Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
this confidence the Prophet derides; and he says that punishment would reach them also. 257
He then adds, For all the nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart By saying, that all nations were uncircumcised, he doubtless includes the Israelites, and thus by way of reproach he takes away from the chosen people their peculiar distinction; as though he had said, that Israel was so mixed with the nations, that they only made a part of them: the Jews would have otherwise denied, that they deserved to be classed with the Gentiles; but the Prophet deprives them of every excuse, and says that they were but one nation, having no difference: All these nations then are uncircumcised And so {}הHe, before {}גוים guim, nations, may be taken as a demonstrative pronoun, and not a relative, ``All these nations.'' He had spoken not only of the Egyptians and the Idumeans and of other neighboring nations, but had also mentioned Judah. He then says, ``All these nations are uncircumcised:'' and as I have already said, he condemns Israel, because they differed nothing from the nations, though God had consecrated them to himself; for there was an entire mingling, which made them all equal.
But as some objection might still be alleged, he says, the Jews are uncircumcised in heart He had indeed already included them in the nations; but it was necessary to insist more on this point, for circumcision might have been pleaded by them. Hence the Prophet says, that though they had the visible symbol in the flesh, they were yet uncircumcised in heart, and ought therefore to be classed with the nations. We see how sharply he reproves them: though he separates them from other nations, he yet shews that they justly deserved to be numbered with them; for God cares not for the external symbol, but regards the chief thing, the circumcision of the heart.
It is a common thing with Moses and the Prophets to call an unrenewed heart, uncircumcision, and to say that the people are uncircumcised in heart: for circumcision, while an evidence of free salvation in Christ, at the same time initiated the Jews into the worship and service of God, and proved the necessity of a new life; it was in short a sign both of repentance and of faith. When, therefore, the Jews presented only the sign, they were justly derided by Moses and the prophets; for they seemed as though they sought to pacify God by a thing of nought, without regarding the end. The same is the case now when we boast of baptism alone, and are at the same time destitute of repentance and faith: our boasting is absurd and ridiculous.
And hence Paul calls the external rite, when the sign is separated from its reality and 257The exposition of the phrase given in this section is inconsistent with all the ancient versions and the Targum: it is what has been given by modern rabbins. "The shaven around the face," is the Septuagint; "the shaven as to the hair," the Vulqate and the Targum; and to the same purpose is the Syriac and Arabic. The word {{פאהis used in Leviticus 19:27, with distinct reference to the side or corner of the head, and of the beard; and the Israelites were forbidden to imitate the nations who shaved off those parts. Parkhurst renders the phrase (which occurs also in Jeremiah 25:23, and in Jeremiah 49:32) ``trimmed on the sides,'' that is, of the head; more literally, ``the shaven on the side,'' that is, of the head, or, ``on the corner,'' that is, of the beard. It was a phrase, though defective, yet no doubt well understood, as it is the case in other languages. The design of mentioning these seems to have been to class together such as had been expressly separated. I propose the following as the version of the two verses, --- 25. Behold the days are coming, saith Jehovah, That I will visit every one circumcised, Who is in uncircumcision, ---
26. The Egyptians and Judah, Edom also and the children of Ammon and Moab, And all the shawn on the side of the head, Who dwell in the desert; For all these nations are uncircumcised; And all the house of Israel, --- They are uncircumcised in heart. It is justly remarked by Horsley that the nations here mentioned practiced circumcision. They were hence circumcised, and yet in uncircumcision; and the Jews were like them: and the last line explains this apparent contradiction: they had the outward but not the inward circumcision. --- Ed.
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
substance, the letter of the circumcision; and on the other hand he calls that the true circumcision, which is in secret and in the spirit. We may also say the same of baptism, --- that the literal baptism avails hypocrites nothing, for they receive only the naked sign: and therefore we must come to the spirit of baptism, to the thing itself; for the interior power is renovation, when our old man is crucified in us, and when we rise again with Christ into newness of life.
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast revealed to us in thy Gospel how guilty and miserable we are, we may learn to loathe ourselves, ard so He down confounded and despairing on account of the sins and guilt we have contracted, as yet to know that true glory is offered to us, and that we can be made partakers of it, if by true faith we embrace thy only-begotten Son, in whom is offered to us perfect righteousness and salvation: And grant also that we may so cleave to Christ, and so receive by faith his blessings, that we may be able, not only before the world, but also against
Satan and death itself, to glory in thee, that thou alone art just and wise and strong; and may thy strength and justice and wisdom shine forth upon us in our iniquity and ignorance and infirmity, until we shall at length reach that ruiness of glory, which has been prepared for us in heaven by Christ our Lord. --- Amen.