John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 4:33

"Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?" — Deuteronomy 4:33 (ASV)

Did ever people hear? He points out more openly the greatness and extraordinary transcendence of the matter he has just mentioned, namely, that they heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire. It is true, indeed, that the superstitions of the Gentiles had been confirmed long ago by many apparitions, yet among the portents that wretched men have imagined for their willing self-deception, there is nothing approaching this miracle. Many have individually lied, and their false and foolish tales have been rashly believed; but here we are not dealing with unfounded and scattered rumors, nor with the dreams of some single person, but Moses produces more than 700,000 witnesses, to whom God’s glory had clearly and certainly appeared; he therefore adds that God had never attempted to do the same, but had provided this unique instance to make His Law glorious in all ages.²²⁸

Yet in this verse he not only alludes to the promulgation of the Law, but also to the whole course of their deliverance, since he names in general His temptations and signs. He says that God took him a nation from the midst of another nation, for by His incomparable power He rescued the descendants of Abraham, who, though dispersed through Egypt and, as it were, enclosed in its depths, were yet an obscure and ignoble part of a most famous nation, of which no similar example is to be found.²²⁹

²²⁸ Ce chef-d’-oeuvre unique. — Fr.

²²⁹ Addition in the Fr., “Si quelqu’un aime mieux prendre le nombre singulier pour le pluriel, lors le sens sera tel: Combien que tous peuples fussent pareils, ou d’estat indifferent quant a leur nature, neantmoins que Dieu en a pris un d’entre tousles autres;” if any should prefer taking the singular number instead of the plural, then the sense will be, Although all people were equal, or of the same condition by nature, nevertheless God chose out one of them from amongst all the others.“Si quelqu’un aime mieux prendre le nombre singulier pour le pluriel, lors le sens sera tel: Combien que tous peuples fussent pareils, ou d’estat indifferent quant a leur nature, neantmoins que Dieu en a pris un d’entre tousles autres;” if any should prefer taking the singular number instead of the plural, then the sense will be, Although all people were equal, or of the same condition by nature, nevertheless God chose out one of them from amongst all the others.