Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 2 Complete John Calvin (continued)
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 2 the authors of this wickedness had deserved. It is, therefore, just as if He were ascending His judgment-seat. Thus Moses by his intercession by no means changed His eternal decree; but, by appeasing Him, delivered the people from the punishment they had merited. In the same sense God is said to be influenced by our prayers; not that after the manner of men He assumes new feelings, but, in order to show the more than paternal love with which he honors us, He, as it were, indulges us, when He listens to our desires. Hence we gather that even by this express denunciation Moses was not prohibited from praying; because his faith in the adoption of the people was not destroyed. For we have already said that this principle, that the covenant which God had made with Abraham could not be made void, was so thoroughly an-graven upon his mind, that it surmounted whatever obstacles might present themselves. Resting, therefore, on the gratuitous promise, which depended not on men, his prayer was the offspring of faith. For the saints do not always reason accurately and subtlety as to the form of their prayers; but, after they have once embraced that which suffices to awaken in them confidence in prayer, viz., God's word, their whole attention is so directed to it, that they pass over the things which seem apparently to contradict it. Nor can we doubt but that it was God's design, when He delivered his terrible sentence as to the destruction of the people, to quicken the earnestness of Moses in prayer, since necessity more and more inflames the zeal of the pious. In short, Moses was always consistent in his care for the well-being of the people.
22. O God, the God of the, spirits of all flesh. The old interpreter renders the first,אלel, as an adjective, in which some others have followed him; 520 but, in my opinion, the name of God is rather repeated by way of adding force to the sentence. It does not, however, so clearly appear to me why all render the word flesh, in the genitive case. But, since I do not think that the,לlamed, is superfluous here, but that it is used for,בbeth, as often elsewhere, I have accurately expressed the sense by my translation, "in all flesh." 521 There is no question but that Moses applies this epithet to God in connection with the present matter; as if he desired to induce God to
In the clause under consideration,,אלEl, is immediately followed by,אלהיElohey, the form given to Elohim, when it is to be used in connection with the next word. The different roots of El and Elohim seem to indicate that El has an especial reference to the power of the Deity, and Elohim to His authority as a judge. There being no practicable equivalent distinction in Latin or English, and the word Almighty being appropriated to rendering,שדיShaddai, C. and our A.V. do but repeat the word God, whilst the V. and S.M. have fortissime Deus; but C. saw in S.M.'s notes, Aut sic, O Deus, Deus. — W.
C.'s supposition, that the prepositionלprefixed to all, is equivalent toבor in, would not facilitate the version. Noldius, giving instances where, theלprefixed has the effect of a genitive, cites this passage amongst: others. — W.
JOHN CALVIN
preserve His own work, just as a potter spares the vessels formed by himself. To the same effect is the prayer of Isaiah:
"But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore," (Isaiah 64:8, 9:) for hence he alleges a reason why God should relent, and be inclined to mercy. There is this difference, that Isaiah refers to that special grace wherewith God had embraced His people, whereas Moses carries his address further, viz., to the general grace of creation. It is of little importance whether we choose to expound this 522 with reference to all animals, or only to the human race, since Moses merely prays that, since God is the Creator and Maker of the world, He should not destroy the men whom He has formed, but rather have pity upon them, as being His work. In passing, however, we may infer from this passage, 523 that all (men) have their separate souls, for God is not said to have inspired all flesh with life, but to have created their spirits. Hence the monstrous delusion of the Manicheans is refuted, that our souls are so infused by the transmission of the Spirit of God, as that there should still be only one spirit. 524 But if it be preferred to include the animals, we must mark the grades of distinction between the spirit of man and the spirit of a dog or an ass. It is, however, more fitting to restrict it to men.
"Le mot de chair;" the word flesh — Fr.
Addition in Fr., "Moyennant qu'il soit prins des hommes, comme e'est le plus vraysemblable;" supposing it be taken as having reference to men, as is the more probable conjecture.
"Lesquels pensent que les ames procedent de la substance de Dieu;" who think that our souls proceed from the substance of God. — Fr.
This doctrine of the Manicheans is often referred to in the writings of Augustine. The Benedictine Editors, in their index to his works, point out by citations the following particulars: "Manichaeorum error circa animam. Docent animam nostram hoc esse quod Deus est; esse partem, seu particulam Dei; animas non solum hominum, sed etiam pecorum, de Dei esse substantia, et partes Dei asserunt."
The word which I have translated transmission, is in the Latin ex traduce, a well-known metaphor in theological controversy, derived from the practice of inarching, or grafting by approach, when two neighboring branches are tied together so as to cohere and form one, whilst the parent stocks, to which they belong, continue still to possess a separate and individual vitality. Thus Prudentius, Apoth. 919-921.
Vitandus tamen error erit, ne traduce carnis Transfundi in sobolem credatur fons animarum,
Sanguinis exemplo, etc.
C. makes frequent allusions to this heretical doctrine as having been resuscitated by Servetus, amongst his other pantheistic notions. See Instit. Book 1. ch. 15. Section 5. C. Soc. Edit., vol. 1, p. 223; and also on Psalm 104:30. C. Soc. Edit., vol. 4, p. 168.