little sound judgment, and as our minds are blind even at midday—O grant, that Your Spirit may always shine in us, and that being attentive to the light of Your word, we may also keep to the right way through the whole course of our pilgrimage, and subject to You both ourselves and every action of our life, so that we may not be led by any allurements into the same ruin with the ungodly, who would deceive and entrap us, and who lie in wait on every side; but that being ruled by the counsel of Your Spirit, we may beware of all their intrigues. And may we, especially as to our spiritual life, be so devoted to You alone, as to always keep ourselves far away from the defilements of the world, and so remain in the pure worship of Your majesty, that the ungodly may never draw us away into the same delusions with themselves, by which Satan so mightily deceives them; but may we follow Him as our leader whom You would have to be our ruler, even Christ Your Son, until He at last gathers us all into that celestial kingdom which He has purchased for us by His own blood. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We said yesterday that the Prophet speaks now of idols, that he might deprive the king of Babylon of his vain confidence. For though pagans claim everything for themselves and for their own powers, yet their superstition in some measure makes them irrational. Therefore, the Prophet shows that that tyrant trusted in vain in his idols, since they were worthless things.

But the reasons by which he refutes idolatry should be noted: he says that the artisan who formed gods was not able to change the nature of the material, for the wood remained wood, and stone continued to be stone. The craftsman, in forming it, did nothing more than make a molten image. The material, then, still remained the same.

As for the image itself, the Prophet says that it was mere falsehood and deception. Indeed, gods made of wood or silver, or of any other material, were instructors and teachers of falsehood, for they allured simple souls. Satan spread his snares before men when he placed these visible figures before their eyes and persuaded them that they contained something divine. This reasoning of the Prophet should therefore be carefully observed, for he reminds us that fictitious gods are made of lifeless and perishable materials, and that images are only the trickeries of Satan.

That saying of Gregory is common among Roman Catholics, that images are the books of the ignorant; for such was his answer to Serenus, bishop of Marseilles, who removed images from all the churches (Lib. 9, Epist. 9). Gregory said that he approved of Serenus's objective, in wishing to correct the superstition that prevailed among the people, but that he had done what was not right in completely removing images, the books of the ignorant.

But let us consider whether more faith is due to Gregory, a man imbued with many errors (as that age was very corrupt), or to the Prophet Habakkuk, and also to Jeremiah, who expresses nearly the same sentiment. Though, then, there is some deceptive attractiveness in idols, yet the Prophet here reminds us that they are nothing but the impostures of Satan, for they teach falsehood.

The reason also that is given is worthy of note—that the craftsmen put their hope in what they themselves have formed. And it is indeed a most preposterous thing that a mortal man should form his own god, and then imagine that something divine is enclosed in the very form, for deity is not in the material.

The material is disregarded when unformed, but not so when it attains a beautiful shape. While the tree grows, while it produces flowers and fruit, it is deemed, as it really is, a dead thing; but when a piece of it is formed in the figure of a man, it is believed to be a god!

But it is extremely absurd to suppose that the hand of the artisan gives deity to a dead material, for the wood is dead, and nothing is perceived but the shape given to it by man. Since, then, the artisan trusts in what he has formed, it is exceedingly strange. It is therefore very clear that men are completely deluded by the devil when they worship their own workmanship.

But now, in order to impress the matter more fully on idolaters, the Prophet upbraids them for calling on the wood and on the stone to awake. It is certain that when idolaters bow the knee before what they themselves have formed, they still imagine that there are celestial gods. However, when they call upon God before a figure of wood or stone, it is the same as if they expected help from the wood and stone. For the question here is not what idolaters imagine, but the act itself must be considered; and this is what the Prophet most fully and plainly condemns.

Since, then, the superstitious are accustomed to address their prayers to wood and stone, he says that they make gods for themselves, to whom they sacrifice. And the Prophet rightly refers in express terms to this kind of service, for the chief sacrifice which God commands to be offered to Him, and demands from us, is to call on Him; for we thus testify that life and all things belonging to salvation are found in Him alone.

Since, then, the majesty of God appears especially from having this testimony borne to Him—that He is the fountain of life and of all blessings—everyone who prostrates himself before a stone or wood and implores the aid of a visible god, undoubtedly transfers the glory of the eternal God to a dead piece of wood or to a stone.

If, then, we wish to be free from every superstition, let us remember this truth: only then do we have the only true God when we direct our prayers and supplications to Him alone, or, in a word, when we call on Him alone. When we resort to dead idols, God is deprived of His own right. We may call Him God a hundred times, but we give Him an empty title, one of no value, unless we pray to Him alone.

Finally, the Prophet derides the madness of men by saying that the very idols teach. For, as was said yesterday, the clause should not be read as a question, as some do; but in order to more sharply reprove the stupidity of men, the Prophet says, “Undoubtedly the very figures themselves, unless you are wholly senseless, will teach you.”

He had said before, it is true, that they were the teachers of falsehood and vanity; but he now speaks of another kind of teaching: that if men wisely considered the thing itself, they could soon learn from a mere sight of their gods that they were most obviously the deceptions of Satan. For if anyone looked on the idols with a clear eye, he would see that they were a dead material, and would see that great wrong is done to God by transforming Him into a likeness of what is dead.

We now understand the Prophet’s meaning when he says that idols themselves are sufficient, and more than sufficient teachers, when men are teachable and lend an attentive ear. He does not mean, as was said yesterday, that idols teach deceptively, leading to the destruction of men, when something divine is ascribed to them; but he says that they teach if anyone of a sane mind, and free from error, comes to view the idol and forms a judgment about the thing itself.

But superstition occupies the minds of men; and for this reason, all become the scholars of Satan, and no one applies his mind to understand the doctrine he mentions here. In short, idols teach naturally, and they teach through the artifice and delusion of Satan. They teach naturally, for by their silence they show that they are not gods, since there is no strength in them.

They also teach by the artifice of the devil, for they are made to claim a kind of divinity, and thus dazzle the minds of men, who are already corrupted by their own delusions. To the first teaching, of which the Prophet now speaks, none apply their minds, for almost all completely renounce nature. Only this takes hold of them—that idols are gods; for they make an image of the heavenly and eternal God, from whom we are at a great distance, and who does not otherwise descend to us, except through visible representations!

The Prophet confirms the same truth when he says that though these gods are covered over with gold and silver, there is no breath in them, or in the midst of them. In short, he means that they are mere masks, for no divinity can be without life. Since, then, idols are dead things, it follows that they are the most palpable impostures of Satan, by which he fascinates the minds of men when they thus devote themselves to dead things.

Moreover, whatever is said here against idols most certainly applies to the superstitions of the papal system. They deny that they give divine honors to their idols; but let us consider what the Prophet says. They indeed sacrifice to gold and silver, and then bend their knees before their images, and do not think that God is near them, except in these figures. Let them show, then, that the Prophet reasons here foolishly, or let them be held guilty according to the declaration, so to speak, of the Holy Spirit, when they thus present their prayers before idols. It now follows—