John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 11

Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God. The whole address has this purpose: that the people should testify to their gratitude by their obedience, and so, attracted by God’s generous gifts, they should reverently embrace His Law. For this reason also, he requires them to love God before he exhorts them to obey the Law itself.

For, although he could have commandingly and threateningly commanded them, he preferred to lead them gently to obedience by presenting to them the sweetness of His grace. In summary, he exhorts them that, invited by God’s love, they should love Him in return. Meanwhile, it is important to note that willing affection is the foundation and beginning of properly obeying the Law, for what is produced by compulsion, or slavish fear, cannot please God.

He refers to the precepts of the Law by various names, so that they might zealously and attentively apply themselves to listen to God, who has left out nothing designed to order their lives; for by this variety of words, he indicates that God had thoroughly and perfectly taught whatever was necessary.

Regarding the three latter words, “his statutes, and judgments, and commandments,” reference can be made to what I have observed in Genesis and in the Psalms. The word משמות,²⁵⁴meshamroth, or guards, (custodiae,) which appears first here, is said in praise of the Law for this reason: that it encloses our life, so to speak, with barriers, so that it will not be exposed to errors on the right or on the left.

At the end of the verse, he exhorts them to persevere, because it was not permissible for the memory of their deliverance ever to cease.

And know you this day. He again confirms the preceding sentence, because they had been more than sufficiently taught by the illustrious acts of God how great His power was and how remarkable His mercy toward themselves. Two meanings may be given to the words. For instance, some connect them this way: “Know you this day the chastisement of the Lord,” and include in a parenthesis the clause, “for I speak not with your children, who have not known and have not seen.” Others, however, read the word of exhortation “know you” separately and²⁵⁵ without any connection. The latter view pleases me best, although it has little effect on the substance of the matter, whichever exposition we follow.

For Moses admonishes them that if they only pay attention to the works of God, His glory, which can instruct them to fear Him, may be clearly beheld in them. However, to urge them more vehemently, he adds that he is not speaking to posterity, to whom the fame of these miracles would reach, but that he addresses eye-witnesses who need no proof of them, having been assured of them by direct experience. He celebrates in many expressions of high praise these miracles, by which God had testified to them His power and goodness, so that they would not casually overlook what was worthy of their most earnest attention and constant meditation.

I will refrain now from speaking of other points, which I have commented on elsewhere. The word מוסר²⁵⁶musar, which stands first, is general and extends to all the specific terms that follow. Some, therefore, incorrectly translate it as “chastisement.” When it is said at the end of verse 4 that the Egyptians were “destroyed unto that day,” we must understand that the effects of the slaughter with which God destroyed them were felt as if still present.

Therefore you shall lay up these my words. He again demands their serious attention, lest, if the doctrine he presents should be received only lightly and carelessly, it should quickly be forgotten. For to lay up in, or on, the heart is the same as to hide deeply in it. Although, where the word “soul” is added, the “heart” refers to the mind, or the intellectual faculties. In short, he commands them to have the Law not only impressed on the mind but also embraced with sincere affection.

Next, he commands that aid to memory which we have just considered: namely, that they should wear the precepts on their arms and foreheads, as if God were constantly meeting them to arouse their senses. For (as has been said) God had no regard for the bands themselves, but wanted them to be seen on their arms and foreheads for another purpose, namely,²³⁶ to suggest and renew their care for religion.

Again, He appointed these precepts to serve as ornaments, in order to accustom the people to take their chief delight in meditating on the Law. Thus, that foolish ambition is sufficiently refuted—when hypocrites sought a reputation for holiness through their fringes and other frivolities—as well as the gross error of the entire people in thinking that they discharged their duty to God by their outward dress.

What follows—that the precepts should be written on the gates of their cities and on their private houses—tends to the same end. For we have said that since human minds are prone to vanity and are easily distracted by countless allurements, they need such supports to hold them back.

And this purpose is plainly expressed when He commands them individually to speak of the precepts of the Law—whether they are sitting at home, walking along the way, lying down, or rising up—because without diligent practice, it usually happens that whatever people have once learned is soon lost. He also adds another effect of this diligence: namely, that not only should each of them ensure their own individual benefit, but they should also teach their children, so that God’s Law would always be maintained in its strength by perpetual succession.