Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
devised would fall on their own heads. They seek to provoke me; they shall know with whom they have to do.'' It is like what is said by the Prophet Zechariah, ``They shall know whom they have pierced: I indeed continue uninjured; and though they provoke me as much as they can, I yet despise all their wickedness, for they cannot reach me; they can neither hurt me nor take anything from me.'' But he says, they provoke themselves, that is, their fury shall return on their own heads; and hence it shall be, that their faces shall be ashamed. 203
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as we are inclined not only to superstitions, but also to many vices, we may be restrained by thy word, and as thou art pleased daily to remind us of thy benefits, that thou mayest keep us in the practice of true religion, --- O grant, that we may not be led astray by the delusions of Satan and by our own vanity, but continue firm and steady in our obedience to thee, and constantly proceed in the course of true piety, so that we may at length partake of its fruit in thy celestial kingdom, which has been obtained for us by the blood of thine only --- begotten Son. --- Amen.
Lecture Twenty-Ninth
Jeremiah 7:20
20. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
20. Propterea sic dicit Dominus Jehova, Ecce ira mea et furor meus (vel, excandescentia, nam verbum hoc significat) conflata est super locum hunc, super hominem et super animal (brutum; alii vertunt, jumentum, bestiam,) super arborem agri, et super fructum terrae; et ardebit, et nullus extinguet.
Jeremiah proceeds still with the same subject, and explains more at large what we have noticed in the preceding lecture, that the ruin of Mount Sion and of the Temple was nigh at hand, according to what God had before done to Shiloh, where the Ark had long been kept. But that his threatening might have more weight, he introduced
God as the speaker, ---
Behold, he says, my wrath, even mine indignation, has been poured down on this place He refers to the metaphor he had before used; and hence is confirmed what I then said, --- that God spoke not of prophetic teaching, but of the punishments which he had already inflicted and was prepared to inflict. On this account he says, that his wrath, or vengeance (the cause is put for the effect) had been poured down on the city Jerusalem, so as to bring destruction on the cattle as well as men, and also on the fruit of the land. It is indeed certain that brute animals, as well as trees and the productions of the earth, were innocent; but as the whole world was created for man and for his benefit, it is nothing strange that God's vengeance should extend to innocent animals and to things not endued with reason: for God does not inflict
203The verb rendered "provoke," means to disturb, to disquiet, to cause an annoyance, to irritate, — Is it I they are annoying, saith Jehovah? Is it not themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? They were not disturbing, as it were, the repose of God, but their own. They could do no hurt or annoyance to God, but they were annoying and injuring themselves; and this would turn out to their own shame and confusion. — Ed.