Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
We now understand what the Prophet means also in this part. It afterwards follows — Jeremiah 2:29 29. Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
29. Cur litigatis mecum omnes impie agentes in me (vel, perfide)? dicit Jehova.
Jeremiah concludes here his previous subject: he says that the Jews gained nothing by alleging against God that they were innocent, and by thinking that they could by mere words escape his judgment, and not only by doing so, but also by hurrying on to such a degree of presumption as to challenge God himself, and to seek to prove him guilty. But God answers them in one word, and says, that they were perfidious. The meaning then is, that the Jews ill consulted their own interest in hardening themselves in their obduracy; for God would hold them fully convicted of impiety, so that they in vain alleged this or that as an excuse. 61
Now this passage deserves especial notice: for we know how prone we are by nature to hypocrisy; and when God summons us to his tribunal, hardly one in a hundred will acknowledge his guilt and humbly pray for forgiveness; but the greater part complains, nay almost all murmur against God, and still more, they gather boldness, and proudly dare to challenge and defy God. Since, then, hypocrisy thus prevails in us and is deeply fixed in the hearts of almost all, and since hypocrisy generates insolence and pride against God, let us remember what the Prophet says here, — that all who dispute against God gain nothing by their excuses, because he will at length detect their defection and perfidy. It then follows — Jeremiah 2:30 30. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
30. Frustra (vel, in vanum) castigavi filios tuos, correctionem non receperunt; voravit gladius vester prophetas vestros quasi leo vastator.
Some expound the beginning of this verse as though the meaning were, — that God chastised the Jews on account of their folly, because they habituated themselves to falsehoods: but the latter clause does not correspond. There is therefore no doubt but that God here expostulates with the Jews, because he had tried to bring them to the right way and found them wholly irreclaimable. A similar expostulation is found in Isaiah, 61The verb rendered "plead" in our version, is followed by {,{אלagainst or in opposition to. There are two other instances, Judges 21:22; Job 33:13. Our version in Job is, ``Why dost thou strive against him?'' The most suitable rendering of this passage is, Why should ye contend against (or, with) me? Then follows a fact sufficient to put an end to all contention, --- All of you have rebelled against me, Saith Jehovah. The primary idea of {}פשעis, to go, to pass, to march on. See
Isaiah 28:4. Its meaning depends on the preposition which follows it. Followed by ,{}עלover, it means to transgress, it being a going or passing over the limits set by the law, Hosea 8:1, --- by ,{}מto go from, to revolt, to apostatize, 2 Kings 8:22,-and by ,{}ב to go against, to rebel, as in this passage. Hence the noun has attained various meanings-transgression, apostasy, and rebellion.
Its precise meaning in any case is to be determined by the context. Gataker and Blayhey render the verb here the same, --- All of you have rebelled against me, saith Jehovah. The early versions vary. The Septuagint have ``{ἠσεβήσατε} --- ye have acted impiously,'' the Syriac, ``ye have denied me,'' --- the Arabic, ``ye have sinned against me,''-and the Vulgate, ``ye have forsaken me.'' The general idea is the same, but the specific one is that of rebelling against God. --- Ed
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
"In vain," he says, "have I chastised you; for from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no soundness." (Isaiah 1:6)
There God shews that he had tried every remedy, but that the Jews, being wholly refractory in their spirit, were wholly incurable. Jeremiah speaks now on the same subject: and God thus exaggerates the wickedness of the people; for he testifies that he had tried whether they would be taught, not only by words, but also by scourges and chastisements, but that his labor in both instances had been in vain. He spoke before of teaching, "Keep thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst." The Prophets, then, had exhorted the Jews by God's command to rest quietly. This teaching had been useless and unfruitful. God now adds, that he had tried in another way to bring them back to a right mind; but this effort had been also useless and in vain: In vain have I chastised you; for ye have not received correction
But he speaks of children, in order to shew that the whole people were unteachable: for though lusts boil more in youth, yet their obduracy is not so great as in the old; as he who has through his whole life hardened himself in the contempt of God, can hardly be ever healed and be amended by correction; for old age is of itself morose and difficult to be pleased, and the old also think, that wrong is in a manner done them when they are reproved: but when the insolence and obduracy of the young are so great that they reject all correction, it is more strange and monstrous. The Prophet then shews that there was nothing sound or right in that people, since their very children refused correction. 62
We now perceive his object, — that, as God had sent his prophets, and as their labor availed nothing, he now shews, that not only the ears of the people had been deaf to wholesome teaching, but that they were hard — necked and untamable; for he had tried to correct them by scourges, but effected nothing. It follows, their sword has devoured the prophets But I cannot finish now.
PRAYER Grant, Almighty God, that since thou, in thy paternal kindness, daily invitest us to thyself, we may not harden ourselves against thy holy and salutary admonitions: and whenever thou chastisest us with scourges, may we not become obdurate against thee, but learn humbly to submit to thy word, and receive thy chastisement, and so profit by both, that we may not be exposed to the extreme judgment which thou denouncest on the obstinate; but may we, on the contrary, open a way for thy paternal goodness, so that thou mayest kindly deal with us, until thou receivest us into that blessed rest which has been prepared for us in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. — 62Blayney renders the word "instruction." The Septuagint have "{παιδείαν} --- discipline: ``the Syriac, Vulgate, and the Targum are the same; but the Arabic has ``instruction --- eruditionem.'' The strict meaning of the word ,{}מוסר is restraint, check, discipline, correction. Not to receive restraint or correction, is not to be thereby improved or reformed, but to proceed in the same course, see Jeremiah 5:3. The word has also a secondary meaning, instruction, as the effect of correction, see Zephaniah 3:7. But here it clearly means correction. --- Ed