Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
of true religion; and such was their oblivion and impious' contempt of the whole law, that they had need of being taught its first rudiments. This is one thing. He then shews how solicitous God had been about their welfare, so that he had not neglected any of the duties of the best of fathers, and that yet his labor had been all in vain; for they had not only been led away by their own lusts, but their inward wickedness had closed their ears, so that they deigned not to listen to God's voice; and this had not been in one age only, but from the time they came out of Egypt to that day. It hence follows that they were justly punished, for God had tried all means before he had recourse to severity; but since he had adopted all kinds of ways to reform them, and all in vain, the only thing that remained was to punish them as men past all remedy.
This is the import of the whole. He now adds ---
Jeremiah 11:9-10
9. And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
9. Et dixit Jehova ad me, inventa est conspiratio (ad verbum, colligatio; nam
proprie ligare vel connectere, sed metaphorica est significatio cum transfertur ad conspirationem) in viro (hoc est, in viris) Jehudah et in civibus
Jerusalem.
10. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
10. Reversi sunt ad iniquitates patrum suorum superiorum (qui ante fuerunt) qui noluerunt audire verba mea; et ipsi ambularunt post deos alienos, ut servirent ipsis; dissoluerunt domus Israel et domus Jehudah foedus meum, quod pepigeram cum patribus ipsorum.
Here the Prophet joins closer battle with the men of his age, and says, that they were worse than their fathers; for this is the meaning of the word, banding or joining together. For when the Israelites concurred in a body in ungodly superstitions, it was more excusable at the beginning, for they had not yet struck deep roots in true religion; but when God by his prophets had endeavored many times, and in various ways, to restore them to the right way, and when his diligence and assiduous efforts had proved fruitless, it was an evidence of confirmed and hopeless obstinacy. He then says, that this had been discovered; for this is what he means by saying, that it had been found out This verb is often used in Scripture in another sense, but it means here the same, as though he had said, that the conspiracy of the people had been discovered or proved, as it is said of thieves when found out, that they are caught in the very act. So God says here, that it was no matter of dispute whether the people had designedly and from sheer wickedness perverted his true and lawful worship; the conspiracy, 293 he says, is sufficiently notorious
We then understand the meaning of the Prophet to be, --- that not a part of the people was implicated in impiety, but that all, from the least to the greatest, were together defiled, and that this was done, not by some foolish impulse of the moment, 293Rendered "{σύνδεσμος}, binding together,'' by the Sept., --- ``conjuratio, confederacy, or conspiracy,'' by the Vulg. and Arab., --- ``rebellion,'' by the Syr. and Targ., --- ``combination,'' as given by Gataker and Blayney, would express better the meaning of the original word. --- Ed