John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 30:4-6

"And these are the words that Jehovah spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith Jehovah: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child: wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?" — Jeremiah 30:4-6 (ASV)

Both Jews and Christians distort this passage, for they apply it to the time of the Messiah. When they scarcely agree on any other part of Scripture, they are remarkably united here; but, as I have said, they depart very far from the true meaning of the Prophet.

They all consider this a prophecy referring to the time of the Messiah. However, if anyone were to wisely examine the whole context, he would readily agree with me that the Prophet includes here the substance of the doctrine which the people had previously heard from him. In the first clause, he shows that he had spoken of God’s vengeance, which rested on the people.

However, this clause touches on that point only briefly, because the main object was to alleviate the sorrow of the afflicted people. For the reason should always be kept in mind why the Prophet had been ordered to write down the substance of what he had taught: it was to provide some comfort to the exiles when they had discovered through experience that they had been extremely perverse, having for so long neither changed nor turned to repentance.

The Prophet had previously spoken at length about the vices of the people, and many times condemned their obstinacy, and also pointed out the grievous and dreadful punishment that awaited them. The Prophet, then, had in many a discourse reproved the people, and had been commanded daily to repeat the same thing, though not for his own sake, nor mainly for the sake of those of his own age, or of the elderly.

But after God had destroyed the Temple and the city, his object was to sustain their distressed minds, which must otherwise have been overwhelmed with despair. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet here touches only slightly on the vengeance that awaited the people. There is, however, as we shall see, great force in this brevity. But he is much more detailed regarding the second part, so that the people might not succumb to their calamities, but hope in the midst of death, and even begin to hope while suffering the punishment they deserved.

Now he says, Thus saith Jehovah, A cry, or, the voice of trembling, or of fear, have we heard. The word חרדה, cherede, is generally understood to mean that dread which makes the whole body tremble, and is therefore translated as “trembling.” God speaks, yet He does so in the person of the people.

Why? To expose their insensibility. For as they were obstinate in their wickedness, they were not terrified by threats, however many and dreadful. God dictated words for them, for they were completely devoid of feeling. We now see why God spoke as if He were those who felt secure, though Jeremiah daily portrayed God’s vengeance to them as being near.

The meaning is that though the people were asleep in their sins and thought themselves beyond the reach of danger, even when God was displeased with them, yet the threats by which God sought to lead them to repentance would not be in vain. Hence God says, We have heard the voice of fear; that is, “Deride and scoff as you wish, or remain unfeeling in your delusions, disregarding what is said like a drunken person, lacking feeling, reason, and memory, yet God will extort from you this confession, this voice of trembling and fear.”

He then adds, and not of peace. This is emphatically added so that the Prophet might shake the people free from those foolish delusions with which the false prophets had imbued them. He then says that they hoped in vain for peace, for they could not flee from terror and fear.

He enhances this fear by saying, Inquire and see whether a man is in labor? Someone translates this absurdly, “Whether a man begets?”—a mistake by which he has revealed a lack of judgment as well as ignorance. He was indeed learned in Hebrew, but ignorant of Latin, and also lacked judgment.

For the Prophet here speaks of something monstrous; but it is natural for a man to beget. He asks here ironically, “Can a man be in labor?” because God would put all men in such pains and agonies, as though they were women laboring in childbirth. Just as women, then, exert every nerve and writhe in anguish when childbirth draws near, so also men, all of them, would have their hands on their loins, on account of their terror and dread. Then he says, and all faces are turned into paleness; that is, God would terrify them all.

We now understand the Prophet’s meaning. For as the Jews did not believe God’s judgment, it was necessary for the Prophet, as he does here, to storm their hardness. If he had spoken in an ordinary way, they would not have been moved. Therefore, he took into account their perverseness, and for this reason he was so vehement.

Inquire, then, he says, and see whether a man is in labor? God would reduce all men to an unmanly condition, like that of a woman in labor, when she is in her final effort to give birth, when her pain is most intense and bitter. Men would then be driven into a most unbecoming, strange, and monstrous state.

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