John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 36

The Prophet relates in this chapter a history worthy of being remembered and very useful to us. He says that he wrote down by God’s command what he had previously taught in the Temple. He also sent that summary by Baruch to be recited in the Temple. The report of this spread, and the king’s counselors called Baruch to them. When they heard what was written in the volume, they brought word to the king, having first admonished Baruch to conceal himself, together with Jeremiah, lest the king should be exasperated against them.

And so it happened: the king, being instantly filled with indignation, ordered Jeremiah and Baruch to be taken so that they might be put to death. But they were hidden and protected through God’s favor. We shall see later what the king by his obstinacy had effected, even causing the Prophet to speak more boldly against him.

The Prophet then says at the beginning that the word of Jehovah came, by which he was ordered to write in a volume of a book whatever he had previously spoken. By "the volume of a book" he means the volume in which he was to write, because ספר sepher, does not here mean a written book, for the volume was without any writing.

Then the Prophet must have dictated to his servant Baruch. This mode of speaking also occurs elsewhere, as in Psalm 40:7. But the Hebrews, according to an ancient custom, called a volume מגלה megele; because they had no books in a compact form, such as we have today, but had volumes or rolls; and the same word, "volume," is also used in Latin.

For just as the Hebrews called what is folded up מגלה megele—which comes from גלל gelal, meaning to fold up or to roll—so the Latins also derived "volume" from a verb, volvo, which means to roll, and we call it rolle. In Gaul, they used the same form of writing, for all ancient documents and judicial proceedings were formerly accustomed to be written on rolls, and in the old archives, nothing is found that is not so written.

God then ordered His prophet to take a roll, and He commanded him to write all the words which he had heard from the mouth of God, and which he had pronounced against Israel, against Judah, and against all other nations.

We see here, in the first place, the benefit of having the Scripture: namely, that what would otherwise vanish or escape human memory may remain and be handed down from one to another, and also that it may be read. For what is written can be better weighed during leisure time.

When one only speaks, everyone takes in something according to their capacity and attention; but since words from a person’s mouth glide away, the usefulness of Scripture therefore appears more evident. For when what is not immediately understood is repeated, it brings more light; and then what one reads today, one may read tomorrow, next year, and many years later.

Since God saw that He had been, as it were, beating the air when He had spoken by His prophet, His purpose was that those things which Jeremiah had spoken in vain should be written down.

In this manner, He, no doubt, intended to condemn both the king and his counselors, and also the whole people, not only for their idleness but also for their insensibility. This was because all His teaching had been without fruit, even though Jeremiah had labored much among them and had been assiduous and faithful in discharging his office as a teacher.

We now perceive God’s design in saying, Take a volume and write in it; and He says, all the words which I have spoken to thee. This was said so that the Jews might understand that Jeremiah did not bring forward his own fabrications, but faithfully delivered what he had heard from God’s mouth.

He adds, against Israel and against Judah. For Jeremiah at the beginning had prophesied against the ten tribes; but after the kingdom of Israel was cut off, he performed his office only towards the remaining people, so that his doctrine referred especially to the Jews.

It is also added, against all nations; and this we shall see shortly. It therefore appears that his prophecies were not written according to the order of time, as I have reminded you before, but that the scroll was written without regard to order.

Yet it was preserved to such an extent that this book contains a summary of all the doctrine Jeremiah taught during the whole course of his ministry. He says, from the day in which he began to speak, even from the days of Josiah, he says, to this day.

And the Prophet had been performing his duty as a teacher not for ten, twenty, or thirty, but for forty years.

Here God explains His purpose, namely, to make another attempt to see if the Jews could be healed, so that the Prophet's teaching might be conducive to their salvation. But He uses the particle אולי auli, "it may be," which implies a doubt, because they had so often, for so long, and in such various ways, shown themselves to be so obstinate that hardly any hope of their repentance could be entertained. God, however, shows that He was not weary, provided even the smallest particle of religion still remained in them. It may be then, He says, that the house of Judah will hear all the evil, etc.

We have seen how the Prophet labored, not only to terrify his own nation with threats, but also gently to draw them to the service of God. But God speaks here of them as perverse people, who were almost intractable, according to what is said in Psalm 18:26, that God would be severe towards the perverse; for God deals with people according to their disposition. Since the Jews then were unworthy for God, in His gentleness, to teach them as children, the only thing remaining for them was to repent under the influence of fear. It may be, He says, that they will hear all the evil, etc. We now see why God focuses only on threats, for this alone remained for such obstinate people.

He says, The evil which I think to do, etc. God here attributes to Himself what is characteristic of humans, for He does not think or deliberate with Himself in the same way humans do. Since we cannot comprehend His incomprehensible counsel, He sometimes speaks in human terms, and this is common in Scripture.

But He says that He thinks of what He pronounces in His word. This means that as long as God exhorts people to repent, He holds His hand suspended, as it were, and allows an opportunity for repentance. He then says that He is, as it were, in the midst of His deliberations. Just as when someone wants to know whether an offender will submit, so God, in a manner, presents Himself as human when He says, I think. The purpose is that they should understand that vengeance is not proclaimed in vain in My word, for I will carry out whatever I now threaten, unless they repent.

He says, That they may turn every one from his evil way. This is the hearing previously mentioned—that is, when people become deeply affected, so as to be displeased with their vices and to desire from the heart to surrender themselves to God.

He adds a promise, because without the hope of pardon, people cannot repent, as has often been said. This must be repeated, because few understand that faith cannot be separated from repentance. A sinner can never be persuaded to return truly to God unless he entertains a hope of pardon, for this is a fundamental truth, according to what is said in Psalm 130:4,

With thee is mercy, that thou mayest be feared.

Then, as is commonly done, the Prophet says that if the Jews turned to God, He would be gracious to them. It is as though he had said that people would not be disappointed if they repent, because God would readily meet them and be reconciled to them. For this one thing alone, as I have said, is what can encourage us to repent: namely, when we are convinced that God is ready to give us pardon.

He mentions iniquity and sin. The Prophet, no doubt, referred to these two words to show that we should by no means despair, even if sins are heaped upon sins.

Here the Prophet declares that he dictated to Baruch, a servant of God, whatever he had previously taught. But there is no doubt that God suggested to the Prophet at the time what might have been erased from his memory, for all the things that we said some time ago do not always occur to us. Therefore, the greater part of so many words would have escaped the Prophet if God had not dictated them to him again. Jeremiah then stood, so to speak, between God and Baruch, for God, by His Spirit, presided over and guided the mind and tongue of the Prophet. Now the Prophet, with the Spirit as his guide and teacher, recited what God had commanded; and Baruch wrote down, and then proclaimed the whole summary of what the Prophet had taught.

He therefore says that he called Baruch the son of Neriah to him, who wrote from his mouth, and he wrote all the words of Jehovah. Jeremiah repeats again that nothing came from himself. We therefore see that he did not dictate according to his own will what came to his mind, but that God suggested whatever He wished to be written by Baruch.

It is added that he commanded Baruch to recite in the Temple what he had written, because he himself was detained. Some think that he was shut up in prison; and he used the same word before, when he told us that he was thrown into prison by Zedekiah. But since sacred history does not say that he suffered anything like that under Jehoiakim, I am inclined to think that he was prevented by God. I do not, however, attribute it to a divine revelation, as it might have happened either through God’s command or through some human obstacles.

If we believe the Prophet was in prison and could have gone out, he nevertheless abstained. For the more liberty was given him, the more bound he felt to remain in prison, so that he would not violate public authority. But the other supposition is more probable: that he was detained by God’s hand.

Whatever the case, he says that he could not go out. He mentioned this so it would not seem that he was only concerned about himself and that, fearing danger, he had delegated this duty to Baruch. He then shows that he did not avoid his office because it exposed him to hatred, but that he was not free to go out.

Go, then, he says, and read in the volume. The Prophet, in this case, was ready to face any animosity that might arise, for he did not tell Baruch to recite from memory what he had heard from him, but ordered him to take the volume and to read, as we shall see later, what he had written.

The Prophet then did not, in this instance, avoid danger and put Baruch in his own place, but he expressly told him to read from the volume: What you have written, he says, from my mouth, and, what Jehovah has spoken, read these things to the people in the Temple, on a fasting day.

This day was chosen, first, because there was then a greater gathering of people, as immediately follows, for he was to read these things not only to the citizens but also to all the people. On fast-days they were accustomed, as is well known, to come in great numbers to the city to offer sacrifices.

It was then God’s purpose that these threats should be proclaimed not only to the inhabitants of Jerusalem but also to all other Jews, so that the report of them might spread throughout the land. In the second place, such a day was much more appropriate for the message conveyed. For why was a fast commanded, except to humbly implore God’s mercy and to avert His wrath?

Since this was the purpose of a fast, the Jews ought to have been then, so to speak, in a submissive frame of mind, prepared to calmly receive these threats and to benefit from them.

We then see that there were two reasons why the Prophet, by God’s command, chose this day: first, because there was a larger number of people, and secondly, because a fast ought to have made them teachable, so that they might more readily submit to God, confess their sins, and, being terrified, might also flee to God’s mercy, and thus despise themselves because of their sins.

The rest tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we continually provoke Your anger against us, we may at last return to You. May everyone so examine his life that, being prostrate under a sense of Your wrath, we may turn to the only true remedy: to implore You and to seek forgiveness. May You also so graciously meet us that we may in sure faith call on You and, in the meantime, truly find by experience that our prayers are not in vain, until we at last have a perfect enjoyment of Your mercy in Your heavenly kingdom. — Amen.

Jeremiah, after having dictated to the scribe Baruch what he had previously preached to the people, repeats what the object was, as we have previously observed. For it was God’s will to make the trial, whether the people could in any way be restored to a sound mind. This had, indeed, been attempted in vain for a long time, but God was still willing to proceed to the utmost extent in his mercy. Hence, Jeremiah now declares the purpose for which he wished the book to be read to the people. Nor is there any doubt that Baruch had been admonished in this way, so that he might exhort the people to repentance as if from the mouth of Jeremiah.

Now, there are two things mentioned as necessary in order to obtain pardon—prayer, and turning or conversion. For if anyone only in words seeks to be reconciled to God, he will not succeed. Turning or conversion cannot be separated from prayer. But even if a sinner were to repent a thousand times, he would still remain exposed to God’s judgment. For reconciliation, by which we are absolved, does not depend on repentance, but on the gratuitous favor of God. For God does not receive us into favor because he sees that we are changed to a better mind, as if conversion were the cause of pardon; but he embraces us according to his gratuitous mercy.

This, then, is the reason why Jeremiah joins together these two things—prayer, and conversion or repentance. For as I have said, hypocrites confess their sins in words and seek pardon, but it is with a feigned or a double heart. Hence, so that prayer may be genuine, repentance must be added, by which men show that they loathe themselves. And then, on the other hand, it is not enough for us to turn or repent, unless the sinner flees to the mercy of God, for pardon flows from that fountain. For God, as it has been said, does not forgive us for any merit in us, but because it seems good to him to bury our sins. The sum of the whole is that God would have the prophecies of Jeremiah recited before the whole people, as they were conducive to their safety and salvation. The manner is described—that the people were humbly to pray and also really to repent.

As to the expression, It may be, a prayer will fall, we have elsewhere explained its meaning. Scripture says of prayer that it rises and that it falls. Both expressions are suitable, though to be understood in a different way, for prayer cannot be rightly offered unless man ascends and falls.

These two things seem contrary, but they agree well together; indeed, they cannot be separated. For in prayer two things are necessary: faith and humility. By faith we rise up to God, and by humility we lie prostrate on the ground. This is the reason why Scripture often says that prayer ascends, for we cannot pray as we ought unless we raise our minds upward; and faith, sustained by promises, elevates us above all the world.

Thus, then, prayer is raised upward by faith; but by humility it falls down to the earth, for fear ought to be connected with faith. And as faith in our hearts produces alacrity through confidence, so also conscience casts us down and lays us prostrate. We now understand the meaning of the expression.

He adds, Because great is the wrath and indignation which Jehovah has pronounced, or has spoken, against this people. By wrath and indignation we are to understand God’s vengeance, the cause being put for the effect.

But the Prophet intimates that unless men are wholly blinded, and as if estranged in mind, they ought to be very deeply touched when God sets before them some dreadful judgment. When God chastises some slight fault, and when he does not so very grievously threaten us, we ought to feel alarmed; but when God shows his wrath to be so kindled that final ruin ought to be dreaded, we must be stupid indeed if such a threatening does not terrify us.

Then the Prophet says that there was no hope of relief, for God had pronounced no light or common judgment on the people; but he shows that God was prepared to destroy the whole nation, as the Jews had deserved extreme punishment.

Here Baruch's promptness is commended, for he did not disobey God’s Prophet but willingly undertook the office assigned to him. His office, as we have said, was not without danger. Since his message was by no means popular, but on the contrary very unpleasant, therefore Baruch's devotion is evident.

He made no refusal, for he knew that this burden was laid on him for a purpose. Jeremiah then says that he did as he had been commanded, and read in the Temple the words of Jehovah. He calls them a little later the words of Jeremiah, but the same thing is meant; for just as God is, so to speak, represented by His ministers, so He often transfers to them what belongs uniquely to Himself (Romans 2:16; Romans 16:25; 2 Timothy 2:8).

That is called the doctrine of Jeremiah, which yet, properly speaking, has no other author than God. Thus, Paul called the Gospel, of which he was the preacher and witness, his Gospel; and yet he himself had not devised the Gospel, but had received it from Christ and faithfully delivered it as from His hand.

We should, therefore, notice this mode of speaking, which occurs everywhere in Scripture—the same thing is ascribed to God and to His servants. Thus, we find what may seem strange—the Apostles are said to forgive sins; they are spoken of as bringing salvation. But the reason is that they were ministers of God’s grace and exhorted men in Christ’s name to be reconciled to God. They then absolved because they were witnesses of absolution. So also, the words which God dictated to His servant were called the words of Jeremiah; yet, properly speaking, they were not the words of a man, for they did not originate from a mortal man, but from the only true God.