John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 10:1-2

"Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: thus saith Jehovah, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them." — Jeremiah 10:1-2 (ASV)

Jeremiah enters here on a new subject. Though he had, no doubt, taught this truth often, I consider it distinct from what has gone before, for he begins here a new attack on those superstitions to which the Jews were then extremely addicted. He exhorts them first to hear the word of Jehovah, for they had so hardened themselves in the errors they had derived from the Gentiles, and the contagion had so prevailed, that they could not be easily drawn away from them. This, then, is the reason why he used a sort of preface and said, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, which he speaks to you, O house of Israel.

He then mentions the error in which the Chaldeans and the Egyptians were involved, for they were, we know, very attentive observers of the stars. This is expressly stated because the Jews despised God’s judgments and greatly feared what was foolishly divined. For when anyone, by looking at the stars, threatened them with some calamity, they were immediately terrified; but when God pronounced upon them, as with the sound of a trumpet, a calamity by His prophets, they were not at all moved. But it will be better to examine the very words of the prophet, as then we shall more plainly see the drift of the whole.

Learn not, he says, the way of the nations. The Hebrew grammarians take אל (al) as את (at). Way, we know, is everywhere taken to mean all those customs and habits by which human life is regulated. He then forbids them to pay attention to the rules of life observed by the Gentiles.

He specifies one thing: Be not terrified by celestial signs. He afterwards shows how vain the practices of the Gentiles were; being devoted to idols, they worshipped them in the place of God, though framed by the skill of man.

But other words are added: For the heathens are terrified by them. There is a threefold exposition of this clause. Some take כי (ki), properly a causative, in the sense of כ (kaph), which denotes likeness, “as the Gentiles are terrified by them.” Others regard it as an adversative, “though,” and כי (ki) often has this meaning. Still others give this explanation: “For it is the case with the Gentiles that they are terrified by them,” as though God had said that it was extremely absurd for the Jews to be terrified by celestial signs, because they ought to have left this folly, or rather madness, to the Gentiles, as God regarded them as wholly blind. Let us now come to the subject.

Learn not, he says, the way of the Gentiles. This is a general precept. The law was a sure rule for the Jews and prescribed for them the limits of duty; they ought, therefore, to have followed what God taught them in His law, and not to have turned aside either to the right hand or to the left, according to what Moses also had said.

But as human minds are always unruly, they were very desirous of knowing what the Gentiles observed; but whenever this unruliness possesses people’s minds, they necessarily blend darkness with light. It was then, for this reason, that Jeremiah reminded them that nothing was to be learned from the Gentiles, as though he had said, “You ought to be satisfied with the simple doctrine of the Law; for unless you are content with having God as your teacher, you will necessarily go astray. Unless, then, you willfully seek to err, keep the way that is pointed out to you in the Law, and do not turn aside to the rites and practices of the Gentiles.”

After having given them a general command not to turn aside from the plain doctrine of the Law, he specifies one thing in particular: Be not terrified by celestial signs, that is, “Do not suppose that prosperity or adversity depends on the position or aspect of the stars.” There seems, however, to be some inconsistency here, for he mentions the stars as signs; it therefore follows that something is intimated by their position. Moses also says that the sun and moon, and all the stars (and especially the planets), were to be for signs.

There are, at the same time, in the firmament, twelve signs by which astrologers especially make their calculations. Since, then, God has, from the beginning of the creation, appointed what they call the fixed stars in the firmament, as well as the planets, to be for signs, the prophet seems not to have acted rightly in forbidding the Jews to fear such signs. For these signs in the heavens are not the vain fictions of men, but what God has created and appointed. We have already stated that the stars are not called signs through the foolish conceit of men, but this designation was given to them by God Himself when they were first created; and if the stars presage to us either prosperity or adversity, it follows that they ought to be dreaded by us.

But the prophet here does not use the word “signs” in its proper meaning, for he does not refer to its true origin but accommodates himself to the notions that then prevailed. We must bear in mind what I have already said: that the Egyptians and Chaldeans were much given to that astrology which is called judicial astrology today.

The word itself may be allowed, but it was long ago profaned by wicked and unprincipled people, whose object has been to make gain by mere falsehoods. There is no doubt that the Egyptians and the Chaldeans were true astrologers and understood the art, which in itself is praiseworthy; for to observe the stars, what else is it but to contemplate that wonderful workmanship in which the power, as well as the wisdom and goodness of God, shines forth?

Indeed, astrology may justly be called the alphabet of theology, for no one can with a right mind come to the contemplation of the celestial framework without being enraptured with admiration at the display of God’s wisdom, as well as His power and goodness. I have no doubt, then, that the Chaldeans and the Egyptians had learned that art, which in itself is not only to be approved but is also most useful, and contains not only the most delightful speculations but ought also to contribute much towards exciting in human hearts a high reverence for God.

Hence Moses was instructed from his childhood in that art, and also Daniel among the Chaldeans (Acts 7:22; Daniel 1:17, 20). Moses learned astrology as understood by the Egyptians, and Daniel as known by the Chaldeans; but the art among them was at that time much adulterated, for they had mingled, as I have already said, foolish divinations with the true and genuine science.

Since, then, the prophet’s meaning seems evident, the truth remains fixed that the sun, moon, other planets, and the fixed stars in the firmament are for signs. But we must also notice here the purpose for which God intended the sun and moon to be signs. His purpose was that the lunar course should complete one month and the solar course one year.

And then the twelve signs were designed to serve another purpose: for when the sun is in Cancer, it does not have the same power and influence as when it is in Virgo; and it differs with respect to the other signs. In short, regarding the order of nature, the stars—the planets as well as the fixed stars—are signs for us.

We number years by the solar course and months by the lunar; and then the sun, with respect to the twelve signs, introduces spring, then summer, then autumn, and finally winter. There are other purposes, but we include in one sentence whatever can be said of the celestial signs when we say that they relate to the order of nature.

Whoever, then, seeks to make more of these signs confuses the order established by God, as the Chaldeans and Egyptians formerly did when they sought to ascend higher than reason warranted. They tried to conjecture from the position of the stars what the fates of all nations would be, and then they dared to descend to the cases of individuals.

Hence arose those who cast nativities. Then they first began more anxiously to philosophize that the sun, when in a certain sign, portends the death of an only son for one person and happy events for another. But these are things, as we have said, that are beyond the usual order of nature.

For instance, that there is to be summer and winter is natural and common; but that there is to be war between one nation and another is not by the usual order of things, nor does it take place according to what nature appoints, but through human ambition and avarice.

The hidden providence of God indeed rules, but we speak of causes that ought to be understood by us and can be comprehended by us, for they are within the reach of our understanding.

It must at the same time be observed that the course of the stars is in itself of no moment, for we see that God varies the seasons: there is not always the same state of weather; we have no winters and no summers exactly alike; there is no year that is not dissimilar to the former, and the third that follows differs from the second.

Therefore, we learn that God has so formed and ordered the sun, the moon, and all the stars, that He Himself still governs and changes the seasons as it pleases Him. In this way we account for sterilities, pestilences, and other things of this kind. When the air seems temperate, pestilence prevails, the year is less fruitful, people are famished, and no cause appears.

Then this diversity in nature itself shows that God has not resigned His power to the stars, but that He so works by them that He still holds the reins of government, and that He, according to His own will, rules the world in a way different from what even the most astute can divine by the stars. Yet this is no reason why we should deny them the office I have mentioned.

But those who exceed the limits fixed by God and seek to form conjectures respecting war in this country and peace in that—they who thus seek to learn from the stars what is beyond the order of nature—blend heaven and earth together. The prophet, no doubt, intended to condemn this madness when he forbade the Jews to pay attention to the celestial signs so as to dread them.

But the reason must also be noted why the prophet so severely condemned that fear that prevailed among the Gentiles: it was because when the opinion prevailed that all events depended on the stars, the fear of God was removed, nothing was ascribed to His judgments, faith was extinguished, and prayer to God and all the ordinances of religion were reduced to nothing.

For all the astrologers who falsely assume so honorable a name—indeed, those unprincipled people who add to their impostures the name of judicial astrology—hold and maintain that a judgment respecting a person’s life ought to be formed by the horoscope, as though the fortune of everyone depended on the stars.

When, therefore, anyone is born at a certain hour, this or that condition, according to them, awaits that person. Thus they imagine that there is a fate, or some necessity, that holds a person bound to the influence of the sun, moon, and stars: for he was born when the sun was in the tail of that sign or in the head of another; his birth portends such and such fortune; he will live but a short time, or he will live long.

Thus they judge. And they go even further, and pronounce on every occurrence: “Such will be the issue of this expedition; this, during the year, will be unhappily undertaken, but that will succeed.” Afterwards, when a nativity is not taken into account, they subject the whole human race to the uncontrollable influence of the stars: “See, if you undertake this business on such a day, you will succeed; but if you begin before mid-day, the issue will be unsuccessful.” Thus they divine concerning the whole life of a person with regard to each of their actions, but God never intended the stars to be signs for such purposes.

Now, as I have said, it therefore follows that God does not rule, and thus faith is extinguished, and all the exercises of religion are reduced to nothing. For whoever is persuaded that he is bound by necessity because the horoscope is of such a character—that he must necessarily die at such an hour and necessarily die of a certain kind of death—will anyone who has this conviction call on God? Will he commend his life to His keeping? And then, when any adversity happens, who will bear it as a punishment for his sins? Will he acknowledge that he is called to judgment by God? And if he should prosper, will he be led to sing praises to God?

Thus we see that this divination extinguishes all religion, for there will be no faith, no recognition of punishment, no acknowledgment of God’s blessings, and no concern for sin, whenever this diabolical error possesses our minds—that we are subject to the stars, that such and such is our nativity, and that the stars portend some kind of death every day and every moment.

This, then, is what is especially intended by the prophet in forbidding the Jews to be terrified by the celestial signs, for the Chaldeans, no doubt, prophesied that they would have a new empire, and thus they frightened the miserable Jews: “It is all over with us, for the astrologers among the Chaldeans have so spoken; and on the other hand, the Egyptians also see that this has been foreshown by the position of the stars.” Thus it happened that the Jews became, as it were, wholly lifeless.

Nor did they remember what God had so often, and for so many years, threatened by His prophets to do if they continued to provoke His wrath. They made no account of God’s judgment; and yet the persuasion that the Chaldeans announced a judgment by the stars, and that there would be some convulsion, filled them with terror and amazement.

Hence the prophet, in order to lead them to repentance as well as to faith—which are the two essentials of religion and include in them the perfection of true wisdom—speaks to them in effect: “Fear not the stars, but fear God.” For a contrast between God and the stars is implied, as though he had said, “When any adversity happens to you, know that you are chastised by God’s hand, who is a just avenger of sins.”

This was to teach them repentance; it was to show them that they justly suffered because they had been perverse in their wickedness. Then follows the other fact: that though the stars threatened calamity and destruction, they were to flee to God’s mercy and never doubt their safety, provided He was propitious to them. We now, then, understand the prophet’s object in telling them not to fear the stars.

More things might be said, but I study brevity as far as I can, and I trust that I have briefly included what is sufficient for understanding this passage. There are many, I know, today who are foolishly curious and therefore wish some account to be made of judicial astrology; and this delirium has taken possession of some pious and truly learned people. But we see what God here declares by His servant.

And I wonder that some are so credulous regarding the stars, who yet speak with extreme subtlety on free will. They would have the events of things be fortuitous, they would have it that people act freely in both ways, and they hate and abhor fate; and yet they confine God, as it were, in a prison and would have the stars rule.

This is a prodigy to me, not a sign. But I leave all these things. Let the plain doctrine of the prophet be deemed sufficient for us, when he says that we are not to be terrified by signs, for it belongs to the Gentiles to be terrified in this way. For I am disposed to take this meaning—that the prophet says this was a kind of blindness that belonged to them: “Leave,” he says, “this folly to the Gentiles; it is no wonder that they labor under so many errors and delusions, for celestial truth has never shone upon them. But it becomes you to fear God and to rely on His mercy.”