Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations Volume 2 John Calvin
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS
16. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD.
16. Propterea sic dicit Jehova, Ecce ego emitto to (hoc est, projicio) e superficie terrae hujus (vel, terrae; potius indefinite accipitur hoc loco pro tota terra: {}השנה videtur quidem paulo post notare certum annum; sed in voce {}האדמהputo exprimi speciialiter Judaem, imo potius totum orbem, atque hoc facile colligitur, quia denunciat Jeremias sublatum iri Chananiam e medio, et non fore amplius superstitem mundo: morieris, ergo, hoc anno, quia defectionem loquutus es contra Jehovam.
Here is added the punishment which confirmed the prophecy of Jeremiah; for it was God's purpose to have regard to the ignorance of many who would have otherwise stumbled, or made their ignorance a pretext, for they could not determine which of the two had been sent by God, Hananiah or Jeremiah. It was then God's design, in his paternal indulgence, to stretch forth his hand to them, and also in an especial manner to render inexcusable the unbelieving who had already given themselves up, as it were, to the devil; for the greater part were not moved by an event, so memorable; 200 for it follows immediately, ---
Jeremiah 28:17
17. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
17. Et mortuus est Chananias propheta anno illo, mense septimo.
All those who had disregarded Jeremiah saw, in a manner, before their eyes the judgment of God. No surer confirmation could have been expected by the Jews, had they a particle of understanding, than to see the impostor slain by the word of Jeremiah alone; for he never touched him with a finger, nor caused him to be led to punishment, though he deserved this; but he drove him out of the world by the mere sound of his tongue. As, then, the word of the holy Prophet had a celestial and divine power, as though God himself had fulminated from heaven, or with an armed hand had slain that ungodly man, how great was their blindness not to be moved!
However, they were not moved; hence some of the Rabbins, wishing to conceal, as their manner is, the reproach of their own nation, imagine that the disciples of Hananiah secretly took away his body, and that then the people knew nothing of his death. But what need is there of such an evasion as this? for Jeremiah says no such thing, but speaks of the event as well known; it was indeed a sure testimony of his own call. It hence follows that it was not unknown to the Jews; and yet the devil had so blinded the greatest part of them, that they paid no more attention to the holy man than before; on the contrary, they wholly disregarded those threatenings
200The last clause of this verse is not here explained. Calvin's version is, "revolt hast thou spoken against Jehovah;" the Vulg., "against the Lord hast thou spoken;" the Syr., "iniquity hast thou spoken before the Lord;" and the Targ., "perverseness hast thou spoken before Jehovah." Blayney's version is, "thou hast spoken prevarication concerning Jehovah." Gataker renders it the same with Calvin, and explains it thus, — "Because by thy lying tales thou hast heartened and encouraged men to stand out against God's word, and against his admonitions and menaces by his prophets." Henry gives the same view. Blayney says that, {{סרהproperly signifies declining or turning aside from the straight path, the path of truth and right, and that here it means the presumption of uttering as a revelation from God what a man knew to be not so. The same phrase occurs in two other places, Deuteronomy 13:5; Jeremiah 29:32. The {}אלhere before Jehovah is {}עלin several MSS.; but the prepositions are sometimes the same. The rendering that would suit the three places would be the following: --- ``For of turning aside hast thou spoken contrary to Jehovah,'' that is, to his expressed will or command. The meaning might be thus conveyed, --- ``for thou hast encouraged disobedience contrary to the express command of God.'' --- Ed
JOHN CALVIN
of which he had been the witness and herald.
But how does this appear? the greatest part of the people often rose up against him as though he was the most wicked of men; he was accused as the betrayer of his country, and hardly escaped, through the clemency of. a cruel king, when he was cast into a dungeon as one half-dead. Since, then, the Jews thus pertinaciously raged, we hence understand what the Prophet so often threatened them with, even with the spirit of giddiness, and of fury, and of madness, and of stupor, and of drunkenness. Moreover, it was needful for that small portion which was not wholly irreclaimable to be restored to the right way; and this was done by this manifest proof of Jeremiah's call. It was also necessary on the other hand that the unbelieving should be more restrained, so that they might be condemned by their own conscience, as Paul calls heretics self-condemned who were become fixed in their own perverseness, and had willingly and designedly sold themselves as slaves to the devil.
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou dost kindly and graciously invite us to repentance, we may be so touched by the sense of thy wrath, that we may not by our perverseness increase more and more the heinousness of thy vengeance against us, but lay hold on the mercy that is offered to us, so that we may experience the efficacy and fruit of thy truth for our salvation, through Christ our Lord. --- Amen.