John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 38:15

"Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me." — Jeremiah 38:15 (ASV)

The Prophet seems here to have acted not very discreetly. For when he should have, of his own accord, announced the city's destruction to the king, when asked, he refused to answer, or at least he took care of his life and secured himself from danger before he uttered a word. And the Prophets, we know, disregarding their own lives, should have preferred God's commands to them, as we find was often the case with Jeremiah, who frequently, at the risk of his life, proclaimed prophecies calculated to arouse the hatred of all the people and to create the greatest danger for himself. It seems, then, that he had made no good progress, since he now fails, as it were, in this hazardous act of his vocation, and does not dare to expose himself to danger.

But it should be observed that the Prophets did not always have an express command to speak. For if God had commanded Jeremiah to declare what we shall later encounter, he would not have evaded the question; for he had been so trained for a long time that he did not fear for himself so as to turn aside from the straight course of his office.

That he now, then, seems to draw back was because God had not yet commanded him to explain to the king what we shall soon see. For he would have done this without benefit. He had often admonished the king and had seen that his counsel was despised. No wonder, then, that he was unwilling to endanger his life without any prospect of doing good.

If anyone raises this objection, that it is then lawful for us to do the same, to this I answer that we are not thoughtlessly to cast pearls before swine. But until we try every means, we should hope for the best and therefore act confidently.

But Jeremiah had fully performed his duty, for the king could not have pleaded mistake or ignorance, since the Prophet had so often testified that there was no other remedy for the evil but to go over to the Chaldeans.

Since, then, the Prophet had so often warned the king, he could now be silent and thus excuse himself, saying, “You will kill me, and at the same time you will not believe me, or, you will not obey, if I give you counsel.” These two clauses should be read together, for if Jeremiah had seen that there was a prospect of doing good, he would doubtless have offered his life as a sacrifice.

But as he saw that his doctrine would be useless and that his life was in danger, he did not think it right to rashly expose his life when he could hope for no benefit. The Prophet, then, did not regard only his own danger but was also unwilling to expose heavenly truth to scorn, as it had often already been despised.

He, then, did not answer the king’s question because he was convinced that he would be disobedient, as he had always been until that very time.