John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 37:15

"And the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison." — Jeremiah 37:15 (ASV)

Here Jeremiah continues the same narrative and shows how unjustly he was treated, for he found no equity from the princes any more than from the keeper of the prison. He was no doubt prepared to defend himself before them, and sufficient proof was ready at hand, but he would have been speaking to deaf ears. Here he shows by one word that the freedom to speak was denied him, for a furious madness seized them so that they would not hear him.

And here we may notice how much wrath is opposed to just and peaceful decisions; for if we wish to be fair and equitable judges, self-control is especially necessary. Therefore, when our minds are inflamed with anger or wrath, it is impossible for any uprightness or humanity to prevail. So Jeremiah complains that he was oppressed because the princes boiled with rage, so that they did not permit him to give the explanation he had prepared.

He then adds that they smote him. They no doubt ordered their servants to smite him, for it would have been more than strange if the princes themselves had risen up to strike the Prophet with their fists or to smite him with their hands. It is then probable that he was smitten by their orders and at their command.

This is the reason, if I am not mistaken, why some have given this rendering, “They caused him to be smitten.” But a person is often said to have killed a man if he has ordered him to be killed, even while he himself has not touched him with his finger. In the same way, Jeremiah was smitten by the princes because they had commanded him to be smitten.

And this passage also shows, as in a mirror, how miserable the condition of God’s servants would be if He were not to sustain them by the power of His Spirit. For here is a holy Prophet overwhelmed with unjust accusations and reproaches; the princes did not refrain from beatings, and at last he was thrown into a pit.

Whenever, then, such a thing happens to us, let us look to Jeremiah, and let us not find it distressing to follow the steps of the holy Prophet. Nor let us think it hard to endure the trials with which God was pleased to test him. They put him, he says, in the house, and then the word is changed to the prison, האסור easur, but it means the same thing. The text now describes what sort of prison it was.