John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 13

I have said that there is here a new prophecy, for the Prophet is said to buy for himself a girdle or a belt, or, according to some, a truss or breeches. Since linen is mentioned, this opinion may be probable.

But אזור, asur, means not only the breeches they then wore but also a girdle or belt, according to what Isaiah says when, speaking figuratively of Christ’s kingdom, faithfulness would be the girdle of his loins (Isaiah 11:5). It may, however, be taken here for breeches as well as for a girdle.

As to the matter in hand, it makes no great difference. The Prophet then is commanded to buy for himself a linen girdle or linen breeches, and he is also commanded to go to the Euphrates and to hide the girdle in a hole. He is again commanded to go a second time to the Euphrates and to draw the girdle from the hole, and he found it marred.

The application follows, for God declares that he would thus deal with the Jews; though he had had them as a belt, he would yet cast them away. As he had adorned them, so he designed them to be an ornament to him, for the glory of God shines forth in his Church. The Jews then, as Isaiah says, were a crown of glory and a royal diadem in God’s hand (Isaiah 62:3). Hence he compares them here most fittingly to a belt or a girdle. Though then their condition was honorable, yet God threatens that he would cast them away, so that, being hidden, they might contract rottenness in a cavern of the Euphrates, that is, in Assyria and Chaldea. This is the meaning of the prophecy.

But no doubt a vision is narrated here, and not a real transaction, as some think, who regard Jeremiah as having gone there; but what can be imagined more absurd? We know he was continually engaged in his office as a teacher among his own people. Had he undertaken so long a journey, and that twice, it would have taken him some months. Hence, contentious must be the one who urges the Prophet’s words and holds that he must have gone to the Euphrates and hidden his girdle there. We know that this form of speaking is common and often used by the prophets: they narrate visions as facts.

We must also observe that God might have spoken plainly and without any likeness; but as they were not only ignorant but also stupid, it was found necessary to reprove their dullness by an external symbol. This was the reason why God confirmed the doctrine of his Prophet by an external representation.

If God had said, “You have been to me until now as a belt; you were my ornament and my glory, not indeed through your merit or worthiness, but because I have united you to myself, that you might be a holy people and a priestly kingdom. But now I am constrained to cast you away. And as a person throws from him and casts a girdle into some hole, so that after a long time he finds it rotten, so it will be with you. After being hidden a long time beyond the Euphrates, you shall contract rottenness there, which will mar you altogether, so that your appearance will be very different when a remnant of you shall come from there.”

This indeed might have been sufficient. But in that state of security and dullness in which we know the Jews were, such a simple statement would not have so effectually penetrated their hearts as when this symbol was presented to them.

The Prophet, therefore, says that he was girded with a belt, that the belt was hidden in a hole near the Euphrates, and that there it became marred; and then he adds, so shall it be done to you. This statement, as I have said, more sharply touched the Jews, so that they saw that the judgment of God was at hand.

With regard to the likeness of a girdle or breeches, we know how proudly the Jews gloried in the thought that God was bound to them; and he would have really been so, had they in return been faithful to him. But as they had become so disobedient and ungrateful, how could God be bound to them? He had indeed chosen them to be a people to himself, but this condition was added: that they were to be as a chaste wife, as he had become, according to what we have seen, a husband to them. But they had prostituted themselves and had become shamefully polluted with idols. Since then they had treacherously departed from their marriage engagement, was not God freed from his obligations? According to what is said by Isaiah, “There is no need to give you a bill of divorcement, for your mother is an adulteress” (Isaiah 1:1).

The Prophet then, in this place, meant in a few words to shake off from the Jews those vain boastings in which they indulged, when they said that they were God’s people and the holy seed of Abraham. “True,” he says, “and I will concede more to you, that you were to God even as a belt, by which men usually adorn themselves. But God adopted you, that you might serve him chastely and faithfully. But now, as you have made void his covenant, he will cast away this belt, which is a disgrace to him and not an ornament, and will throw it into a cavern where it will rot.” Such is the view we are to take of this belt, as we shall see more clearly later.

The Prophet, by saying that he went to the Euphrates, confirms what he had narrated. He did not indeed mean that he actually went there, but his object was to give the Jews a vivid representation. It is then what Rhetoricians call a scene presented to the view; though the place is not changed, yet the thing is set before the eyes by a lively description.

Thus the Prophet, as the Jews were deaf, exhibited to their view what they would not hear. This is the reason why he says that he went. For the same purpose is what follows, that at the end of many days God had commanded him to take out the girdle. Here also is signified the length of the exile.

As to the hole in a rock, what is meant is disgrace; for without honor and esteem the Jews lived in banishment, in the same manner as though they were cast into a cavern. Hence by the hole is signified their dishonorable and base condition, that they were like persons removed from the sight of all men and from the common light of day. By the end of many days, is meant, as I have said, the length of their exile; for in a short time they would not have become rotted, and unless indeed this had been distinctly expressed, they would have never been convinced of the grievousness of the calamity which was near them. Hence he says that the days would be many, so that they might contract rottenness while hidden in the hole.

As to the application of the Prophecy, the Prophet then distinctly describes it; but he sets forth with sufficient clearness the main point, when he says, Thus will I mar the stateliness (altitudinem, the altitude or height) of Judah and the great stateliness of Jerusalem. Other interpreters unanimously render the word “pride”; but as גאון, gaun, may be taken in two senses, it means here, I have no doubt, excellency, and this will appear more fully from what follows. The word then signifies here that dignity with which God had favored the seed of Abraham, when he intended them to be an ornament to himself. So it is said in Exodus 15:7, “In your greatness you will destroy the nations.”

And in Isaiah he says, “I will make you the excellency of ages” (Isaiah 60:15).

There, no doubt, it is to be taken in a good sense. And these things harmonize together—that God had prepared the Jews for himself as a belt, and then that he cast them from him into a cavern, where they would be for a time without any light and without any glory.

The import of this clause then is, “Though the dignity of Judah and Jerusalem has been great (for the people whom God had adopted were renowned according to what is said in Deuteronomy 4), though then the stateliness of Judah and Jerusalem has been great, yet I will mar it.” We see how the Prophet takes from the Jews that false confidence by which they deceived themselves.

They might indeed have gloried in God, had they acted truly and from the heart; but when they arrogated all things to themselves and deprived God of his authority, whose subjects they were, how great was their vanity and folly, and how ridiculous always to profess his sacred name, and to say, “We are God’s people”? For he was no God to them, as they esteemed him as nothing; indeed, they disdainfully and reproachfully rejected his yoke. Therefore, we see that the word גאון, gaun, is to be taken here in a good sense. The Prophet at the same time reproachfully taunts them, that they abused the name of God and falsely pretended to be his people and heritage. The rest we cannot finish; we shall go on with the subject tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as so many of the people who have been gathered by you, that they might be the body of your only-begotten Son, have fallen away, and have by their ingratitude alienated themselves from the hope of eternal salvation—O grant, that they may again at this day be united together, and hold with us the true unity of faith, so that with one heart and one mouth we may profess you as our God and Father, and so learn to swear by your name, that we may acknowledge you as our Judge, and ascribe to you all power over us, until we shall at length enjoy that eternal inheritance, into the hope of which you have called us and daily invite us, through Christ Jesus our Lord.—Amen.

The Prophet said, according to what we observed yesterday, that the people would be like the belt which he had hidden in a hole and found putrefied. But now the cause is expressed why God had resolved to treat them with so much severity. He then says that He would be an avenger, because the Jews had refused to obey His voice and preferred their own inventions in walking after the hardness, or the wickedness of their own heart.

Therefore, we see that the cause of this calamity was that the people had rejected the teaching of the prophets. This indeed was far more grievous than if they had fallen away through mistake or ignorance, as we often see that people go miserably astray when the teaching of the truth is taken away.

But when God shows the way, prescribes what is right, and by His servants exhorts His people, it is an inexcusable hardness if they repudiate such kindness. However, as this subject has been extensively treated elsewhere, I will only touch on it briefly now.

We see, then, that God threatens His people with extreme calamity because they would not bear to be taught by His prophets. Then He adds that they had walked after the wickedness of their own heart, and had walked after foreign gods. First, He complains that they had been so refractory as to prefer to obey their own impious inclinations rather than to be ruled by good and salutary counsels.

But it was necessary to specify their crime, for if the Prophet had only spoken of their hardness, they might have had their objections ready. However, when he said that they had walked after foreign gods, there was no longer any room for evasion.

The word 'to walk' refers to a way. This metaphor indeed relates to something else, for people do not usually take a course without going somewhere; we must, therefore, have some destination in view when we walk along any path.

Now, a contrast is to be understood here: the people despised the way God pointed out to them and preferred to follow their own errors. God was ready to guide the Jews by His own law; but they chose rather, as I have said, to abandon themselves to their own errors, as if intentionally.

He says that they had walked after alien gods, that they might serve them, and prostrate themselves before them;—for such is the meaning of the last verb. The Prophet, no doubt, repeats the same thing, for 'to serve' is not only to obey but also to worship.

And thus is refuted that folly of the Papists, who imagine that worship (duliam) is not inconsistent with true religion. For they say that service (latriam) is due only to God, but that worship may be given to angels, to statues, or to dead men, as though God, indeed, in condemning superstitions, did not use the word עבד obed, to serve.

It therefore follows that it is extremely ridiculous to devise two sorts of worship: one peculiar to God, and another common to angels as well as to humans and dead idols. We now understand the meaning of this verse: the Prophet draws this conclusion, that the Jews would become like a useless or a putrefied belt.

He confirms what we noticed yesterday—that the Jews entertained a foolish confidence and promised themselves perpetual happiness because God had chosen them as his people. This indeed would have been a perpetual glory to them, had they not violated their pledged faith; but their defection rendered God’s covenant void as far as they were concerned. For though God never allowed his faithfulness to fail, however false and perfidious they were, yet the adoption from which they had departed was of no use to them. But as they thought it an inalienable defense, the Prophet again repeats that they had indeed been adorned with exceptional gifts, but that, as they had not remained faithful, they would be deprived of them.

He indeed says, by way of concession, As a belt cleaves to the loins of man, so also have I joined to myself the house of Israel; for what they claimed is conceded to them. But at the same time, he reminds them that they only swelled with wind, for their impiety was all the more intolerable because they were so ungrateful to God. Indeed, what could have been more base or less excusable than for those whom God had favored with so much honor to reject his bounty? Jeremiah then concedes to them what they proudly boasted of, but he turns it back against them and shows how they deserved a heavier judgment, as they had despised so many of God’s blessings.

We said yesterday that the people are elsewhere compared to a crown and a diadem, as if God had declared that nothing was more precious to him than the children of Abraham. But the same thing is now expressed in other words—that he had prepared them for himself as a girdle, that they might be his people. This was indeed a great dignity; but what follows exceeds it—that they might be to me a name, that is, that I might be celebrated by them; for it was his will to be called the God of Israel.

What likeness there is between God and men! And yet, as if descending from his celestial glory, he united to himself the seed of Abraham, that he might also bind them to himself. The election of God was therefore like a bond of mutual union, so that he might not be separated from his people.

Hence he says that they had been thus joined to him, that they might be for a name, and also for a praise and glory. Although these words have nearly the same meaning, yet they are undoubtedly put together for the sake of amplification. God, therefore, intended to magnify more fully the sin of the people, by saying that he had done so much for them, in order that he might be celebrated by them, and that his praise and his glory might dwell among them.

He at last adds, They have not heard. Had God only commanded what he might have justly required, not to obey his authority would have been an inexcusable wickedness in the people; but as he had so freely offered himself and all other things to them, what base and detestable ingratitude it was in them to reject so many and such valuable blessings? Thus we see that the mouths of the Jews are here completely closed, so that they could not expostulate with God and complain that he was too rigid, for they had provoked his wrath to an extreme degree, having not only rejected his yoke but also refused his offered favors.

The Prophet denounces here by another analogy the vengeance of God, for he says that all would be filled with drunkenness: but he is commanded at first simply to set before them the metaphor, Every bottle, or flagon, he says, shall be filled with wine. The word רבל, ubel, means a bladder; but the word bottle is more suitable here. Bladders were accustomed in those countries to be filled with water and with wine, as the custom is still in the East; as we see today that oil is put in bladders and thus carried, so bladders are commonly used there to carry water and wine. But as it is added, I will dash them against one another, it is better to use the word bottles, or flagons.

This general statement might have appeared to be of no weight; for what instruction does this contain, “Every bottle shall be filled with wine?” It is like what one might say—that a tankard is made to carry wine, and that bowls are made for drinking: this is well known, even to children.

And then it might have been said that this was unworthy of a prophet. “Eh! What do you say? You say that bottles are the receptacles of wine, even as a hat is made to cover the head, or clothes to keep off the cold; but you seem to mock us with childish trifles.” We also find that the Prophet’s address was thus objected to, for they contemptuously and proudly answered, “What! Do we not know that bottles are prepared for the purpose of preserving wine? But what do you mean? You boast of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: how strange is this? You are like an angel come down from heaven; you claim the name of God, and profess to have the authority of a prophet; now, what does this mean, that bottles are filled with wine?”

But it was God’s particular purpose in this way to rouse the people, who were asleep in their delusions, and who were also by no means attentive to spiritual instruction.

It was then His purpose to show, by the most trifling, and as it were by frivolous things, that they did not possess such clear-sightedness as to perceive even that which was most evident. They indeed all knew that bottles were made for wine; but they did not understand that they were the bottles, or were like bottles.

We have indeed said that they were inflated with so much arrogance that they seemed like hard rocks; and from this came their contempt for all threats, because they did not consider what they were. The Prophet then says that they were like bottles; though God had indeed chosen them for an excellent use, yet, forgetful of their frailty, they had marred their own excellency, so that they were no longer of any use, except that God would inebriate them with giddiness and also with calamities.

We therefore see why God had commanded a general truth to be announced here, which was received with indifference and contempt: it was so that an opportunity might be given to the Prophet to touch to the quick those stupid men to whom their own state was wholly unknown.

It had been said that they were like mountains because their foundation was the free election of God. But since they had no firmness and no constancy of faith in them, but had decayed, their glory had, as it were, melted away.

And though they still retained an outward appearance, they were like brittle vessels. So their fragility is better expressed here by the Prophet than if he had said in a plain sentence, “As a bottle is filled with wine, so will the Lord fill you with drunkenness.”

Had he spoken in this way, the prediction would not have had as much force. But when they answered with disdain, “This is known even to children,” they were then told what touched them more deeply—that they were like bottles.

It may now be asked, what was this drunkenness which the Prophet announces? It may be understood in two ways—either that God would give them up to a reprobate mind, or that He would make them drunk with evils and calamities; for when God deprives men of a right mind, it is to prepare them for extreme vengeance.

But the Prophet seems to have something further in view—that this people would be given up to the most grievous evils, which would wholly fill them with amazement. Yet it appears from the context that the former evil is intended here; for he says, I will dash them one against another, every one against his brother, even the fathers and sons together; and thus they were all to be broken, as it were, in pieces.

God then not only points out the calamity which was near the Jews, but also the manner of it; that is, that everyone would draw his own brethren to ruin, as though they inflicted wounds on one another. But God says first generally, I will fill all the inhabitants of the land with drunkenness, and then He explains the effect, such as I have stated.

But he afterwards speaks of the whole people, including the kings, priests, and prophets, so that he excepts no order of men, however honorable. And this express mention of different orders was altogether necessary, for kings thought that they ought not to have been blended with the common people. The priests also regarded themselves as sacred, and a similar pride possessed the false prophets.

But Jeremiah includes them all, without exception, in the same bundle, as though he had said, “The majesty of kings shall not deliver them from God’s judgment, nor shall the priests be safe on account of their dignity, nor shall it avail the false prophets to boast of that noble and illustrious office which they discharge.” This prediction was no doubt regarded as very unjust; for we know with what high commendations God had spoken of the kingdom of David.

As to the priesthood, we also know that it was a type of the priesthood of Christ, and also that the whole tribe of Levi was counted sacred to God. Therefore, Jeremiah must have greatly exasperated the minds of all by thus threatening kings as well as priests.

But from this we gather that there is nothing so high and so illustrious on earth which ought not to be made to submit when the power and glory of God, and the authority of celestial truth, are to be vindicated. Whatever then is precious and excellent in the world must come to nothing if it detracts even in the least degree from the glory of God or from the authority of His truth: and yet kings and priests dared to oppose the word of God.

No wonder then, that the Prophet should thrust them down from their elevations and compare them to bottles: he thus treads underfoot that frail glory by which they sought to obscure God Himself. And as the name of David was, as it were, sacred among that people, the Prophet says—in order to shake off this vain confidence—“Though kings sit on the throne of David and are his successors and posterity, yet God will not spare them.”

From this, it also appears how foolishly the Papal clergy today bring forward against us their privileges and their dignity. Doubtless, whatever these unprincipled men may claim for themselves, they cannot yet make themselves equal to the Levitical priests. And yet we see that it availed the Levitical priests nothing that God had set them apart for Himself, because they had abused their power.

There is, therefore, no reason for the Pope and his clergy—the very filth of the world—to be so proud today. We now perceive the design of the words when mention is made of kings, priests, and prophets.

It must, however, be observed that he does not speak here of faithful prophets, but of those who wore the mask, while yet they brought nothing but chaff instead of wheat, as we will see later. He then uses the word prophets in an improper sense, for he applies it to false teachers, as we do today when we speak of those savages who boast that they are bishops and prelates and governors: we indeed grant them these titles, but it does not follow that they justly deserve to be counted bishops, though they are so called. In the same way then does Jeremiah speak here of those who were called prophets, who yet were wholly unworthy of the office.

He then speaks of the collision to which we have referred—I will cause them to tear or break one another in pieces. Some render the word “scatter;” but scattering does by no means fit with the words, every one, against his brother, etc. We therefore see that the meaning is much more suitable when we render the words, I will dash them, every one against his brother, and then, even the fathers and the sons together; so that they might tear one another by a mutual conflict.

And so, as I have said, Jeremiah not only foretells the destruction of the people, but also points out the manner of it; for they would become so void of common prudence that they would willfully destroy one another, as though they were given up to mutual slaughter. They gloried, we know, in their number, but the Prophet shows that this would be no protection to them, but, on the contrary, the cause of their ruin; for the Lord would so blind them that they would fight with one another, and thus perish without any foreign enemy.

He then adds, I will not spare, I will not spare, I will not have mercy. He repeats three times that He would not be favorable to them. It would have been sufficient to declare this once, if they had been so teachable and attentive as to really consider the threats announced to them.

But being as torpid as they were, it was necessary to repeat the same thing often—not as though there was anything ambiguous or obscure in the message itself, but because hardly any vehemence was sufficient to rouse such obstinate hearts. We therefore see why the Prophet repeated the same thing so often.

He, however, does not employ words uselessly. Whenever God repeats the promises of His favor, He does not utter words heedlessly and without reason; but since He sees that there is so much dullness in us that one promise is not sufficient, He confirms it by repetitions. So also when He sees that men, owing to their stupidity, cannot be moved or terrified by His threats, He repeats them so that they may have more weight.

In short, he declares that it was all over for that people, so that he does not now call the wicked and the rebellious to repentance, but speaks to them as to men beyond remedy. This is the meaning.

And he adds, Until I shall consume them. This refers to the whole body of the people. God, in the meantime, still preserved, in a wonderful manner and by hidden means, a remnant, as has appeared elsewhere: but yet God took that vengeance, which is here announced against the people as a body; for it was, as it were, a general death, when they were all driven into exile and everywhere scattered.

Now as the Lord in so great a ruin never forgot His covenant, but some seed still remained safe and secure; so what is said here, I will not have mercy until I shall consume them, is not inconsistent with the promise of mercy elsewhere given, when He declares that he is long-suffering and plenteous in mercy (Numbers 14:18; Psalms 103:8). Though God then destroyed His people in so dreadful a manner, yet He did not divest Himself of His own nature, nor cast away His mercy; but He executed His judgments on the reprobate in a way so wonderful, that He yet lost nothing of His eternal mercy and remained still faithful as to His election.

The Prophet shows here more fully what we have stated—that the temperament of those with whom he had to deal was so refractory that it was necessary to use various means to subdue them. He did not add this exhortation, which shows indignation, in vain; nor did he require a hearing without displeasure: Hear, and give ear; do not be lifted up, for the Lord is he who speaks.

Therefore, we may gather from this either that Jeremiah was ridiculed, or that his words were disregarded by the Jews. This is intimated by the words, For Jehovah has spoken; for if they were persuaded that he announced what God had commanded him, these words would have been pointless. But we will see elsewhere that he was considered an impostor and was attacked with many rebukes and curses.

He therefore defends his calling here against their slanders and reproaches when he says that God had spoken. For by these words he affirms that he brought nothing of his own but spoke, as it were, from the mouth of God, or, what is the same thing, that he was the instrument of the Holy Spirit. He said this so that they might know that they contended with him in vain, since the contest was actually between them and God.

And for this reason he says, Hear, and give ear; for he saw that they were deaf and sluggish, and needed many stimulants. At the same time, he points out the cause and the source of evil by saying, Do not be lifted up. The cause then of their stubborn resistance was pride, for they dared to quarrel with God. So also, the main principle of obedience is humility—that is, when people acknowledge that they are nothing and ascribe to God what is due to him.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we are by nature frail vessels, and our frailty is such that by ourselves we melt away, and even when we become stronger, we cannot stand by our own power—O grant that, being supported by Your power, we may indeed rejoice in the perpetuity of our salvation, not relying on any earthly protection, but because You have been pleased to choose us as Your people; and may we at the same time so pursue the course of our life that we may not by our faithlessness exclude Your grace from us, but give place to You, so that we may be more and more enriched by those gifts which pertain to the hope of a future life, until at length we come to that full and perfect happiness in Your celestial kingdom, which is laid up for us by Christ our Lord. Amen.