Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations Volume 2 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
profited under the scourges of God, they would become humble so as to deprecate his wrath.
But there is added a promise, that God would hear them. It may however appear, that God promised conversion even in the first clause; and, no doubt, prayer is the fruit of repentance, for it proceeds from faith; and repentance is the gift of God.
And further, we cannot call on God rightly and sincerely except by the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit; for he it is who not only dictates our words, but also creates groanings in our hearts. And thus Augustin, writing against the Pelagians, understands the passage, and proves that it is not in the power of man either to convert himself or to pray; ``for God,'' he says, ``would in vain promise what is in the power of man to do; and this is the promise, ye shall pray; it then follows, that we do not pray through the impulse of our own flesh, but when the Holy Spirit directs our hearts, and in a manner prays in us.'' I do not, however, know whether the Prophet intended to speak in so refined a manner. From other passages of Scripture it is easy to prove, that we cannot pray to God, except he anticipates us by his own Spirit. But as to this passage, I prefer to take a simpler meaning, that God would hear, when they began to pray; but yet he shews that it would not be after a short space of time, because they were almost untameable, and would not repent until after many years.
It follows, ---
Jeremiah 29:13
13. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
13. Et quaeretis me, et invenietis, quia quaeretis in toto corde vestro.
He confirms in other words the same thing; and yet the repetition, as we said yesterday, is not useless; for as the Jews perversely despised all threatenings, so it was difficult for them to receive any taste of God's goodness from his promises.
This then is the reason why the Prophet employs many words on this subject. By the word seek, he means prayers and supplications, as mentioned in the last verse. And Christ also, exhorting his disciples to pray, says, ``Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.'' There is no doubt but that he speaks there of prayer; he yet adopted various modes of speaking, derived from the common habits of men.
But to seek, when we feel the need of God's grace, is nothing else than to pray. Hence the Prophet says, ye shall seek me and ye shall find me And though he addresses here the Israelites, yet this doctrine ought to be extended to the whole Church; for God testifies that he will be propitious to all who flee to him.
But as hypocrites are abundantly noisy, and seem to surpass the very saints in the ardor of their zeal, when the external profession is only regarded, the Prophet adds, Because 217 ye shall seek me with your whole heart There is no doubt but that readings. It is difficult to understand the meaning here of the second verb, go, or proceed. Some give this meaning, "And ye shall call upon me and shall go to your country; and ye shall pray to me, and I will hearken to you." But the sense most suitable appears to be the following, — "And ye shall call on me, and ye shall go on and intercede with me, and I will hearken to you." The verb {{הלךis used in the sense of advancing or of going on in a course that is begun. See Genesis 26:13; Exodus 19:19.
To ``intercede for themselves and others, was more than to call upon God. From calling they would go on to intercede, earnestly to plead for themselves and others, and then the promise is that God would hear them. --- Ed
217The {{כיhere is rendered ``when'' in our version, and in the ancient versions, except the Sept., where it is; {ὅτι}, ``for,'' or because. The most usual meaning of the particle is ``because;'' and it may be so rendered here; for sincerity may be justly
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS
the Jews groaned a thousand times every year when oppressed by the Chaldeans; for they had to bear all kind of reproaches, and then they had nothing safe or secure.
They were therefore under the necessity, except they were harder than iron, to offer some prayers. But God shews that the seasonable time would not come, until their prayers proceeded from a right feeling; this he means by the whole heart. It is indeed certain that men never turn to God with their whole heart, nor is the whole heart ever so much engaged in prayer as it ought to be; but the Prophet sets the whole heart in opposition to a double heart. Perfection, then, is not what is to be understood here, which can never be found in men, but integrity or sincerity.
We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet's words, --- that the Jews, when they began in earnest to flee to God, would find him propitious, provided only they did this in sincerity of heart and not in dissimulation; and also that this would not take place soon, for their hardness and obstinacy were greater than that they could be brought to repent in a short time. Therefore God reminds them that there was need of many evils, so that they might at length turn and divest themselves of that perverseness to which they had wholly surrendered themselves.
Now the whole of this, as I have already observed, ought to be applied to the benefit of the Church; for this promise is to be extended to all the godly, --- that when they call on God in their miseries, he will hear them. And Jeremiah seems to have taken this sentence from Isaiah, ``As soon as thou callest on me, I will hear thee; before thou speakest, I will stretch forth my hand.'' (Isaiah 58:9)
And this circumstance also ought to be noticed, that the Prophet addressed the Jews who were miserably oppressed. Let us then know that this sentence is rightly addressed to those in distress, who seem to have God against them and displeased with them; and this is the seasonable time which is mentioned by David in Psalm
32:6.
This passage also teaches us, that it is no wonder that the Lord doubles his scourges and does not immediately pardon us, because we are not so ready to bend as to return to him on the first day. He is therefore constrained by our perverseness to chastise us for a longer time; and yet this promise is still to be held valid, that if we even late repent, God will be still propitious to us, only that the reprobate are not under this pretext to indulge in their vices; for we see that profane men trifle with God, and wickedly abuse his paternal indulgence. Let the sinner then beware lest he should lay up for himself a store of vengeance, if he waits till the end of life.
But there is still a hope set before those who have been long torpid in their sins, that if they at length come, though late, they shall still come in time, for God will hear them. But the exception ought to be carefully observed, that God will not be intreated, except he is sought with the whole heart, that is, in sincerity. So there is assigned as a reason why prayers are heard, without the implication of any merit. Indeed, in the very nature of things, prayer without sincerity cannot possibly be accepted. In our version the meaning of the two verbs is reversed; the first ought rather to be rendered as meaning ``to search for,'' and the latter to ``seek.'' With the first is connected ``finding,'' and this implies searching, and the verb {}בקשmeans sometimes to search for what is lost. The verse should be, --- ``And ye shall search for me and ye shall find me, because ye shall seek me with all your heart.'' To seek God means to seek his favor. They would search for him whom they had, as it were, lost, and they would find him because they would seek his favor with all sincerity; it would not be for a mercenary purpose, but for the sake of enjoying God's favor. --- Ed