Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
11. Quoniam transgrediendo transgressi sunt in me domus Israel et domus Jehudah, dick Jehova.
The verb {,}בגדbegad, means to deceive, to act perfidiously. God then charges the Jews here with perfidy, because they had revolted from him: for he does not only complain that they had in some measure sinned against him, and that he was therefore offended with them, but he charges them with general defection. Hence he says, that both the Israelites and the Jews had become perfidious and apostates.
The people, we knew, were now divided into two kingdoms: and though Jeremiah had been given especially as a teacher to the tribe of Judah, it was yet his duty to labor also for the Israelites. The kingdom of Israel was now in some measure fallen, for four tribes had been driven into exile, and the kingdom was dismembered and feeble. He yet wished to do all the good he could to the remnant. Hence he says here, that they were wicked apostates, for they had acted perfidiously towards God. 141 And as this charge was heinous, and might have deeply wounded their minds, he ascribes to God what the Jews would have hardly endured as coming from him; and says, thus saith Jehovah, as though he had said, ``There is no reason for you to contend with me, as though I had dealt severely with you: contend with God himself, since he it is who declares that you are all perfidious.'' He afterwards adds ---
Jeremiah 5:12
12. They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
12. Negarunt Jehovam (alii vertunt, mentiti sunt Jehovae,) et dixerunt, Non est, et non veniet super nos malum; et gladium et famem non videbimus.
He expresses more clearly and fully what he had previously said. Their perfidy was, that they had denied God I do not wholly reject what others have said, that they lied to God: but as {}בis here used after {,}כחשI cannot see that it means to lie. It ought to have been in that case, {,}כחשו{}ליהוהcacheshu La-Jeve: but as it is {,}ביהוהBe-Jeve, I doubt not but that he simply declares that they denied God; and the context seems to require this meaning; for he immediately adds, that they said there was no God 142 This certainly was not to lie to God, but to reject him as one
141The verb {,{בגדwhen followed by as{}בhere, means to deal deceitfully, perfidiously, or treacherously, with one. See
Exodus 21:8; Judges 9:23; Lamentations 1:2. It may be rendered here to dissemble, --- For they dissembling have dissembled with me, The house of Israel and the house of Judah, saith Jehovah. As the verb is repeated, if we render it ``to act perfidiously,`` instead of repeating the words, to give them their force and meaning, we must say, For they have dealt most perfidiously with me.
To ``deal unfaithfully,'' as rendered by Blayney, is too feeble an expression. To ``prevaricate'' is the word used by the Vulgate, and the same by the Septuagint and the Targum. --- Ed.
142According to all the instances in which the verb occurs, followed by {,{בits meaning is what Calvin states, though not so rendered uniformly in our version. The verb, followed by ,{}בoccurs elsewhere five times, --- Leviticus, 6:2, 3; Joshua 24:27; Job 8:18; Isaiah 59:13; Hosea 9:2. In Leviticus 6:3, {}בה{, }וכחשought to be rendered, ``and denieth it;'' and so the verb ought to be, rendered in the previous verse, ``and deny to his neighbor his deposit,'' etc. It is rendered here ``lied to the Lord'' by the Septuagint and the Targum; and ``denied the Lord'' by the Vulgate and the Syriac, and so also by Piscator, Venema, and Blayney. The denial seems to have been as to the Lord speaking in his prophets. Calvin appears to have gone too far in saying that they denied his existence. The expression which follows, ``Not he,`` means that he was not in the prophets.
The import is correctly given in our version, ``It is not he,`` that is, who speaks in the prophets. The verse might be literally given thus, --- 12. And they deny Jehovah, And say, ``It is not he, And come upon us shall not evil, And the sword and the famine we shall not see.'' Then the following verse, which is a continuation of what they said, proves clearly what the meaning of this is, ---
13. ``And the prophets shall be wind, For the word is not in them: Thus shall it happen to them,'' or, Thus shall it be done to them.
That is, they shall be found out to be like the wind, having spoken nothing real, such as shall be accomplished. Indeed the last line may be translated thus, --- Thus shall he do to (or, deal with) them. The reference in this case is to God, who, they thought, would render abortive, or turn as it were into wind, what the prophets had threatened. Their blindness and presumption appear to us to have been extreme. --- Ed.