Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
8. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within
8. Si quid latuerit te in judicio inter sanguinem et sanguinem, inter causam et causam, et inter plagam et plagam, in rebus rixarum, intra portas tuas, tunc surges, et ascendes ad locum quem elegerit Jehova Deus tuus.
thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;
9. And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:
9. Et venies ad sacerdotes, Levitas, et ad judicem qui fuerit in diebus illis, et quaeres, et indicabunt tibi verbum judicii.
10. And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:
10. Et facies juxta verbum quod indicaverint tibi e loco illo quem elegerit Jehova, et observabis facere secundum omnia quae docuerint te.
11. According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.
11. Secundum legem quam docuerint re, et secundum judicium quod dixerint tibi, facies: non declinabis a verbo quod indicaverint tibi, ad dextram, aut ad sinistram.
8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee. The principal office of the priests is here described under a single head, viz., that they should declare what was right in doubtful and obscure matters out of the Law of God; for although God seems only to refer to civil controversies, yet there is no doubt but that by synecdoche He appoints them to be interpreters of the doctrine of the Law. That their authority might be more reverenced in general, He commands the people to acquiesce in their judgment even on the most disagreeable points: for if their sentence is to be submitted to where a man's life is in question, or when any disputes are to be settled, much more is all exception taken away with respect to God's worship and spiritual doctrine.