Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
repentance, as though he had said, ``We have been deceived by the hills and the multitude of mountains; we thought that there would be more defense from a large number of gods than if we worshipped one God: this deception has led to ruin. Let then all these deceits be now discarded; for we shall be content with the only true
God.'' In short, the Israelites confess, in these words, that they had been drawn into ruin by the worst of errors, while they sought many gods, and did not acquiesce in the one true God.
Then they add, for surely in Jehovah our God is salvation They set here the one true God in opposition to all their idols, as though they had said, that the cause of all their evils was, that they did not continue in the service of the one true God, but wandered after a multitude of Gods. We hence see that these two things cannot possibly be connected, --- to worship the true God, --- and to seek for ourselves various other gods, and to form vain hopes, as they do, who are not satisfied with the only true God. 95 It follows ---
Jeremiah 3:24
24. For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
24. Et pudor (vel, probrum) voravit laborem patrum nostrorum a pueritia nostra, oves eorum et pecora eorum, filios eorum et filias eorum.
They confirm more fully the same complaint, --- That God had by manifest proofs shewed the sins of the nation; for he had consumed their labor, that is, whatever they had acquired by labor. He also adds sheep and cattle, and then sons and daughters
He does not indeed ascribe this consumption to God; but the mode of speaking is more emphatic, when he says, Shame has consumed the labor of our fathers from our childhood: for by shame he understands wickedness, of which they ought to have been ashamed. The meaning then is, that all the evils they had endured could in no other way be accounted for, inasmuch as the whole was to be ascribed to their wickedness. Our shame, then, 96 that is, our wickedness, has consumed the labor of our fathers It follows ---
Jeremiah 3:25
25. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
25. Jacuimus in pudore nostro, et operuit nos ignomina nostra; quoniam cum
Jehova Deo nostro scelerate egimus, nos et patres nostri, a pueritia nostra, et ad hunc diem usque; et non audivimus vocem Jehovae Dei nostri.
As the Israelites say here nothing new, but continue the same subject, I propose
95The literal rendering of these two verses is the following:- 22. Return, ye apostate children, I will heal your apostasies. — Behold us! We come to thee; For thou art Jehovah our God: 23. Surely, in vain are the hills, The multitude of mountains; Surely, in (or through) Jehovah our God Is the salvation of Israel. The word rendered "apostate," does not mean "rebellious," but such as turn away, i.e., from God; and the word for "apostasies" means the same, being from the same root. The {{מbefore the word for ``hills,'' is not a preposition, as it is commonly taken, but a formative: so it appears from all the versions. Blayney conjectures that it belongs to the former word, and makes it ;{}לשקריםbut then he does not account for the {}לprefixed to it. There is no different reading. The Septuagint is, {εἰς} {ψεῦδος} {ἧσαν} {οἱ} {ζουνοὶ} --- for a lie were the hills. The Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, are materially the same. --- Ed
96Rather, "And the shame," i e , the idol-worship, referred to in the preceding verse; the article {{הis prefixed to the noun. This is the view taken by Gataker and Blayney See Jeremiah 11:13; Hosea 9:10. --- Ed