John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 32:36-37

"And now therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:" — Jeremiah 32:36-37 (ASV)

God has until now been showing that the Jews were worthy of that extreme punishment with which he had already afflicted the kingdom of Israel, and that they could not complain of extreme severity, though they were to rot in exile after the ruin of the city and the Temple. For they had polluted the land which ought to have been sacred to God, and had spread their abominations everywhere, so that even the Temple was not free from their filth and defilements. And they had not offended in this way for a short time only, but, as we have seen, they had despised all warnings; and though God had been concerned for their safety, they had nevertheless proudly rejected and even extinguished his favor.

Since, then, they were of such a wicked disposition, and their impiety had become altogether incurable through so much hardness, God shows that he would render to them the reward due to their works by wholly rejecting them. But now he adds the promise of favor, in order to show that he would be the avenger of wickedness in such a way as to always have regard for the gratuitous covenant which he had made with Abraham.

We have already said often that whenever God mitigates the bitterness of punishment with some hope of mercy, he has a special regard for his chosen people. The word, then, is not addressed indiscriminately to all when God declares that he will at last be merciful and propitious, for, as I have said, he encourages his chosen people alone to entertain hope. Since, then, some godly seed remained among the people, God intended to relieve them, so that they might not wholly despair.

We now see the Prophet’s object; and this truth should be carefully observed, for we shall be mistaken about the doctrine taught by the Prophets unless we know that after having threatened the wicked and the despisers of God, they then turn their discourse to the elect. They do this to encourage them to bear patiently and with calm minds the punishment laid on them, as Jeremiah did in his own case when he exhorted the faithful to lay their mouth in the dust, and then patiently to wait for God, though he would for a time hide his face from Jacob, that is, from his Church. Jeremiah then, after having shown that the Jews could not be treated too severely because they had been wholly intractable, now adds:

And now therefore, thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning this city, or, to this city. The preposition אל al, signifies both, but it is more suitable to take it here in the sense of “concerning:” of which, it is added, ye say that it has been delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. This does not seem to be consistent with facts, for the Jews themselves had not announced this sentence respecting Jerusalem. On the contrary, they sturdily rose up against the Prophets and made a clamor whenever the ruin of the city was announced.

What then is meant when God upbraids them with speaking in this manner? To this I answer that this message had indeed proceeded from the Spirit of God, and also that the Prophets had been the witnesses and heralds of this punishment. But when the Jews saw that they could not escape, they then had such a dreadful apprehension of God’s judgment that they became completely stunned with fear. And this always happens to the despisers of God: unless he presses hard on them, they scorn all his threatenings, or they think that fables are being told to them when God announces that he will execute his vengeance on them.

But when they reach extremities, they are filled with consternation and, without any hope, confess only that God is angry with them; hence their despair. The Prophet, then, does not upbraid them with this without reason—that they said that the city was delivered up to the Chaldean king, even while he was not only assailing it with a strong army but was also assisted by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence as his associates.

For before the siege pressed hard on them, they esteemed as nothing, as we have seen, all that Jeremiah declared to them; for he lost all his labor for nearly forty years, though the prophecy concerning the ruin of the city, exile, the rejection of the people, and the abolition of all holy things was proclaimed daily.

But now when they saw that the situation was serious and that they could not escape God’s vengeance, they went to another extreme and said that God was false in his promises, that his covenant was void and useless, that they had worshipped him in vain, and that he had deceived them and had given them false hopes when he promised that he would dwell in their midst.

It is, then, in this sense that they said that the city was delivered up into the hand of the king of Babylon; it was as if they had said that the hope of return had been cut off. For they completely cast away the favor offered by God and said that all that Jeremiah had promised was vain, because terrors had taken such a hold on their minds and feelings that they could not entertain any hope of God’s mercy.

I have said that it is the case with all the reprobate that they deride God while he spares and bears with them; but when they find that he is a judge, then they do not look to his mercy but lie prostrate in despair as though they were lifeless.

We now understand what the Prophet’s design was when he spoke of the Jews as saying that the city was delivered up to the Chaldeans and the Babylonians, even because the promised deliverance could afford them no comfort, since they fully believed that their salvation was hopeless. “Ye then say,” he says, “that the city has been delivered up; but I,” he adds, “will gather them from all the lands to which I shall drive them in my wrath and hot displeasure and great indignation.”

Here God promises that the exile would only be temporary, because he would at last gather, as it is said in Psalm 147:2, the dispersed of Israel. No name is expressed here, only a pronoun; there is however no ambiguity, for it is sufficiently evident that he speaks of the Jews when he says, I will gather them. Since they had been scattered here and there, their gathering might have appeared incredible. For if they had only been driven from their own country and a place of exile had been granted to them where they might have lived together, they might have hoped at some time to return. But the scattering took away every hope, for they had been driven into different countries, and far distant from each other. In order, then, to obviate this difficulty, God expressly says that he would restore them from all the lands into which he had driven them. And the Prophet no doubt alludes to a passage in Deuteronomy 30:4,

Though they be scattered to the four quarters of the world,
I will thence gather them.

Since, then, God had promised through Moses that though they were banished into the farthest parts of the world, yet their restoration would not be difficult for him, so the Prophet applies this declaration of Moses to his own prophecy: namely, that God would gather from the whole of the East those who had been scattered.

He adds, in my wrath, hot displeasure, and great indignation. God does not mention his wrath here merely to state it, but so that the Jews might perceive that they deserved so great a punishment. For we know that as God is the Judge of the world, nothing unjust can belong to him. Therefore, when God’s wrath is said to be great, we may with certainty conclude that the vices of men are great, for he is never angry with us except when he is offended by the greatness of our sins.

Hence, we perceive the reason why the Prophet mentions here the wrath, the hot displeasure, and great indignation of God: namely, that the faithful might feel assured that God would be propitious to them, though they were worthy of eternal ruin. In short, Jeremiah shows that there would be a place for God’s mercy, though the Jews had merited destruction a hundred times through their obstinacy.

And he adds that his favor would be continued: And I will cause them to dwell safely. After having promised them a return, he now promises a tranquil condition, for it would have been better for the Jews to remain always in exile and in foreign lands than to return to their own country and live there in misery. This was the reason why the Prophet expressly added that there would be a quiet habitation for them.

But we know that this was not fulfilled when the Jews returned to their own country. For they were greatly harassed by their neighbors, the building of the Temple was at first hindered, and they endured many troubles from all quarters. Eventually, they were oppressed by the tyranny of the Syrian kings and reduced to such extremities that exile would not only have been more tolerable but even pleasanter and more desirable in comparison with the many miseries with which they were oppressed. But, as has been said elsewhere, whenever the Prophets prophesied concerning the return of the people, they extended what they taught to the whole kingdom of Christ. For liberation from exile was nothing more than the beginning of God’s favor: God began the work of true and real redemption when he restored his people to their own country, but he gave them only a slight taste of his mercy. This prophecy, then, with those like it, should be extended to the kingdom of Christ. He afterwards adds: