Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 2 Complete John Calvin (continued)
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 2
22. Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
22. Certe expelletur Cain, usquequo Assur captivum te ducet.
23. And he took up his parable, and said, Alas! who shall live when God doeth this?
23. Assumpsit item parabolam, et dixit, Vae quis vivet quum statuerit istud?
24. And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.
24. Et naves e littore Chitthim quae affligant Assur, affligent Heber, sed hoc quoque usque ad perditionem.
25. And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.
25. Surrexit itaque Balaam, et abiit, reversusque est in locum suum: atque etiam Balacabiit in viam suam.
1. And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord. It is evident that Balaam, in order to gratify the wicked king for the sake of the reward, endeavored by various shifts and expedients to obtain an answer in accordance with his wishes. Thus do the wicked seek to propitiate God by delusive means, just as we soothe children by coaxing. And God for some time allowed him 590 to gloat upon his fallacious oracle. He now, however, lays closer constraint upon him, and, breaking off all delay, dictates an answer, which He compels him to deliver. For his obedience is not here praised as if, when he understood the will of God, he yielded voluntarily and abandoned his monstrous cupidity; but, because now there was no more room for subterfuge, he dared not stir his foot, as if God had put forth His hand to retain him in his place.
When it is said that "the Spirit of God was upon him," 591 after he turned his eyes "toward the wilderness" and beheld the camp of Israel, how they were marshalled "according to their tribes," we must understand it thus: not that he was influenced by a sincere feeling of good-will, so that the "Inhiare fallaci oraculo." — Lat. "Q'uil fust comme a la chasse, pour obtenir quelque fausse revelation;" to be, as it were, in chase of some false revelation. — Fr.
A. V., "came upon him."