John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 27:17

"Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city become a desolation?" — Jeremiah 27:17 (ASV)

It is not surprising that Jeremiah said the same things so often, because, as we have seen, he had to contend with false prophets. When anyone speaks, and there is no dispute and no adversary opposing him, he can calmly deal with the teachable and limit himself to a few words. But when contention arises, and opponents appear who might seek to subvert what we say, then we must exercise more care, because those who are thus driven in different directions will not be satisfied with a few words.

So, when Jeremiah saw that the people were wavering, he found it necessary, in order to confirm them, to use many words. This was not because wordiness is in itself sufficient to produce conviction; yet there is no doubt that Jeremiah spoke effectively enough to influence at least some portion of the people.

Besides, it was necessary to dwell more explicitly on a subject not very plausible. The false prophets were heard with favor, and most people greedily devoured what was presented by them, because the hope of impunity is always pleasing and sought after by the world.

But what did Jeremiah say? Serve ye the king of Babylon; that is, “No better condition awaits you than to pay tribute to the king of Babylon, be subject to his authority, and patiently endure whatever he may prescribe to you.” This was indeed a very hard message, because subjection was not unaccompanied by reproach. Besides, he commanded them to surrender themselves to a most cruel enemy, as though they were to expose their life to him; and lastly, they were to risk the danger of being plundered of all that they had.

What Jeremiah taught then was very much disliked, as he thus exhorted the people to endure all things. This, then, was the reason why he had not declared in a few and plain words what God had committed to him: it was difficult to persuade the people to accept the yoke of the king of Babylon and to submit to his tyranny.

Thus we see that there were two very just reasons why the Prophet insisted so much on this one subject and confirmed what he might have briefly said without any wordiness. Hearken, you, to them, he says; serve ye the king of Babylon and ye shall live.

We must again remember what we said yesterday: that patiently humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand is the best remedy for mitigating punishment, and that in this way punishment is turned into medicine. On the other hand, when we are like rebellious and ferocious horses, whatever punishment God inflicts on us is only a prelude to endless destruction.

Let us then grasp this truth and constantly meditate on it—that our punishment becomes life-giving to us when we acknowledge God to be a righteous judge and allow ourselves to be corrected by Him. But I refer only briefly to this subject now, because I spoke of it more extensively yesterday.

He adds, Why should this city be a desolation? He set before them the city in which God’s sanctuary was, and by the sight of it he tried to turn them to repentance. For it was extremely base to harden themselves against the warnings of the prophets, so as to cause the Temple of God to be demolished and the holy city to be reduced to a waste, in which God designed to have His dwelling, as He had said,

“This is my rest for ever.” (Psalms 132:14)

In short, he declared to the Jews that a most awful condemnation awaited them if they allowed the city to perish through their own fault, and that they would be the authors of their own ruin if they did not accept the yoke of the king of Babylon.