John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 19:7

"And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth." — Jeremiah 19:7 (ASV)

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.