John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 32:33

"And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction." — Jeremiah 32:33 (ASV)

Here the Prophet expresses more clearly the perverseness of the people, as though he had said that they had deliberately rejected every instruction and had shown no regard for God. For he who turns his back on us does this knowingly and willfully, and indeed not without contempt. When anyone addresses me, and I look another way, is it not a manifest sign of contempt or disdain?

And he who speaks, does he not see that he is disregarded? Thus God then complains that the Jews had not fallen away through ignorance, but as it were through a premeditated obstinacy: they then turned to me, he says, the neck, when they ought to have been attentive to hear the doctrine of the Law.

For God shows his face to us whenever he is pleased to prescribe what ought to be done, or to show the way of salvation. When he looks on us, how detestable must our pride be if we do not also look on him in return? This, then, is the first thing: that the Jews had knowingly and willfully despised God and his Law.

Then he amplifies their guilt by saying, And I taught them, I rose up early and taught them, and they hearkened not. If the Law had been promulgated only once, the Jews might have objected, saying that they were for the most part illiterate. But no plausible excuse remained for them, since the Prophets were continually interpreting the Law, as God had also promised by Moses,

A Prophet will I raise up for thee from the midst of thy brethren (Deuteronomy 18:18).

For he intimates that this benefit would be perpetual in the Church, so that Prophets would never be lacking to show the right way to the people. For he sets Prophets in opposition to soothsayers, diviners, foretellers, and all other ministers of Satan, as though he had said that there was no reason for the people to seek the fallacies of Satan, since the Prophets were sufficient.

Lest the Jews then complain that they were harshly treated, God here shows that he had taught them, for he ascribes to himself what he had done by his Prophets. And doubtless, Prophets and teachers are nothing else but the instruments of the Holy Spirit, for no one is fit to teach unless he is guided by the Spirit of God. God then justly claims these offices for himself, so that all the praise for the building up of his Church is due to him, though he employs the labors of men. It is in this sense that he says that he had taught them.

Then he adds that he rose up early; that is, that he had been diligent. As a master of a family, who is concerned for his own, inquires early how they are and looks around the whole house, so God also represents himself here, speaking of his care in teaching the Israelites. It is as though he had said that not only was his Law set before their eyes, by which they could learn what was right, but also that Prophets were given who unceasingly admonished and exhorted them.

Now this manner of speaking should be particularly observed, for from this we learn how base is the ingratitude of those who reject the teaching of the Prophets. For they not only disregarded men, but God himself, as Christ also declares,

He who hears you, hears me; and he who rejects you, rejects me (Luke 10:16).

This form of speaking, then, commends the truth of the doctrine taught by the Prophets, for God comes forth and shows that he speaks by his servants.

On the other hand, we learn what an incomparable blessing it is to have faithful and true teachers. For God, through them and their labors, declares with certainty that he cares for our salvation—as though he watched over us, as though he rose up early, as though he visited us. And the preaching of the Gospel is not without reason called the visitation of God.

Therefore, there is no reason for us to seek anything better when God is present with us by his word, for we have a sure testimony of his presence whenever true and faithful teachers rise up.

He adds, to receive correction. He intimates by the word מוסר musar, that the Jews had not sinned through ignorance, but that they had been intractable, for they refused to be corrected. The word is, indeed, sometimes taken for doctrine, but here it means correction, as when anyone who generally holds a right course deviates from the right way, but, being warned, repents.

From this we see what the Prophet means: namely, that the Jews had not only closed their eyes against the clear light which shone forth in the Law, but that they had been completely refractory. They could not be subdued when God called them to repentance; when he sought to heal their diseases, they showed such stubbornness that they cast aside all correction and discipline.

Thus we learn that the time of vengeance had come, because God had tried all means to promote their welfare and had lost, as the common saying is, both his effort and expense.