Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
I see no reason to seek out any refined explanation, when this mode of speaking is commonly adopted. Then by this similitude of south wind God intimates the great power of his vengeance; as though he had said, ``Even if the Jews think that they have a firm standing in the promised land, they are wholly deceived, for God will with irresistible force expel them.'' And he compares them to stubble, while yet they boasted that they were like trees planted in that land; and we have before seen that they had been planted as it were by the hand of God; but they wanted the living root of piety, they were therefore to be driven far away like stubble. 354
Let us then learn from this passage not to abuse the patience of God: for though he may suspend for a time the punishment we deserve, yet when he sees that we go on in our wickedness, he will come to extreme measures, and will deal with us without mercy as those who are past remedy. It follows ---
Jeremiah 13:25
25. This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
25. Haec sors tua, portio mensurarum tuarum a me, dicit Jehova; quia oblita es mei, et confisa in mendacio.
The Prophet no doubt wished to strip the Jews of their vain confidence, through which they acted arrogantly and presumptuously towards God, while yet they professed his name and claimed his favor. They said that they had obtained that land by an hereditary right, because it had been promised to their father Abraham. This indeed was true. They also said, that the land was God's rest; and they derived this from the prophets. They said farther that God was their heritage; and this also was true. But since they had wickedly profaned God's name, he takes from them these false boastings, and says, This is thy lot But still they said, When God divided the nations, his lot fell on Israel, for so says Moses. (Deuteronomy 32:8) As then they were wont to say, that God afterwards deceived them, the Prophet here on the other hand reminds them, that they foolishly confided in that lot, because God had rejected them, and did not acknowledge them now as his children, as they were become degenerate and perfidious. This, he says, is thy lot 355
We see that there is to be understood here a contrast: God was the lot of the people, and they were also the lot of God, according to the passages to which we have referred. They were the heritage of God, and they boasted that God was their heritage; the land was a symbol and a pledge of this heritage. The Prophet now says: ``This lot shall be to thee the portion of thy measures from me.'' He alludes
354Our version begins with "therefore," giving this meaning to {,{וvau, but Gataker considers this verse as connected with the 22d, and regards the 23d as parenthetic; and then he renders the vau ``and.'' The literal rendering of the latter part is, ``Passing to the wind of the desert,'' that is, the stubble which is exposed to that violent wind. The meaning may be thus given, --- And I will scatter them like the stubble That is subject to the wind of the desert. To pass over to a thing is to become within its range, or to its possession. The sense would be given by the following version, --- That is carried away by the wind of the desert. The meaning is not what the Septuagint give, ``carried by the wind to the desert;'' nor what the Vulgate presents, ``carried by the wind in the desert;'' but what is meant is, ``the wind of the desert,'' or, as Calvin says, the south wind.
When the stubble was exposed to that, it is carried away with the greatest violence: such would be the scattering of the Jews. ---
Ed.
355It may be thus rendered, — This thy lot is the share of thy measures From me, saith Jehovah. The "lot" was the scattering threatened in the previous verse. "The share of thy measures," is a Hebrew idiom for "a measured share," or "a measured portion," as rendered by Blayney. Some say that "measures" are mentioned, because the length and breadth were included. — Ed.