John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 28

The Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto himself. This indeed refers to earthly blessings, as if Moses said that God’s love towards His chosen people would be manifested through them. Still, it rises higher, so that the Israelites, gradually led, would learn to embrace God alone and to trust in Him according to the covenant which He had made with Abraham, I am thy exceeding great reward (Genesis 15:1).

For the children of Abraham were set apart and chosen to be a holy people, not only so that, being well-fed and with a full belly, they would aspire to nothing but earthly things, but also that they might be confidently assured that they would be blessed in death as well as in life.

Although their adoption was gratuitous, still, since they were called to purity, it is not without reason that God promises that what He had spoken would be sure, provided that the Israelites themselves, by keeping the Law, continued in the covenant. This means that their sanctification²¹⁵ would be firm and perpetual if they walked in the commandments of the Law.

When He adds that it would be manifest to²¹⁶ all people of the earth that the name of God was called upon them, this is equivalent to saying that it would be known that they were under God’s defense and patronage, and that, as a result, they would always be safe and secure in His protection.

The Lord shall open to thee his good treasure. He again repeats that the goodness of God shines forth in many ways in the lives of men, since He not only supplies the bread that they eat, but also that the rain which descends from heaven waters the earth, and that in this way He produces whatever is required for food from His abundant storehouse or treasure.

Let us learn, therefore, to contemplate the manifold riches which God brings forth from His treasures, both above and below: in the temperature of the atmosphere, in the life-giving heat of the sun, in the rain, and in other means, as well as in the fertility of the earth.

And when He declares that He will bless the work of our hands, from this let us also learn that we can achieve nothing by our industry and hardest labors, except to the extent that God grants us good success. All our efforts without His secret blessing are merely useless fatigue. For the figure which Paul uses in reference to the spiritual cultivation of the Church is taken from nature itself:

“Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:7).

God would not, indeed, have²¹⁷ us lie idle, and therefore He requires the labor of our hands, but He would have the fruit of our labors attributed to Himself.

After having spoken of the whole Law, and forbidden that they should turn aside to the right or to the left, He refers to the principal point: that is, that they should not turn to foreign gods.

Therefore, the sum of the matter is this: so that God may continue to show us the favor He has begun towards us, we, for our part, should be altogether submissive to His rule.

This indeed He demands of us by His word and enables us to perform by the power of His Spirit—not, it is true, to do our duty fully, but to strive to reach the goal. And since we are far from attaining perfection, His indulgence supplies what we lack.

Here, however, a difficult question arises—If all prosperity proceeds from the peculiar blessing which God grants to His servants, why is it that many of His despisers have children, easy and happy circumstances, abundance of the fruits of the earth, enjoyment and luxury, honors, and power? I answer that the happy condition of life which He assigns to His servants does not prevent Him from diffusing His bounty indiscriminately over the whole human race. He is truly called in Psalm 36:6 the preserver of “man and beast.” It is said elsewhere,²¹⁸ that His mercy is extended over all His creatures (Psalms 145:17), and justly does Christ exalt His unbounded goodness, in that “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good” (Matthew 5:45). But equally true is the exclamation of the Prophet:

“Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up
for them that fear thee!” (Psalms 31:19).

For since all, without exception, enjoy the supports of life, God’s goodness, which thus contends with the wickedness of men, shines forth universally even towards the ungodly, so that He does not cease to cherish and preserve those whom He has created, although they are unworthy.

He therefore does good to the ungodly because He is their Creator. Besides, to keep the minds of believers in suspense in expectation of the final judgment, He now allows many things to be confusedly mixed together and hides His judgment in the darkness of night, as it were, or at least under clouds.

While He also so tempers His patience towards the reprobate that, in this confusion of which I have spoken, some signs of His anger and favor are manifested. Thus, although the government of the world is not yet reduced to a perfect order, still God shows by it that He is both the avenger of sins and the rewarder of righteousness, and some sparks are seen through the darkness.

While the faithful, although they do not attain to the full enjoyment of the blessing promised them, nevertheless taste of it as far as is fitting. But to the ungodly, although they abound with all sorts of good things, not a single drop of God’s goodness is dispensed. For unless a sense of God’s paternal favor is awakened by His blessing, the blessing itself ceases to exist.

Indeed, the more they gorge themselves, they attain a deadly fatness; and God purposely lifts them up that He may cast them down more heavily from their high estate. In a word, they are fed, as the Prophet says,²¹⁹ unto the day of slaughter.

It must be concluded, therefore, that the blessings which God here promises to His servants are seasoned by Him with spiritual salt, lest they should be tasteless; while the reprobate, who are destitute of a sense of His grace, are also deprived altogether of all His blessings.

There still, however, remains a difficulty: the felicity spoken of here does not always, nor equally, fall to the lot of God’s servants. Indeed, even under the Law, they were sharply tried by many troubles and adversities.

I answer that since no one, not even the most holy, was ever a perfect keeper of the Law, and since no one was ever free from all transgression, it is no cause for surprise that they only partially enjoyed the promised blessings, because they were not fit recipients (capaces) of their fullness.

And if it sometimes happens that they are chastised more severely than the ungodly, there is no absurdity in this either, since God usually begins His judgment at His own house (Isaiah 10:12; 1 Peter 4:17).

Still, even in this confusion, we see what the Prophet teaches: that the righteous are never forsaken (Psalms 37:25), and that they are like green and fruitful olive-trees in the courts of the Lord (Psalms 52:8). Meanwhile, the ungodly, although for a season they may be exalted like cedars of Lebanon, are yet plucked up by the roots in a moment, so that no trace of them remains.

Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in. God here pronounces that all their undertakings would be unsuccessful; for "going out and coming in" signifies their various actions and the whole course of their life. This is more clearly expressed in the next verse, where He proclaims misfortune for them in all their affairs, meaning that God would confound and spoil whatever they might undertake.

The words ²³⁷מהומה, mehumah, and מגערת, migegnereth, are indeed variously explained. Still, the sum of it is this: God would be against them, so as to thwart and overthrow all their counsels and labors. Therefore, we are taught that all human endeavors are useless and vain unless they seek success from God.