Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
say] was from the beginning, it then follows that it was created before heaven and earth. But this is disproved by this single consideration, --- that he speaks not here of time but of the order of things, and that that order is; not according to the essence of things, but according to the providence of God. From the beginning, then was the throne of God glorious in Judea, even because God in his eternal counsel had determined to choose the race of Abraham, and then to raise up in that nation the throne of David, and from thence to extend salvation to the whole world. 436 Predestination therefore is the antiquity of the throne of which the Prophet now speaks. Hence the most suitable view is this, --- that God had honored the Jews with a singular privilege, because he had purposed to dwell among them, not otherwise than in heaven, so that their condition became more excellent than all human glory. It now follows, ---
Jeremiah 17:13
13. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
13. Spes (vel, expectatio) lsrael Jehova, quicunque abs te discedunt (vel, qui te derelinquunt, {;}עזבוךhoc verbo nuper fuerat usus de perdicibus loquens) pudefient; qui deficiunt a me in terra scribentur; quia dereliquerunt (idem est verbum) fontem aquarum viventium Jehovam.
It appears more clear from this verse why the Prophet had commended before the excellency of his own nation, even that by the comparison their impiety might appear less excusable; for the more bountiful God had dealt with them, the more atrocious was their sin of ingratitude. As then the Jews had been raised high, so that their elevation appeared eminent through the whole world, the more detestable became their contumacy against God, and also their ingratitude in rejecting and despising a favor so remarkable, when they forsook him and followed idols, vain hopes, and their own false counsels. It is the same as though the Prophet had said, --- ``What does it avail you, that God dwells among you, and that the Temple is as it were his earthly habitation, where he converses familiarly with you? what benefit is this to you? for no one accepts of this favor; nay, we wilfully, and as it were designedly cast away from us this kindness which is freely offered to us.''
We hence see that all this ought to be read together, --- that the throne of God was in Judea, but that the people in the meantime malignantly and wickedly rejected the favor offered them.
But the Prophet turns to God, that he might rouse the Jews, for such was their perverseness that he in vain taught them. And he says, Jehovah, the expectation of Israel! whosoever forsake thee shall be made ashamed; as though he had said, --- ``The ungodly multitude which accepts not the dignity by which our race excels all other nations, receives no benefit. God indeed dwells in the midst of us, but hardly one in a hundred cleaves to him; nay, almost all treacherously forsake him; 436If we connect "from the beginning" with the following words, and not with "high," which seems to give a better meaning, we shall get rid of the Rabbinical figment; and it seems also right to join with this verse the first words in the next, as it has been done by the Septuagint, — A throne of glory on high, Is from the beginning the place of our sanctuary, — The hope of Israel. Or we may render the first line thus, — The glorious throne of the most high. For so we find {{מרוםrendered in Psalm 56:2. --- Ed.