Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
become great, and waxen rich.
27. Sicuti cavea plena est ave (hoc est, avibus,) sic domus eorum plenae sunt fraude: propterea aucti sunt et ditati.
Jeremiah goes on with the same subject. He made use, as we have said, of a similitude taken from fowling: he now applies this similitude to the Jews, --- that their houses were full of fraud, as the cage (some render it basket 155 ) is full of birds: for fowlers, when they go for game, carry with them either bags or cages or baskets. So then Jeremiah says, that they collected plunder on every side, so that their houses were full of frauds: but by fraud he means spoils, which they acquired by unjust means. It may at the first view seem an obscure language; but if we take the word {,}מרמהmereme, in a passive sense, there will be nothing ambiguous. The Prophet then does not use a language strictly correct when he says, that their houses were full of deceit or fraud; but they were full of spoils which they had acquired by deceit and fraud. Hence, what he means by fraud were the plunders by which they had become rich, as he afterwards explains.
We now perceive, that the meaning of the Prophet is, --- that there was no longer a proof required, that the Jews circumvented the helpless and the poor, for their houses were filled with such spoils as made evident their wickedness: they had scraped together their riches by depriving the helpless and the poor of their substance. And hence he adds, By this have they increased and become rich It is probable that they gloried in their wealth, like thieves, whose trade is to plunder: for when they increased, they thought themselves raised above all danger. They were like courtiers, who by rapines and frauds and tyrannical violence, draw to themselves from all quarters the possessions of others, so that one got annually sixty thousands and another a hundred thousands; and then they became the more ferocious, because they thought that they could not be called to an account, being blinded by the splendor of their riches. But the Prophet here derides this besotted glorying, and says, ``Behold, they are become great in the world, and they would have themselves to be on this account exalted;'' increased have they, he says, and become rich; that is, ``If any one will now search their houses, he will indeed find many things by which they make a display before the eyes of the simple; but they are nothing but rapines, plunders, frauds, spoils, thefts, and, in a word, robberies.'' This is what he simply means. He afterwards adds ---
Jeremiah 5:28
28. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
28. Impinguati sunt (nam {}שמנוdeducitur ab oleo, perfusi sunt pinguedine, si Latine et proprie reddere velimus,) postea nitent (vel, sunt candidi, alludit ad pingues et
155It is so rendered in Amos 8:1, 2. This was no doubt a wicker-basket or cage for birds, to keep them, and not a trap-cage, as suggested by the Septuagint and Vulgate versions. The Targum is, "the house of feeding." The comparison is between a cage full of birds, which had been caught by snares, nets, or traps, and houses filled with spoils, which had been procured by frauds. And were "full" rendered "filled, "as it might be, there would be no need of the metonymy supposed to be in the word "fraud," — As the cage is filled with birds, So their houses are filled by means of fraud: Hence they have become great and grown rich. — Ed.
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
bene saginatos, quorum cutis est nitida;) etiam excedunt (vel, quamvis excesserint) verba impii (hoc est, scelera impiorum:) causam non judicant, causam pupilli, et prosperantur; et judicium pauperum non judicant.
Here the Prophet reproves those who were high in dignity, station, and wealth, and who wished at the same time to be deemed inviolable, because they were the rulers of the people. He had spoken before generally, but now he assails the higher orders, the king's counselors, the priests, the judges, and all endowed with authority.
He says, that they were swoln with fatness, that they were shining, though they had exceeded, etc We see how he confirms what he had briefly referred to; for as they protected themselves under the pretense of being rich, that they might not be called to an account, he says, by way of concession, ``I allow that ye are bright and splendid, and indeed that ye are all over gold; but whence is this splendor? whence is this specious appearance, which dazzles the eyes of the simple? Ye are bright, ye are fat, though ye have surpassed the words of the impious, that is, the ways, the doings, and the designs of the impious.'' He means, in short, that it was of no avail to the wicked, that by their aspect they terrified people, that they gained great respect by their riches, and made men afraid of them: the Prophet admits that they had honors, wealth, splendor, repute, dignity, and such things; but he says, at the same time, Ye have surpassed all the doings of the wicked 156 And then he brings this charge against them, that they did not judge judgment
It hence appears that the Prophet was not dealing with the common people nor with private individuals; but that he openly and avowedly reproved the king's court and the judges. ``They judge not judgment, ``he says; which means, that they had no care for executing justice, but suffered thefts and robberies to go unpunished: and he still enhances their guilt and says, They judge not the judgment of the fatherless
Pity towards young orphans is often found in those who are otherwise cruel; for that age, especially when deprived of all protection, touches our feelings in a peculiar manner. Since then young orphans were plundered with impunity, and found no defense from the judges, their dishonesty appeared most glaringly.
And he says, that they yet prospered. He again repeats, by way of concession, what he had before intimated, --- that it was a foolish and vain pretense, that they openly boasted of their wealth, honors, and fortunes. How is this, he says? They prosper; but yet they judge not the judgment of the poor, that is, they help not the 156Expounders differ as to the meaning of these words. They are partly omitted by the Septuagint and Syriac. The Vulgate is, "et praeterierunt sermones meos pessime — and they have passed by my words very haughtily." The Targum is a loose version, "They have also transgressed the words of the law, they have done what is evil." Such meanings do not correspond with the context. The words literally are, "They have passed over (or, by) the words of wrong;" but as the term for "words" often means things, affairs, matters, the version may be, "matters of wrong," or wrong things. These "matters of wrong" are afterwards specified, as will be seen in the following version, — 28. They have become fat, they have shined: Moreover, they have passed by matters of wrong; The cause they have not defended — The cause of the orphan, yet have they prospered; And the right of the meek have they not pleaded. The word "moreover," may be rendered "though," as Blayney does, (see Nehemiah 6:1:) but the rest of the sentence is not so well rendered, — Though they have gone beyond the claims of the wicked. He conceived that the meaning is, that they granted to the wicked man more than he claimed, while they denied justice to the orphan and the poor. But what is more accordant with the words is, that he states here what he afterward specifies. It is not properly the "poor" who are meant, but the quiet, the humble: for the poor, strictly speaking, had not much to lose; hence the judges were not bribed to allow them to become a prey to dishonest men. — Ed.