Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
quarters of the globe under His dominion, from the east even to the west, and from the north even to the south. Meanwhile the power of David was the prototype of this boundless reign, when he acquired the sovereignty of the promised land. We ought not to think it unreasonable that the ancient people should be kept out of some portion of that inheritance which was to be expected by them in accordance with the covenant; but rather does God's incredible goodness display itself, in that, when they had altogether disinherited themselves, He still combated their iniquity, and failed not to shew practically His faithfulness. We may see the same thing in the calling of the Gentiles; for, if the Jews had continued faithful, the Gentiles would have been joined with them, as it had been said, "In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew," (Zechariah 8:23;) but their rebellion brought it about, that God only gathered from among them the first-fruits of His Church, and afterwards the Gentiles were substituted in the place which they had left empty. In this way neither did this people retain their right of primogeniture, neither did God's truth cease to stand firm, as Paul more fully explains in the eleventh chapter of Romans.
Deuteronomy 29
Deuteronomy 29:29
29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us
29. Secreta sunt Jehovae Deo nostro: revelata autem nobis et filiis nostris usque in saeculum, ut faciamus omnia verba Legis hujus. and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
29. The secret things belong. The conciseness and brevity of this passage has rendered its meaning ambiguous; still there is no necessity for discussing the various expositions of it. I will only shortly touch upon those most generally accepted, lest they should lead to error. The meaning is forced which some of the Hebrews273 give it, viz., that God is the sole avenger of hidden crimes, whilst those transgressions, which come to the knowledge of men, should be punished by earthly judges; for here the execution of S.M. quotes Aben-Ezra as saying, "The secret things done by men belong to God, that he may punish them. But the things which become manifest, or are publicly done, belong to us, and such things we are bound to punish." Where theהdemonstrative is repeated with the conjunction, as noticed by C., our A. V. has properly but those. — W.
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 1 punishment is not the subject in discussion, but Moses is simply commending the use of the doctrine of the Law. The opinion of those who conceive that the excellency of the Law is maintained, because God has manifested by it His secret things, would be more probable, if the rules of grammar did not oppose it; for the words are not to be read connectedly." The secret things of God are revealed unto us," since theה, or demonstrative pronoun,274 which is adjoined to both, does not permit this any more than the copula which stands between them. To me there appears no doubt that, by antithesis, there is a comparison here made between the doctrine openly set forth in the Law, and the hidden and incomprehensible counsel of God, concerning which it is not lawful to inquire. In my opinion, therefore, the copula is used for the adversative particle; as though it were said, "God indeed retains to Himself secret things, which it neither concerns nor profits us to know, and which surpass our comprehension; but these things, which He has declared to us, belong to us and to our children." It is a remarkable passage, and especially deserving of our observation, for by it audacity and excessive curiosity are condemned, whilst pious minds are aroused to be zealous in seeking instruction. We know how anxious men are to understand things, the knowledge of which is altogether unprofitable, and even the investigation of them injurious. All of them would desire to be God's counsellors, and to penetrate into the deepest recesses of heaven, nay, they would search into its very cabinets. Hence a heathen poet truly says, — "Nil mortalibus arduum est: Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia." — Hor. Od. 1: 3-37.
"Nought for mortals is too high; Our folly reaches to the sky."
On the other hand, what God plainly sets before us, and would have familiarly known, is either neglected, or turned from in disgust, or put far away from us, as if it were too obscure. In the first clause, then, Moses briefly reproves and restrains that temerity which leaps beyond the bounds imposed by God; and in the latter, exhorts us to embrace the doctrine of the Law, in which God's will is declared to us, as if He were openly speaking to us; and thus he encounters the folly of those who fly from the light presented to them, and wrongfully accuse of obscurity that doctrine, wherein God has let Himself down to the measure of our understanding. In sum, he declares that God is the best master to all who come to Him as disciples, because He faithfully and clearly explains to them all that it is useful for them to knew. The perpetuity of the doctrine is also asserted, and that it never is to be let go, or to become obsolete by the lapse of ages. How far the Law is perpetual
In C.'s Latin "הagedia," or as spelt in Buxtorf's Thesaurus Gram. Ling. Sanctae, Lib. 2, c. 5, "הhajediha, that isהידיעה, translatable which maketh known, is the name given to the prefixה, when its effect is demonstrative" — W