Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin (continued)
Preface to the Law
Preface to the Law
EXODUS 20
Exodus 20:1-2
1. And God spoke all these words, saying,
1. Et loquutus est Deus omnia verba haec: dicendo,
2. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
2. Ego Jehova Deus tuus, qui eduxi te e terra AEgypti, e domo servorum.
1. And God spoke. I am aware that many agree in reading this verse and the next in connection with each other, and thus making them together the first of the ten commandments. Others taking them separately, consider the affirmation to stand in the place of one entire commandment; but since God neither forbids nor commands anything here, but only comes forth before them in His dignity, to devote the people to Himself, and to claim the authority He deserves, which also He would have extended to the whole Law, I make no doubt but that it is a general preface, whereby He prepares their minds for obedience. And surely it was necessary that, first of all, the right of the legislator should be established, lest what He chose to command should be despised, or contemptuously received. In these words, then, God