Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
callous and hardened, would no longer lament for one another. In short, he shews, that together with these dreadful slaughters, such insensibility and hardness would prevail among the Jews, that no husband would think of his wife, and no father of his children; but that all of them would be so astonied by their own evils as to become like the wild beasts.
He says further, They shall not cut themselves nor pull off their hairs, as they had used to do. These things are mentioned, as they were commonly done; it cannot be hence concluded, that they were approved by God; for God's design was not to pronounce a judgment on their lamentation, on the tearing off of the hair, or on their incisions. It is indeed certain that these practices proceeded from the impetuous feelings of men, and were tokens of impatience; but as I have said, God does not speak here of what was lawful, but of what men were wont to do.
As to that part, where he says, that he had taken away his kindness and his mercies, he does not mean that he had changed his nature, but his object was to cut off occasion from all who might complain; for men, we know, whenever God's hand presses hard on them, to make them to deplore rightly their miseries, are stifficiently ready to say, that God visits them with too much severity. He therefore shews that they were unworthy of kindness and mercies. At the same time he reminded them that there was no reason for hypocrites to entertain any hope, because Scripture so often commends the kindness of God and his mercy; for since they accumulated sins on sins, God could not do otherwise than come to an extremity with them.
With regard to the seventh verse, 418 we may learn from it what I have already referred to, --- that the Jews made funeral feasts, that children and widows might receive some relief to their sorrow; for the Prophet calls it the cup of consolations, when friends kindly attended; they had also some ridiculous gesticulations; for no doubt laughter was often excited by mourners among the Jews. But we see that men vied with one another in lamenting for the dead; for it was deemed a shame not to shew grief at the death of their friends. When tears did not flow, when the nearest relations did not howl for the dead, they thought them inhuman; hence it was, that there was much dissimulation in their mourning; and it was foolishly regarded an alleviation to extend the cup of consolation. But as I have said before, the Prophet here did not point out what was right, but borrowed his words from what was commonly practiced. It follows ---
Jeremiah 16:8
8. Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
8. Et domum convivii ne ingrediaris, ut sedeas cum ipsis ad edendum et ad biben-
418Calvin, having in his version explained the beginning of this verse, passes it by here. His rendering is, "And they shall not beat their hands together for them, to console any one for the dead." He omits one word, rendered, "in mourning" in our version. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Arabic and the Targum give another meaning. They must have read {{`` לחםbread,'' instead of {`` }להםfor them.'' The difference is so small that we are inclined to think it the true read Ing, though there be but two MSS. in its favor. The passage itself seems to require this reading, --- the verb which precedes it, and the correspondence between the former and latter part of the verse --- bread and drink. The verse then would read thus, --- 7. And they shall not divide bread to the mourner, To console him for the dead: Nor shall they give them to drink the cup of consolations, Each one for his father and for his mother. Blayney quotes Jerome, who says, ``It was usual to carry provisions to mourners, and to make an entertainment, which sort of feasts the Greeks call {περιδειπνα}, and the Latin parentalia.'' --- Ed.