John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 25:12

"And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate for ever." — Jeremiah 25:12 (ASV)

The Prophet now, as I have said, shows more clearly why the time of the captivity and exile had been defined, so that the faithful would know that God would not forget His covenant, even though He deprived the people of the inheritance of the land. These words were not addressed indiscriminately to the whole body of the people, as we have observed before in other places. Instead, the Prophet intended to provide for the benefit of God's elect, who always retained a concern for true religion, for they would have despaired a hundred times if this promise had not been added. This, then, was a special doctrine intended as food for God's children, for he addressed, as it were, separately, the elect and faithful only.

God also says that at the end of seventy years He would visit the iniquity of the king of Babylon, and of his whole people. From this we learn that Nebuchadnezzar was not called God's servant because he deserved anything for his service, but because God led him, while he himself was unconscious or not thinking of any such thing, to do a service which neither he nor his subjects understood to be for God.

Therefore, even though the Lord employs the ungodly in executing His judgments, their guilt is not lessened on this account; they are still exposed to God's judgment. These two things agree well together: that the devil and all the ungodly serve God (though not of their own accord, but whenever He draws them by His hidden power), and that they are still justly punished, even when they have served God. For though they perform His work, they do so not because they are commanded. They are therefore justly liable to punishment, according to what the Prophet teaches us here.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we see everywhere evidences of Your wrath, and as our own conscience convinces every one of us, so that we are compelled to confess that we are all, from the highest to the lowest, guilty before You—O grant that we may in due time return to the right way, and seek to be reconciled to You, and never doubt that You will be merciful and gracious to us whenever we seek pardon in the name of Your only-begotten Son. May we also be so reconciled to You that we may know that You are indeed with us as our Father, by ruling us by Your Spirit, so that Your name may be glorified to the end, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We explained in the last Lecture the verse in which God declared that He would punish the king of Babylon and his people for their cruelty towards the Israelites. We said that this was addressed peculiarly to the elect, for many of the people perished without the hope of salvation. But God intended in the meantime to show His care for the remnant; and for this reason He defined the time of exile, and predicted that He would be an enemy to the Babylonians, for He would undertake the cause of His people.

One thing I did not explain is what the Prophet says about eternal reproaches. Now, it seems that this was not fulfilled, for although after seventy years Babylon was taken and was reduced to a state of subjection, the city itself remained safe and for many ages was celebrated for its great splendor.

The Prophet, then, seems to have exceeded the limits of truth in speaking of these desolations, for such did not take place when the city was taken by the Medes and Persians.

But, as we have said elsewhere, we ought not to restrict to one time what is said in many places by the prophets regarding the destruction of Babylon. For it pleased God, in various ways and at different times, to execute His vengeance on that people. Indeed, it appears evident from history that it would have been better for the Babylonians to have perished at once than to have undergone so many calamities.

For in a short time after the people revolted from the Persians, the city was recovered by the contrivance and craft of Zopyrus; the nobles were then reduced to slavery, so that no dignity remained. It was afterwards taken by Alexander, and after that Seleucus obtained possession of it. On its ruins the city Ctesiphon was then built, and at length Babylon gradually decayed.

But no change occurred without a great diminution of the city's opulence, and nothing more disgraceful could have happened to it than for those who were in authority to be taken and hung on gibbets, as Xenophon and other historians relate.

We now see, then, how this passage, and others like it, are to be understood. For God does not speak only of one time of vengeance, but He includes all those judgments by which He vindicated the wrongs done to His people.