Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin (continued)
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 1
7. And when ye came unto this place. This, a third instance (of God's goodness), because He had smitten the first enemies, who encountered them to impede their passage, and thus had already begun to bring them into a place of rest. For inasmuch as the two tribes and a half had here chosen their home, they might behold as in a mirror that the possession of the promised land awaited them. Hence, then, Moses concludes that they were under obligation to keep the law, and exhorts them to shew their gratitude by faithful and sincere obedience. The object, therefore, of the recital is, to procure reverent attention to his doctrine; since the word,שכל261 shakal, in Hiphil, means to act successfully as well as prudently. I have set down both readings, since they are alike suitable to the sense. For we have seen in chapter 4, that this was the people's only wisdom to obey God's statutes; nor was their prosperity to be expected from any other source except God's blessing, which is everywhere promised to the Israelites, if they keep the law.
Deuteronomy 8
Deuteronomy 8:7-10
7. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
7. Quia Jehova Deus tuus introducit to in terram bonam, terram ubi torrentes, aquarum fontes, et abyssi erumpentes per valles et colles.
8. A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive and honey;
8. Terram frumenti, et hordei, vitis et ficus, et malogranati: terram oleae oliviferae, et mellis.
9. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
9. Terram in qua non comedes panem in penuria, ne ulla re indigebis: terram cujus lapides sunt ferrum, et e cujus montibus effodies aes.
תשכילו; A. V., that ye may prosper. S.M., ut prudenter agatis; but he adds, the Hebrews, explain this word byהצליחו, "that ye may prosper." The Hiphil ofשכל, says Simon's Lexicon, is to act prudently, and by a metonymy of the antecedent for the consequent, to proceed prosperously. — W.