John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 29:24-27

"And concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite thou shalt speak, saying, Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thine own name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, Jehovah hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Jehovah, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in the stocks and in shackles. Now therefore, why hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who maketh himself a prophet to you," — Jeremiah 29:24-27 (ASV)

Here Jeremiah prophesies concerning a third person, who had written a letter to the priests and to the whole people against Jeremiah himself, and had reasoned earnestly with the chief priest and with others, because Jeremiah had, without punishment, long exhorted the people to bear their long exile. This is the meaning of the passage; but as to this person's punishment, we shall see what it was at the end of the chapter.

I did not wish to give the whole, because I cannot finish this prophecy today. I have therefore taken only the former part: namely, that Shemaiah had not only encouraged the people, as others did, to hope for a return and to raise a commotion, but had also scattered his poison in Jerusalem. He had endeavored to load Jeremiah with ill-will, so that he might be killed as a false prophet and an enemy to the public good, as well as to the Law and the Temple.

Thou shalt then say to or of Shemaiah—for אל (al) may be taken in either sense. His crime is now related; we shall later see what his punishment was.

His crime was that he wrote in God’s name. Had he only been an instigator of cruelty, he would have deserved no pardon. But his crime was doubled, for he dared to pretend to God's authority and to boast that he was, so to speak, His scribe. It was as though he had said that his letter had been dictated by the Holy Spirit—that he had not spoken his own thoughts, or presumptuously, but that God could not endure the liberty given to Jeremiah.

For though Jeremiah continually preached of long exile, yet the chief priest tolerated him, and no one of the whole priestly order opposed him; and at the same time, Shemaiah blames the people for their indulgence. That he did all this in God’s name was far more serious than if he had written as a private individual.

It is said that he had written to the whole people, so that they might all unite as a group against Jeremiah. For, had he written only to the priests, they might have objected that they were not at liberty to act so violently against Jeremiah, as sedition might be raised.

From this we see the cunning of this wicked man: though he despised the people, yet so that all of them, even the lowliest, might help the priests to commit this act of cruelty, and that there might be the union of all, he included the whole people in his letter.

He afterwards mentioned the priest and all the priests. The word priest, in the singular, meant the high priest. Then the priests were not only those descended from Aaron, but all the Levites. There was the high priest, and then the descendants of Aaron were the chief and, so to speak, the colleagues of the high priest; but the Levites were an inferior order, though here by the priests he also means the Levites.

Here follows the subject of the letter: Jehovah hath made thee a priest, etc. Here the impostor Shemaiah accuses the high priest of ingratitude because he had been chosen in the place of another. For it is probable that Jehoiada was still living but had been taken away to Chaldea with the other exiles.

Since then so high a dignity had, beyond hope and before the time, come to the high priest, the false prophet reproves him because he did not rightly acknowledge this favor of God. It was as though he had said that he was rendering an unworthy reward to God, who had raised him to that high station.

God, he said, hath made thee a priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest. Thus the ministers of Satan transform themselves into angels of light. Yet they cannot so skillfully imitate God’s servants that their deceit does not soon make itself known, for cunning is very different from right and wise counsel.

God endows His servants with counsel and wisdom, but Satan with cunning and deceit. Though, at first glance, some artifice appears in this letter of the false prophet, yet we may infer from its contents that he falsely pretended to the name of God and falsely claimed that the chief priest was chosen in the place of Jehoiada.

That ye should be, he says—at first he addresses the high priest, but now he also includes others—that ye should be the keepers, or the rulers of the house of God. For though the chief power was in the high priest, yet as he could not alone manage everything, it was necessary for him to have others connected with him.

This is the reason why Shemaiah not only says that the high priest was a ruler in the Temple of God, but after having placed him in the highest honor, also mentions others.

He says, against every man that is mad; so משגע (meshego) is translated by Jerome, and I think not unsuitably, for the word properly means one that is insane. But this was applied to false teachers because they boasted that they were under a divine impulse when they spoke their own thoughts.

This appears evident from the ninth chapter of Hosea, where it is said that the people would eventually acknowledge that the prophets who had flattered them were insane, and that the men of the Spirit were mad. The Prophet conceded to them both names—that they were prophets and men of the Spirit, that is, spiritual—but he proved that they had only the names and not the reality. For prophets were called spiritual men because God inspired them with His Spirit; but the ungodly, when they wished to insult the true prophets, called them mad.

Those who were with Jehu spoke this way when a prophet came to anoint him: What means this mad fellow? (2 Kings 9:11). This word משגע (meshego) is what they used, and they contemptuously called him mad, who had yet spoken by the secret impulse of the Spirit. In like manner, the ungodly rave in contempt of God against everything found in Scripture.

But as has been previously stated, it was necessary to distinguish between the true servants of God and those who were so in name only, for many boasted that they were called by God and yet were impostors. God then called these mad and insane. But what did the ungodly do? They transferred this reproach to the legitimate servants of God. So, here, Shemaiah says that Jeremiah was mad, who falsely pretended to God’s name and prophesied falsely.

He adds, That thou shouldest put him in prison, or cast him into prison or the stocks, as some translate the word. Then he says, in manacles, that is, you should bind him until his impiety is known, so that you may detain him in prison. It is, indeed, probable that the chief priests had assumed this power during the time of disorder.

This action no doubt resulted from a good principle, for God always intended that His Church should be well governed. He therefore commanded in His Law that when any dispute or question arose, the chief priest was to be the judge (Deuteronomy 17:8–9). But when mention is made here of prison and of manacles, it was an act, no doubt, beyond the Law.

It is therefore probable that this was added to the Law of God when the state of affairs was in disorder and confusion among the Jews. And what was the origin of the evil? It was from the ignorance and laziness of the priests. They should have been the messengers of the God of hosts, the interpreters of the Law; the truth should have been sought from their mouth. But they were dumb dogs; indeed, they had so degenerated that nothing priestly was found in them; they had forgotten the Law, and there was no religion in them.

Since then they had neglected their office, it was necessary to choose other prophets. And as we have said elsewhere, it was, so to speak, accidental that God raised up prophets from the common people. There was, indeed, a necessity of always having prophets in the ancient Church; but God would have taken them from the Levites, except that He intended to expose them to reproach before the whole people when He made prophets even of herdsmen, as in the case of Amos.

So then, as the priests allowed the prophetic office to be transferred to the common people, a new way was devised so that it might not cause them any loss, as under the Papacy. For we know that bishops are made rulers in the Church for no other reason than that there might be pastors and teachers.

For of what use could these asses be, whom we know to be mostly destitute of any learning? What could these men do, who are profane and given up to their own pleasures and enjoyments? In short, what could gamblers and panders do? For such are almost all the Papal bishops.

It was therefore necessary to surrender their office to brawling monks: “You shall teach, for we resign the pulpits to you.” But, at the same time, they retained the power of judgment in their own hands. When any controversy arose, neither the noisy brawlers nor the dumb beasts could decide anything themselves, for ignorance prevented the latter, and power was lacking for the former.

How, then, did the bishops formerly condemn heretics? And how do they condemn them still? Well, in this way: when one was a Carmelite, they called in the Franciscans; and when one was an Augustinian, the Dominicans were summoned. For, as I have said, these mute animals had no knowledge nor wisdom. And yet a certain dignity was maintained by the bishops or their vicars when they pronounced sentence in condemning heretics.

Such was probably the case among the ancient people; for those who claimed to be prophets were summoned—and that by the authority of the high priest, under the pretense of law, but not without some corruption added to it. For God had not given fetters and manacles to the priests so that they might thus restrain those who might cause disturbance and corrupt the pure truth. But I shall defer what remains to the next lecture.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since we are prone to what is false and wholly devoted to vanity, we may be governed by Your Spirit and desire nothing other than to be obedient to You. And as we offer ourselves to You as Your disciples, grant that, having the light of Your word shining before us, we may follow the way which You show us, and thus persevere in a right course, until we finally come to that blessed rest which is prepared for us in heaven, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We saw in the last lecture the substance of the letter which Shemaiah had written to the chief priest. He reproved him for his neglect because he did not silence Jeremiah according to the right and duty of his office. This had a plausible appearance, but it was a false principle which he assumed—that Jeremiah falsely pretended to God’s name, was not sent, and had no command to prophesy; this was false. Justly then does the Prophet now oppose him and pronounce the punishment which he deserved.