Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
then mentions here what God had commanded under the law, but he shews that hypocrites separated the principal thing from the external signs. God indeed neither disregards nor rejects signs, but when what they signify is separated from them, there is then an intolerable profanation. Let us then know, that though nothing may be wanting in the external worship, yet whatever we seek to do is abominable to God except it be accompanied with sincerity of heart.
But I will consume them, 370 he says, with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence I render the particle {}כיki, ``but.'' He refers here to three modes of destruction, that the Jews might surely know that they were to perish, according to what is said elsewhere, ``He who escapes from the sword shall perish by the famine, and he who survives the famine shall perish by the pestilence.'' God shews, in short, that he was armed with various kinds of punishment, so that they who had so provoked him as wholly to lose the hope of pardon, could by no escapes deliver themselves from destruction. God might indeed have consumed the Jews by one punishment, he might have also threatened them in general terms without specifying anything, but as the unbelieving ever promise themselves some way of escape, so his purpose was to hold them bound in every way, that they might know that they were shut up on every side, and that no way of escape could be found.
This is the meaning. It follows ---
Jeremiah 14:13
13. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
13. Et dixi, O, ho, Domine Jehovah; ecce prophetae dicunt illis, Non videbitis gladium, et fames non erit vobis; quoniam pacem veritatis (id est, stabilem) dabo vobis in hoc loco.
The Prophet no doubt relates what he had expressed in prayer to God; but yet he has a reference to the people. He then prayed in the manner he now relates; but he renders public the prayers he offered by himself and without a witness, in order that he might restore the Jews from their impiety. Now Jeremiah's colloquy with God availed not a little to touch the Jews; for as though they themselves had been present, he set before them what he had heard from God's mouth. We now then understand why he made known his secret prayers; it was not for the sake of boasting, but for the sake of doing good to the Jews. It was then his object to consult their benefit, when he declared to them what he had previously poured forth without any witness into the bosom of his God.
And I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! He uses an expression of grief, Ah! and thus he shews what concern he felt for his people, being not less anxious on account of their ruin than on account of his own. It may yet be an expression of astonishment, as though the Prophet was fined with surprise, ``What can this be, O Lord?'' And doubtless an expression of astonishment is not unsuitable, so that the Jews might feel horrified together with him, when they saw that they had been led astray by the 370As it is a participle in Hiphil, preceded by a pronoun, it ought to be rendered causatively, — But with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, Will I cause them to be condemned. — Ed.