John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 28

The Prophet relates here with what haughtiness, and even fury, the false prophet Hananiah came forward to deceive the people and to proclaim his deceptions, although he must have been conscious of his own wickedness. From this it clearly appears how great must be the madness of those who, being blinded by God, are carried away by a satanic impulse.

The circumstances of the case especially show how great a contempt of God was manifested by this impostor. For he came into the Temple, with the priests present and the people gathered; there, before his very eyes, he had the sanctuary and the ark of the covenant. We know that the ark of the covenant is everywhere understood to represent God's presence, for by that symbol God was, in a way, visible when He made the presence of His power and favor evident in the Temple. Since Hananiah then stood before God’s eyes, how great must have been his stupidity to thrust himself forward and impudently announce falsehood in the name of God Himself! He nevertheless falsely boasted that he was God’s prophet, fully conscious that he was speaking falsely.

And he used the same words as Jeremiah did, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Surely these words should have been like a thunderbolt to him, overwhelming his perverseness, even if he had been harder than iron. For what does Jehovah of hosts mean? This name expresses not only the eternal existence of God but also His power, which spreads throughout heaven and earth.

Should Hananiah not then have trembled when anyone else invoked God’s name? But now, though he derided and mocked the prophetic office as well as God’s holy name, he nevertheless did not hesitate to boast that God was the author of this prophecy, which was, in reality, nothing but an imposture. And he added, the God of Israel, so that he might be in no way inferior to Jeremiah.

This was a grievous trial, calculated not only to discourage the people but also to break down the firmness of the holy Prophet. The people saw that God’s name had become a subject of contest; there was a dreadful conflict: “God has spoken to me;” “No, rather to me.” Jeremiah and Hananiah were opposed to each other; each of them claimed to be a Prophet. Such was the conflict; the name of God seemed to have been used arbitrarily and thrown about by the devil as if in jest.

As for Jeremiah, his heart must have been grievously wounded when he saw that unprincipled man boldly profaning God’s name. But, as I have already said, God in the meantime supported the minds of the godly, so that they were not entirely disheartened, though they must have been somewhat disturbed.

For we know that God’s children were not so lacking in feeling as not to be moved by such things; yet God sustained all those who were endowed with true religion. It was indeed easy for them to distinguish between Jeremiah and Hananiah, for they saw that the former announced the commands of God, while the latter sought nothing else but the favor and praise of men.

But with regard to Hananiah, he was to them a dreadful spectacle of blindness and of madness, for he did not dread the sight of God Himself but entered the Temple and profaned it by his lies. At the same time, he contemptuously used God's name and boasted that he was a prophet, when he was nothing of the sort.

Let us not then wonder if there are many mercenary brawlers today who, without shame and fear, fiercely and falsely use God’s name and thus exult over us, as though God had given them all that they vainly chatter about, although it can be fully proved that they proclaim nothing but falsehoods. For God has justly blinded them, as they thus profane His holy name. We shall now come to the words:

And it was in the same year, even in the fourth of Zedekiah’s reign, etc. The fourth year seems to have been improperly called the beginning of his reign. We have said elsewhere that it may have been that God had entrusted this prophecy to Jeremiah and did not intend for it to be immediately published.

But there would be nothing strange in this, if the confirmation of his reign were called its beginning. Zedekiah was made king by Nebuchadnezzar because the people would not have been willing to accept a foreigner. He might indeed have set one of his own governors over the whole country, and he might also have made a king of one of the chief men of the land, but he saw that anything of this kind would have been greatly disliked.

He therefore considered it enough to remove Jeconiah and to put in his place one who had not much power nor much wealth, and who was to be his tributary, as was the case with Zedekiah. But over time, Zedekiah grew in power, so that he had peace in his own kingdom. We also know that he was appointed over neighboring countries, as Nebuchadnezzar thought it advantageous to bind him to himself with favors.

This fourth year, then, might well be considered the beginning of his reign, for during three years, things were so disturbed that he possessed no authority and hardly dared to ascend the throne. This, then, is the most probable opinion.

The text later states that Hananiah spoke to him in the presence of the priests and of the whole people. Hananiah should at least have been touched and moved when he heard Jeremiah speaking; he himself had no proof of his own calling. Indeed, he was an impostor, and he knew that he did nothing but deceive the people. Yet he audaciously persisted in his purpose and, so to speak, openly thrust himself forward to contend with the Prophet, as though he were waging war against God.

He said, Broken is the yoke of the king of Babylon, that is, the tyranny by which he has oppressed the people will shortly be broken. But he alluded to the yoke which Jeremiah had put on, as we will presently see. The beginning of his prophecy was that there was no reason for the Jews to fear the present power of the king of Babylon, for God would soon overthrow him.

They could not have entertained hope of restoration, or of a better condition, until that monarchy was crushed. For as long as the king of Babylon ruled, there was no hope that he would cancel the tribute and restore the vessels of the Temple to the Jews.

Hananiah then began with this: that God would break the power of the king of Babylon, so that he would be forced, willingly or unwillingly, to set the people free, or that the people could, without punishment, escape from his grasp. He then adds:

We now see that Hananiah’s intention was to promise impunity to the people. Not only this, but he also aimed to soothe them with false confidence, as if the people would soon have their king restored, along with the spoils that the enemy had taken away. However, he began by referring to the king’s power, lest that terrible sight should so occupy the people’s minds as to prevent them from receiving this joyful prophecy.

He then says, Further, when two years pass, I will bring back to this place all the vessels which King Nebuchadnezzar has taken away. Jeremiah had assigned seventy years for the people’s exile, as has been stated before and as we will often see later. But here the false prophet says that after two years, the exile of the king and of the people would end, and the vessels that had been taken away would be restored; he also speaks of the king himself.

Hananiah promised concerning the king himself what he had just predicted concerning the vessels of the Temple and of the palace. But it may be asked, how did he dare to give hope concerning the restoration of Jeconiah, since that could not have been acceptable to Zedekiah? For Jeconiah could not have regained what he had lost without the abdication of Zedekiah; but Zedekiah would have never willingly submitted to lose his own dignity, become a private citizen, and allow Jeconiah, who had been deprived of this high honor, to return again.

But there is no doubt that he relied on the favor of the people, and that he was fully persuaded that if Zedekiah found it difficult to bear being degraded in this way, he would nevertheless be compelled to show a different attitude. For Zedekiah himself regarded his own reign as not honorable, as he did not sit on David’s throne by the right of succession.

He had been placed on the throne by a tyrant, and he dared not make any other pretense to the people than that he wished Jeconiah to return and to possess the kingdom of which he had been deprived. Since this impostor knew that the king dared not show any displeasure, but that his prophecy would be gratifying and acceptable to the people, he boldly promised what we read here concerning the return of Jeconiah.

Therefore he says in God’s name, Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and all the captive people, who have been led away to Babylon, will I restore to this place. We see that he was always inflated with the same arrogance, and that he completely disregarded God, whose name he thus profaned in jest. But all this flowed from this source, because he had been blinded by the righteous judgment of God.

He then confirms his own prophecy, repeating its beginning, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. He had opened an entrance for himself by saying that the destruction of the Babylonian monarchy was near; and now, after having voiced what seemed right to him on the whole matter, he refers again to that event.

Since he then promised that the monarchy would not last longer than two years, the Jews might have supposed that they would become free, and thus might have hoped for a happy state of affairs; and this was the impostor's design.

But what was the answer of Jeremiah? His opposition to him was frank and firm. However, since he saw that he had incurred the people's ill-will, he was anxious to dispel it. Before he repeated what he had said about their seventy years in exile, he showed that he had not eagerly received his commission, as though he had been alienated from his people, or had disregarded their welfare, or had been carried away by some morbid feeling to bring a sad and mournful message. He therefore said,—

I have briefly reminded you of the Prophet's design, for it was feared that the people would not hear him, or at least that they would not receive him well, as he had threatened them and handled them roughly and severely.

We know that men always seek to be flattered; therefore, flattery is always delightfully received. Such is human pride that they cannot bear to be held accountable for what they have done; and they also become indignant when they see their crimes and vices brought to light. Besides, they are so sensitive and tender that they avoid all unfavorable reports as much as they can; and if any fear assails them, they immediately resist.

Now Jeremiah had been given a twofold message: to expose the vices of the people and to show that the Jews were unworthy to inherit the land, as they were covenant-breakers and despisers of God and of His Law. Then, as they had so often been refractory and perverse, he had another message: that they would not be allowed to escape unpunished, as they had in so many ways, and for so long, continued to provoke God’s wrath. All this was very displeasing to the people.

It was therefore Jeremiah’s object to dispel the false suspicion under which he labored, and he testified that he desired nothing more than the well-being of the people. "Amen," he said, "may it happen this way. I wish I were a false prophet; I would willingly retract, with shame, all that I have predicted until now, so great is my care and concern for the public's safety, for I would prefer the welfare of all the people to my own reputation." But he later added, as we shall see, that the promise of Hananiah was entirely vain, and that nothing would save the people from the calamity that was very near.

Prayer: Grant, Almighty God, that as You continue to invite us to Yourself and often to remind us of our sins, so that we may embrace the hope of mercy that is offered to us; O grant that we may not be ungrateful for this great and invaluable blessing, but may come to You in real humility and true repentance. And, trusting in Your infinite goodness, may we not doubt that You will be gracious to us, so that we may be kindled with the desire for true religion and in all things obey Your word, that Your name may be glorified in us, until at last we come into that celestial glory which Your Son has obtained for us by His blood. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We began in the last Lecture to explain the answer of Jeremiah, when he said to Hananiah, "May God confirm your words, and may the vessels of the Temple be restored to this place and return together with the captive people." We briefly stated what is now necessary to repeat again: that there were two feelings in the Prophets apparently contradictory, and yet they were compatible with each other.

Whatever God had commanded them they boldly declared, and thus they forgot their own nation when they announced anything adverse. Hence, when the Prophets threatened the people and said that war or famine was near, they undoubtedly were so endowed with a heroic greatness of mind that, setting aside their regard for the people, they proceeded in the performance of their office; they thus strenuously executed whatever God had commanded them.

But they did not completely cast off every human feeling, but condoled with the miseries of the people; and though they denounced destruction upon them, yet they could not help but feel sorrow from their own prophecies. There was, therefore, no inconsistency in Jeremiah wishing for the restoration of the vessels of the Temple and the return of the exiles, while he still always remained of the same mind, as we shall see later.

If anyone objects and says that this could not have been the case, for then Jeremiah must have been a vain and false prophet, the answer to this is that the prophets did not resort to refined reasoning when they were carried away by vehement zeal. For we see that Moses wished to be blotted out of the book of life, and that Paul expressed a similar wish, even that he might be an anathema from Christ for his brothers (Exodus 32:32; Romans 9:3).

Had anyone distinctly asked Moses, "Do you wish to perish and to be cut off from the hope of salvation?" his answer, no doubt, would have been that nothing was further from his mind than to cast away the immutable favor of God. But when his mind was completely fixed on God’s glory (which would have been exposed to all kinds of reproaches had the people been destroyed in the desert), and when he felt another thing, a solicitude for the salvation of his own nation, he was at that time forgetful of himself. Being carried away, as it were, beyond himself, he said, "Rather blot me out of the book of life," and the case of Paul was similar.

And we should take the same view of Jeremiah when he, in effect, said, "I wish I were a false prophet, and that you have predicted to the people what the outcome may prove to be true." But Jeremiah did not intend to take away even the least thing from God’s word. He only expressed a wish and surrendered to God the responsibility for the other matter: the credit and authority of his prophecy.

He did not, then, guarantee this, as though he had to make it good if the event did not happen to correspond with his prophecy; but he left the responsibility for this with God. And thus, without any difficulty, he prayed for the liberation and return of the people. But

Jeremiah, having testified that he did not wish for anything harmful to his own people, but wished them well, now adds that what he had predicted was nevertheless completely true. This shows more fully what I have said about his conflicting feelings; for though the Prophet desired the people's welfare, he nevertheless did not cease to give full obedience to God, and to announce those messages that were, at the same time, very distressing: thus Jeremiah did not keep silence, but became a herald of God’s vengeance against the people.

On the one hand, then, he showed that he desired nothing more than the well-being and safety of his people, and yet it was not in his power, nor in that of any mortal, to change the heavenly decree which he had pronounced. From this we see that God so influenced the minds and hearts of His servants, so that they were not cruel or barbarous; and yet they were not made soft and yielding through human sentiment, but boldly declared what God had commanded them.

For this reason he said, Nevertheless, hear you this word which I pronounce in your ears, and in the ears of all the people. By these words, Jeremiah indirectly condemned the vanity of Hananiah, who sought to flatter the people and, by his flattery, hunted for favor and applause, as is usual with such impostors. Jeremiah then said that it availed Hananiah nothing to give the people the hope of an imminent deliverance, for God had not changed His purpose. And Jeremiah now boldly and openly opposed him, as he had sufficiently refuted the ill-will with which he was unjustly burdened, for impostors always find slanders by which they assail the faithful servants of God.

Hananiah might at the beginning have objected to Jeremiah and said, “You are alienated from your own nation; you are not touched by the many miseries by which we have been until now distressed, nor do you care for what may happen to us in the future.” Thus Hananiah might have kindled hatred against Jeremiah, had Jeremiah not vindicated himself. But after he had testified that he felt kindly and was well-disposed toward his own nation, he attacked the impostor himself and did not hesitate to assert what seemed very distressing: that the people would become captives.

Yet Jeremiah seems here to have been struck to some extent with fear, for he did not confirm his own prophecy but left that, as it were, in suspense; and yet he undoubtedly exposed Hananiah's false declaration.

But we know that not everything the Prophet said is recorded, for he only briefly records the main points or chief things. And further, as we will soon see, Jeremiah could not act as he wished in the midst of such a tumult, for he would have been speaking to deaf ears. Since Hananiah had prejudiced the minds of almost everyone, the holy Prophet would not have been listened to while there was such confusion.

He was therefore satisfied with the brief assertion that God would soon show that Hananiah was a false witness in promising such a quick return to the captives and exiles.

But he makes here only a general statement: The Prophets who have been before me and you, and prophesied against many lands (or great) and against great kingdoms, have prophesied of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The word רעה, roe, evil, is placed between two other kinds of evil, but it is undoubtedly to be taken here for famine, as is evident from many other passages.

Then he adds, changing the number, “When any prophet spoke of peace,” the event proved whether or not he was a true prophet.

“Now, experience itself will shortly prove you to be false, for after two years the people who are now in Babylon will still be there under oppression, and the condition of the remnant will be no better, for those who now remain in the city and throughout all Judea will be driven into exile just like their brothers.”

Jeremiah seems here to conclude that only those are to be considered true prophets who prove by the outcome that they have been sent from God. Not only does it appear that this may be gathered from his words, but it may also be shown to be the definition of a true prophet; for when the outcome corresponds with the prophecy, there is no doubt that he who predicted what comes to pass must have been sent by God. But we must remember what is said in Deuteronomy 13:1-2, where God reminds the people that even when the outcome corresponds to the prophecy, the prophets are not to be believed thoughtlessly and indiscriminately, as though they predicted what was true;

“For God,” He says, “tries you,” that is, proves your faith, whether you will be easily carried away by every wind of doctrine.”

But there are two passages, spoken by Moses himself, which at first sight seem to contradict each other. We have already quoted the first from Deuteronomy 13; we have the other in Deuteronomy 18:18:

“The prophet who has predicted what is found to be true,
I have sent him.”

God seems there to acknowledge as His faithful servants those who foretell what is true. But Moses had before reminded the people that even impostors sometimes speak the truth, but that they should not be believed on this account. We must remember what God often declares by Isaiah, when He claims for Himself alone the foreknowledge of things:

“Go,” He says, “and inquire whether the gods of the Gentiles will answer as to future things.” (Isaiah 44:7)

We see that God ascribes to Himself alone this unique attribute: that He foreknows future events and testifies about them. And surely nothing can be clearer than that God alone can speak of hidden things; people, indeed, can conjecture this or that, but they are often mistaken.

With regard to the devil, I pass by those subtle discussions with which Augustine especially troubled himself; for above all other things he labored on this point: how do devils reveal future and hidden things? He speculated, as I have said, in too subtle a manner. But the solution to the difficulty, regarding the subject at hand, can be easily given.

We first conclude that future events can be known only by God, and that, therefore, foreknowledge is His exclusive property, so that nothing future or hidden can be predicted only by Him.

But then, it does not follow that God does not allow the devil and his ministers the freedom to foretell something true. How? This was the case with Balaam, who was an impostor, ready to offer his prophecies for hire or to sell them, as is well known, and yet he was a prophet.

But it was a special gift to foretell things: from where did he get this? Not from the devil any further than God allowed; and yet the truth had no other source than God Himself and His Spirit. When, therefore, the devil declares what is true, it is, as it were, external and incidental.

Now, as we have said that God is the source of truth, it follows that the prophets sent by Him cannot be mistaken, for they do not exceed the limits of their calling, and so they do not speak falsely about hidden things; but when they declare this or that, they have Him as their teacher.

But these terms, as they say, are not interchangeable: to foretell what is true and to be a true prophet. For some, as I have said, predict what is afterwards found by trial and experience to be true, and yet they are impostors. Nor did God, in the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, intend to give a specific definition by which His own prophets are to be distinguished; but as He saw that the Israelites would be too credulous, so as to greedily seize upon anything that might have been said, He intended to restrain that excess and to correct that excessive eagerness.

Hence He commanded them to await the outcome, as though He had said, “If any arise among you who will promise this or that in My name, do not immediately receive what they may announce; but the outcome will show whether I have sent them.” So also, in this place, Jeremiah says that the true prophets of God had spoken effectively, as they had predicted nothing but what God had ratified and truly proved to have come from Him.

Thus, then, we ought to think, for the most part, that those who predict what is true are generally the prophets of God: this is to be taken as the general rule. But we cannot therefore conclude that all those who apparently predict this or that are sent by God, so that everything they teach is true, for one particular prophecy would not be sufficient to prove the truth of all that is taught and preached.

It is enough that God condemns the vanity of those who speak from their own hearts or from their own minds, when the outcome does not correspond. At the same time, He points out His own prophets by this evidence—that He truly shows that He has sent them when He fulfills what has been predicted by them. As for false prophets, there is a special reason why God permits them so much liberty: for the world is worthy of such a reward when it willingly offers itself to be deceived. Satan, the father of lies, lays his snares everywhere for people, and those who run into them, and wish to throw themselves on his hooks, deserve to be given over to believe a lie, as they will not, as Paul says, believe the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11).

We now see, then, what Jeremiah's objective was: his purpose was not to prove that all were true prophets who predicted something true, for this was not his subject. Instead, he took up another point—that all who predicted this or that, which was afterwards found to be empty, were thus convicted of falsehood.

If, then, anyone predicted what was to be, and the thing itself did not come to pass, it was sufficient proof of his presumption; it therefore appeared that he was not sent by God, as he boasted.

This was Jeremiah's objective, and he did not go beyond it. He did not discuss the point of whether all who predicted true things were sent from God, and whether all their doctrines were to be credited and they believed indiscriminately; this was not the subject Jeremiah dealt with.

Instead, he showed that Hananiah was a false prophet, for it would become evident after two years that he had spoken in vain of what he had not received from God’s Spirit. And Moses had the same thing in view, as I have already explained.

As to the prophets who had been in all ages and prophesied concerning many lands and great kingdoms, they must be considered as exclusively the true prophets. For though there had been some prophets among heathen nations, Jeremiah would not have considered them worthy of such great honor; and it would have been to mix sacred and profane things if he had placed these empty foretellers and the true prophets in the same category.

But we know that all God’s servants had directed their discourse to the elect people, yet also spoke of foreign kingdoms and distant countries; and this has been distinctly expressed not without reason. For when they spoke of any monarchy, they could not by themselves conjecture what would happen; it was therefore necessary for them to speak in this way by the impulse of the Holy Spirit.

Were I inclined to assume more than is lawful, and to pretend that I possess some special gift of prophesying, I could more easily lie and deceive if I were to speak only of one city and of the state of things visible before my eyes, than if I extended my predictions to distant countries.

When, therefore, Jeremiah says that the prophets had spoken of diverse and large countries, and of most powerful kingdoms, he intimates that their predictions could not have been ascribed to human conjectures.

For even if anyone possessed the greatest insight, and were he to surpass angels in intelligence, he still could not predict what is to take place in the future in lands beyond the seas. But whatever had been predicted by the prophets, God confirmed it by the events of time.

It then follows that their calling was at the same time confirmed; that is, when God, as it were, ratified from heaven what they had spoken on earth. Whether, therefore, the prophets spoke of peace (that is, of prosperity) or of war, famine, and pestilence, when experience proved true what they had said, their own authority was at the same time confirmed, as though God had shown that they had been sent by Him.

We must also notice the word באמת , beamet, he says that God sent them in truth. He condemns here the boldness which impostors always assume, for they surpass God’s faithful servants in boasting that they have been sent. As then they were thus insolent, and by a false pretense of having been called to their office, deceived unwary people, the Prophet adds this clause here, intimating that they were not all sent in truth. He thus conceded some sort of calling to these unprincipled men, but yet showed how much they differed from God’s servants, whose calling was sealed by God Himself.