Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations Volume 2 John Calvin (continued)
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS
mind, so that we may go on in the course of true religion, and never turn aside, whatever Satan and his ministers may devise against us, but that we may stand firm and persevere, until having finished our warfare, we shall, at length come unto that blessed rest which has been prepared for us in heaven by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lecture Ninetieth
We saw yesterday that though the false prophets corrupted the true doctrine, yet the prophetic office remained in its honor without any loss to its authority. Hence
Jeremiah said that all their fallacies ought not to be an hinderance to the faithful, so as to prevent them to proceed in the course of their calling, and that no one should object and say, that in so confused a state of things he could not know what to avoid and what to follow; he said that the difference between wheat and chaff was easily perceived, provided men were not wilfully blind. He now adds, ---
Jeremiah 23:29
29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
29. An non ut sit sermo meus quasi ignis (hoc est, an non sermo meus tanquam ignis) dicit Jehova? Et tanquam malleus conterens saxum (vel, rupem.)
He confirms what he said of the chaff and the wheat, but in different words. It was a fit comparison when Jeremiah compared God's word to wheat, and the figments of men to chaff. But as the Jews, through their ingratitude, rendered the word of God ineffectual, so it did not become to them a spiritual support, the Prophet says that it would become like a fire and like a hammer, 112 as though he had said, that though the Jews were void of judgment, as they had become hardened in their wickedness, yet the word of God could not be rendered void, or at least its power could not be taken away; for as Paul says, ``If it is not the odor of life unto life, it is the odor of death unto death to those who perish,'' (2 Corinthians 2:16) and so also the same Apostle says in another place, that God's servants had vengeance in their power, for they bear the spiritual sword, in order to cast down every height that exalteth itself against Christ; but he adds, ``After the obedience'' of the faithful ``had been completed.''
(2 Corinthians 10:6)
The first and as it were the natural use of God's word is to bring salvation to men; and hence it is called food; but it turns into poison to the reprobate: and this is the reason for so great a diversity.
He said, first, that God's word was wheat, because souls are nourished by it unto a celestial life; and nothing can be more delightful than this comparison. But now he declares it to be fire and a hammer There is in these terms some appearance of contradiction; but there is a distinction to be made as to the hearers, for they
112The particle {{כהat the beginning of this verse, rendered ut by Calvin, seems to be without meaning. It is omitted by the Vulg., and rendered ``behold'' by the Sept. and Syr., as though it was .{}חנהVenema regarded it either as a noun, burning, from ,{}כוהto burn, or a misprint for ,{}כחstrength, vigor, power. The last is adopted by Blayney, and approved by Horsley, and is countenanced by the Targ., ``Are not all my words strong as fire?'' Blayney's version is, --- Is not the power of my word like fire?
This is the most probable meaning; though there is no different reading, yet the difference between the two letters is very small.