Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
their iniquities, and he is a fit judge; so they contend in vain, and try in vain, to excuse or to extenuate their fault.''
Hence he says that the eyes of God were on all their ways: and he mentions all their ways, because they had not offended only once, or in one way, but they had added sins to sins. Nor are they hid, he says: the Prophet presses the matter on their attention; for had he allowed their false pretences, they would have made no end of excuses. He therefore says that their ways were not hid, nor their iniquities concealed from the eyes of God. Now follows a confirmation ---
Jeremiah 16:18
18. And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
18. Et rependam ab initio duplum iniquitatum eorum et scelerum eorum; quia polluerunt (super polluere ipsos) terram meam in cadaveribus abominationum suarum, et suis inquinamentis replerunt haereditatem meam.
Jeremiah introduces here nothing new, but proceeds with the subject we observed in the last verse, --- that God would not deal with so much severity with the Jews, because extreme rigor was pleasing to him, or because he had forgotten his own nature or the covenant which he had made with Abraham, but because the Jews had become extremely obstinate in their wickedness. As, then, he had said that the eyes of God were on all their ways, so now he adds that he would recompense them as they deserved.
But every word ought to be considered: He says {}ראשונהrashune, which I render
the beginning.'' Some render it more obscurely, ``at first,'' --- I will first recompense them. The word means formerly, and refers to time. The Prophet then, I have no doubt, means what I have already referred to, --- that God would punish the fathers and their children, and would thus gather into one mass their old iniquities.
We have quoted from the law that God would recompense unto the bosom of children the sins of their fathers; and we have also quoted that declaration of Christ, ``Come upon you shall righteous blood from Abel to Zachariah, the son of Barachiah.'' (Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51)
The Prophet now repeats the same thing, --- that God, in allotting to the Jews their reward, would collect together as it were all the iniquities which had been as it were long buried, so that he would include the fathers and their children in one bundle, and gather together all their sins, in order that he might consume them as it were in one heap. In this way I explain the term ``From the beginning.'' 423
423The Septuagint omit this word, and give this rendering, "And I will recompense their twofold iniquities," etc., so does the Vulgate, only it retains this word, and renders it "first." But the Hebrew will not admit the connection of "two-fold" with "iniquities." Venema gives the best exposition of this passage, from Jeremiah 16:14 to the end, he considers it a prophecy of the restoration of the people from Babylon. The "fishers" and "the hunters," in Jeremiah 16:16, he regards as the indibviduals employed by God to gather them from the countries to which they had been dispersed, suych as Zerubbabel, Joshuah, Ezra, and Nehemiah. He connects this verse more especially with the latter part of Jeremiah 16:17. Having stated that their ways would not be hid from God in their dispersion, the Prophet refers to their previous iniquity as having not been hid from them, and then says in God's name, "And I will first recompense doubly their iniquity," etc., that is before I restore them. These two verses may be thus rendered, the first line being connected with the previous verse, — 17. For mine eyes shall be on all their