John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 15:4

"And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem." — Jeremiah 15:4 (ASV)

Jeremiah speaks now of exile. He had until now spoken of the sword and famine, and also mentioned other punishments: that their carcasses would be dragged about by dogs and also devoured by wild beasts and ravenous birds. But he now refers to only one kind of punishment—that God would drive them into exile. And he seems to have taken these words from Moses, for so Moses speaks in Deuteronomy 28, except that ו (vau) is placed before ע (ain) in the word “commotion,” but such a change is common. In other respects, there is a perfect agreement.

I will set them, he says, for a commotion to all the kingdoms of the earth; that is, I will cause them to wander in constant fear and trembling. He amplifies the grievousness of exile by the circumstance that they would have no safe rest. Those who leave their country for exile at least find some corner where they can take breath; but God declares that the Jews would be everywhere unsettled and wanderers, so that no place would receive them. And thus God’s vengeance became more fully manifest, for these miserable men never found an asylum when scattered through various countries. Though they had habitations in those parts allotted to them by the king of Babylon, they were yet everywhere without any rest. Therefore, it was not in vain that Moses threatened them with such a punishment, nor was it to no purpose that Jeremiah repeated what had been said by Moses.

He adds the cause: On account of Manasseh. But Manasseh was now dead; why then did God transfer the vengeance which he merited to posterity? And this seems inconsistent with another passage found in Ezekiel.

The soul that sinneth it shall die (Ezekiel 18:8).

But doubtless God justly punished the wickedness of the people even after the death of that ungodly king, for they did not cease to accumulate evils on evils. However, since their impiety was especially apparent at that time, he particularly noted it, so that the Jews might understand that they had long been worthy of destruction, and that punishment was not delayed except through the great mercy of God, who had not immediately treated them as they deserved.

The Prophet therefore commends the long forbearance of God because their ruin was suspended until that time. On the other hand, he shows that however severely they were treated, they still deserved greater and more atrocious punishment, for such had been their obstinacy that they did all they could to draw upon themselves destruction many times.

But another question arises: Manasseh pretended repentance, and God seemed to have forgiven him and the whole people (2 Kings 21:2; 2 Chronicles 33:12). Why does God now declare that he would take vengeance on sins which had already been buried? But the answer is evident, for the Jews from that time had been in no way better. Since they had continued to pursue the same sinful courses as Manasseh, it was right that they should at length be rewarded as they deserved.

For, had they really become changed, there would have been a change in God’s dealings with them. But inasmuch as their impiety had ever remained the same, and as they gave themselves up to the same vices, a heavier judgment was near them, and justly so, because they had abused God’s forbearance, who had spared the king as well as themselves on the condition of receiving the pardon offered to them. But since they had hardened themselves, it was right to take such account of their ingratitude and perverseness as to treat them with greater severity.

Furthermore, Manasseh is called the son of Hezekiah, and that for the purpose of enhancing his crime. For as religion had been reformed in the time of Hezekiah, and as that pious king, with great labor and toil, exerted all his powers to restore the true worship of God, it was the duty of Manasseh to follow his example.

But he not only built altars to idols and polluted the whole land with superstitions, but also defiled the very Temple of God. It was thus a horrible and wholly diabolical madness in the son, when the right way of worshipping God had been delivered to him, to be of such a reprobate mind as immediately to overthrow what his father with great labor had so faithfully established.

This then was the reason why Jeremiah mentioned his father's name to Manasseh's dishonor. And from this we learn that they are worthy of a heavier punishment who have been religiously brought up from their childhood and later become degenerate; who, having had pious and godly parents, afterwards abandon themselves to every wickedness.

Thus a heavier judgment awaits those who depart from the examples of godly fathers. And this we gather from the very words of the Prophet, who here, by way of reproach, calls Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, which would have been to his honor had he been like his father and followed his piety.

And at the same time, there is no doubt that the Prophet indirectly condemns the whole people. For we know how great opposition pious Hezekiah met with, and how he contended for the faithful worship of God, as if he had been among the Assyrians or the Egyptians. But the perverseness of the people then appeared extreme when Hezekiah's kingdom was put in jeopardy because he endeavored to cleanse the land of Judah from its filth and pollutions; their impiety and ingratitude then showed, and openly revealed, themselves.

Afterwards, Manasseh overturned, as it were in an instant, the worship of God, and they all, with great exultation, immediately went after superstition. From this we see that the mouths of the Jews were thus closed, so that they could not object and say that they merely obeyed the command of their king, for they willingly followed wicked superstitions. They assented to the king of their own accord, while yet they were led with great difficulty and unwillingness to obey when God’s worship was restored in the time of Hezekiah.

But Manasseh added cruelties to superstitions, for we know that he not only covered the streets of the city with blood but also made it flow in streams, as sacred history relates. Since, then, the Prophets were so cruelly treated in the time of Manasseh, and since he was not the sole author of this barbarity—for the true servants of God were persecuted to death with the consent of the people—it was thus evident that it was the crime of the whole community.

And for this reason, he mentions Jerusalem, so that the Jews might know that the holy city, in which they gloried, had for a long time been a den of robbers, and that the Temple of God had been polluted by wicked superstitions, and even the whole city by unlawful and barbarous slaughters.