John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 19:13

"and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods." — Jeremiah 19:13 (ASV)

He describes, as I have said, in more detail what he had briefly expressed, for he had spoken of the city. But as belief in that was difficult, he now enumerates particulars, as if he had said that Jerusalem was a wide city and splendidly built, for there were many large and elegant houses, and the royal palaces. Yet he says that all these things would not prevent God from demolishing the whole city.

This deserves special attention, for we know that Satan dazzles our eyes whenever he suggests anything that offers a hope of defense. However, what God threatens, we think is vain, and as if it were a fable, or at least it has no effect on us. Since such gross hypocrisy prevailed in the hearts of the people, the Prophet rightly tried to shake them free from whatever might deceive them.

Therefore, he says, The houses of Jerusalem, and so on—these were many and splendid—and the houses of the kings of Judah, their palaces either within or without the city, shall be as the place of Tophet. This means that no house will be exempt from slaughter, and no palace will protect its inhabitants.

They shall be unclean, he says, that is, on account of dead bodies, for slain men would be found everywhere; and this, as is well known, is often mentioned in Scripture as a pollution or defilement. With regard to all the houses, some read, “On account of all the houses,” and ל lamed is often a causal preposition.

But it seems rather to be taken here as an explanation; and therefore I render the words, With regard to all the houses, so that the Prophet speaks of all the houses in which they made incense. Since, then, no house was free from sacrilege, he says that God’s vengeance would penetrate into all houses without any exception.

He also says, On the roofs, in order to condemn them for their effrontery, for they raised their baseness as a standard, so that it might be seen from a distance. They indeed thought that God was delighted with such a service; but how did they come to entertain such a foolish conviction, except through their neglect and contempt for the law, and also through a mad presumption in giving more credence to their own fabrications than to certain truth?

The Prophet, therefore, justly condemns them, for they had cast off all shame and went up to the roofs of their houses, so that their deeds might be more public. Then he mentions the whole host of heaven and further says that they had poured a libation to foreign gods. We see that many kinds of superstitions prevailed among the people; for he spoke of Baal in the singular number, he also mentioned Baalim (patrons), and he now adds the whole host of heaven—that is, the sun, the moon, and all the stars.

We therefore see that the Jews observed no limits in their sacrileges, which is usually the case with all the ungodly; for as soon as people begin to turn aside from the pure and genuine worship of God, they sink into the lowest depths. It is this wantonness, then, that the Prophet now refers to when he implies that their various forms of worship had increased so much that they had devised as many gods as there are stars in heaven; this is similar to what is said elsewhere:

According to the number of thy cities, O Judah, are thy gods
(Jeremiah 2:28; Jeremiah 11:13).