John Calvin on Deuteronomy 8:17-20

17. And thou say in, thy heart. He describes that kind of pride of which we have lately spoken, viz., when men attribute to their own industry, or labor, or foresight, what they ought to refer to the blessing of God. It has indeed been said, that our hearts are uplifted in other ways also; but this is the principal ground of pride, to assume and assign to ourselves what belongs to God. For nothing so greatly confines us within the boundaries of humility and modesty as the acknowledgment of God’s grace; for it is madness and temerity to raise our crests against Him on whom we depend, and to whom we owe ourselves and all we possess. Rightly, then, does Moses reprove the pride of the human heart which arises from forgetfulness of God, if they think that they have gained by their own exertions (marte suo) what God has given them of His own pleasure, in order to lay them under obligation to Himself. “To say in the heart,” is a Hebraism for thinking in one’s self, or reflecting in one’s self. He does not, therefore, only require the outward expression of the lips, whereby men profess that they are grateful to God’s bounty, (for in this there is often nothing more than hypocrisy and vanity;) but he would have them seriously persuaded that whatever they possess is derived from His sheer beneficence. He has already said, that although when they entered the land they would be fed with bread and other foods, still the manna wherewith God had supported them in the wilderness would be a perpetual proof that man is not sustained by bread only, but by the secret virtue of God, which inspires the principle of life. Another lesson is now added, viz., that because God formerly fed and clothed them gratuitously, and without any act of their own, they thence are taught that, even whilst they strenuously labor and strive, whatever they acquire is not so much the reward of their own industry as the fruit of God’s blessing. For he not only affirms that at their first entrance into the land they were enriched, because God dealt with them liberally, but He extends this to the whole course of human life, that men obtain nothing by their own vigilance and diligence, except in so far as God blesses them from above. And this he more fully explains immediately afterwards, where he commands them to remember therefore that “it is God who giveth them power,” etc. For although God would not have us slumber in inactivity, yet what Paul says of the preaching of the Gospel, A parenthesis is here added in the Fr., (“selon qu’il est prins de la similitude des laboureurs;”) as it. is taken from the similitude of laborers. holds good also in the most trifling matters, viz., that “neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth,” but all things are in the power of God, by whose only influence it is that the earth brings forth fruit. (1 Corinthians 3:7.) We must then recollect that although God reproves man’s slothfulness, and punishes it with want and hunger, still they who are active in labor do not get wealth by their own diligence, but by the blessing of God alone. On this doctrine the prayer which Christ dictated to us is founded, in which we ask to have our daily bread given us. But although this relates alike to all mankind, yet Moses appropriates it especially to God’s chosen people, in whom God’s blessing shines forth most brightly, and at the same time admonishes them that the fact of His supplying them with food depends on the covenant whereby He adopted the race of Abraham to Himself.

Exodus 23

Exodus 23:20-23, 25-31

20. Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

20. Ecce, ego mitre Angelum coram to, ut custodiat to in via, et introducat to in locum quem praeparavi.

21. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

21. Cave a facie ejus, (ad verbum, custodias to; vel custoditus sis,) et obtempera voci ejus, ne exacerbes eum, neque enim parcet transgressioni vestrae: nomen meum intra ipsum.

22. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

22. Si autem audiendo audieris vocem ejus, et feceris omnia quae loquor, inimicus ere inimicis tuis, et affligam affligentes te.

23. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

23. Nam praecedet Angelus meus faciem tuam, et introducet tead Emorrhaeum, Hitthaeum, et Perezaeum, Chananaeum, Hivaeum, et Jebusaeum: et exterminabo illos.

25. And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

25. Coletis Jehovam Deum vestrum, et benedicet pani tuo, et aquis tuis: auferamque infirmitatem e medio tui.

26. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfill.

26. Non erit abortum faciens et sterilis in terra tua: numerum dierum tuorum complebo.

27. I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come; and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

27. Terrorem mittam coram to, et interficiam omnem populum ad quem venies, et dabo omnes hostes tuos tergum.

28. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

28. Mittam crabronem ante to, qui expellat Hivaeum, Chananaeum, et Hitthaeum a facie tua.

29. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

29. Non ejiciam ilium a facie tua anno uno, ne sit terrae desolatio, et multiplicetur contra to bestia agri.

30. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

30. Paulatim paulatim ejiciam illum a facie tua, donec crescas et haereditate accipias terram.

31. And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

31. Ponam autem terminum tuum a mari rubro usque ad Philistin, et a deserto usque ad fluvium, ham dabo in manus vestras habitatores terrae.