John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 17:5-6

"Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited." — Jeremiah 17:5-6 (ASV)

The Prophet, I have no doubt, prefixed this sentence to many of his discourses, for it was necessary to repeat it often, as the Jews were so refractory in their minds. We have already seen how sharply he inveighed against their false confidence, but it was necessary to lay down this truth. He then wrote once for all what he had often said.

This point deserves special observation. We will not sufficiently understand how necessary this truth was unless we consider the circumstances. The Prophet had often found that the promises as well as the threatenings of God were disregarded, that His doctrine was despised, and that He had to deal with a proud people. These people, relying on their own defenses, not only esteemed as nothing what was brought before them under the authority of God, but also, as it were, avowedly rejected it. This, then, was the reason why the Prophet, not only once but often, exhorted the people to repent by setting before them this truth: that accursed are they who trust in men.

Flesh here is to be understood as man, as we can easily gather from the context. It was a common practice for the Hebrews to state the same thing twice: in the first clause, man is mentioned, and in the second, flesh. "Arm" means power or help. The meaning is that all are accursed who trust in man. But the word flesh is undoubtedly added in the second line by way of contempt, according to what is done in Isaiah 31:3, where the Prophet says, The Egyptian is man and not God, flesh and not spirit.

He calls the Egyptians "flesh" by way of contempt, as if he had said that there was nothing strong or firm in them, and that the aid the Jews expected from them would be fleeting. So it is in this passage. Although the Prophet, according to common usage, repeats in the second clause what he had said in the first, he yet expresses something more: that men are extremely foolish when they place their salvation in something worthless. For, as we have said, there is nothing solid or enduring in flesh. Since men, therefore, quickly vanish, what could be more foolish than to seek safety from them?

But it must be observed that the Prophet had spoken this way because the Jews, in looking now to the Assyrians and then to the Egyptians, thought to gain sufficient defense against God Himself, though they might not have expressly or avowedly despised God. However, we will see later that God is inevitably treated as of no account when safety is sought from mortal man. Since, then, this false confidence was a hindrance to the Jews, preventing them from relying on God's favor and leading them to repentance, the Prophet said, Accursed is the man who trusts in man.

This sentence seems to be introduced abruptly. But, as we have observed, the Prophet's doctrine could not have been confirmed if he had not first shaken off from his people the presumption that blinded them, for they thought the Egyptians would be like a thousand gods to them.

We will thus understand the Prophet's design if we keep in mind the condition of the Jews and the difficulties the Prophet had to contend with, while he was daily threatening them and laboring to restore them to God. But no progress was made. And why?

It was because all God’s promises were coldly received, for they thought themselves always safe and secure while the Egyptians were kind to them and promised them help. His threatenings also were coldly received because they did not hesitate to set up as their shield, and as the strongest fortress, the aid they expected from the Egyptians. Hence, the Prophet was compelled to cry out, not only once, or ten times, but a hundred times: Accursed is he who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm.

This is, however, a general truth. We also, today, advance general truths which we apply to individual cases. The Spirit then declares here generally that all are accursed who trust in men. We indeed know that men are deceived in various ways while they trust in men: they begin with themselves and seek a ground of security in this or that thing, for everyone is inflated with vain and false confidence, either in his own prudence, dexterity, or power.

So there is no one who does not trust in himself before he trusts in others; I speak even of the most wretched. It is indeed something men should be ashamed of, but there is no one so contemptible that he does not swell with some secret pride, so that he esteems something in himself and even ascribes some high dignity to himself.

Then those who seem prudent in their own eyes gather aid for themselves from every quarter, and in these they acquiesce. But when men look all around, they gather help for themselves from all parts of the world. However, their efforts are useless, and not only so, but they lead to their own destruction, for God not only derides in this passage the folly of those who trust in flesh, but declares that they are accursed. This curse of God should strike us with terror, for we learn from this that God is highly displeased with all those who seek their own salvation in the world and in creatures.

It is added, And from Jehovah his heart turns away. Hypocrites use this to their own advantage, for everyone will object and say that he does not trust in man in such a way as to take away or diminish anything from the glory of God. If all were asked, from the least to the greatest, everyone would boldly say that he leaves God’s honor intact and never wishes to take anything from it; this would be the common response.

And yet, when confidence is placed in the flesh, God is deprived of His own honor. These two things are as contrary to each other as light is to darkness. Hence, the Prophet intended here to show that these two things cannot be connected: to put confidence in the flesh and in God at the same time. When water is blended with fire, both perish. So, when one seeks partly to trust in God and partly to trust in men, it is as if he wished to mix heaven and earth together and to throw all things into confusion. It is, then, to confound the order of nature when men imagine that they have two objects of trust, and ascribe half of their salvation to God and the other half to themselves or to other men. This is the Prophet's meaning.

Let us then know that all those who place the least portion of their hope in men partly depart from God and therefore turn away from Him. In short, the Holy Spirit declares—briefly, indeed, but very solemnly—that all are apostates and deserters from God who turn to men and fix their hope in them.

But if this declaration is true regarding the present life, then when we speak of eternal life, it is undoubtedly a twofold madness if we ascribe it, even in the slightest degree, either to our own righteousness or to any other virtues. He who looks for aid from men is pronounced accursed by God, even when he expects from them what belongs to this frail life, which soon vanishes. But when we hope for eternal life and the inheritance of heaven from ourselves or from other creatures, how much more detestable is it? Let us then draw this conclusion, so that the truth taught here by the Prophet may keep us dependent on God alone.

But here a question may be raised: Are we not to hope for help from those men whom God may employ to assist us, and who are not only the instruments of His favor and aid, but who are also, as it were, His hands? For whenever men assist us, it is as if God stretched out His hands from heaven.

Why, then, should we not look for aid from men whom God has appointed as ministers of His favor to us? But there is great emphasis on the word trust. For it is indeed lawful to look to men for what is given to them, but we should trust in God alone and hope for all things from Him, as well as pray for them; this will appear more clearly later. We must now only briefly observe that when we seek from men what God has given them, we take nothing from His power, as He chooses His ministers as He pleases.

But this is a rare occurrence. For when anything is done for us by men, we often forget God, and our thoughts are drawn downwards to men, so that God loses a part of His honor. And when anything, even the least, is taken away from Him, He condemns us, as we deserve. We should especially observe what He declares here: that the heart of man is turned away from Him whenever he places his hope in the flesh.

He adds a comparison to confirm his doctrine: He shall be like a tamarisk, or a juniper, as some render it. The word ערער (oror) means a copse. But the Jews themselves do not agree; some think it to be the juniper, and others the tamarisk. However, we can be certain that it was a useless, non-fruit-bearing shrub. For those Jews are mistaken, in my judgment, who consider it to be the juniper, as some fruit grows on its branches. It was a shrub or a tree, I think, unknown to us now.

Then he says that they were like shrubs which grow in the desert, which see not fruitfulness, but dwell in droughts, in a land of brine. The Hebrews call barren land "the land of brine" or "of salt." He enlarges on the subject by saying, Which is not inhabited. For where nothing grows, there are no inhabitants. The Prophet's object, then, was merely to show that the hopes of those who look to men would be vain, for God would frustrate them so that they could never succeed.

But we must also notice the other part of the comparison. For the Prophet does not compare unbelievers to dry branches, but to shrubs, which have roots and appear to have some life. Such are unbelievers while success, as they say, smiles on them. They think themselves happy, and so they become hardened in their own false counsels, reject every instruction, and, as if they were freed from the authority of God, they reject all His prophets.

Hence the Prophet, conceding something to them, says that they were like shrubs, which indeed have roots and leaves, but no fruit, and which also dry up when heat comes. As, then, the heat of the sun consumes whatever moisture, beauty, and life may appear in shrubs, so also God would scorch and dry up the hopes of unbelievers, even if they think they have roots to preserve themselves and their life.

A similar declaration is found in Psalm 129:6, where it is said that unbelievers are like the grass that grows on the housetops. For such grass appears conspicuous in a high place, while the wheat grows in the low fields and is even trodden underfoot. But that grass, the more elevated it is, the sooner it dries up and perishes without bringing forth any fruit. So also are unbelievers, who for a time glory and exult over God’s children and look down on them from their high place because His children are simple and lowly.

But just as food comes to us from the grain, and that very grain is blessed, so also the elect bring forth fruit in their low and despised condition, while the unfaithful, who occupy elevated stations, vanish away without producing any fruit. This is the same thing the Prophet means here. These two parts of the comparison should therefore be particularly noticed.