John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 35:12-15

"Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith Jehovah. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and unto this day they drink none, for they obey their father`s commandment: but I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking; and ye have not hearkened unto me. I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me." — Jeremiah 35:12-15 (ASV)

Here Jeremiah applies the example which he had related, for what follows is God’s complaint—that He was less regarded by His people than Jonadab was by his descendants. He then says, Go and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. To make the reproof more effective, the Prophet introduces God as the speaker. It was therefore God’s purpose to convey the reproof to the Jews in His own name, and as it were, in His own person.

Will you not receive instruction, He says, so as to obey Me? The word מוסר, musar, sometimes means ruling or governing, and sometimes correction. But God here no doubt reprimands that madness of the Jews in which they had long hardened themselves, as if He had said, “You never think it right to return to a sound mind.” Since, then, they had been for a long time incorrigible and wandered after their own lusts like unbridled wild beasts, a reproof is here given, as if He had said, “Will this people always be so ungovernably wanton as never to submit to the yoke?”

And He says, so as to obey Me. God shows that He required nothing unjust from the Jews, so that a true excuse could be pretended, as though He was too rigid. “I require only,” He says, “that you obey Me: this is all My severity, for lovely is the rule of meekness which I use towards you. Since, then, I demand nothing but what children ought willingly to render to their fathers without being admonished, how is it that this moderation is so displeasing to you, and can in no way be approved by you?”

It is then added, confirmed have been the words of Jonadab by his children; but My people do not obey Me. But as we have said in the last lecture, the Prophet touches particularly on this circumstance—that the Rechabites obeyed the command of their father in not drinking wine: this was hard; they did not drink even to that day. But what did God require from His children? Only to receive His Law, and not to go astray, as it is here added, after alien gods.

There is, then, a contrast between the hard precept of Jonadab and the equity of the Law; for God required nothing from His people except to render Him pure worship. He says, They have drunk no wine to this day—and why? Because they obeyed; that is, there was no scruple of conscience to prevent them, but the authority of a man who was dead so far prevailed with them, that they willingly gave up the use of wine. “As then simple obedience, that is, piety or respect for their father, produced such influence on the Rechabites, how is it that I am not heard? For I have spoken,” He says, “so that the sin of the people is not excusable on the ground of ignorance.”

Then He adds, Early rising and speaking. Here assiduity and diligence are mentioned. Jonadab only once gave his command to his children; that command, which might have been forgotten, remained perpetually in the hearts of his sons, so that they taught the same to his grandsons. But God commanded what was right not only once, but rose up early; that is, He sedulously anticipated them. For by this metaphor He intimates that He did not wait until after continued licentiousness they became more addicted to their vices; for we know that those who have for many years been without restraint are not easily brought into order, but they become habitually refractory.

And so, it also becomes necessary to form from infancy those who are to be ruled by us; for if they are allowed to act as they please, their wantonness cannot afterwards be restrained by any laws. God then says, that He rose up early; that is, that He anticipated the Jews, so that together with their milk they might imbibe religion.

He afterwards adds that He was assiduous in teaching them, rising early and speaking. By speaking, He intimates that He had daily repeated the same things, so that forgetfulness might not be pleaded by the Jews as an excuse: I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, and you obeyed Me not. Then follows an explanation that God had sent the Prophets: the Jews would have otherwise been ready to object and say that God had never appeared to them.

Hence He says that He had spoken to them by His Prophets. I have sent, He says, and indeed many—I have sent all My servants, etc. For if Moses only had commanded the Jews what was right, they might have pretended that the Law was buried and forgotten, and that they had no recollection of what Moses had taught.

Hence, to meet such evasions, He says shortly that He had sent all His servants; that is, that He had sent many Prophets, and so many that He continually proclaimed in their hearing the doctrine of the Law. He again repeats the words, rising early and sending, so that He never ceased to warn and exhort them. Now those who are otherwise tardy and also refractory, yet become gentle when they are recalled to their duty every day and hour. Since God then thus urged them by His Prophets, their mad obstinacy became more evident when they still refused to obey.

Now follows that easy requirement, which still more aggravated their sin: Turn you now, every one from his evil way, and make right your doings (literally, make good). Here God shows the difference between His Law and the precepts of Jonadab, for He simply required of the Jews what they ought willingly to have done.

For had no Law been written, natural light was sufficient to teach the Jews that it was their duty to obey God; for the law of obedience is so written on our hearts, as a testimony, that no one can justly plead ignorance as an excuse. God then here declares that He required nothing but what nature itself dictated—even that the Jews should repent and form their life according to the rule of obedience. Though no Prophet were among them, yet every one ought to have been in this respect his own teacher.

It follows, And walk not after alien gods to serve them. This admonition still more clearly proves how moderate was what God required; for He sought nothing more than to retain the Jews under His authority and protection, that He might be a Father to them. Jonadab might have demanded obedience from his descendants, and yet have allowed them the free use of wine, and also the possession of fields and vineyards; but he wished to cut them off, as it were, from mankind, so that their condition became worse than that of all the nations and people among whom they lived. For they became, no doubt, objects of ridicule to their neighbors, endured many reproaches, and were grievously harassed.

God shows that He had abstained from exercising rigid authority and from requiring unbearable servitude, and demanded nothing from His people but that He might be acknowledged by them as a Father. As, then, He did not tyrannically force the Jews to render Him service, and His Law was moderate in its demands, it hence appears still more clear, as I have said, how incorrigible was the wickedness and depravity of that people.

He further adds a promise, which ought by its sweetness to have allured them, so as to become more disposed and prompt to obey. Though He might by authority have commanded, “Turn you from your superstitions, and faithfully serve Me,” it would yet have been a command just and equitable. But when He is pleased to add a promise, which ought to have disposed the Jews to obedience, and yet gains nothing from them, their wickedness is rendered again by this circumstance still more detestable.

We hence see that there is something important in every clause, and that it is not without meaning that He here adds, You shall dwell in the land which I gave to you and to your fathers. God here sets forth His own bounty, and then promises a perpetual fruition of it, provided the Jews obeyed.

He says that He gave that land to them, and before to their fathers. Had they never partaken of God’s bounty, yet the promise alone ought to have induced them to submit to His authority. But God had already been liberal to them.

Then experience ought to have convinced them, for they knew that they had obtained the promised land by no other right than by a promise made by God; they knew that the nations, into whose place they had entered, had been cast out by God’s mighty hand.

As, then, they had by experience found God to be bountiful, and as He had promised to be in future the same, how great and how monstrous must have been their madness when they would not turn to obedience? Then it is also a circumstance of weighty importance when God reminded them that it was He who gave the land to them and to their fathers.

He adds, You have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me. We have stated elsewhere the import of these words, “Not to incline the ear”: they removed the plea of ignorance or of the want of knowledge. God, then, charges the Jews here with deliberate wickedness, for they had obstinately rejected the doctrine of the Law and all the warnings given by the Prophets.

For when doctrine is set before any people, and God is pleased familiarly to teach them, and nothing is effected, their perverseness is thus more fully made known. God then intimates here that the Jews had not gone astray through ignorance, for they sufficiently understood what was right. Whence, then, was there so great a hardness? Even because they had designedly closed their ears; that is, they had wickedly denied obedience to God and had been refractory, as it were, through a long-cherished resolution, so that they could never be brought to a sound mind. It afterwards follows again—