John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 25:29

"For, lo, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith Jehovah of hosts." — Jeremiah 25:29 (ASV)

A proof is added by comparing the lesser and the greater, for the Prophet reasons in this way: "If God does not spare the city in which He has chosen a temple for Himself and intended for His name to be invoked, how can He spare foreigners to whom He has never made any promise, since He regarded them as strangers? If then the green tree is consumed, how can the dry remain safe?" This is the meaning of the passage. The Apostle uses the same argument in other words; for after having said that judgment would begin at God’s house, he immediately shows how dreadful was to be the vengeance of God that awaited His open enemies! (1 Peter 4:17).

From this we may gather a useful doctrine. Since God not only declares that He will be the indiscriminate avenger of wickedness, but also first summons His chosen Church before His tribunal, its condition may seem to be worse than that of foreign nations. Therefore, the minds of the godly, when they view things in this light, might become very depressed.

It seems a special favor of God that He unites us to Himself; yet this honor seems only to lead to punishment. For God overlooks the wickedness of the heathen and seems to bury them in oblivion; but as soon as we fall into sin, we perceive signs of His wrath.

It would then be better to be at a distance from Him, and that He should not be so solicitous in His care for us. Thus the faithful view the unbelieving as in a better state than themselves. But this doctrine mitigates all the sharpness of that grief, which might otherwise occasion great bitterness.

For when it is presented to us that God begins at His Church—in order that He may more heavily punish the unbelieving after having long endured them, and that they may thus be far more grievously dealt with than the faithful, just as the dry tree is much sooner consumed than the green—when this is set before us, therefore, we doubtless have a ground for comfort, and not a small or common one.

Thus we see why Jeremiah added this: that however much the nations would resist God, they would yet be constrained to yield, whether willing or unwilling, since God was more powerful than they were. And for this reason: since God would not spare His chosen people, the heathen could by no means escape unpunished, nor avoid finding Him to be the judge of the world.

Let us then remember this truth whenever our flesh leads us to complain or to be impatient. For it is better for us that God should begin with us (since in the end the wicked will in their turn be destroyed) and that we should endure temporal evils, so that God may eventually raise us to the enjoyment of His paternal favor.

And for this reason Paul also says that it is a demonstration of the just judgment of God when the faithful are exposed to many evils (2 Thessalonians 1:4, 5). For, when God chastises His own children, whose obedience He nevertheless approves, do we not see as in a glass what is still concealed? Even the dreadful punishment that awaits all the unbelieving.

God, then, represents to us today the destruction of His enemies by the paternal chastisements with Hich He visits us; and they are a sure proof or a lively exhibition of that judgment which the unbelieving do not fear, but thoughtlessly deride.

Now, He says, Behold I begin to bring evil, etc. The verb הרע, ero, properly means "to do evil"; and it would be a strange thing to say that God does evil, if common usage did not explain the meaning. Those who are somewhat acquainted with Scripture know that calamities are called evils, that is, according to the perceptions of men.

The Lord then is said to bring evil on men, not because He injures them or deals unjustly and cruelly with them, but because what is adverse to men’s minds is considered by them, and is called, evil. Then He says, I begin to do evil in the city on which My name is called. God’s name is called on a people when He promises to be their guardian and defender; and His name is said to be called upon men when they commit themselves to His guardianship and protection.

But we must notice the real meaning: that God’s name is called on a people when they are considered to be under His guardianship and keeping. This is just as God’s name is called on the children of Abraham, because He had promised to be their God; and they boasted that they were His special people, precisely because of their adoption.

So God’s name was called on Jerusalem, because the Temple and the altar were there; and since God called it His rest or habitation, His name was well known there. This is according to what we say in French, Se reclamer, il se reclame d’un tel, that is, someone claims this or that person as his patron, so that he shelters himself under that patron’s protection.

So also the Jews formerly called on God’s name when they said that they had been chosen to be His people. Indeed, this may also be applied to men; for the name of Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham was called on the twelve tribes for this very reason: because, when seeking to rely on God’s covenant, they regarded their own origin. For they had descended from the holy fathers, with whom God had made His covenant, and to whom He had promised that He would always be their God.

All the Israelites called on Abraham, not in the sense that they offered him worship, but rather that, as they were his descendants, they might feel rightly assured that the gratuitous covenant by which God had adopted them to Himself had been transmitted to them. But this "calling on" may also be taken in another sense, namely, because they daily appeased God by sacrifices and prayers: when they committed their safety to God, a sacrifice was always added, and reconciliation was also promised.

Then "to be called upon" or "invoked," נקרא, nukora, may be taken in this sense: specifically, that they knew God was reconciled to them when they repented from the heart. Since, then, God’s name was called upon in that city, how was it possible that the Gentiles should escape the judgment to which the holy city was to be exposed?

But the former view seems to me the best; and there is no doubt that God refers here to the free adoption by which He had chosen that people for Himself. From this came the invocation or the glorying of which He now speaks.

But as it was difficult to make the Jews believe what the Prophet had said, he dwells on the subject and repeats what was already sufficiently clear. He not only says, "Shall you be treated as innocent?" but he also phrases it with an emphatic repetition (literally, "mentions the word twice"): "Shall you, by being treated as innocent, be treated as innocent?" And thus he rebuked the perverse contumacy with which the heathen were filled, while looking at their wealth, their numbers, and other things, and at the same time disregarding all that the prophets proclaimed at Jerusalem, as if it meant nothing to them.

The question is in itself emphatic: "Can you by any means be treated as innocent?" The verb נקה, nuke, means "to be innocent," but it is applied to punishment; just as the word עון, on, which means "iniquity," is used to designate punishment. So a person is said not to be innocent who cannot exempt himself from God’s judgment, nor be free from it.

He confirms this sentence when He says, "For a sword I am calling for on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah of hosts." This confirmation is by no means superfluous, for the insolence of the nations had increased through the forbearance of God. For they had for a long time, indeed for many ages, been in a quiet state, had indulged themselves in their pleasures, and slept, as it were, on their dregs, according to what is said elsewhere.

The Prophet then says now that God was calling for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth. For He had often and in various ways chastised His own people, while the Gentiles were not in any danger and were free from troubles (Jeremiah 48:11). But he (the Prophet) says now that He (God) was calling for a sword to destroy all those whom He seemed to have forgiven.

But God is said to have called for men as well as for a sword, for Nebuchadnezzar is said to have been like a hired soldier. But God now speaks of the sword, so that we might know that it is in His power to stir up and to quell wars whenever it pleases Him. And thus the sword, though wielded by the hand of man, is nevertheless not called forth by the will of man, but by the hidden power of God.