Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations Volume 2 John Calvin (continued)
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS
what has been given may at any time be taken away, except good conscience be as it were the guard to preserve God's gifts and benefits, so that they may not at any time fall away or be lost. It follows ---
Jeremiah 22:25
25. And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
25. Et ponam to (tradam to) in manum quierentium animam tuam, et in manum eorum a quorum facie formidas (metuis) et in manum Nebuchadrezzar regis Babylonii et in manum Cladaeorum.
This verse is connected with the last, and more fully explains what had been briefly said. The plucking off of the sealing ring from God's finger took place when Jeconiah was deprived of his glory and his kingdom, and made subject; to the king of Babylon. 66 Though the king spared his life, as sacred history testifies, (2 Kings
25:7; 2 Chronicles 36:6; Jeremiah 52:11,) yet when he surrendered himself to him, he trembled as though he saw the sword ready to cut off his head; for he expected no mercy, and his fear made him to go out of the city, and to surrender himself to his inveterate enemy. The import of the whole is, that King Jeconiah would come to extremities, for he would be forced to give up himself helpless and unarmed into the hands of his cruel enemies.
But he repeats the commination, and enlarges on the subject; I will deliver thee, he says, into the hand of those who seek thy life, and then, into the hand of those whose face thou dreadest, and, in the third place, into the hand of Nebuchadnezer, (Nabuchadnezer, king of Babylon, is called here and in other places, Nebuchadrezer,) and lastly, into the hand of the Chaldeans. Thus the Prophet recounts, as it were in order, several kinds of death, that Jeconiah might know how dreadful God's judgment would be. He adds ---
Jeremiah 22:26
26. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
26. Et projiciam to et matrem tuam quae genuit to in terram alienam, in qua non estis geniti, et illic moriemini.
Here, again, the Prophet confirms what he had said of the severe vengeance which God would take on Jeconiah. And though he was in his thirty-seventh year brought out of prison, and admitted unto the royal table, among other princes, he yet died in exile; and perhaps it would have been better for him to continue in prison till his death than to have been corrupted by allurements when he became one of the princes, for he thus defiled himself. However this may have been, he died in exile together with his mother Nehusta.
The Prophet then enhanced the grievousness of his punishment by saying, I will cause thee to migrate, or cast thee out, 67 and thy mother who bare thee. It is 66There is here a striking contrast: God would pluck off Jeconiah, were he like a signet on his right hand, and would deliver him into the hand of his enemies. From being as it were on the divine hand, he would be given up into the hand of those who sought his life. — Ed.
67The word is strong; it means to toss, to hurl, violently to cast forth, to throw with force,