Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
to them what they proudly boasted of; but he retorts it on their own heads, and shews how they deserved a heavier judgment, as they had despised so many of God's blessings.
We said yesterday that. the people is elsewhere compared to a crown and a diadem, as though God had declared that nothing was more precious to him than the children of Abraham. But the same thing is now expressed in other words, --- that he had prepared them for himself as a girdle, that they might be his people This was indeed a great dignity; but what follows exceeds it, --- that they might be to me a name, that is, that I might be celebrated by them; for it was his will to be called the God of Israel. What likeness there is between God and men! And yet, as though descending from his celestial glory, he united to himself the seed of Abraham, that he might also bind them to himself. The election of God was therefore like a bond of mutual union, so that he might not be separated from his people. Hence he says that they had been thus joined to him, that they might be for a name, and also for a praise and glory 331 Though these words are nearly of the same meaning, yet no doubt they are put together for the sake of amplification. God, therefore, intended to exaggerate more fully the sin of the people, by saying that he had done so much for them, in order that he might be celebrated by them, and that his praise and his glory might dwell among them.
He at last adds, They have not heard Had God only commanded what he might have justly required, not to obey his authority would have been an inexcusable wickedness in the people; but as he had so freely offered himself and all other things to them, what a base and detestable ingratitude it was in them to reject blessings so many and so valuable? We hence see that the mouths of the Jews are here completely closed, so that they could not expostulate with God, and complain that he was too rigid, for they had in an extreme degree provoked his wrath, having not only rejected his yoke, but also refused his offered favors. It follows ---
Jeremiah 13:12-14
12 Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
12. Dices etiam illis (hoc est, annuntiabis) hunc sermonem, Sic dicit Jehova, Deus
Israel, Omnis lagena (alii vertunt, utrem, sed hoc loco parum interest, omnis ergo lagena) implebitur vino: et dicent tibi, An non sciendo scimus (hoc est, An nesciendo non scimus) quod omnis lagena implebitur vino?
13. Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
13. Tunc dices illis, Sic dicit Jehova, Ecce ego implens (vel, impleo) omnes habitatores terrae hujus, et omnes reges qui sedent pro Davidae super solium ejus, et sacerdotes et prophetas, et omnes incolas Jerosolymae ebrietate.
331"Name" means here renown; "praise," celebrity or commendation; and "glory," ornament, decoration, or beauty. The three words are found together, though not in exactly the same order, in Deuteronomy 26:19. There the order is, praise, name, and honor, which is rendered here "glory." See Isaiah 43:21; Isaiah 61:11; Isaiah 63:12. — Ed.