John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 25:6

"and go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no hurt." — Jeremiah 25:6 (ASV)

The Prophet mentions here one kind of sin; for though the Jews in many, and even in countless ways, kindled God’s wrath, they especially brought a heavy judgment upon themselves through their superstitions. They indeed showed their contempt for God through adultery, theft, and plunder, but not in such a direct way; for when they abandoned themselves to the superstitions of the Gentiles, they thus shook off the yoke of God, as though they openly testified that He was no longer their God.

And we know that nothing is so highly valued and approved by God as a sincere devotion to true piety; therefore, the Church is taught in the first table of the Law how He is to be worshipped. This is why the Prophet especially reminds the Jews here that they had, in this respect, been rebellious against God, because He could not bring them back from their corrupt superstitions.

At the same time, He does not absolve them of other sins; but He mentions this one kind so that they might understand that they were not only partly, but entirely rebellious against God; for they wholly departed from Him when they corrupted His worship with wicked superstitions. We must then remember that the Jews were not condemned for minor offenses but accused of the most heinous sins, for they had become covenant-breakers and apostates, and had forsaken God Himself and His law.

He says, Walk ye not after foreign gods to serve them and to worship them. He pointed out, as if with a finger, how gross their impiety had been; for they had given themselves up to idols, so that they might basely serve them; they had wholly devoted themselves to them. It was not, therefore, an excusable error, but a manifest treachery.

He adds, Provoke me not by the work of your hands. No doubt the Prophet, by these words, meant to confirm what has already been stated: that idolatry is an intolerable wickedness before God. At the same time, He shows that they had not sinned through ignorance, for they had been reminded in time of the atrocity of this sin.

Since, then, they had not ceased from their superstitions, they were thus proved guilty of a diabolical madness, for they did not fear to provoke God against them.

And He says, by the work of your hands; and thus He speaks contemptuously, or rather reproachfully, of idols. They called them gods, not because they were ignorant that these were statues skillfully made of wood and stone, or of some other material, but they still thought that divinity was connected with them, for they believed that God was rightly worshipped in this way.

Now, then, the Prophet calls them the work of hands, as though He had said, “If the Jews themselves are nothing, the idols are less than nothing, for they are only the work of hands.”

And this way of speaking often occurs in the Prophets, by which God intended to shake off the stupidity of people who had become quite senseless in their own devices, as though He had said, “Have you not a particle of a right understanding in you? Do you not know that this which you worship is the work of your own hands? And what can your hands do? For what are you yourselves?” We now perceive what the Prophet intended in using these words.

Again, there is a promise given: I will not do you evil. By these words, God declares that they would be exempt from all trouble and distress if they continued to walk according to the rule of true religion.

And thus He intimates that whatever evils they had already endured, and would have to endure in the future, could be imputed to nothing but their own perverseness, for God, of His own free will, had promised to spare them, provided they departed from their wicked ways.

And such a hope ought especially to encourage us to repent, for we see that God is ready to receive us, seeks reconciliation with us, and is always prepared to forgive all our sins, provided we return to Him from the heart; and He seems, as it were, unwilling to inflict punishment.

Here again, the impiety of the people is more fully proved, for they refused to receive this invaluable favor from God.