John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 30:23

"Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, [even his] wrath, is gone forth, a sweeping tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked." — Jeremiah 30:23 (ASV)

The Prophet seems to speak abruptly. Nothing could be more delightful than God's promise to be a Father to the people, yet He immediately adds that an involving whirlwind would arise, which would rest upon the head of the wicked. At first glance, these things do not seem to harmonize. However, this latter sentence may be applied to pagans or to any enemies of the Church, for whenever God appears as the Savior of His people, His vengeance is also unleashed and poured out on the wicked. Thus, declarations such as the following often occur:

The day of my vengeance is near, and the year of my visitation (Isaiah 63:4).

Isaiah joins both God's favor and His vengeance, and this is often done by the other Prophets so that we may see that God’s mercy towards the faithful cannot be clearly and distinctly perceived unless His judgment, on the other hand, is also made conspicuous towards the wicked.

This passage may be explained in that way. However, we can also connect the Prophet's words in this manner: he kindly endeavored to draw the people by offering them God’s favor. But, having seen that it would be despised by most of them (as we stated yesterday), he now appropriately threatens them that if they refused the favor offered, such ingratitude could not be tolerated by God.

This is a method of teaching common in Scripture. For God, on His part, thus manifests His kindness to stimulate people; but as He sees them not only slothful and slow, but also wicked and ungrateful, He declares that they will not go unpunished if they despise His favor. The former truth, then, agrees well with what the Prophet now says—that the wrath of God would arise like a tempestuous storm.

He later adds, a whirling or involving tempest—properly, a tempest gathering itself. The verb is גור gur, in a reduplicate form and in Hithpael. A similar sentence is found in Jeremiah 23:19, but there the Prophet used a different word as required by the subject. Some translate it as “falling,” because גור, gur, means to fall. This meaning is suitable: “a falling storm,” that is, one descending forcefully, so as to rest upon the head of the wicked.

However, the former meaning (that of a whirling tempest) has been more commonly accepted, and I am inclined to embrace it. For it tends to fill people with terror when the storm is described as a whirlwind, because it turns and twists around, making it unavoidable. The meaning, therefore, is that God’s vengeance will be fatal to all the wicked.

We may understand “the wicked” (רשעים, reshoim) to mean the despisers of God—though boasting of His name—as well as foreigners. Indeed, I am inclined to include both domestic and foreign enemies of God, as if the Prophet had said that no remedy remained unless they fled to the mercy of God.