John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 3:4

"Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?" — Jeremiah 3:4 (ASV)

God, after having shown the wickedness of his people and severely rebuked them as they deserved, now kindly invites them to repentance. Wilt thou not say to me hereafter, he says, My Father! Some incorrectly interpret the words, “Will you say to me, My Father,” as if God would reject what they said. Their interpretation is that the Jews would act dishonestly by glorying in God’s name in this way, from whom they were so alienated. But the Prophet's meaning is very different, for God mitigates the severity of the rebuke which we have observed and shows that he would be ready to be reconciled to them, if they repented.

Indeed, he does not wait for their repentance, but of his own accord meets and allures these perfidious apostates. “What!” says God, “will there no longer be any union between us?” For God expresses here the feeling of one grieving and lamenting when he saw the people perishing, and he seems anxious, if possible, to restore them.

It is with this purpose that he asks, “Will they not again call on me as their Father and the guide of their youth?” And by this indirect way of speaking, he implies that he was the husband of that people, for most tender is that love which a youth has for a young virgin in the flower of her age. God, then, now uses this comparison and says that he still remembered the love which he had shown toward his people. In short, he shows here that pardon was ready if the people sought reconciliation; and he confirms the same thing when he adds —