John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 1:31

"and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that Jehovah thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place." — Deuteronomy 1:31 (ASV)

And it, the wilderness where thou hast seen. The constant course of God’s grace is here commemorated, from where they might safely infer that He, who had bestowed so many benefits upon them, would still be the same in this crowning act. He, therefore, uses the image of bearing, because the way would have been by no means passable unless God had borne them, as it were, on His shoulders, just as a father is accustomed to bear his infant child.

Thus, on the one hand, the incredible goodness of God is exalted, who had deigned to lower Himself so far as to take up the people in His arms; and, on the other hand, the people are reminded of their own infirmity, for unless upheld by the power of God, they would scarcely have been competent to advance a step. Elsewhere, retaining a portion of this analogy, Moses compares God to an eagle,⁵⁶ who bears her young upon her wings and teaches them to fly. And surely, unless the Israelites had been uplifted by supernatural means, they would never have been equal to a hundredth part of the difficulties they encountered.

⁵⁶Deuteronomy 32:11. The last sentence of the paragraph in omitted in . The last sentence of the paragraph in omitted in Fr.