John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 11:6-8

"And Jehovah said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not." — Jeremiah 11:6-8 (ASV)

Here the Prophet explains more clearly why he had been commanded to proclaim the words of the covenant: for the greater part of the people were no doubt ready boldly to object and say, “What do you mean? Are we not the disciples of Moses? You, indeed! think that you have to do with a barbarous people. Have we not been from our childhood taught the law of God? Is it not daily enjoined on us? We are sufficiently instructed in this doctrine of which you pretend that we are ignorant. Be gone from here; and go either to the Chaldeans or to the Assyrians or to the Egyptians; for we understand what the law teaches.”

There is then no doubt that Jeremiah had been repulsed by this kind of insolence. He therefore shows that he had a just cause to set before them the law of God, for so great an oblivion had prevailed that they did not know what God had formerly taught in his law. Besides, they and their fathers had always been rebellious, so that they always needed to be taught.

This is according to what is said by Isaiah, that the people were to be treated like children and taught, A, A; B, B, and that though the same things were repeated, they yet stopped at the rudiments and never made any progress (Isaiah 28:10, 13). As Isaiah then reproached the people with tardiness in learning the law, so Jeremiah now shows that they were not to think it strange that God commanded his law to be proclaimed to them, because it had been until now despised by them. We will defer the rest.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since You have been pleased daily to invite us to Yourself with so much benignity and kindness, we may not with deaf ears turn aside from the doctrine which is set forth for our salvation. May we attend to it and persevere also in that obedience which You justly require from us, so that we may make increasing progress in true religion, and so form the whole course of our life according to Your righteous law, that we may fight as good soldiers for You in this world, until we will at length come to that blessed rest, which is prepared for us in heaven, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We observed in the last Lecture the complaint which God made against his people—that he had tried every means to reconcile them to himself, but all in vain. But there is great weight and emphasis in these words—that by protesting he protested, etc.; as though he subjected himself to the judgment of a third party, for we are accustomed to protest against those who do not willingly come before the tribunal of a judge.

God then takes this figure from the common practice of men, and says that he protested, and that not only once, but repeatedly. He afterwards adds that he had done this not only in one age, but from the time their fathers came out from bondage to that day. It was then extreme perverseness, when God did not cease to call them to himself, and yet spoke to the deaf.

But what follows is still more emphatic—that he rose early: for to take this transitively as some do, is what I do not approve. God then says that he was so solicitous about their welfare, that he rose early to call them. There is no doubt that God applies here to himself what properly belonged to his Prophets, as he also concedes to his servants what rightly belongs to him, and what cannot be applied to men, except by way of concession.

But God does here extol the authority of his word, when he says that he rose early; and at the same time he amplifies their ingratitude, since they had despised him, when they saw that he, like the head of a family, provided for their welfare. We therefore learn how much God values his word; for he testifies that there is no difference between him and his servants, whose labors he employs in teaching his Church.

We also learn from this how inexcusable our wickedness is when we reject God speaking so familiarly to us. We now perceive the import of this passage.

But it may, in the third place, be observed that God’s name is invoked in vain, except when he himself speaks. The Papists of this day would have whatever they say, according to their own fancies, to be received without any dispute. But God shows in this place that he is not offended except when he himself is despised; and he at the same time declares that he is so connected with his prophets, that they bring nothing of their own, nor anything else except what proceeds from him.

He now adds that this only he required from his chosen people: to obey his voice. The justness of this precept shows how base and wicked was the impiety of the people. God also shows that they had not the pretext of error or of ignorance, for the only way of evading was to pretend that they wished nothing other than to render to God the worship due to him.

But the rule he had prescribed in his law was such as could not be mistaken. It therefore follows that they willfully went astray after superstitions, for they were sufficiently taught in the law what God approved. This then is the reason why he so often repeats that he required nothing from the children of Abraham except to hear his voice.

It afterwards follows, Yet they heard not, and bent not, or inclined not their ear. Here the Prophet does not accuse a few men of perverseness, but says that, from the time they had been redeemed, they had been rebellious against God. He exaggerates their sin by saying that they inclined not their ear; for this was no doubt added for the sake of emphasis, as though the Prophet had said—that it was only their own fault that the right way was not quite evident to them, for they did not deign to give ear to God.

Now, it is a proof of extreme contempt when we not only repudiate what God says to us, and refuse to obey his authority and advice, but when we close up every avenue and, as far as we can, forbid him to speak to us; this is surely an extremity of insolence. It may indeed be that one will hear another speaking, and yet will not do what he says; he still will show some courtesy, lest a complaint of inattention be made. But it is an intolerable barbarity when we do not listen to the words of another.

God here complains that the Israelites had not only been disobedient to him, after having been instructed, but that they had been so refractory that they insolently rejected all the words of the prophets. This was not only a proof of base impiety but also of barbarous perverseness. We now understand what the Prophet means.

He says that they walked every one in the wickedness of his own evil heart. As he had before shown that they had been warned in due time, it is clear that they did not follow their impious superstitions through mistake, but because they rejected the true worship of God and did not listen to the teaching of the prophets.

By saying that they walked every one, etc., the Prophet doubtless intended to include them all, as it were, in one bundle. It is as though he had said that they had not been drawn away by a sudden impulse, as is often the case when an agitation is made by a few, and when most follow, being driven as it were by a storm, and do not think what they do. For thus some terror often seizes on the minds of the many, so that they go here and there without knowing where they are going.

But the Prophet here teaches us that every one followed his own counsel. It is as though he had said that the worship of God had not been thus rejected by the influence of the multitude, but that each one had his own object, and had concocted the wickedness and the great sin of rejecting God. There is then more meaning and force in this way of speaking than if he had said that they all walked in the wickedness of their own hearts. He further shows that they were all, from the least to the greatest, implicated, as they say, in the same impiety.

He afterwards adds that God had brought upon them the words, that is, the threatenings, of the covenant. By the words of the covenant he does not mean here the doctrine or precepts of the law. He indeed mentioned before the words of the covenant for the commands of God; but now, on finding that he had to do with refractory men, who were not capable of receiving any doctrine, he comes to threatenings.

But God first prescribes in his law what he wills to be done, and then adds not only kind invitations, but also what is alluring, in order to conciliate the minds of men. When, however, there is no attention to obedience, and no care for it, he then comes to threatenings. Though the Prophet had omitted the promises, he had yet spoken previously of the law itself; but he says now that God had executed what he had denounced against them.

He further says, Which I have commanded to be done; and they did them not. There seems indeed to be a confusion here; for by the words of this covenant, he no doubt means threatenings, as I have stated. Then he immediately adds, which I have commanded to be done, and they did them not.

But, as I have already reminded you, the Prophet had previously, with sufficient clearness, taught them that the rule of a godly and holy life was set forth in the law; but he now refers especially to threatenings. It is then not strange that he speaks so indistinctly, for the people had in a manner perverted the law.

There were indeed in the law these two distinct things: doctrine, or a rule of life; and threatenings, which were added as stimulants to rouse the sloth of men, or rather to subdue their perverseness. But as the Israelites and the Jews had not attended to the voice of God, the Prophet here blends threatenings with precepts.

We now understand what the Prophet means in this passage, when he says that he was sent by God to cry, Hear ye the words of this covenant; for they were forgetful of true religion. Such was their oblivion and impious contempt of the whole law, that they needed to be taught its first rudiments.

This is one thing. He then shows how solicitous God had been about their welfare, so that he had not neglected any of the duties of the best of fathers, and yet his labor had been all in vain. For they had not only been led away by their own lusts, but their inward wickedness had closed their ears, so that they did not deign to listen to God’s voice. This had not been in one age only, but from the time they came out of Egypt to that day.

It therefore follows that they were justly punished, for God had tried all means before he resorted to severity. Since he had adopted all kinds of ways to reform them, and all in vain, the only thing that remained was to punish them as men past all remedy. This is the import of the whole. He now adds—