John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 12:7

"I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies." — Jeremiah 12:7 (ASV)

He confirms what I have already stated; he testifies that the people were either openly furious or acting treacherously and deceitfully. And the objective until now has not merely been to say that wrong had been done to the Prophet, but attention has also been given to what he taught.

He now adds, Forsaken have I my house and left my heritage. God here declares that it was all over with the people. They were intoxicated with false confidence, relying on the covenant which God had made with their fathers, and thought that God was bound to them. Thus they wished to treat God with contempt according to their own whim, and at the same time to allow themselves every kind of licentiousness.

The Prophet here makes many concessions, as though he had said, “You are the house of God; you are his heritage, you are his beloved, you are his portion and his richest portion; but all this will not prevent him from becoming your Judge, and eventually treating you with rigorous justice, and vindicating himself.” We now understand the Prophet's meaning.

But as I have said before, the words have more weight having been spoken by God than if Jeremiah himself had said them. God then, as though sitting for judgment, declares thus to the Jews, Forsaken have I my house. The Temple was indeed commended in high terms; but the whole country also was, on account of the Temple, regarded as the dwelling place of God, for Judah was overshadowed by the Temple and was secure and safe under its shadow.

This phrase then is to be extended to the whole land and people, when God says, Forsaken have I my house; that is, “Though I have until now chosen for myself a dwelling place among the Jews, yet I now leave them.” He then adds, Left have I my heritage. (The verbs עזב oseb, and נטש nuthesh, have nearly the same meaning; the one is to forsake, and the other is to leave.)

This distinction was a great honor to the Jews. And hence, however much they kindled God’s wrath against themselves, they still thought that they were safe, as it were by privilege, since they were the heritage of God. The Prophet concedes this distinction to them but shows how vain it was, for God had departed from them.

He then says, Given have I the desire or the love of my soul, etc. The word ידידות, ididut, may be rendered love; but in Latin we may render it darling, (delitias:) the darling then of my soul have I put in the land of her enemies; for the pronoun is in the feminine gender.

We therefore see what the subject is here; for God intended to deprive the Jews of their false confidence, and thus to humble and subdue them, so that they might know that no empty and vain titles would be of any avail to them. These titles or distinctions he indeed concedes to them, but not without some degree of irony; for he at the same time shows that all this in which they gloried would be of no avail to them when God executed on them his vengeance.

But further, this passage contains an implied reproof to the Jews for their ingratitude, since they were not retained in their obedience to God by such remarkable benefits. For how great was the honor of being called the heritage and the house of God, and even the beloved of his soul? They had deserved no such honor. Since God then had manifested towards them such incomparable love, as he had rendered himself more than a father to them, was it not a wickedness in every way inexcusable not to respond to so great and freely given a love, and also to so great a generosity? For what more could God have done than to call them the darling of his soul?

We therefore see that the sin of the people is greatly amplified by these distinctions, because of which they still fostered their pride; as though he had said, “These words indeed are ready on your tongues—that you are God’s heritage, and sanctuary, and his love; but you are for this very reason the more abominable, because you do not respond to God’s love and bountiful dealings. He has favored you with incredible love, he has raised you to very great honor, and yet you despise him and perversely resist his teaching, nor can you bear him to govern you.” So we now see what instruction can be gathered from these words.