John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 25:33

"And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground." — Jeremiah 25:33 (ASV)

This verse explains what I have just said; and from this it also appears that the Prophet did not speak of mutual slaughters inflicted by one nation on another, but that he only declared that God’s wrath would spread like a storm, extending to all nations and lands. The Prophet undoubtedly continues the same subject; and we see why he says here, And the slain, of Jehovah shall be in that day, etc.; he calls our attention to God alone. He will speak otherwise later; he does not set before us here the ministers of God’s vengeance, but God himself acting by himself.

Therefore, he says, the slain of Jehovah; some read, “the wounded”; and חלל, chelal, means to wound and to kill, but “the slain” is more suitable here. The slain then of Jehovah shall be from one extremity of the earth to the other; as if he had said that God would not be satisfied with punishing three or four nations, but would show himself the judge of all the countries of the earth.

Now this passage is worthy of special notice, for we often wonder why God overlooks so many crimes committed by men, which none of us would tolerate. But if we consider how dreadful the tempest was of which the Prophet now speaks, we should know that God rests for a time, so that the ungodly and the wicked might be less excusable.

It was at the same time undoubtedly a sad spectacle when so many regions and provinces were unceasingly suffering various calamities. One nation might think itself better off than its neighbors, but soon found itself more cruelly treated. And yet this was generally the case, for God’s wrath extended to the extremities of the earth.

He amplifies the atrocity of the evil by mentioning three things: They shall not be lamented, nor gathered, nor buried; but they shall be as dung, and shall thus lie on the face of the earth. We have said in other places that lamentation does no good to the dead; but as it is what humanity requires, the lack of it is rightly considered a temporal punishment.

So when anyone is deprived of burial, it is certainly nothing to the dead if his body is not laid in a grave; for we know that God’s holy servants have often been either burned or hanged or exposed to wild beasts. The whole Church complains that dead bodies were lying around Jerusalem and became food for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.

But these things do not disprove the fact that burial is an evidence of God’s paternal kindness towards men. For why has he appointed that men should be buried rather than brute animals, except that he designed it to be an intimation of immortal life? Since burial is then a sign of God’s favor, it is no wonder that he often declares to the reprobate that their dead bodies would be cast away, so as not to be honored with a grave.

But we must remember this truth: that temporal punishments happen alike to God’s children and to those estranged from Him. God extends temporal punishments without distinction to his own children and to the unbelieving, and this occurs so that it may be made evident that our hope should not be fixed on this world.

However this may be, it is still true that when God punishes the unbelieving in this way, he at the same time adds some remark by which it may be understood, that it does not happen in vain or unintentionally that those are deprived of burial who deserve for God to exterminate them from the earth, and for their memory to be obliterated, so that they should have no connection among men.

But we have also said in another place that such expressions admit of another meaning, which however is not at variance with the former but connected with it. This meaning is that so great would be the slaughter that none would be left to show this kindness to his friend, or to his neighbor, or to his brother.

For when four or ten or a hundred die, they may be buried; but when God slays by the sword a great number in one day, no one is found to take care of burying the dead, since few remain alive, and even they dread their enemies. Therefore, when the prophets say that those whom God slew would be without lamentation and burial, they indicate that the number would be so great that all would lie on the ground. No one would dare to perform this humane act towards the dead; and even if all were to do their utmost, they would not be able, as the number would be so great.

Thus Jeremiah confirms what we have said: that God’s vengeance would extend to all lands and all nations, involving in ruin the nobles as well as the common people, and leaving only a small number remaining.

For the same purpose he adds what follows: that they would be as dung on the face of the earth. This is added to express contempt.

It was then hardly credible that so many illustrious, wealthy, and powerful nations could thus be destroyed in such a short time. But the Prophet, in order to shake off this false notion, says that they would become like dung; that however great their dignity and power, their wealth and strength might be, they still could not escape the hand of God, for he would reduce to nothing the glory of the whole world. We now perceive the real meaning of the Prophet.