Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 1 in other passages, for a solemnity; for, without controversy, it sometimes means feast days, sometimes assemblies or conventions. Let my readers, however, make choice of whichever sense they prefer. After Moses has prescribed concerning the rest and the offerings, he adds a caution, that there should be no diminution of the ordinary service; for else they might, have transferred fraudulently the sacrifices, which they were already obliged to offer, to the feast days, and thus, as the saying is, have endeavored to whitewash two walls out of the same pot. Wherefore, at the beginning of verse 39, the particle,אךac, seems to be taken adversatively; 697 for there is an antithesis between the peculiar service of this solemnity and the common rites which were to be observed at other times; as if he had said, that when they had done all which the Law required every day, still they were not to fail in this observance; and hence, that they must comply severally with both the general and special command, if they would properly do their duty. Moreover, by reference to the time, he shews that they ought to be cheerful in its performance, because they would then incur but little loss, as the fruits would all be harvested; and this is what he refers to when he says, "when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land;" as if he had said, that he had regard to their convenience, since otherwise they would have been at leisure at home; and thus he takes away all excuse (for neglect.)
40. And ye shall take you on the first day. By this symbol the Jews were instructed that this day was to be celebrated with joy and gladness; for it was not only a memorial of the favor which He had graciously bestowed on their fathers in the desert, when they were exposed to all the vicissitudes of heaven, 698 and He cherished them under His wings as an eagle does her brood; but it was also an act of thanksgiving, because He had provided them so commodious a reception in the Promised Land; thus, by carrying the boughs, they proclaimed their joy and triumph as it were. Nor would it have been reasonable that they should go into the booths in sorrow and sadness, since they represented visibly to them both the former and present goodness of God, and at the same time gave them a foretaste of the life of heaven, inasmuch as they were but sojourners on earth. Some suppose,הדר hadar, 699 to be a proper name, but since it everywhere means "comeliness,"
I have been unwilling to depart from its ordinary sense; nor do I curiously
"Il y a un mot qui emporte antant corame Neantmoins, ou Quoy qu'il en soil;" there is a word which is equivalent to Nevertheless, or At any rate. — Fr.
"De pluyes, de gresles, de froid, et de chaud." — Fr.
"The Jews limit this to the citron; but this is a mere tradition of men. The words mean any tree whatsoever that was attractive and goodly. Jahn says, 'Any noble tree, such as the palm, or the malum Punicum.' So Rosenmuller." — Bonar in loco.