John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 8:5

"And thou shalt consider in thy heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so Jehovah thy God chasteneth thee." — Deuteronomy 8:5 (ASV)

You shall also consider in your heart. He concludes that in the consistent pattern of God’s acts, from the time the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, His paternal care for their instruction could be recognized. For the word יסר,²⁵⁸yasar, is taken by some in too restricted a sense as “to chastise,” whereas it encompasses the whole process of proper education. It is as if he had said the following: if they were not submissive and dutiful in the future, they would be more than merely intractable. This is because they had been properly taught and kept under the best discipline, and God had omitted nothing which could be required from a father of a family.

Therefore, it follows that long ago, and through much instruction, they were accustomed to embrace the teaching of the Law, just as it is fitting for children to be obedient to their father’s voice. He explains this more clearly in the next verse, again concluding that they were therefore to observe the Law and to walk in the commandments of God.

On this point, we may also briefly observe that the fear of God, as I have stated elsewhere, is the foundation of proper obedience to the Law. The passage I have interwoven from Deuteronomy 11 may also be counted among the promises, for in it God allures His people to obedience with the hope of His blessing. And since the possession of the land, which was then in sight, is set before them, these words seemed to me to fit quite well here. This is because God had no other intention in this praise of it than to prepare the minds of the people for keeping the Law.

²⁵⁸ See note on Deuteronomy 11:2, , ante, p. 383..