Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 1 pure and uncorrupted from every strange vice. On this account Scripture compares strange doctrines to leaven, since by their additions or curtailings they corrupt the pure word of God. (Matthew 16:11.) And this was by no means a useless discipline; when, in trifles, and almost things of nought, the rein was applied to them, so that they should not decline from purity in the very least degree. It was a small matter to interweave a thin thread with a thicker one, and perchance such a process would have been profitable for their general advantage; in some fields, too, a better crop is grown, if the seed is compounded of pure wheat, and some other sort of grain (siligine), as also the union of the horse and ass has been approved of, since thus mules are produced. But God would not allow these things amongst His ancient people, lest, sinking by degrees to greater license, they should at length addict themselves to the practice and customs of the heathen. He therefore uses this preface: "Ye shall keep my statutes," (Leviticus 19:19;) from whence we gather that the people were surrounded with fixed barriers, lest they should defile themselves with foreign vices, and imitate the nations, from which they had been separated. Wherefore this is the sum, that they should abide in God's statutes.
Leviticus 19
Leviticus 19:19, 23-25, 27, 28
19. Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.
19. Statuta mea observabitis. Animal tuum non facies coire cum altero semine. Agrum tuum non seres diverso semine, et vestis contexta ex lana et lino non ascendet super te.
23. And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.
23. Quum ingressi fueritis terram, et plantaveritis omnis generis arborem fructiferam, tune praeputiatum ducetis praeputium ejus, fructum ejus: tribus annis erit vobis incircumcisa: non comedetis ejus fructus.