John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 2:24

"Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon: behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle." — Deuteronomy 2:24 (ASV)

Rise you up, take your journey. I have lately said that the order is here inverted. In my opinion, Moses inserted what follows soon after—And I sent messengers out of the wilderness, etc. (Deuteronomy 2:26)—by way of parenthesis. Therefore, it would be suitably rendered in the pluperfect tense: “But I had sent,” etc.

Thus, there will be no ambiguity in the meaning that when the messengers had returned without accomplishing their purpose, God sustained the weariness of the people with this consolation, as if He had said, “Sihon has not, with impunity, repudiated the peace offered to him, since it will now be permitted for you to attack him in lawful war.”

And certainly, this signal for the expedition to advance depends on the declaration added in Deuteronomy 2:30, as we may readily gather from the context. For Moses there repeats what we read here concerning their passage in slightly different words. God again testifies that He has given Sihon into the hands of the people and exhorts Moses to go down boldly to the battle.

Moreover, the cause is specified there why Sihon had been so arrogant and contemptuous in his rejection of the embassy, namely, because God had hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate (Deuteronomy 2:30).¹²⁸ From this, it again appears how poor is the sophistry of those who imagine that God idly regards from heaven what men are about to do.

They dare not, indeed, deprive Him of foreknowledge; but what can be more absurd than that He foreknows nothing except what men please? Scripture, as we see, has not placed God in a watchtower from which He might observe at a distance what is about to happen. Instead, it teaches that He is the director (moderatorem) of all things and that He subjects to His will not only the events of things but also the designs and dispositions of men.

Therefore, just as we have previously seen how Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, so now Moses attributes to God the obstinacy of King Sihon. How base a subterfuge the exception is that some make regarding His permission sufficiently appears from the purpose Moses points out.¹²⁹

For why did God harden Sihon’s heart? It was so that He might deliver him into the hand of His people to be slain, because He willed that Sihon should perish and had destined his land for the Israelites. If God only permitted Sihon to grow hardened, this decree was either nothing, or changeable and fleeting, since it depended on the changeable will of man.

Putting aside, then, all childish quibbling, we must conclude that God by His secret inspiration moves, shapes, governs, and draws men’s hearts, so that even through the wicked He executes whatever He has decreed.

At the same time, it is to be observed that the wicked are not impelled to hardness of heart by external force, but they voluntarily harden themselves. Thus, in this same hardness of heart, God may be seen as a just judge, however incomprehensible His counsel may be, and however the impiety of men may reveal itself, who are their own instigators and the authors of their own sin.

Moses emphatically inculcates the same thing twice, namely, that the spirit of Sihon was hardened by God and his heart made obstinate, so that God’s fatherly favor towards His chosen people might be more conspicuous. This was because, from the obstinacy of the blinded king, He provided them a just cause for war and an opportunity for victory.

¹²⁸ Addition in Fr., “sans disposer de leur volonte;” without disposing their will.“sans disposer de leur volonte;” without disposing their will.

¹²⁹ “Or il appert par la fin que Moyse specifie combien ceste tergiversation est frivole, de dire que Dieu permet sans rien ordonner;” now, it appears by the end which Moses specifies, how frivolous is that subterfuge, to say that God permits without ordaining anything. — Fr.