Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations Volume 2 John Calvin (continued)
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS
Jehovah, the God of Israel, etc. He adds the words, the God of Israel, that
Zedekiah might know that the wonderful works, in reliance on which he still thought that their condition was safe, did not belong to him and the people; as though the Prophet had said, "Though God did not help thee and thy people, he would not yet be inconsistent with himself, or depart from his covenant; but he would remain ever the God of Israel, though he destroyed thee and all thy people."
He says, Behold I, etc.; it was said before, Nebuchadnezzar is come to make war with us: now he says, "I am God;" as though he had said, "Nebuchadnezzar may be conquered, he may change his counsel, he may leave you through weariness; but know ye that Nebuchadnezzar fights under my authority." Behold, he says, I prohibit (for so ought {}מסכto be rendered) all the warlike instruments which are in your hands, and with which ye fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans; as though he had said, "However furnished ye may be with weapons and forces, and whatever may be necessary to defend the city, I forbid the use of these weapons, that is, I will cause that they will avail you nothing." Some, as I have said, render the word, "I will turn them against you." But the meaning seems more suitable to the etymology of the word, when we say, that the weapons which the Jews had would avail them nothing, because God would prevent them from producing any effect. 21
He afterwards adds, the Chaldeans, who fight without the wall against you He described their state at that time, for the city was besieged by the
Chaldeans; there was a wall between them, and the Jews thought that they could repel the attacks of their enemies. But God says, "the Chaldeans are this day shut out by the wall, but I will gather them, he says, into the middle of this city; that is, I will make a breach, so that the wall may not be a hinderance to prevent, the Chaldeans from occupying the very bosom of the city." It follows, —
Jeremiah 21:5 5. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
5. Et praeliabor ego contra vos in manu extenta et brachio robusto, et in ira et furore et excandescentia magna.
He proceeds with the subject; and though he afterwards is more diffuse, he yet confirms here what we have just seen, — even that God was the leader of the war, and that the Chaldeans were, as it were, his hired soldiers, whom he guided by his own hand, and to whom he would give the signal to fight.
I, myself he says, will fight against you He put this in opposition to the wonderful works which Zedekiah had mentioned. God, indeed, had formerly been in a wonderful way present with his Church, not only once, but a thou-
21The verb {{סכmeans to turn, to turn aside, to turn round, to change; it seems to mean here to turn to a contrary purpose, to turn from the right use, to divert, to revert, or to reverse, ``Behold, I will reverse the instruments of war which are in your hands; {μετάστρεφω} --- I change,'' that is, to what is opposite, is the Sept.; Blayney reads, ``Behold, I will turn aside,'' etc.
JOHN CALVIN
sand times; but he says now, "whatever power I have, it shall be exercised now against you; expect, therefore, no aid from me, but know that I am armed, and shall wholly destroy you." He adds, with an extended hand and a strong arm; as though he had said, "your fathers found wonderful works done for their safety; but you shall by experience learn how great is my power to destroy you." In short, he means that all God's power would be a cause of terror to the Jews, and that therefore they could not escape, as there is nothing more dreadful than to have God's hand opposed to us. To the same purpose is what follows, in wrath, and in fury, and in great indignation 22
God intimates in these words that he would be implacable, and that hence Zedekiah was mistaken when he thought that the end of their evils was nigh at hand.
He might indeed have said briefly, "I will fight with an extended hand and with wrath;" but he mentioned wrath three times in various words. Hence what I have said appears evident, that Zedekiah was deprived of every hope, lest he should deceive himself, as though he would somehow propitiate God, who had already given up the city to final destruction. But we shall see that the Prophet had not ceased from the discharge of his office, and that he had allowed some room for repentance. But he made expressly this answer, for the king could not have been otherwise awakened. We shall see how he explained himself; but this beginning was as it were a thunderclap to lay prostrate the pride of the king and of the people. They had become first torpid in their evils, and then such was their contumacy that they sought to subject God to themselves. As then their stupidity and their obstinacy were so great, the Prophet could not, with any hope of success, have exhorted them to repent and offered them the mercy of God; it was therefore necessary for them to be so smitten as to perceive that they were wholly lost, and that God was so angry with them that they could not be saved by any human means. But we must defer the rest till to-morrow.
PRAYER Grant, Almighty God, that as we cease not to provoke thy wrath, and are also so slow to repent, — O grant, that we may at least so profit under thy threatenings and the manifestations of thy judgment, that we may give up ourselves wholly to thee, and hope, also for thy favor which has been for a time hidden from us, until with resigned minds we shall be able confidently to call on thee, and so prove our constancy, that thy name may be glorified in us, so that we may also be glorified in thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. — Amen.
Lecture Seventy-Ninth
22There seems to be a gradation in these terms, — "in wrath, and in hot displeasure, and in great foaming indignation." The first word means simply wrath or anger; the second, heated wrath; and the third, foaming wrath, and "great" is added to it. None of the Versions, except the Arab., presents this climax; the Sept. and Syr. have only two, "anger and great wrath;" the Vulg., "fury, indignation, and great wrath;" and the Arab., "wrath, indignation, and the greatest fury." The Targ. has the same with the Vulg. These terms refer evidently to the provocations which had been given by the Jews. Their conduct had been such as to excite wrath, and heated wrath, and even great foaming wrath. — Ed.