John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 14:19

"Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay!" — Jeremiah 14:19 (ASV)

The Prophet now turns to prayer and to complaints, so that by his example he might finally rouse the people to lamentation. His aim was that they might humbly implore God’s forgiveness, sincerely confess their sins, and be displeased with themselves.

At the same time, he indirectly reproves that hardness we have spoken of before. Since he achieved nothing by teaching, he changed his manner of speaking; leaving the people, he addressed God, as we have noted before.

He then asks, Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul abominated Sion? Jeremiah seems to reason here from what is inconsistent, as if he had said, “Is it possible that you have rejected the tribe of Judah and Mount Sion?” For God had promised that he would always have a lamp at Jerusalem.

The ten tribes had already been overthrown, and their kingdom had not only been distressed but wholly demolished. Still, a seed remained, because the tribe of Judah continued, which was, as it were, the flower of the whole people; and from him, the salvation of the world was to proceed.

Therefore, the Prophet here, as it were, expostulates with God, as if he had said, “You have chosen the tribe of Judah for this purpose, that it might be perpetually safe; you have also commanded the Temple to be built on Mount Sion for your name; you have said that it would be your rest forever. Have you then utterly rejected the tribe of Judah? Does your soul abominate Mount Sion?”

There seems, however, to be a kind of irony implied. For though Jeremiah prayed sincerely, he yet intended to remind the people how foolishly they promised themselves impunity for their sins, because God had his habitation in the Temple, and because Jerusalem was, as it were, his royal palace.

It is indeed evident that the Prophet recalled the promises of God; yet he wished briefly to show that even if God should apparently destroy the remnant and allow the Temple to be demolished, he would still be faithful to his promises. Therefore, in asking these questions, as if in astonishment, he partly had God in view and partly also reminded the people that though God delivered the people to destruction, he would nevertheless be faithful and constant in what he had promised.

He then says, Why have you struck us, and there is no healing? There is no doubt that the Prophet in this place also wished to turn God to mercy because he had promised to be merciful to the posterity of David, though sometimes he punished them for their sins; for there was this remarkable promise: “If his children shall offend and violate my covenant, I will smite them with a rod and chastise their iniquities; yet my mercy will I not take from them” (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalms 89:31–33).

And to the same purpose is what he said in Jeremiah 10:24: “Chastise me, O Lord, but in judgment,” that is, moderately, “lest you bring me to nothing.” There the Prophet, as we have said, reminded God of his covenant. He does the same here when asking, Why have you struck us, so that there is no healing?

For the punishment which God inflicts on his Church would be, as he declares, a kind of medicine. But when there is no hope of healing, God seems to nullify what he had promised. Therefore, Jeremiah continues drawing his argument from what is inconsistent, as if he had said that it was not possible that God would strike his people so severely as to allow no place for forgiveness, but that he would finally be entreated and heal the wound inflicted.

We have expected peace, and there is no good; and the time of healing, and behold trouble, or terror. This latter part of the verse confirms what I have just stated: that the Prophet partly referred to God in this mode of prayer, and partly reproved the Jews.

He reproved them because they thought, being deceived by false confidence, that they were beyond the reach of danger, since God had consecrated Jerusalem that his name might be invoked there, and that the Temple might be his perpetual habitation.

Since he saw that his nation was, as it were, intoxicated with this foolish notion, he intended briefly to show them that God would have an unknown way by which he would retain his faithfulness and yet punish the ungodly and the transgressors. For by saying, “We expected peace, and there is no good,” he certainly does not commend the faithfulness of the people; for, relying on God’s promises, they sought comfort in evils and hoped that God would finally be exorable and propitious.

The word “expecting” is not to be taken in a good sense; on the contrary, he reproves the Jews because they put too much faith in false prophets. Thus, we see that he condemns that false expectation by which they had been deceived.

Hence also we learn what has been stated before: that the Jews foolishly promised themselves impunity because God had chosen his habitation among them. For he shows that God had not threatened their ruin by his servants in vain. This then is also the meaning when he says, We expected the time of healing, and behold terror.