John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 22:23

"O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!" — Jeremiah 22:23 (ASV)

The Prophet confirms the same thing in other words, and therefore it appears how difficult it is to shake off from people their false confidence when they give themselves up to earthly things. As soon, then, as false confidence strikes its roots into their hearts, they cannot be moved by any threats or dangers; even though death itself were hanging over them, they still remain unconcerned.

For this reason, Isaiah rebukes them, saying that they had made a covenant with death (Isaiah 28:15). This was why the Prophet here multiplied words and used greater vehemence: it was to correct the perversity that prevailed among the Jews, for they thought themselves beyond the reach of those darts which God’s hands would throw.

He therefore says that they had set their seat on Lebanon, and made their nest among the cedars. Some interpreters understand this figuratively of the cedar houses in which they lived; that is, that they ornamented their houses or palaces, as we have seen, with boards of cedar. But I take the words more simply: that they considered Lebanon as an impregnable stronghold, and that he compares them to birds which choose the highest cedars to make their nests in.

The meaning is that the Jews were so blinded by their pride that they thought they had Lebanon as a safe refuge, and also that they imagined they had nests, as it were, in its cedars. But there is no doubt that the Prophet, in mentioning this one particular, meant to include all those false and vain confidences with which the Jews were inebriated. He speaks by way of concession, as though he had said that the Jews were not terrified by God’s threats because they cast their eyes on Lebanon and on its lofty cedars.

But how gracious, he says, will you be; that is, what grace will you find, when sorrows shall come upon you, the pain as of one in labor? The Prophet expresses here what often occurs in Scripture, that when the ungodly say, “Peace and safety,” sudden ruin comes on them (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

He then does not allow that the Jews gained anything by thinking that they would have a quiet station on Lebanon, and by having their nests in the cedars, for God would bring on them sudden pains like those of women who, while laughing and full of mirth, are in a moment seized with labor pains. Jeremiah now says that a similar thing would happen to the Jews. I touch only lightly on this point, though it is worthy of long and careful meditation. Let us then know that nothing is more intolerable to God than when we promise ourselves a quiet rest while he proclaims war against us, and while we, as if intentionally, daily provoke him.