Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
properly signify iniquity; but it is to be taken here for punishment. 111 But whenever the Prophets use this term, they intimate that evil is not inflicted by God except for just causes; and they remind us that its source or fountain is to be found in the wickedness of men. Ruin then was coming from Mount Ephraim which was near the tribe of Judah and also Jerusalem. But it was the same as though Jeremiah had said, that God was now thundering from heaven, and that it would be of no avail to the Jews to close their ears: for though they were even deaf, yet God's vengeance would soon come to light, accompanied with dreadful noise. It follows ---
Jeremiah 4:16
16. Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
16. Memorate in gentibus (vel, ad gentes,) ecce promulgate super Jerusalem, obsessores veniunt e terra longinqua, et mittunt super urbes Jehudah vocem suam.
The beginning of this verse is variously explained. Some read, ``Remember ye the nations, ``and think that the Prophet says this, because many of the nations were heralds of that vengeance of God, which the Jews despised, as they thought that what the true heralds of God declared were mere fables. They therefore take the meaning of this passage, as though Jeremiah sent the Jews to the nations, intimating that they were unworthy that God should send them his usual teachers. But as the verb is in Hiphil, we ought rather to read, Rehearse it: and some give this explanation, ``Rehearse, ``or tell, ``of the nations;'' that is, ``Announce that the Chaldeans are hastening to lay waste the land, to pull down the cities of Judah and to destroy the people.'' But there is a third meaning which, in my judgment, comports better with the passage. He literally says, Rehearse it to the nations; behold, proclaim against Jerusalem: for as the Prophet saw that he spent his labor in vain on that stupid people, who had become so hardened in their perverseness, that they were wholly inattentive and unteachable, he turned his address to the nations, and said, ``Rehearse it to the Gentiles;'' as though he had said, ``I have long ago reminded this people, that God had other teachers; but what have we gained by our labor, except that the people become continually worse: since then it is so, now he says, `Declare it to the nations concerning Jerusalem;' let the Jews hear nothing more of their ruin, but let God's vengeance on them be made known to the heathens.'' There is nothing strained or obscure in this explanation; and it is wholly consonant with the prophetic style. 112
He then deigned no longer to favor his own nation with heavenly truth; because this would have cast what was holy to the dogs; but he directs his discourse to the heathens, as though he had said, ``There is more knowledge in the blind and unbe-
111The first meaning of the word is iniquity, wickedness; and as the fruit or the effect of wickedness is affliction, distress, misery, it is sometimes taken to express the latter idea. It may be rendered here, distress. — Ed.
112The verb in the first sentence followed by {{לis found in Amos 6:10; where it clearly means ``to make mention of,`` or simply, to mention. So it may be rendered here, ``Make ye mention of the nations,`` or, Mention the nations, that is, for the sake of frightening the Jews. He had before referred to the voice from Dan, etc.; he now commands the invading nations to be proclaimed as approaching. The meaning is not, as Blayney, as well as Calvin, renders the phrase, ``Proclaim ye unto the nations,`` but, ``Proclaim the nations,`` as approaching, according to what is afterwards stated. --- Ed