Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
the import of his doctrine —
Jeremiah 2:4-5 4. Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
4. Audite sermonem Jehovae domus Jacob, et omnes cognationes (vel, familiae) domus Israel:
5. Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
5. Sic dicit Jehova, Quid invenerunt patres vestri in me iniquitatis, quia alienati sunt a me, et ambulaverunt (vel, profecti sunt) post vanitatem, et facti sunt evanidi (vel, evanuerunt)?
Here God explains why he had referred to what we have noticed, — that he had consecrated Israel to himself as a peculiar people, and as the first — fruits. God often mentions his favors to us, in order to encourage our hope, that we may be fully persuaded that whatever may happen we are ever safe, because we are under his protection, since he has chosen us. But in this place, and in many other places, God recounts the obligations under which the Israelites were to him, that thence their ingratitude might become more apparent.
Hence he says, Hear ye the word of Jehovah By this preface he seeks to gain attention; for he intimates that he was going to address them on no common subject. Hear ye, then, O house of Jacob; hear all ye families of the house of Israel; as though Jeremiah had said, "Here I come forth boldly in the name of God, for I fear not that any defense can be brought forward by you to disprove the justice of God's reproof; and I confidently wait for what ye may say, for I know you will be silent. I then loudly cry like a trumpet and with a clear voice, that I am come to condemn you; if there is anything which ye can answer, I give you full liberty to do so; but the truth will constrain you to be mute, for your guilt is extremely odious and capable of the fullest proof." Hence it was that he exhorted them to hear attentively.
Then follows the charge: What, iniquity have your fathers found in me, that having forsaken me they should walk after vanity and become vain? Here Jeremiah charges the people with two crimes, — that they had departed from the true God, whom they had found to be a deliverer, — and that they had become vain in their devices; or, in other words, that they were become for no reason apostates: for their sin was enhanced, because there had been no occasion given them to forsake God, and to alienate themselves from him. As then God had kindly treated them, and they themselves had shaken off the yoke, and as there was no one whom they could compare with God, they hence he renders the last words, "said Jehovah." The first part seems to declare what Israel was, and the other appears to be the language of God respecting them, — Holy was Israel to Jehovah, The first-fruits of his produce: "All his devourers shall be deemed guilty, Evil shall come to them," said Jehovah. The verb {{אשםis rendered ``{πλημμελήσουσι} --- shall offend,'' by the Septuagint, as in our version, and by Grotius; ``trespass,'' by Gataker; and, ``guilty of a trespass,'' by Blayney. The contradiction of guilt is what is meant, as the punishment is announced in the next words. See Psalm 105:14, 15. --- Ed