John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 17:27

"But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." — Jeremiah 17:27 (ASV)

Now, on the other hand, the Prophet terrifies them if they did not heed the promises of God. God first kindly allures us; but when He sees us to be stubborn, He deals with us according to the hardness of our hearts. He therefore now adds threats to promises. He had said that the Jews would be happy if they worshipped and served God faithfully, for their priesthood and their kingdom would be continued to them.

But he now adds, If you will not obey, so as to sanctify the sabbath-day, and not to carry a burden on it, and not to enter through the gates of Jerusalem, that is, for the purpose of doing business (for it was lawful for them, as is well known, to go out of the city, but by "entering" he means the transaction of business) — If then you will not listen to me in this respect, then, he says, I will kindle a fire in the gates of this city. We see the Prophet's design — that he would have the Jews have a sure hope of their safety, provided they repented and the pure and uncorrupted worship of God prevailed among them; but that, on the other hand, he wished to fill them with terror if they continued in their obstinacy.

No doubt this threat greatly offended them, for we know how self-confident they were and how foolishly they boasted that the city in which God had His habitation could not be demolished. And yet the Prophet declares here that the destruction of the holy city was near at hand if they violated the sabbath-day as they had been accustomed to do.

But so that this punishment might not seem too severe, he shows that the people were inexcusable if they rejected these plain warnings. He says, If you will not listen to me; for otherwise, they might have objected, saying that they had been deceived, as they did not think that violating the Sabbath was so great a sin.

Jeremiah now excludes all such evasions, for he says in effect, “Behold, I am present with you by God’s authority; if you will violate the Sabbath as you have done until now, what excuse can you make? Have you not been proved guilty of open impiety? For God has spoken; and how is it that you reject His teaching?” We thus see that the words, If you will not listen to me so as to sanctify the Sabbath, were said to anticipate an objection.

He then adds, Devour shall the fire the gates of the city, and shall not be extinguished; that is, it shall not be extinguished until it consumes the whole city and its gates. We indeed know that assemblies were then held at the gates, and that they were therefore places of great importance.

As to the fire, it is to be taken metaphorically for destruction; and yet we know that actual fire was kindled by the Chaldeans, for they deemed it not enough to demolish the city but proceeded even further: thus the Temple was burned, and the houses were consumed by fire. We ought, however, to explain the Prophet's word as meaning simply this — that God’s vengeance would be like fire, destroying and consuming all things, so that not even the gates would remain. Something usually remains when cities are demolished to the foundations, but God threatens the Jews with something more grievous — that the city would not be destroyed in an ordinary way, but be so wholly consumed that nothing would remain. We will proceed tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You do not now prescribe to us one day on which we are to testify that we are sanctified by You, but command us to observe a sacred rest throughout our whole life, renouncing ourselves and the world — O grant, that we may truly contemplate this rest, and so crucify the old man, that being effectively united to Your only-begotten Son, we may also become partakers of that resurrection in which He has led the way, and be gathered into that celestial kingdom which He has procured for us by His death and resurrection; after having so fought in this world under Your banner that You may ever reign in us, and rule and govern us by Your Spirit, so that nothing throughout life may be our own doing, but that we allow ourselves to be governed by You, until You at length become to us all in all. Amen.