Commentary on the Book of Joshua John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON JOSHUA
immediately allow themselves to become blinded by pride, and transfer the praise to their own wisdom, activity, and valor. But when the thing is effected by hornets, the divine agency is indubitably asserted. Accordingly, the conclusion is, that the people did not acquire the land by their own sword or bow, a conclusion repeated in the 44th Psalm, and apparently borrowed from the passage here. Lastly, after reminding them that they ate the fruits provided by other men's labors, he exhorts them to love God as his beneficence deserves.
Joshua 24:15-24
15. Quod si molestum est 198
15. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
vobis servire Jehovae, eligite vobis hodie quos colatis: sive deos, quibus servierunt patres vestri, qui fuerunt trans flumen, sive deos Aemorrhaei, in quorum habitatis terra: ego vero, et domus mea colemus Jehovam.
16. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;
16. Cui respondit populus, dicens, Absit a nobis ut derelinquamus Jehovam, serviendo diis alienis.
17. For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed:
17. Jehova enim Deus noster ipse est qui eduxit nos et patres nostros e terra AEgypti, e domo servorum, 199 et qui fecit in oculis nostris signa ista magna: servavitque nos in omni via per quam ambulavimus, et in omnibus populis per quorum transivimus medium.
Literally, "And if it be evil in your eyes." This differs little from the English version, "And if it seem evil unto you," and is preferable both to Calvin's Latin, "Quod si molestum est," "But if it is irksome;" and to the Septuagint, Εἰδὲμὴἀρέσκει ὑμῖν, "If it is not pleasing to you." The last is exactly followed by Luther, "Gefallt es euch aber nicht." — Ed.