John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 7:12

"And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Jehovah thy God will keep with thee the covenant and the lovingkindness which he sware unto thy fathers:" — Deuteronomy 7:12 (ASV)

Wherefore it shall come to pass. God appears to act according to agreement in such a way as to leave (His people) no hope of His favor, unless they perform their part of it. And undoubtedly, this is the usual form of expression in the Law, in which the condition is inserted, that God will do good to His people if they have deserved it by their obedience.

Still, we must remember what we have seen elsewhere: that after God has covenanted with them in this way, He Himself, so that His promise might not be nullified, descends to the gratuitous promise of pardon, by which He reconciles the unworthy to Himself. Thus, the original covenant only results in humanity’s condemnation.

But when salvation is offered to them gratuitously, their works at the same time become pleasing to God. However, since the cause of reward is independent of people and their works, all calculation of merit is out of the question; still, it is profitable for believers that a reward is promised to them if they walk in the commandments of God, since, in His inestimable liberality, He treats them as if they did something to deserve it.

In conclusion, Moses enumerates some of the proofs of God’s favor, such as fecundity, and an abundance of the fruits of the earth. It is questionable whether, by what is added at the end concerning the diseases of Egypt, he means the boils which were generated by the scattered ashes (Exodus 9:8), or the lice which infested both man and beast (Exodus 8:17), or whether he extends them to those diseases which had prevailed long before the departure of the people. I am disposed to embrace the latter opinion;²²⁴ for in Deuteronomy 28:27, after mentioning the botch of Egypt, he adds emerods, and the scab, and the itch: it is, therefore, probable that the Egyptians were subject to various maladies, from which Moses declares that the people would be free by special privilege, if only they obeyed God’s law.

²²⁴ “Certain diseases, peculiar to Egypt, are meant; such as various diseases of the skin, as the scab, elephantiasis, plague, etc. Pliny, Nat. Hist., 26., calls Egypt the mother of such diseases. Even at the present day, there are in Egypt several peculiar diseases, especially ophthalmia, variolous diseases, and plague.” — Rosenmuller. Hengstenberg also, in his “Egypt and the Books of Moses,” has an article on this subject, p. 454, confirmative of the above. He quotes Wagner as calling Egypt, in his Natural History of Man, “a great focus of the diseases in universal history.”. Hengstenberg also, in his “Egypt and the Books of Moses,” has an article on this subject, p. 454, confirmative of the above. He quotes Wagner as calling Egypt, in his Natural History of Man, “a great focus of the diseases in universal history.”