John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 12:2

"Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their heart." — Jeremiah 12:2 (ASV)

When the happiness of the wicked disturbs our minds, two false thoughts occur to us—either that this world is ruled by chance and not governed by God’s providence, or that God does not perform the office of a good and righteous judge when he allows light to be so blended with darkness.

But the Prophet here takes it as granted that the world is governed by God’s providence; he therefore does not touch the false notion, which still harasses pious minds, that fortune governs the world. Well known are these words, “I am disposed to think that there are no gods.” It was thought there were no gods who ruled the world, because he died who deserved a longer life. And the wisest heathens have thus spoken, “I see fortune, which yet no reason governs; I see fortune, which prevails more than reason in these matters.” But the Prophet, who was far removed from these profane notions, held this truth: that the world is governed by God. He now asks how it was that God exercised such long forbearance. The ungodly, the thoughtless, and inconsiderate might have said that this forbearance was far too scanty. But the Prophet, as I have said, clearly describes what the Jews deserved.

Then he says that they had been planted by God, for they could not have prospered if God had not blessed them. The metaphor of planting, as we have seen before, often occurs, but in a different sense. When the celestial life is the subject, God is said to have planted his own elect, because their salvation is sure.

He is also said to have planted his people in the land which he had given to them as a heritage. Now, when he speaks of the reprobate, the Prophet says that they had been planted by God, and for these reasons: because they flourished, because they produced leaves, and because they produced some fruit.

In short, as Scripture, for various reasons, compares men to trees, so it employs the word planting in a corresponding sense. The Prophet indeed says that the ungodly are supported by God, and this is certain; for if God were not to deal kindly with them for a time, they would certainly perish instantly.

Hence their prosperity is a proof of God’s indulgence. But the Prophet expresses his wonder at this, not so much through his own private feeling, as for the purpose of showing to the Jews that it was a strange thing that they were tolerated so long by God, since they had a hundred times deserved to be wholly destroyed.

Yea, he says, they have taken root. By this metaphor he means their continued happiness. He also says that they had advanced aloft; that is, were raised high and increased. He then adds that they had brought forth fruit. The fruit of which he speaks was nothing else than their offspring. It was as if he had said that the ungodly were not only prosperous to the end of life, but that they also had offspring, so that they had children surviving them, so that their families became celebrated. But the meaning of the whole is this: God not only tolerated the ungodly for a time, but extended his indulgence to many ages, so that their descendants continued in the same wealth, dignity, and power that their dead fathers had possessed.

He afterwards adds, Thou indeed art nigh in their mouth, but thou art far from their reins. Jeremiah no doubt intended to anticipate them, for he knew that the Jews would have objections in readiness: “Who are you, who summons us here before God’s tribunal, and who pleads with God that he should not bear with us so patiently? Are we not his servants? Do we not daily offer sacrifices in the Temple? Are we not circumcised? Do we not bear in our bodies the sign of our adoption? Do we not possess a kingdom and a priesthood? Now, these are pledges of God’s paternal love towards us. But you would have yourself be more just than God himself! Can God deny himself? He has bound his faithfulness to us by the sign of circumcision, by the Temple, by the kingdom, by the priesthood, and by the sacrifices; and when we do anything wrong, then our sins are expiated by sacrifices and washings, and other rites.”

Since the Prophet knew that the Jews were typically thus loquaciously and perversely defending their own cause, he says, “Oh, I see what they will say to me, even that which they typically say; for their common refrain is that they are the children of Abraham, that they sacrifice and have other ways of pacifying God, and then that they possess a priesthood and a kingdom. These things,” he says, “are well known to me.

But, O Lord, you know that they are mere words. You know that they act fallaciously and that they do nothing but declare what is false when they pretend these vain shifts and evasions. For you know the heart (καρδιογνώστης); you therefore understand that there is nothing right or sincere in their mouth, for their reins are far from you, and you also are far from their reins.”

From this we also perceive with more certainty the truth of what I have stated: that the Prophet here pleads with God, so that the Jews might know that they could in no way be absolved when they came before God’s tribunal.