Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
the air, and the wild beasts of the wood:, that they may fly together quickly, and that they may come together to the prey.'' That we must thus understand the Prophet's meaning, we learn from the very words; for God not only says, ``A speckled bird has mine heritage become,'' but he adds, to me, as he had before said, that his heritage had become to him as a lion, so he says now, Is not mine heritage become to me? etc This pronoun then ought to be carefully noticed; for we hence learn, as I have said already, that the intractable disposition of the people is here condemned, for they could by no means be tamed.
But the latter clause ought also to be especially observed; for it imports as much as though God had said, ``As then your wickedness is such that ye are to me lions and wild birds, take your course; but I will yet check this your barbarous and untameable ferocity; for I have under my command all the birds of the air and all the wild beasts of the field; let them then come together to this one bird, and to this one beast. Ye are but one bird; ye are indeed terrible at the first view, for ye are worse than all the hawks; but ye are only one bird, and around you shall come all birds, which shall make war on you. Ye are as one lion in a forest, or one boar, or one wolf; but all the savage beasts of the wood shall come together against you, and shall come together to devour you.''
This place deserves special notice; for we hence learn how foolishly men deceive themselves when they oppose God and perversely shake off his yoke, and suffer not, themselves to be corrected by his word; they are lions, they are savage birds; but the Lord can easily destroy them, for all birds and all wild beasts are ready to obey him; and hence it follows: ---
Jeremiah 12:10
10. Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
10. Pastores nmlti perdiderunt vitem mean.a, calcarunt (aut, vastarunt, utrunque enim significat {,}בססוsed hic verbum quadratum, perdiderunt ergo) portionem mearn, dederunt portionem desiderii mei in desertum vastitatis.
He explains by another comparison what we have just observed; he calls those pastors or shepherds whom he had before compared to wild beasts; for by saying, ``Come ye, all the wild beasts of the wood,'' he doubtless meant the same as those of whom he now speaks; and yet he calls them pastors. But he touched the Jews to the quick, for they could not bear him to discharge the office of a pastor towards them. God ought to have been the pastor of his chosen people; but they were wild beasts. ``Forsaken them have I,'' he says, ``for they were wholly unworthy. What now then? Other pastors shall come, but those of a very different character, being fiercer and more cruel than wolves or any savage wild beasts.'' Though then the Prophet blends various comparisons, we yet see that he handles the same subject; we also see why he thus changes his expressions, for there is a meaning in every word he uses. It is indeed certain that those also are called pastors who would come as leaders or chiefs from Assyria and Chaldea; but there is no doubt here an implied antithesis, such as I have referred to, as though he had said, ``I have hitherto been a shepherd to you, and was wining to continue to be so perpetually; but as ye can