John Calvin's Commentaries
Exodus 12
Public-domain commentary by John Calvin.
Commentary Notes
Exodus 12:15
15. Whosoever eateth leavened bread. This law specially refers to the keeping of the Passover. God had before forbidden the use of leaven; and He now enacts the punishment to be inflicted, if any should neglect the prohibition, and mingle leaven with the Paschal feast. But it is not without reason that we have postponed to this place what Moses has joined together with the institution of the Passover; for the plan proposed by us demands that the political laws, which sanction God’s worship by the denunciation of punishments, should occupy their peculiar place. From the punishment it appears that, although it may be in itself a trifling matter to abstain from leaven, (as Paul teaches that “bodily exercise profiteth little,” 1 Timothy 4:8,) yet, inasmuch as in this ceremony the redemption of the people was kept in memory, it was a very gross crime not to observe whatever God had prescribed, for we must estimate the importance of the rites of the law from their object.
Deuteronomy 17
14. When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
14. Quum ingressus fueris terrain quam Jehova Deus tuus dat tibi, et possederis eam, et habitaveris in ea , ac dixeris, Constituam super me regem sicut omnes gentes quae sunt per circuitus meos.
15. Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
15. Constituendo constitues super te regem quem elegerit Jehova Deus tuus: e medio fratrum tuorum constitues super te regem: non poteris constituere super te virum alienigenam, qui non sit frater tuus.
16. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
16. Verum non multiplicabit sibi equos, neque reducet populum in Aegyptum ad multiplicandos equos: quum Jehova dixerit vobis, Non adjicietis reverti per hanc viam amplius.
17. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
17. Neque multiplicabit sibi uxores, neque avertetur cor ejus, neque plurimum argentum et aurum sibi cumulabit.
18. And it shall be , when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shalt write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:
18. Verum quum sederit super solium regni sui, tunc describet sibi exemplar legis hujus in volumine; a conspectu sacerdotum et Levitarum.
19. And it shalt be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
19. Eritque apud eum, et leget in eo cunctis diebus vitae suae: ut scilicet discat timere Jehovam Deum suum: et observare omnia verba legis hujus, atque statuta haec, ut faciat ea.
20. That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
20. Ne elevetur cor ejus super fratres ipsius, neque declinet a praecepto ad dextram aut ad sinistram, ut proroget dies in regno suo: ipsc et filii ejus in medio Israelis.