John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 31:22

"How long wilt thou go hither and thither, O thou backsliding daughter? for Jehovah hath created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man." — Jeremiah 31:22 (ASV)

As the Prophet had promised a return to the people, he now rebukes especially the Israelites, who looked here and there and could never rest in the word of God alone. For it is a common thing with almost all unbelievers that they torment themselves and, as it were, deliberately contrive for themselves many anxieties.

Since the Israelites were looking forward to what might happen and could not hold onto any hope for their return, except when some appearance of hope was presented to them, the Prophet now for this reason rebukes them.

He first calls the people disobedient or rebellious, for they had often been terrified by threats, and God had also offered them the hope of pardon. As they had been perverse whenever God spared them, and as they had also rejected all His promises, the Prophet with good reason calls them disobedient or rebellious.

And by “circuits” or “wanderings,” he means those vain speculations with which unbelievers are accustomed to weary themselves; for the word properly means “to go around.” We may indeed take it in the sense of wandering, and it is the same thing. But as I have said, the Prophet very aptly gives the name of circuits to those crooked and tortuous speculations in which unbelievers indulged themselves.

A contrast seems to be implied between the straight way set before them by God and those circuitous courses in which miserable men entangle themselves when they do not follow God but are led astray by their own vain devices. Isaiah also uses the same analogy, for he says that the people were carried away by their own inventions, so that they fruitlessly wearied themselves because they did not proceed in the straight way (Isaiah 57:10).

We may from this deduce a useful doctrine: that we are always within the boundary of safety when we obey God and walk in the way set before us in His word. But as soon as we turn aside from the right way, we are only drawn here and there through windings and strayings, so that our labor is ultimately useless and even ruinous.

So now we understand the Prophet's meaning: since the unbelief of the people was, as it were, a sealed door, preventing them from receiving God’s promises concerning their liberation and return, his purpose here was to correct this evil and to rebuke the Israelites for wandering and being disobedient.

Afterward, he adds, For behold Jehovah will create—literally, “has created”; but the past tense is here to be taken for the future. It serves to show the certainty of a thing when he uses the past tense, as though he were speaking of something already done: Jehovah then has created a new thing.

He implies that the Israelites acted foolishly in evaluating the promise of deliverance according to their own judgment and the apparent state of affairs. For he says that the favor promised them would be wonderful, as this is what he means by a new thing.

It is as though he had said, “You indeed judge, according to your usual manner, what God promises to you concerning your return, but it will be a miracle. Do not then act perversely by regarding the favor of God as part of the common order of nature, for God will surpass everything that is usual among men.”

It should also be noted that what Jeremiah said of the redemption of the people is to be extended to the eternal salvation of the Church. For God in a wonderful manner raises the dead, defends and preserves His Church, and helps her in her troubles.

Whenever, then, the Scripture speaks of the state of the Church, we ought to ascend above the world and above our own conceptions, and to realize the miracle which is hidden from us.

Now follows the miracle: A woman shall surround a ‘man. Christians, almost with general agreement, interpret this as referring to the Virgin Mary. The “new thing” leads them to this opinion, and probably, also, they were anxious to seize upon whatever might seem to refer to the mystery of our salvation.

They, therefore, say that the new thing of which the Prophet speaks is the virgin carrying the infant Christ in her womb, and that He is called man, because He was full of divine power, though He increased according to the flesh in stature, wisdom, and strength. All this is deservedly laughed at by the Jews; yet they themselves, as I think, do not correctly understand the Prophet’s meaning.

They apply it to the people of Israel, because they were like a woman divorced from her husband. They then say, “A woman shall embrace a man after having been alienated from him and prostituted herself to many adulterers.” The Jews seem to think that they are giving the Prophet’s meaning, but I think otherwise, for there is here a comparison made between a woman and a man, which they do not consider.

For the Prophet does not speak here simply of a man, but of a strong man; for the word גבר geber, means a man who is brave or courageous.

When, therefore, he compares a woman to a man, I do not doubt that the Prophet means that the Israelites, who were like women—without strength and destitute of any means of help—would then be superior in strength to their enemies, whose power filled the whole world with terror.

We, indeed, know what sort of monarchy Babylon was when the Jews were led into exile. If then we consider what the Jews at that time were, we must say that they were like weak women, while their enemies were strong and warlike: A woman then shall surround a man.

The word סבב, sebab, means not to embrace, but often to besiege; and it is taken in many places of Scripture in a negative sense, for example, Enemies have surrounded me. When, therefore, a siege is mentioned, the Scripture uses this word.

It is, then, as though the Prophet had said, “Women shall bring men into such difficulties that they shall hold them captive.” But he uses the singular number, as though he had said, “One woman shall be superior to many men, or each Jew shall surpass a Chaldean in valor; so the Jews shall gain the upper hand, though the strength of their enemies be great and terrible.”

This is what I regard as the Prophet’s meaning; and he rightly sets this forth as a wonderful thing, for it was a sort of revolution in the world when God thus raised up His servants, so that those who had enslaved them would become far inferior to them.