John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 2:35

"Yet thou saidst, I am innocent; surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned." — Jeremiah 2:35 (ASV)

The Prophet here shows that the Jews possessed such a brazen front that they could not be led by any admonitions to feel any shame. Even though they were like adulterous women, and though they gave harlot's wages to those they eagerly sought in all places, and though they had also murdered the prophets and the pious ministers of God, yet they boasted, as if conscious of no wrongdoing, that they were innocent.

You have yet said; that is, “How do you dare to pretend to be innocent, since you are proven guilty, not by allegations, but by clear and obvious proofs?” In short, the Prophet shows that the condition of the people was beyond remedy, for they would not receive any admonition. Indeed, they dared, as it were, with a brazen front, obstinately to boast that they were innocent. You have said (he still speaks of a woman, in the feminine gender), You have yet said, surely I am clean. Thus hypocrites not only excuse themselves and make vain pretenses, but dare to come forth publicly and to soar, as it were, above the clouds, elated by their own self-confidence.

“Who will dare to allege anything against me?” Thus hypocrites deliberately and insolently challenge all the servants of God and seek by their own presumption to silence everyone. The Prophet now condemns this petulance in the Jews; for though they were clearly proven guilty, yet they boastingly asserted that they were innocent.

Only (אך, ak, I take here to mean only) depart, and so on. The Prophet upbraids the Jews with another crime: that they said they were wronged by God in His seeking to bring them to a right mind by punishment and by reproofs. For God, as it is well known, had inflicted many punishments on the Jews and had also added serious reproofs.

He tried by these means to find out whether they could be healed. What did they say? “I am innocent; and God is angry with me without a cause. Let Him remove His anger from me;” that is, “only let not God deal severely with us, nor use His supreme authority, and we shall be able to prove our innocence.” Thus ungodly people, when urged with severe warnings, vomit forth their blasphemies against God: “Oh, what can I do?

I know that I am not able to resist; God fights with a shadow when He afflicts me; His violence I must indeed bear though He may overwhelm me; yet He does me wrong. But if He were to deal justly and fairly with me, I could prove that I do not deserve these evils.” Such then was the language of the Jews: only let His fury depart from me, and we could then show that we are just, or at least excusable.

Now in this part we also perceive the Prophet's design: it was to show that the Jews not only dared dishonestly and proudly to claim innocence for themselves, but also did not hesitate to contend with God, and to imply that He oppressed them with excessive severity, did not treat them justly, but pronounced a cruel sentence merely to overwhelm them.

Behold, He says, I will judge you, because you have said, I have not sinned. Some give this version: “I judge, or, condemn you.” But there is here no doubt a contrast between the fury of God and His judgment. The people said that God was too rigorous; this was His fury. God now mentions His judgment. “There is no reason,” He says, “for you to allege such a pretext as this, as it will vanish into nothing; for I will contend with you in judgment.” That is, “I will truly prove that I am a just judge and not a tyrant, that I execute just punishments according to the law, and that I am not like a man in anger who takes vengeance on his enemies hastily and rashly. I will show,” He says, “that I am a just judge.”

We may therefore gather a profitable instruction.

1. Let it be observed that nothing is so displeasing to God as this stubborn presumption: when we seek to appear innocent while our own conscience condemns us.
2. Observe that all who thus perversely rebel and strive dishonestly and shamelessly to defend their own vices, also contend with God, for false excuses always have this tendency—to charge God with unjust severity.

But we see what such people gain for themselves, for God shows that He will eventually be their judge and will openly expose the vices of those who thought they could excuse themselves by evasions and by false charges against Himself. Those, then, who thus obstinately resist God must eventually, according to what the Prophet declares, come to this end: they will be forced to acknowledge that God has not been excessively angry with them, but has only executed a just punishment.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since we are loaded with so many vices and provoke You so often, indeed, daily and in countless ways—O grant that we may not in the end become hardened against Your godly admonitions, but be teachable and submissive and in time repent, lest our recklessness and hardness should compel You to extend Your powerful hand against us. But as we have until now experienced Your paternal kindness, so may we in the future partake of it, and thus become more and more accustomed to bear Your yoke, until having finally completed our warfare, we shall come to that blessed rest which has been provided for us in heaven, through Christ our Lord. Amen.