Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 2 Complete John Calvin
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 2
Exodus 22:28
28. Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
28. Diis non detrahes, et principi populi tui non maledices.
Deuteronomy 20
Deuteronomy 20:9
9. And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.
9. Quum finem fecerint praefecti militares loquendi ad populum, constituent principes turmarum in capite populi.
Exodus 22:28. Thou shalt not revile the gods. These four passages confirm what I have said, that in the: Fifth Commandment are comprised, by synecdoche all superiors in authority.: For it was not the design of God to add to the Two Tables, as if something better and more perfect had afterwards come into His mind; which it is sinful to suppose. He was therefore content with the rule once laid down, although He afterwards spoke in a more explanatory manner. But the precepts here given would be unconnected with the Law, if they were not an adjunct, and therefore a part, of the Fifth Commandment.
First of all, He commands that we should think and speak reverently of judges, and others, who exercise the office of magistrate: nor is it to be questioned, that, in the ordinary idiom of the Hebrew language, He repeats the same thing twice over; and consequently that the same persons are called "gods," and "rulers of the people." The name of God is, figuratively indeed, but most reasonably, applied to magistrates, upon whom, as the ministers of His authority, He has inscribed a mark of His glory. For, as we have seen that honor is due to fathers, because God has associated them with Himself in the possession of the name, so also here His own dignity is claimed for judges, in order that the people may reverence them, because they are God's representatives, as His lieutenants, and vicars. And so Christ, the surest expositor, explains it, when He quotes the passage from Psalm 82:6, "I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High," (John 10:34,) viz., "that they are called gods, unto whom the word of God