Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH
as God destroyed the wicked at the request of Elijah, the Apostles wished Christ to do the same by fire from heaven; but he said, ``Ye know not by what spirit ye are, ruled.'' (Luke 9:55)
They were unlike Elijah, and yet; wished like apes to imitate what he did.
But, as I have said, let first all regard to our own benefit or loss be dismissed, when we would shew ourselves indignant against the wicked; and secondly, let us have the spirit of wisdom and discretion; and lastly, let all the turbulent feelings of the flesh be checked, for as soon as anything human be mixed with our prayers, some confusion will ever be found. There was nothing turbulent in this imprecation of Jeremiah, for the Spirit of God ruled his heart and his tongue, and then he forgot himself; and lastly, he knew that they were reprobate and already doomed to final ruin. He therefore hesitated not, through the prophetic spirit, to imprecate on them what we here read. And there is no doubt but that he was ever solicitous for the remnant, for he knew that there were some faithful; and though they were unknown, he yet prayed God for them. But he fulminates here against the reprobate who were already given up to ruin. This is the reason why he hesitated not to pray that they might be delivered up to famine and given to the sword, 465 so that their women might be bereaved and become widows, and their men put to death, 466 and their youth smitten by the sword. It now follows ---
Jeremiah 18:22
22. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
22. Audiatur clamor ex aedibus eorum cum induxeris super eos exercitum repente; quia foderunt foveam ad capiendum me, laqueos occultarunt pedibus meis.
He proceeds with his imprecation, he then wishes that a cry should he heard from the houses, as though he had said, ``Let there be no refuge for them when their calamity shall happen:'' For his own house is to every one his place of safetyin a disordered state of things. The Prophet then wished them to be slain by their enemies even when concealed in their houses; for it appears from the preceding verse that he meant slaughter. For why should a cry be, except on account of enemies breaking in and raging against them, while they, being not able to defend their life, were driven to lamentations and howlings? Let a cry then be heard from their houses, when thou bringest an army upon them suddenly; and he adds: For they have digged a pit to take me
The Prophet indeed seems here to be the defender of his own cause: but there is no doubt, but that apart from anything personal, he hated the impiety of those of 465The rendering of this line is various: our version, "pour out," etc., cannot be sustained; nor "drain them," etc., by Blayney. The idea generally given by the versions and the Targum to the verb, is that of giving up, delivering, committing. The Syriac seems to give the original correctly, "deliver them into the hands of the sword;" only the verb {,{גדהsignifies to draw or drive rather than to deliver. Perhaps the literal rendering would be, ``drive them on the hands of the sword,'' as though the sword was a person with hands stretched cut to receive what might come in its way: but ``hands'' in this instance mean power; so that the best version would be, And deliver them into the power of the sword.
466Literally, "the slain of death," as in the next line, "the smitten of the sword." The two lines are literally thus, — And let their men be the slain of death; Their youths the smitten of the sword in battle. "Death" here, notwithstanding what Horsley has said, evidently means pestilence. See Jeremiah 15:2. The "men" were those past the time of ervice, and "youths" or young men were those fit for war. — Ed.