John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 2:10-11

"For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there hath been such a thing. Hath a nation changed [its] gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." — Jeremiah 2:10-11 (ASV)

Here, by a comparison, he amplifies the wickedness and ingratitude of his own nation—that they had surpassed in fickleness all pagan nations; for he says that all nations so agreed in one religion, that each nation followed what it had received from its ancestors. How then was it that the God of Israel was repudiated and rejected by his own people? If there was such persistence in error, why did not truth secure credit among those who had been taught by the mouth of God himself, as though they had been even in heaven? This is the thrust of the Prophet’s meaning, when he says, Go into the islands of Chittim, and send into Kedar.

He mentions Greece on one side and the East on the other, stating a part for the whole. The Hebrews, as we have seen in Daniel, called the Greeks Chittim, though they indeed thought that the term belonged properly to the Macedonians. However, the Prophet no doubt included in that term not only the whole of Greece and the islands of the Mediterranean but also all of Europe, so as to include those regions: all of France and Spain. There is indeed some variation in the use of the word; but when taken generally, it was understood by the Hebrews, as I have said, to include France, Spain, and Germany, as well as Greece. They called those countries islands, though distant from the sea, because they carried on no commerce with remote nations; therefore, they considered countries beyond the sea to be islands, and the Prophet spoke according to common usage.

He then instructs them to pass into the islands, southward as well as northward; and then he instructs them, on the other hand, to send to explore the state of the East—Arabia as well as India, Persia, and other countries. For under the word Kedar he includes all the nations of the East; and as those people were more barbarous than others, he mentions them rather than the Persians or the Medes, or any other more celebrated nation, in order more fully to expose the disgraceful conduct of the Jews. Go then, or send, to all parts of the world, and see and diligently consider, see and see again; as though he said that the stupidity of the Jews was so great that they could not be awakened by a single word or by one admonition.

This then is the reason why he instructs them carefully to inquire, though the thing itself was very plain and obvious. But this careful inquiry, as I have said, was enforced not on account of the obscurity of the subject, but for the purpose of reproving the dullness of that perverse nation, which must have been conscious of its gross impiety and yet indulged itself in its own vices.

Therefore he says, Yea, pass over to the islands; and then he adds, see whether there is a thing like this; that is, such a monstrous and detestable thing can nowhere be found. An explanation follows: No nation has changed its gods, and yet they are no gods; that is, religion among all nations continues the same, so that they do not from time to time change their gods, but worship those who have been, as it were, handed down to them by their fathers.

And yet, he says, they are no gods. If it had only been said that no nation has changed its gods, the impiety of Israel would not have been so severely exposed; but the Prophet takes it for granted that all the nations were deceived and led away after fictitious gods, and yet remained constant in their delusions.

Now, God does not present this as a virtue; he does not mean that the constancy of the nations was worthy of praise in not departing from their own superstitions. But, compared with the conduct of the chosen people, this constancy might, however, appear praiseworthy. Thus we see that the whole is to be read as a connected statement: “Though no nation worships the true God, yet religion remains unchangeable among them all; and yet you have perfidiously forsaken me, and you have not forsaken a mere phantom, but your glory.”

He sets here the favor of God in opposition to the delusions of false gods, when he says, My people have changed their own glory. For the people knew, not only through the teaching of the law but also by clear evidence, that God was their glory; and yet they departed from him. It is then as though Jeremiah had said that all the nations would condemn the Israelites at the last day, because their very persistence in error would prove the greater wickedness of the Jews, since they were apostates from the true God, and from that God who had so clearly manifested his power to them.

Now, if one asks whether religion has been changed by any of the nations? First, we know that this principle prevailed everywhere—that there was to be no innovation in the substance of religion. And Xenophon highly commends this oracle of Apollo—that those gods were rightly worshipped who have been received by tradition from ancestors.

The devil had thus bewitched all nations—“No novelty can please God; but be you content with the usual custom which has descended to you from your forefathers.” This principle, then, was held by the Greeks and Asians, and also by Europeans. Therefore, what the Prophet says here was for the most part true; and we know that when a comparison is made, it is enough if the illustration is for the most part (ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ, as Aristotle says) confirmed by custom and constant practice. Thus we see that the charge of fickleness against the Jews was not inappropriately brought by Jeremiah, when he said that no nation had changed its gods, but that God had been forsaken by his people whose glory he was; that is, to whom he had given abundant reasons for glorying.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since you have made yourself known to us in so plain a manner, not only by your law and prophets, but also by your only begotten Son, so that the knowledge of your truth ought to have already struck deep roots in us—O grant that we may continue firm and constant in your holy vocation, make continual progress in it, and ever hasten forward to the goal; and so humble us under your mighty hand, that we may know that we are paternally chastised by you and profit under your discipline, until, being at length purified from all our vices, we will come to enjoy that immortal life which has been made known to us by Christ, when we will be able fully to rejoice in you. Amen.