Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
we shall be able fully to rejoice in thee. — Amen.
Lecture Sixth. Jeremiah 2:12 12. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
12. Obstupescite coeli super hoc, et expavescite, desolamini (vel, arescite) valde, dicit Jehova.
When the Prophet saw that he had to do with besotted men, almost void of all reason, he turned to address the heavens: and it is a way of speaking, common in the Prophets, — that they address the heaven and the earth, which have no understanding, and leave men endued with reason and knowledge. This they were wont to do in hopeless cases, when they found no disposition to learn.
Hence now the Prophet bids the heavens to be astonished and to be terrified and to be reduced as it were unto desolation; as though he had said, "This is a wonder, which almost confounds the whole order of nature; it is the same as though we were to see heaven and earth mixed together." We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet: for by this representation he intended to shew, how detestable was the impiety of the people, since the heavens, though destitute of reason, ought justly to dread such a monstrous thing.
As to the words, some render them, "Be desolate, ye heavens," and then repeat the same: but as {}שמםshemem, means to be astonished, the rendering I have given suits the present passage better, "Be astonished, ye heavens, for this," and then, "be ye terrified and dried up;" for: {}חרבchareb, signifies to become dry, and sometimes, to be reduced to a solitude or a waste. 39 It afterwards follows: — Jeremiah 2:13 13. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
13. Certe (vel quia) duo mala fecit populus meus, Me dereliquerunt fontem aquarum viventium, ut foderent sibi puteos (vel, cisternas,) cisternas contritas (vel, confractas,) quae non continent aquas.
If a reason is given here why the Prophet had bidden the heavens to be astonished and terrified, then we must render the words thus, "For two evils have my people done:" but I rather think that the preceding verse is 39Blarney, following the Septuagint, renders the verbs as in the third person plural. "The heavens are astonished," etc.; but it is better to take them as being in the second person in the imperative mood, as both Aquila and Symmachus do. Similar passages are so construed, see Isaiah 1:2. There is alliteration in the two first words, as though we said in our language, "Heave, ye heavens:" and there is a gradation in the expressions — be astonished — be horrified — be wholly wasted, or consumed, or dried up, — Astonished be ye, the heavens, for this, And be horrified, Be ye wholly wasted, saith Jehovah. The alteration in the last verb, in accordance with the Syriac, {,{חרדוwhich means to ``tremble,'' instead of ,{}חרבוthough proposed by Secker and approved by Horsley, is by no means necessary, and countenanced by no MSS. Nor is the emendation of Blarney, in conformity with the Septuagint, to be at all approved. These alterations are not only unnecessary, but destroy the expressive and striking character of the passage.
Learned men are sometimes led too much by an innovating spirit. --- Ed
JOHN CALVIN
connected with the former verses. The Prophet had said, "Go to the farthest lands, and see whether any nation has changed its gods, while yet they are mere inventions." I think then the subject is closed with the exclamation in the preceding verse, when the Prophet says, "Be astonished, ye heavens." It then follows, "Surely, two evils have my people done," even these, — "they have forsaken me," — and then, "they sought for themselves false gods." When any one forsakes an old friend and connects himself with a new one, it is an iniquitous and a base conduct: but when there is no compensation, there is in it united together, folly, levity, and madness. If I despise what I know to be profitable to me, and embrace what I understand will be to my hurt, does not such a choice prove madness? This then is what the Prophet now means, when he says, that the people had sinned not only by departing from the true God, but also by going over, without any compensation, unto idols, which could confer no good on them.
He says that they had done two evils: the first was, they had forsaken God; and the other, they had fallen away unto false and imaginary gods. But the more to amplify their sin, he makes use of a similitude, and says that God is a fountain of living waters; and he compares idols to perforated or broken cisterns, which hold no water 40 When one leaves a living fountain and seeks a cistern, it is a proof of great folly; for cisterns are dry except water comes elsewhere; but a fountain has its own spring; and further, where there is a vein perpetually flowing, and a perennial stream of waters, the water is more salubrious and much better. The waters which rain brings into cisterns are never so wholesome as those which flow from their own native vein: and when the very receptacles of water are full of chinks, what must they be but empty? Hence then God charges the people with madness, because he was forsaken, who was a fountain and a fountain of living waters; and further, because the people sought unprofitable things when they went after their idols. For what is to be found in idols? some likeness; for the superstitious think that they labor not in vain, when they worship false gods, and they hope to derive some benefit. There are then some resemblances to the true in false religions; and hence the Prophet compares false gods to wells, because they were made hollow, suitable to hold water; but there was not a drop of water in them, as they were broken cisterns.
We now perceive what the Prophet meant, — that we cannot possibly be free from guilt when we leave the only true God, as in him is found for us a fullness of all blessings, and from him we may draw what may fully satisfy us.
40Blarney innovated here, because he seemed not rightly to distinguish between the two words that are here used. Both are rendered "cisterns" in our version; but they are two distinct words, though they are similar, and mean similar or the same things. The first is {,{בארותpits, and the other is {}בארתin our received text, but ought evidently to be ,{}ברותor, as in one MS., ,{}בורתwhich means ``wells'' or pools. The first is a feminine noun, the last is a masculine noun; and hence we find that the adjective added here to the last word is masculine, as in other places, see Deuteronomy 6:11; 2 Chronicles 26:10; Nehemiah 9:25; while the first is accompanied with adjectives in the feminine gender. The verse may be thus rendered, --- For two evils have my people done, --- Me have they forsaken, the fountain of living waters; In order to dig for themselves pits, Broken wells, which cannot hold water. It is singular that Adam Clarke should say that these cisterns were ``vessels in put together,'' since they were pits dug in the ground to receive rain-water. --- Ed.