John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 33:15

"In those days, and at that time, will I cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land." — Jeremiah 33:15 (ASV)

Here the Prophet shows what Paul afterwards spoke of: that all the promises of God are in Christ yea and amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). That is, they do not stand nor can they be valid for us, unless Christ interposes to sanction or confirm them. Then the efficacy of God’s promises depends on Christ alone.

And for this reason, the Prophets, when speaking of the grace of God, eventually come to Christ, for without Him all the promises would vanish away. Let us also know that the Jews had been so trained as always to flee to God’s covenant, because all particular promises depended on the general covenant.

For instance, Jeremiah has until now often been prophesying about God’s mercy to the people after He punished them for their sins; now, this promise was special. How then could the Jews and the Israelites believe that they would return to their own country? This special promise could have been of no significance, unless it was an appendix to the covenant, precisely because God had adopted them as His people.

Since, then, the Jews knew that they had been chosen as a peculiar people and that God was their Father, hence their faith in all the promises. Now, again, we must bear in mind that the covenant was founded on Christ alone, for God had not only promised Abraham that He would be a Father to his seed, but had also added an earnest or a pledge that a Redeemer would come.

So now we perceive the reason why the Prophets, when they sought to strengthen the faithful in the hope of salvation, presented Christ: because the promises had no certainty without the general covenant. Furthermore, since the general covenant could not stand or have any validity except in Christ, this is the point to which Jeremiah now turns his attention, as we have also seen in other places, especially in the twenty-third chapter, from which he repeats this prophecy.

God, then, had promised that His people would be restored. He had also promised that He would be so gracious to them as to preserve them in safety as His people. He now adds:

In those days, and at that time, I will raise up, I will cause to germinate. The verb in the twenty-third chapter is הקמתי, ekamti, I will cause to rise; but here, “I will cause to germinate.” And there we read, “a righteous branch,” but here, “a branch of righteousness,” which means the same thing.

But why does the Prophet now speak of the seed of David? It is not an abrupt sentence. The reason is that the minds of the faithful would have always vacillated if Christ had not been brought forward, on whom the eternal and unchangeable covenant of God was founded.

But they could not have had any taste of God’s grace if they had not known that they had been gratuitously chosen by Him. Adoption, then, was the foundation of the covenant; and then Christ was the earnest and pledge of the covenant, as well as of gratuitous adoption. Therefore, the Prophet, wishing to seal and confirm his prophecy, bids the faithful to look to Christ.

He says, In those days, and at that time; for, as it is said in the proverb, “Even quickness is delay when we have ardent wishes,” so now a long delay might have produced weariness in the Israelites. So that they might not be carried away by too much haste, he mentions those days and that time. Thus, if God deferred the time, so that they might check themselves, He says, I will make to grow for David a righteous branch.

This passage ought, no doubt, to be understood as referring to Christ. We know that it was common for the Jews, whenever the Prophets promised them the seed of David, to direct their attention to Christ. This, then, was a mode of teaching familiar to the Jews. The Prophets, indeed, sometimes mentioned David himself, and not his son:

I will raise up David, etc. (Ezekiel 34:23).

Now David was dead, and his body was reduced to dust and ashes; but under the person of David, the Prophets presented Christ. So, regarding this passage, the Jews must show their effrontery in a most ridiculous manner if they make evasions and attempt to apply it otherwise than to Christ.

This being the case, if anyone were to ask the Jews now how this prophecy has been fulfilled, it would be necessary for them to acknowledge Christ or to deny faith in God and also in Jeremiah. It is, indeed, certain that Jeremiah celebrates here the grace of deliverance, especially because a Redeemer was soon to come.

For the return of the Jews to their own land, what was it? We know that even immediately upon their restoration, they were in a miserable state, though their condition then was much better than afterwards. In later times, they were cruelly treated by Antiochus and other kings of Syria; they were always exposed to the heathens around them, so that they were harassed and plundered by them at will.

Therefore, during the whole of that time which preceded the coming of Christ, God did not fulfill what He had promised by Jeremiah and His other servants. What is now their condition? Dispersed throughout the whole world—and they have been so for more than fifteen hundred years since Christ arose from the dead. We see that they pine away under their calamities, so that their curse seems dreadful to all. God had, indeed, spoken by Moses, and then repeated it by His Prophets:

Ye shall be for a hissing and for a curse to all nations.
(Deuteronomy 28:37; Jeremiah 25:18)

But that punishment was to be for a time. There is, therefore, no basis for what the Jews allege. It thus appears that they are entirely lacking credibility and only perversely pretend, I do not know what, so that there may be some appearance, though wholly hypocritical, in what they assert.

But regarding us, we see that the promise concerning the coming of the Messiah has not been made in vain. We also know that it happened, through the wonderful purpose of God, that the Jews did not enjoy the full and real happiness that had been promised at the coming of Christ. This was so that they would not think that what all God’s servants had promised was then accomplished.

For we know how inclined people are to be satisfied with earthly things. The Jews might then have thought their happiness was complete if God had not tested them with many troubles, so that they might always look forward to the manifestation of Christ.

He calls it the Branch of righteousness by way of contrast, because the children of David had become degenerate, and God had almost deemed them accursed, for most of the kings were destitute of God’s grace. There was, then, but one Branch of righteousness: even Christ.

We also know how wide and extensive Christ’s righteousness is, for He communicates it to us. But we ought to begin with that righteousness which I have mentioned: that is, the righteousness that stands in opposition to the many changes that happened to the posterity of David, for things were often in a very low state.

Though unto David, לדוד Ladavid, is often taken as meaning, “I will raise up the branch of David,” yet God seems here to refer to the promise He had made to David, as God is said in many passages to have sworn to His servant David (Psalms 89:3; Psalms 132:11).

It follows, And he shall execute judgment and justice in the land. By these words a right government is denoted.

For when the two words are joined together, justice refers to the defense of the innocent, and judgment to the punishment of iniquity; for unless the wicked are restrained by the fear of the law, they would violate all order.

Judgment, indeed, when by itself, means the right administration of the law. But as I have already said, justice and judgment include the protection of the good and also the restraint of the wicked, who do not become obedient willingly or of their own accord.

In a word, the promise is that the king spoken of here would be upright and just, so as to be in every way perfect and exhibit the model of the best of kings.

But we must always observe the contrast between the other descendants of David and Christ. For the Jews had seen the saddest spectacles in the posterity of David: many of them were apostates and perverted the worship of God; others raged against the Prophets and all good men, and were also full of avarice and rapacity, and given to all kinds of lusts. Since, then, their kings had debased themselves with so many crimes, a king is promised here who would so discharge His office as to be acknowledged as the true minister of God.

At the same time, it is necessary to bear in mind the character of Christ’s kingdom. It is, we know, spiritual, but it is presented under the image or form of an earthly and civil government. For whenever the Prophets speak of Christ’s kingdom, they set before us an earthly form, because spiritual truth, without any metaphor, could not have been sufficiently understood by an unrefined people in their immaturity.

It is no wonder, then, that the Prophets, wishing to accommodate their words to the understanding of the Jews, would speak of Christ’s kingdom in such a way as to portray it to them as an earthly and civil government. But it is necessary for us to consider what sort of kingdom it is.

Since, then, it is spiritual, the justice and judgment of which the Prophet speaks do not belong only to civil and external order, but rather to that rectitude by which people are reformed according to God’s image, which is in righteousness and truth.

Christ, then, is said to reign over us in justice and judgment, not only because He keeps us by laws within the bounds of our duty, defends the good and the innocent, and represses the audacity of the wicked, but because He rules us by His Spirit. And of the Spirit, we know what Christ Himself declares: The Spirit shall convince the world of righteousness and judgment, etc. (John 16:8).

Therefore, we must turn to spiritual jurisdiction if we wish to understand the righteousness mentioned here; the judgment that is added is also of the same kind.