John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 22:21

"I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice." — Jeremiah 22:21 (ASV)

Here God shows that the people were worthy of the reward He had mentioned: to mourn and to seek aid on every side without finding any. It indeed often happens that the excessive severity of a husband alienates his wife from his company. When a husband, through thoughtlessness, attends to other things and neglects his domestic affairs, and thus his wife goes astray, or when he connives when he sees his wife exposed to dangerous allurements and flatteries, he is partly to blame.

But God shows here that He had performed the duties of a good and faithful husband, and also that it was not His fault that the people did not perform their part.

I spoke to thee, He says; that is, you cannot say that you have gone astray through ignorance. For those who are proved guilty are accustomed to flee to this kind of excuse: “I did not think; had I been warned, I would have attended to good advice; but on slippery ground it is easy to fall, especially when no one stretches out his hand to give any help.”

But God takes away every pretext of this kind here, and says that He had spoken; as though He had said, “I warned you in time; you have not then sinned through ignorance or thoughtlessness.” In short, God condemns the perverseness of the people here, because they knowingly and willfully abandoned themselves to every kind of wickedness.

Now this passage deserves special notice, for we see that it is a twofold crime when God in due time speaks to us and calls us to the right way, and we refuse to hear. For our wickedness is inexcusable when we do not allow ourselves to be corrected by Him.

I spoke to thee, He adds, in thy tranquility. By this circumstance also their crime is aggravated. God not only made known to His people what was right through His Prophets, but had also, by His blessing, won them over to Himself.

For when a husband counsels his wife and is at the same time austere or peevish, his wife will disregard whatever she may hear, for her mind will be preoccupied with dislike. But when a husband treats his wife kindly, proves by his benevolence the love he entertains for her, and at the same time shows prudence in his conduct towards her, she must indeed have a very bad disposition if she is not moved by such advice, kindness, and benevolence on the part of her husband.

Now, God shows here that He had sent Prophets to keep His people in the faithful discharge of their duties, and that He had also been kind and bountiful to them, so that they might be sweetly drawn to obey Him. Therefore, by the word “tranquility,” the Prophet sets forth God’s kindness and bounty towards His people.

It is indeed true what Moses says, that people are like spirited and unruly horses when they become fat (Deuteronomy 32:15). So fatness and tranquility have such an effect as to make us more rebellious.

Yet this cannot serve as an excuse when God kindly invites us, connects kind and paternal benevolence with His doctrine, and confirms it by its effects when we are teachable and yield Him willing obedience.

Thus the Prophet silenced the Jews, for they would probably have sought to make this objection: that vengeance was too vehemently pronounced on them, and that God suddenly assailed them. But He shows that when in tranquility and prosperity they might have acknowledged God’s paternal kindness, they had yet been rebellious and had abused God's indulgence.

I spoke to thee, He says, in thy tranquility, and thou didst say, ‘I will not hear.’ It is not, indeed, likely that the Jews had spoken so insolently as to say openly and in such plain words that they would not be obedient. But the Prophet considers their life and not their words. Though the Jews did not express these words—that they would not obey God—yet such language could have been clearly inferred from their conduct, for they were so perverse as not to render obedience to God and to His counsels.

He adds, in the third place, that it had been the custom of the people from their childhood not to hear the voice of God. It is the height of impiety when we are not only rebellious for one day or a short time, but when we pursue wickedness continually.

God in the meantime intimates that He had from the beginning been solicitous for the safety of His people, but in vain. It sometimes happens that one who has become hardened in his vices begins to be taught after the thirtieth or fortieth year, but he is not very pliable, for people become hardened by long habit.

We see that old people are less teachable than the young; and why? Because age, in a way, makes them stubborn, so that they cannot bear to be turned and ruled.

But God shows here that such was the wickedness of His people, that they had been rebellious from their childhood. It is as though He had said, “You cannot make this excuse, that you have been for a long time without a teacher, that you have been without any wisdom and understanding, and that on this account you have become hardened in evils. No, because I have found you wholly unteachable from your very childhood; it was thy custom, or manner, not to hear my voice.”

Or, “This has been thy custom, that thou didst not hear my voice;” literally, “because thou didst not hear my voice;” But it ought to be rendered as above, for כי (ki), is not here a connective, but an expletive or an exegetical particle.