Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
16. According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
16. Secundum omnia quae petiisti a Jehova Deo tuo in Horeb, in die conventus, dicendo, Non adjiciam audire vocem Jehovae Dei mei, et ignem hunc magnum non videbo amplius, ne moriar.
17. And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
17. Et dixit Jehovah ad me, Bene egerunt in eo quod loquuti sunt.
18. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
18. Prophetam suscitabo illis e medio fratrum suorum sicut to, ponamque verba mea in ore ejus: loqueturque ad eos quaecunque ei mandavero.
15. The Lord thy God will raise up. This is added by anticipation, lest the Israelites should object that they were more hardly dealt with than the rest of the nations of the world; for it was always most justly considered an extraordinary blessing to hold communication with God; and indeed there can be nothing more to be desired. But an opinion had obtained currency, that men approached more closely to God by means of magical arts, by the oracles of Pythonic spirits, and by the study of augury. The people of Israel, then, would have complained of being badly treated, if they had been shut out from all prophecies and revelations. Moses meets this complaint or objection by announcing, that their access to God would be not less familiar than as if He should Himself openly come down from heaven; if only they kept the right way, and were contented with that rule which He deemed best for them. He, therefore, commands that, instead of all the imaginations of the Gentiles, the doctrine of the Prophets should alone have force among them. Thus He signifies that although God should not openly come down from heaven, yet that His will, as far as was expedient, should be surely and clearly made known to them, since He would faithfully teach them by His servants the Prophets. On this ground when, in Isaiah, He has mocked at the prophecies of false gods, He calls the Israelites His "witnesses," (Isaiah 43:1-10,) as having made them the depositaries of His secrets and of the treasures of divine wisdom. We see, then, the way pointed out in which God would have His people inquire concerning the things necessary to salvation; and this is more plainly declared in Isaiah 8:19, 20,