John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 31

And Moses went and spoke these words. By the word went, he signifies that, having received the commands from God, he came to the people to report them. From this we gather that they were warned early enough to take heed, if they had possessed good sense. And it was necessary that the people should hear from his own mouth these messages, which were not at all pleasing, as they were full of both harsh threats and severe rebukes. For, if they had been delivered after his death, they would have immediately all exclaimed that they had been fraudulently invented by someone else, and that his name was therefore falsely attributed to them.

Moreover, the particular time of their delivery contributed significantly to increase their impact, so that the people would not only submit with humility and a willingness to learn to his instruction at that time, but also that it might remain afterward deeply impressed upon their hearts. We know with what attention the last words of the dying are usually received. And Moses,²³⁰ now prepared to die at God’s command, addressed the people as if saying a final goodbye to them. To the respect and dignity belonging to his office as a Prophet, there was as a result added all the force and authority of a final testament.

Just as throughout his life he had been deeply concerned for the people’s welfare, so he now carries his care, which was more than paternal, even further. And truly, it is fitting for all devout teachers to ensure, as much as they are able, that the results of their work should outlive them. Of this concern, Peter presents himself to us as an example:

“I think it meet (he says), as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.” (2 Peter 1:13, 15)

And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old. Although Moses had often been proudly and disdainfully rejected, it was nonetheless true that his departure would awaken the deepest sorrow and inspire great alarm in them. Therefore, by stating his age, he consoles their anxiety and mitigates their grief; and with another reason, he also represses their lamentations: namely, that God had fixed his term of life.

He presents this, then, as an alleviation, because his death was at a ripe age, and in his extreme old age, he was no longer fit to endure fatigue.

Here, however, the question arises: why would he say that he was failing and broken in strength, when we will see a little further on that he retained his senses in their full vigor even until his death? But the reply is obvious: he would not have been useless in his old age because his eyes were dim or his limbs trembled, but because his age no longer allowed him to perform his usual duties. For he had been marvelously and supernaturally preserved until that time; but, since he had now arrived at the end of his course, it was necessary that he should suddenly decline and be deprived of his faculties.

“To go out, and come in,” is equivalent to performing the functions of life: thus it is said in the Psalm, You have known my going out and coming in.²³¹ (Psalms 121:8). And in this sense David is said to have gone out and come in when he performed the duty entrusted to him by Saul (1 Samuel 18:5).

In the latter clause, where he refers to his exclusion from the land of Canaan and his being prevented from entering it, he indirectly rebukes the people, for whose offense God had been wrathful with himself and Aaron. Thus by this tacit reproof the Israelites were admonished to bear patiently the penalty of their ingratitude. At the same time, as he shows himself to be submissive to the divine decree, he also bids them acquiesce in it.

The Lord your God, He will go over. With no ordinary consolation He encourages their minds to renewed alacrity, because they would experience, even when he was dead, the unceasing favor of God. From this we gather a lesson of especial usefulness, that whenever God raises up for us men endowed with excellent gifts, He is accustomed so to use their labors for a time that He still retains others in His hand, and constantly substitutes others, unless our sins stand in the way. From this it follows that the power of God is not to be tied to the illustrious qualities of men, as if their death meant His destruction.

It is true, indeed, that eminent men are rarely succeeded by their equals,²³² because our wickedness stifles the light of spiritual gifts and, as far as it can, extinguishes them. Still, let this be deemed certain: when God promotes our welfare by ministers of special eminence, He gives us a taste of His goodness, so that we may expect its continuance, because he forsakes not the work of his own hands (Psalms 138:8). Moses says, therefore, that although he might be taken away by death, God will still undertake the office of their leader, or rather, that He will continue to be their leader, as the Israelites had before experienced Him to be.

But he also sustains their weakness with another consolation, pointing out Joshua as his successor; otherwise, the people might have been ready to object that if God was willing to go before them, why did He not manifest it by the selection of a representative, by whose hand He might continue what He had begun through Moses? In this respect, therefore, he also shows that God’s favor was by no means obscure, since Joshua was already chosen to sustain the care and burden of governing the people: for it is not by his own authority that he obtrudes Joshua and sets him over them, but he declares him to be called by God. Still, it is not a previously unknown matter that he puts before them, but he only instructs them to remember what God had long ago revealed, as we have seen elsewhere.

Be strong and of good courage. After he had shown that God would be with them to help them, he exhorts the people to firmness and magnanimity. And surely, this is one way to confirm our courage: to be assured that the assistance God promises will be enough for us. It is far from true that our zeal and energy in acting rightly are impaired when we attribute to God's grace what foolish men attribute to their own free will.

For those who are stirred to strenuous action relying on their own strength do nothing more than cast themselves headlong in their senseless recklessness and pride. Let us understand, then, that all exhortations are fleeting and ineffective if they are founded on anything other than simple confidence in God's grace.

Thus, Moses assumes as his basis for exhortation that God will fight for the Israelites. However, it must be observed that the people were encouraged to persevere in hope when God declares that He will be their helper even to the end.

This lesson refutes that impious delusion by which the Popish theologians have captivated the world. They deny that believers²³³ can be certain of God’s grace, except concerning their present state.

Thus, they hold faith in suspense, so that we may only believe for a day, and even from moment to moment, while we are uncertain about what God will do with us tomorrow. However, if faith corresponds with God’s promises and is, so to speak, in harmony with them, it must necessarily extend itself to our whole life, and indeed, even beyond death itself.

For God removes all doubt about the future with these words, I will not leave thee nor forsake thee.