Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
3. And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
3. Iveritque et coluerit deos alienos: et adoraverit eos, solem aut lunam, aut universum exercitum coelorum, quod ego non praecepi:
4. And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
4. Et nuntiatum fuerit tibi, audierisque: tune probe inquires: et ecce, si verus et certus fuerit sermo, et facta fuerit abominatio haec in Israel:
5. Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
5. Educes virum illum, aut mulierem illam, qui commiserunt facinus illud pravum ad portas tuas, virum, aut mulierem, et obrues cos lapidibus donec moriantur.
7. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.
7. Marius testium primo erit in eum ad occidendum ipsum, et manus populi postea: exterminabisque malum e medio tui.
2. If there be found among you. The same punishment is here decreed against idolaters, to which apostates had been before condemned; and thus either transgression is declared a capital crime. Hence we gather that it is accounted before God no less weighty a sin to violate His worship by gross and impure superstitions, than openly and professedly to fall away from religion altogether. Thus in Ezekiel 20:39, He bids farewell to the Jews, and as it were emancipates them, that they may go every one after his idols, when they are no longer contented with Him alone. Whilst God, however, is so rigid an exactor of punishment, He would not have judgment pronounced precipitately. These are tokens of severity, that a woman as well as a man is to be slain; that the whole people should unite in stoning them; that the evil should be removed from the midst of the land, lest the abomination should continue unpunished. On the other hand moderation is to be observed, since diligent inquiry is to be made, nor is sentence to be pronounced unless the matter is fully proved; and again, that the trial may be lawful, the