John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 19

We see that the Prophet was sent by God to show the people that there was no firmness in that state of which hypocrites boasted. For God, who had favored the people of Israel with singular benefits, retained them in His own possession no less than the potter does his clay.

The Prophet had previously shown the Jews that the potter formed his vessels as he pleased, and also, that when he had taken the clay and the vessel did not please him, he formed another. This prophecy has a similar meaning, yet it is different, as we will soon see.

The Prophet is here commanded to buy an earthen vessel from the potter and, at the gathering of the people, to break it. This was so that all might understand that they were like earthen vessels and, being thus warned of their fragility, they might no longer be proud, as if they possessed a firm and perpetual state of happiness.

The main object of the two visions is, however, the same: for the Jews thought that they were not subject to the common lot of humanity because they had been chosen as a special people. Nor would they have gloried in vain regarding that inestimable privilege, if there had been a mutual agreement between God and them.

But as they were covenant-breakers, their boasting was vain and foolish in thinking that God was bound to them. For what right did they have to claim this privilege? God indeed had adopted the whole race of Abraham, but there was a condition introduced,

Walk before me and be perfect (Genesis 17:2).

When they all had become apostates, the covenant, as far as they were concerned, was abolished. Then God could not have been called to account, as it were, as if He had violated His covenant with them, for He owed them nothing. They had become aliens, for through their wickedness and treachery they had departed from Him. God then designed to show how vain and how false their confidence was when they said, “We are a holy race, we are God’s heritage,” because they had completely departed from the covenant which God had made with their fathers.

But in the form adopted, as I have said, there is some difference. The Prophet had previously introduced the potter to show that God had no less power than a mortal man, because we are like clay before Him, so that He can form and destroy His vessels as He pleases. But here the Prophet shows that even though the Jews had been formed for a time, and formed in such a way as to be like an excellent and beautiful vessel, this was not a perpetual condition.

And it is probable that when they had heard that God could, like the potter, form and re-form them, they had devised an evasion, as people usually do who deal sophistically with God: “Oh, so be it, the potter can from the same clay form both a precious and a worthless vessel; but we are the precious vessel, and God has given us that form. For when He made a covenant with Abraham, He adorned him with this unique distinction. He afterwards brought our fathers out of Egypt, and then there was a better form added. And since He eventually raised a kingdom among us with this promise, that the throne of David would be perpetual, it cannot be otherwise than that we are to continue in our state.”

Therefore, the Prophet expresses here more than in the former prophecy: not only did God have the power of a potter in forming His vessels, but also that when the vessel is already formed and possesses great splendor, it can again be broken. He stated this so that the Jews would not object by saying that the state in which they were under David and his posterity would be perpetual.

He says, “This is of no account: for the earthen vessel, though splendid and elegant in its form, can yet be broken in the third or fourth year just as easily as at the time when it is formed, and can be broken forever,” according to what is afterwards implied by the analogy.

We will now proceed to the words: He says, Go and get for yourself an earthen vessel. The Rabbis think the name given to the vessel is onomatopoeic, as the grammarians say, that is, made from its sound. For it appears to have been a flagon or a bottle; and as the bottle has a narrow mouth, it makes this sound, bakbuk (בקבק), when we drink from it, and hence they think the name is derived.

There is, however, no ambiguity as to the thing itself: the word means a bottle, made not only of earth but also of glass or wood. By adding the word cheresh (חרש), he specifies the material, while bekbek (בקבק) is a general word. He then adds what is literally, From the elders, and interpreters think that the words “bring with you” are to be understood. As to the sense, I agree with them, for we will see later that he broke the vessel in the presence of those who went with him. It then follows that the elders spoken of here were taken by Jeremiah as his companions.

But as mem (מ) sometimes means “with,” as in the fifty-seventh chapter of Isaiah (Isaiah 57:8),

and made you a covenant with them, מהם,

I take it to have the same meaning here; and this is undoubtedly suitable, for he was to go with the elders of the people and with the elders of the priests.

And he adds, Enter into the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is at the entrance of the east gate, rendered by some as “the earthen gate,” for which I see no reason; but I leave this to be examined by those who are more skilled in the language.

It is indeed thought that shin (ש) is changed here into samech (ס); but if we take the word as it is, it means “solar,” for cheras (חרס), from which cherasit (חרסית) is derived, signifies the sun. It seems to have been called the solar gate as a mark of excellence, because it looked toward the rising sun. I do not yet oppose the idea of those who think that the Prophet alludes to cheresh (חרש), of which he had spoken, and that he calls it the east gate, though it was, as it were, an earthen gate; for the two letters shin (ש) and samech (ס), as is well known, are closely allied. Cry there, he says, the words which I shall speak to you.

I come now to the subject: God commands His Prophet to get an earthen vessel from the potter, and to do so in the presence of the elders. For it was necessary to have witnesses in such an important matter. And as the public safety of the people was concerned, it was God’s purpose, so that the prophecy would not be despised, that the most respected witnesses should be present—suitable and, as they say, authorized or approved.

He calls them the elders of the people and of the priests; and no doubt they were chosen from a great number, even from among the priests who were chief.

There were also Levites of the sons of Aaron; but there were then a large number of chief priests—though, as they say, it was a turbulent rabble. They were chosen from those first orders who ruled the Church, and Jeremiah calls them the elders of the priests. There were also others chosen from the people who presided over the Church.

And we know that there were two types of public officials, or, as they say, a twofold government: the priests were the rulers of the Church with regard to the law, so that their government was spiritual; there were also the elders of the people who managed civil affairs, but there were some things in which they ruled in common.

We now then see what the Prophet meant by saying that he was commanded to call witnesses to see what is stated later, and that they were taken partly from the priests and partly from the people.

He says: Enter into the valley of the son of Hinnom. This valley was in the suburbs and was called Tophet (תפת), as we will see later. It is thought that this name is derived from drums, because they beat drums when infants were killed, so that their cry would not excite any feeling of humanity.

But we will again say something about the etymology of this word. In this valley, they were accustomed to sacrifice and offer their children by casting them into the fire. Many, indeed, performed this in a different way, by purifying their children and carrying them around the fire, so that they felt only the flame and escaped unhurt.

But there were those who wished to show their zeal above others, whose ambition drove them further, and they killed their children and then burned them. But of this matter I have spoken elsewhere, and I will now only briefly notice it. This opinion is not what is commonly received; but it seems to me that it can be gathered from many parts of Scripture that many killed their children, and that some only purified them.

However this may have been, God justly abominated the sacrifice, for His will was that sacrifices should be offered only in one place. When anyone offered a calf or a lamb in any other place than at Jerusalem, it was a spurious sacrifice. The Jews should have followed what God had prescribed and not have done anything presumptuously, for obedience is always better than any sacrifices.

But here there was a double crime: they left the Temple and sought to impose on God sacrifices against His expressed will; and then there was another crime still more atrocious, for they devoted their children to Baalim or to Baal, and not to the only true God. (I pass by now their slaughter and burning.) This, then, was the reason why the Prophet was commanded to go to this place.

How detestable that service was to God is clear from this: that the prophets give the name of hell to the valley of Hinnom, gia-enom (גיא הנם). And we know that at the time of Christ it was the common name for hell; and whenever Christ speaks of Gehenna, He uses the word according to its common understanding at that time.

The word has indeed been corrupted by the Greeks, for it is properly gia-enom (גיא הנם). But what does the word mean in the gospel? Hell itself. And from where did its origin come? We indeed know how great and how incurable was the madness of those who abandoned themselves to their own superstitions; for though the prophets strongly condemned the place, yet the people proceeded in their usual idolatry. It was, therefore, necessary to give the place a disgraceful name in order to render it more abominable.

It is now added that the place was by the entrance of the east gate. As it was an especially celebrated gate, and as the sun, rising there, reminded them to behold the light which God had kindled for them in His law, it was a monstrous stupidity proudly to tread under foot, as it were, the law of God in so renowned a place, and to profane His worship, as if they openly wished to show that they considered as nothing what God had commanded. If any still think that there is an allusion to the word cheresh (חרש), previously used, I offer no opposition; that is, though this gate was indeed eastern, it was yet, as it were, an earthen gate.

He says, Cry there, or, proclaim with a clear voice, the words which I shall speak to you. The Prophet no doubt said this expressly in order to add more weight to his prophecy. He indeed did nothing but by God’s command; but as his authority was not acknowledged by the Jews, he here testifies for their sakes that he would say nothing but what God Himself would command.

This preface then confirmed the authority of his prophecy, so that the Jews might not reject what he might say, as if it came from Jeremiah himself.

But a general doctrine may be gathered from this: that ministers are to bring forward nothing but what they have learned from God Himself. For though Jeremiah was a great man and endowed with excellent gifts, yet he was not to bring one word or a syllable from himself. How great then must be the presumption of those who seek to be superior to him by bringing their own inventions, and at the same time demand to be considered oracles? This passage confirms the doctrine of Peter, who says,

He who speaks, let him speak the words of God.
(1 Peter 4:11)

He now adds, Hear you the word of Jehovah. This is a confirmation of the previous sentence. We therefore see why it was said, Cry (or, proclaim with a clear voice) what I shall say to you; it was so that they might know that he spoke not according to his own ideas as a man, but that he was a celestial herald to proclaim what God commanded.

Hear, he says, you kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. We see how the Prophet did not spare even kings, according to what God had previously commanded him, that he should act boldly and show no partiality (Jeremiah 1:8). He then faithfully performed his office, as he did not flatter kings and was not terrified by their dignity and power.

But he addressed them first, and then the people, because those who had sinned most grievously were rightly made to bear the first reproof. We therefore see what the next passage means,

Reprove mountains and chide hills (Micah 6:1),

and also this passage,
I have set you over nations and kingdoms (Jeremiah 1:10),

for heavenly truth should bring under subjection, as Paul says, everything high in the world, so that all the pride of man may be subdued (2 Corinthians 10:5). Kings indeed tolerate very poorly being treated so boldly, for they wish to be exempt from every law and to be free from every yoke.

But if they do not now acknowledge their subjection to God’s word, they must at last come before His tribunal; and then they will find how perversely they have abused their power.

As for teachers, they, small and great, ought to teach after the example of Jeremiah; they ought to reprove and to rebuke, when necessary, without showing any partiality.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, and the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing an evil on this place, of which whosoever shall hear, tingle shall his ears. The prophetic word had more power when the Jews were brought to the very place where the event was exhibited. He might have said the same thing in the Temple or in the gate or in the palace of the king, but his prophecy would not have been so effectual.

We indeed know how much slowness there is in people in general; but so great was then the obstinacy of the Jews that, however forcibly the truth might have been presented, it was received with such indifference that it was neglected. God then intended to show them the event itself, as it were.

He says, Jehovah of hosts and the God of Israel; and he used these words so that they might know, as we have stated elsewhere, that they had to do with God, whose power is dreaded even by angels. And in order to shake off their foolish boasting that they were the children of Abraham, “God,” he says, “has sufficient power to chastise you, and He is the same God of Israel, whose name you falsely and absurdly pretend to profess.” I handle these subjects only briefly here, because I have explained them more fully elsewhere.

He says that such a calamity was near that place as would make the ears to tingle: when there is a violent noise, our ears are stunned, and there is at the same time a certain tingling or ringing. When a man is killed, or when ten or twelve men are slain, there is a dreadful cry; but in a great tumult occasioned by people perishing, such is the noise that it in a manner stuns the ears, like that which proceeds from cataracts—for the violent noise of the Nile, they say, causes some degree of deafness.

So also the Prophet says here, I am bringing, says God, a calamity on this place, which shall not only terrify those who will hear of it, but also render them quite astonished, so that their ears shall tingle, as is the case when there is a violent and dreadful noise.

The reason is given why God would deal so severely with that place. We indeed know that hypocrites are always ready with their answer; as soon as God threatens them, they bark and bring forward their evasions. The Prophet then shows that the judgment announced would be just, so that the Jews would not pretend that it was extreme.

God first complains that He had been forsaken by them, because they had changed the worship which had been prescribed in His Law. This is what should be carefully considered, for no one would have willingly confessed what Jeremiah charged them all with.

They would have said, “We have not forsaken God, for we are the children of Abraham. What we wish to do is to add to His worship. Why should it be considered a reproach to us if we are not content with our own simple form of worship and add various other forms? We worship God not only in the Temple but also in this place; and furthermore, we do not spare our own children.”

But God shows by one expression that these were frivolous evasions, for He is not acknowledged unless what He orders and commands is obediently received. Let us understand that God is forsaken as soon as people turn aside from His pure word, and that all are apostates who turn here and there and do not follow what God approves.

Then he says that they had alienated the place. God had consecrated to Himself the whole of Judea. He would not indeed have sacrifices offered to Him in every place; but when the Jews worshipped Him, as they were taught by Moses and the prophets, the whole land was, as it were, an altar and a temple to Him.

Then God complains that His authority in that part of the suburbs was taken away, as though He had said, “The whole of Judea is My right and My jurisdiction, and Jerusalem is the royal palace in which I dwell. But you, deluded beings, by force take away My right and transfer it to another, as though one gave to a robber a place near a royal residence.” Thus God justly complains that they had alienated that place.

But we must remember the reason, which immediately follows: because they had burned incense to Baal. They pretended, no doubt, to use the name of God, but it was nevertheless a most preposterous superstition when they worshipped inferior gods, as Roman Catholics do to this day.

The word Baal is sometimes used in the singular by the prophets, and sometimes in the plural. But what is Baal? A patron.

They were not content with one patron, but everyone desired a patron for himself. Hence, under the words Baal and Baalim, the prophets characterized all fictitious modes of worship. When they invoked God’s name, they blended it with the worship of patrons who had not been made known to them. Hence he adds, They have made incense in it to foreign gods.

He afterwards says that these foreign gods were such as neither they, nor their fathers, nor their kings knew. By saying that they were gods unknown to their fathers as well as to themselves and to their kings, he undoubtedly calls their attention to the doctrine of the Law, and to the many certain proofs by which they had found that He was the only true God.

The Jews might have raised an objection such as Roman Catholics do to this day—that their modes of worship were not devised in their time, but that they had derived them from their ancestors. But God regarded as nothing those kings and fathers who had long before degenerated from true and genuine religion.

It must be observed here that true knowledge is connected with truth, for those who first contrived new forms of worship undoubtedly followed their own foolish imaginations. Just as when anyone today asks Roman Catholics why they weary themselves so much with their superstitions, “good intention” is always their shield: “Oh, we think that this is pleasing to God.”

Therefore, God rightly repudiates their inventions here as wholly vain, for they possess nothing solid or permanent. At the same time, He by implication condemns the Jews for rejecting His Law, whose authority had been established among them, so that they should not have entertained any doubt.

For it would have been the greatest ingratitude to say, “We do not know who introduced the Law!” God had indeed sanctioned the Law by so many miracles that it could not have been disputed, and they had also found by many evidences and proofs that He was the only true God. He had then been known by their fathers as well as by their kings, even by David and by all his godly successors. Hence, their crime was exaggerated by seeking foreign gods for themselves.

Now we also see how foolishly Roman Catholics seize upon this passage and similar passages to commend their abominations under the pretext of antiquity, for their disguises are vain when they say, “Oh, we have been taught this way by our ancestors, and we have the authority of kings.”

But the Prophet here does not speak of fathers indiscriminately. By ‘fathers’ he means those who had embraced the true and pure worship of God, as they had been taught by the Law. Those kings alone were worthy of imitation who had faithfully worshipped God according to the doctrine of the Law. Thus he excludes all those fathers and kings who had degenerated from the Law of Moses.

He at last adds that that place was filled with the blood of innocents, for there they killed their children. By this circumstance, Jeremiah again amplifies the wickedness of the people, for they had not only despised God and His Law but also cruelly destroyed their innocent infants. Thus he proved them guilty not only of impiety and profanity in corrupting the worship of God but also of brutal and barbarous savagery in not sparing innocent blood.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since You have been pleased to show us the way in which we cannot err, provided we obey You, O grant that we may render ourselves truly teachable and ready to obey, and never undertake anything but what we know is approved by You, nor turn aside to the right hand or to the left. May we continue in that form of worship which You have prescribed to us in Your word, so that we may be able to bear witness, not only before the world but before You and the holy angels, that we obediently follow You. May we never blend anything of our own, but with submissive minds worship You alone, and strive to render ourselves wholly subject to You, until, having at length rendered to You due service through the whole course of our life, we shall reach that blessed rest which Your Son has procured for us by His own blood. Amen.

We saw in the last lecture that the Prophet was sent by God's command to the house of the potter, so that he might take an earthen bottle there, carry it to Topheth, and there explain God's judgment, which was near at hand because His worship had been violated. And he showed why the Jews deserved reproof: because they made incense to Baal, built groves and high places for themselves, and committed their sons and daughters to the fire. They were not only profane towards God but also cruel towards innocent souls. Now, lest they should offer an excuse, he also added that such a thing never entered God’s mind; and this is worthy of notice, because God by this one expression fulminates against all those inventions with which men delight themselves. Since, then, there is no command, it follows that whatever is attempted in this way is frivolous and useless.

He now denounces punishment: The days are coming, or shall come, in which this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. This seemed incredible to the Jews, for they had chosen that place for themselves to perform their superstitions; therefore, they thought that a great part of their safety depended on their false worship.

As for the word Tophet, some think that it is to be understood simply as hell, or for eternal death; but this cannot by any means be accepted. More probable is the opinion of those who derive it from תף, teph, which means a drum; for they think that drums were beaten when infants were killed, so that their cries might not be heard.

But as this is only a conjecture, I do not know whether another reason can be given. Some derive the word from יפה, iphe, which means to be decorous or beautiful; and this etymology apparently has something in its favor. And perhaps it ought to be understood this way in Job 17:6, where the holy man complains that he had become a proverb, and that he had been תפת, Tophet, in the presence of all.

Indeed, some explain the word there as meaning something monstrous, and thus understand it in a negative sense. But it seems rather to have been put in contrast with the former clause—he had been a pleasant spectacle, but he had now become detestable. But those who understand the word there as meaning hell do so entirely without any reason, for the idea that Job perished, seeing and knowing his perdition, as they say, is a forced interpretation.

Therefore, I do not doubt that he said he had been תפת, Tophet; that is, an object of joy and praise, but that he was then a sad and mournful spectacle. And it is certain that the name Tophet, תפת, Tophet, was given to the valley of Hinnom because of the hilarity and joy that arose from there for the people; for they thought that God was propitious to them when they so diligently offered their sacrifices there, and yet they provoked His wrath.

So, Tophet is to be understood in a positive sense when we consider the origin of the word. It is indeed true that in Isaiah 30:33, Tophet is to be understood as Gehenna; but it may be that the prophets had by then begun to execrate the place so intensely that they indiscriminately called hell Gehenna and Tophet. For the word Gehenna, as we have stated elsewhere, had its origin from the same place; it is indeed corrupted, but its origin is not doubtful.

Now, the reason why the prophets and other faithful men called the place hell was plainly this: because the devil reigned in that place when God’s worship became corrupted and the whole of true religion was subverted; and especially, because superstition became so deeply entrenched in the hearts of the people that it could not be rooted out except by an extraordinary force and power.

However this may have been, we may conclude from this passage, as well as from other passages, that this name was given on account of the joy experienced there, because they thought themselves altogether happy, as God was pacified towards them. But what does Jeremiah say? This place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. This seemed, as I have said, incredible to the Jews. But it was nevertheless necessary for the Prophet to boldly declare what was to come.

This amplification further provoked the people, because they vainly trusted that this place would be a fortress for them. For, as we have already stated, they had persuaded themselves that it was abundantly sufficient to reconcile them with God when they did not spare their own children and so zealously performed their acts of worship.

Hypocrites are commonly inflated with this presumption, for they prefer what pleases them to what pleases God. They pay no attention to what the law commands or what God approves, but they adore their own inventions. Therefore, since almost all superstitious people are filled with such presumption, God here rightly declares that he would make void their counsels.

It is indeed certain that there is neither wisdom nor counsel in deluded people while they devise such new and frivolous modes of worship, for these are sheer charades. But we should observe what Paul says in Colossians 2:23: that all the fabrications people devise for themselves have in them some appearance of wisdom. For we know that wherever our imagination may lead us, we think ourselves wise, and whatever God prescribes becomes insipid to us.

Then the Prophet concedes the term “counsel,” though improperly, to frivolous and empty inventions, but not without reason. Experience sufficiently teaches us that people always take great delight in their superstitions, because they wish to subject God, so to speak, to their own will.

He then says, by way of concession, that the counsels of the whole people, especially of the city Jerusalem, would be made void—Jerusalem, which, more than others, was the teacher of errors, even though the doctrine of the law especially ought to have prevailed there.

It is also possible that there is an allusion to that word בקבק bekbek, which we have seen before and which the Prophet will repeat again, for it means “to make void” or “empty.” Some, however, think it to be a coined word, because the sound “bekbek” is produced while a bottle is emptied. However this may be, the allusion is still quite striking.

He afterwards adds, And I will lay them prostrate by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. In this second part, the Prophet intimates that the hatred their enemies held towards the Jews would not be ordinary.

Sometimes wars are carried on in such a way that the conquerors are satisfied with the spoils. But the Prophet intimates that the cruelty of their enemies would be such that they would seek the life of the whole people and delight in slaughter, as if he had said that they would be deadly enemies and completely implacable. He will repeat these words again, and in the same sense.

He then adds, I will give your carcass to be meat to the birds of heaven and to the beasts of the field. We have said elsewhere that it is considered a punishment inflicted by heaven when the carcasses of the dead remain unburied, for it is the final act of humanity to bury the dead.

And this is a distinction God willed to exist between humans and brute animals, for animals do not have the honor of a burial. It has also always been granted as a unique privilege to humans to be buried, in order to signify the hope of resurrection. When, therefore, a burial is denied, it is a proof of extreme dishonor.

It has indeed often happened that the saints have been without a burial; but temporal punishment is always turned to salvation for God’s children. As for the reprobate, it must be considered a judgment from God when he casts away their carcasses, as then there is no difference between them and animals.

But I have treated this subject more fully elsewhere, and I will not proceed with it now.

Jeremiah proceeds with his denunciation, and it was necessary for him to add this amplification, so that he might penetrate into their hard and perverse hearts. For if he had employed only a single sentence, or a common way of speaking, in describing their calamity and the ruin of the city, they would not have been moved at all. Thus, he expands on the subject and advances with greater vehemence, always speaking in the person of God, so that his denunciation might have greater weight.

I will set, etc. A second reason should be noted here. For it was not enough to denounce a calamity upon the Jews without also stating that it was inflicted by God’s hand, and that therefore the punishment for their wickedness was just.

Then he says, I will set this city for an astonishment. For the word שמה (sheme) should be translated this way in this place, since the reason follows later: astonished shall be whosoever shall pass through it.

He also adds, for a hissing, which is a mark of detestation rather than of scorn. Yet the desolation of the whole land, and also the ruin of the holy city in which God had chosen a dwelling place for himself, could have filled everyone with terror—and justly so.

Whosoever, he says, shall pass through shall be astonished, and shall hiss on account of all her stroke. For this was not to be a common calamity, but one in which God’s dreadful judgment could be seen.