John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 4

The Prophet no doubt requires here from the people a sincere return to God, since they had often pretended to confess their sins and had given many signs of repentance, while they were acting deceitfully with Him. Since then they had often dealt falsely with God and with His prophets, Jeremiah urges them to return to God without any disguise and in good faith. Regarding the substance of what is taught here, this is the Prophet’s meaning; but there is some ambiguity in the words.

Some read thus, “If thou returnest, Israel, to me, saith Jehovah,” connecting “to me, אלי,” with the first clause; then they read separately “תשוב, teshub, thou shalt rest;” and so they think that what follows is the repetition of the same thing, “If thou wilt take away thine abominations from before me, thou shalt not migrate;” that is, I will not cast you out as I have threatened. Others take the verb תשוב, teshub, in the same sense (for it is the same verb repeated), “If thou wilt return, Israel, return to me.” The Prophet doubtless urges the Israelites to return to God in sincerity, and without any disguise, and not to act falsely with Him, as they had often done.

I have so far mentioned only what others have thought; but, in my judgment, the most suitable rendering is, “If thou wilt return, Israel, rest in me,” arrete toi, as we say in French. Rest then in me; and then a definition is given, If thou wilt take away thine abominations (for the copulative is to be taken as expletive or explanatory) from my sight, and wilt not wander. What some of those I have referred to have given as their rendering, “If thou wilt return to me, Israel, thou shalt rest,” I wholly reject, as it seems forced: but I allow this reading, “If thou wilt return, Israel, thou shalt rest in me;” or this, “If thou wilt return, Israel, return to me;” for the difference is not great.

The Prophet here evidently condemns the hypocrisy which the Israelites had practiced; for they had often professed themselves ready to render obedience to God, and afterwards proved that they had made a false profession. Since deceit and emptiness had been so often found in them, the Prophet demands here, in the name and by the command of God, that they should return to Him in truth and sincerity.

If this reading is approved, “Israel, return to me,” the intimation is, that they always took circuitous courses, so that they might not return directly to God: for it is usual with hypocrites to make a great show of repentance and at the same time to shun God. If then we follow this reading, the Prophet means this, “Israel, there is no reason for you hereafter to think that you gain anything by boasting with your mouth of your repentance; return to me; know that you have to do with God, who is not deceived, as He never deceives any: return then faithfully to me, and let your conversion be sincere and in no way deceptive.”

But if the verb, תשוב, teshub, is taken in the other sense, there would be no great difference in the meaning: “If thou wilt return, Israel, thou shalt rest in me;” that is, you shall hereafter have nothing to do with idols and with your perverted ways. Thus the Prophet briefly shows that the return of Israel would be nothing, unless they acquiesced in God alone, and did not wander after vain objects, as they had often done.

And with this view corresponds what follows, “Even if thou takest away (for the copulative, as I have said, is to be taken as explanatory) thine abominations from my sight, and wilt wander no more, ולא תנוד, vela tanud.” For the vice which Jeremiah meant especially to condemn was this — that Israel, while pretending a great show of religion, yet vacillated and did not devote themselves with all their heart to God, but were changeable in their purpose. This vice then is what Jeremiah justly condemns; and therefore I am disposed to embrace this view: “Israel, if thou wilt return, rest in me;” that is, continue constantly faithful to me: but how can this be done? “Even if thou wilt take away thy abominations, and if thou wilt not wander;” for your levity and inconstancy until now has been well known.

Whatever view we may take, this passage deserves to be noticed as being against hypocrites, who dare not openly reject prophetic warnings; but while they show some tokens of repentance, they still by devious ways shun the presence of God. They indeed testify by their mouth that they seek God, but yet have recourse to subterfuges. Therefore I have said that this passage is remarkably useful, so that we may know that God cannot be pacified by those fallacious trifles which hypocrites bring forward, but that He requires a sincere heart, and that He abominates all dissimulation.

It is therefore expressly said, If thou wilt take away thy abominations from my sight. For hypocrites always regard display and seek to be approved by men, and are satisfied with their approbation; but God calls their attention to Himself. It must at the same time be observed, that He cannot be deceived; for He is the searcher of hearts.

Here the Prophet continues with the same subject, for he exposes these flatteries by which they thought that God could be appeased. For when they had his name in their mouth, they thought it sufficient for their defense, asking: "What! Do we not call upon God? Do we not ascribe to him his due honor when we swear by his name?" In the Prophet’s words, a part is given for the whole, for swearing is to be taken for the whole of God’s worship. Therefore, when the Israelites made a profession of God’s name, they thought themselves absolved from all guilt.

Hence the Prophet says, You shall swear truly in the name of God. That is, "You are indeed self-confident because an external profession of religion seems to you to be a sort of expiation whenever you seek to contend with God. You boast that you are Abraham’s seed and swear by the name of God, but you are sacrilegious when you thus falsely profess God’s name." Swear then, he says, in truth.

We hence see how the words of the Prophet harmonize. He had said that Israel had until now dealt falsely with God because they had not performed what they had promised in words, for they went astray. And now he adds that it availed the Israelites nothing that they openly called on God and showed themselves to be his people by an external worship. This, he says, is nothing, unless you worship God in truth and in judgment and in righteousness.

Truth is no doubt to be taken here for integrity, as we shall see in the fifth chapter. It is as if he had said that God is not rightly worshipped unless the heart is free from all guile and deceit. In short, he means that there is no worship of God without sincerity of heart. But the truth of which the Prophet speaks is especially known by judgment and righteousness; that is, when people deal faithfully with one another, render to all their right, and do not seek their own gain at the expense of others. Therefore, when equity and uprightness are thus observed by people, then what is required here by the Prophet is fulfilled. For then they do not worship God fallaciously, nor with vain words, but really show that they, without disguise, do fear and reverence God.

Interpreters explain what follows in various ways. However, I have no doubt that the Prophet here indirectly reproves the Israelites. He does so because God’s name had been exposed to many reproaches and mockeries when the heathens said that there was no power in God to help the Israelites, and when the people themselves expostulated with God as though they had a just cause for contending with him, asking: "What! God has promised that we should be models of his blessing, but we are exposed to the reproaches of the heathens. How can this be?"

Since the Israelites thus deplored their lot and cast the blame on God, the Prophet gives this answer: Bless themselves shall the nations and glory in him. Some refer this to the Israelites, but not correctly.

It had indeed been said to Abraham, In your seed shall all nations be blessed, or, shall bless themselves. But this blessing had its beginning, as the Prophet notes here. For we must look for the cause or the fountain of this blessing: How could the nations bless themselves through the seed or the children of Abraham, unless God, the author of the blessing, manifested his favor towards the children of Abraham?

Very aptly, then, the Prophet says here, Then bless themselves in God shall all the nations, and in him shall they glory.

That is to say, "You are to be blamed that God’s curse is upon you and renders you objects of reproach to all people, and also that heathens disdain and despise the name of God. For your impiety has constrained God to deal more severely with you than he wished, as he is always ready to show his paternal clemency. What then is the hindrance, that the nations do not bless themselves in God and glory in him? What prevents pure religion from flourishing throughout the whole world, and all nations from coming to you and uniting in the worship of the only true God? The hindrance is your impiety and wickedness. This is the reason why God is not glorified, and why your blessedness is not celebrated everywhere among the nations."

We now perceive the Prophet's meaning: that the Jews groundlessly imputed blame to God because they were oppressed by so many evils. For they had brought all their calamities upon themselves and, at the same time, gave occasion for heathens to profane God’s name by their reproaches.

The Prophet still pursues the same subject, for he reproves the hypocrisy of the Israelites because they sought to discharge their duty towards God only by external ceremonies, while their hearts were full of deceit and every kind of impiety and wickedness. For this reason, he says that God required this from the Jews: to plough again the fallow, and not to sow among thorns.

It is a very suitable comparison, for Scripture often compares us to a field when it represents us as God’s heritage. We have been chosen by God as a special people for this purpose: that he may gather fruit from us, as a farmer gathers produce from his fields.

Indeed, we can add nothing to what God is, but there is a fruit that he demands, so that our whole life is to be devoted to his glory. God, then, would not have us be idle and fruitless, but rather bring forth some fruit. But what do hypocrites do?

They sow; that is, they show some concern, yes, they pretend great ardor when God exhorts them to repent or when he invites them. They then make a great bustle, yet they spoil everything with their own adulterations, just as if someone scattered seed among thorns; but it will be of no use to cast seed among thorns in this way, for the ground ought to be well cleared and prepared.

Therefore, God scorns this absurd care and diligence in which hypocrites pride themselves, and says that they busy themselves without any benefit. For it is as if a farmer had completely lost his seed, because when the ground is full of briers and thorns, the seed, though it may grow for a time, still cannot bring forth fruit.

For this reason, God commands the Israelites to plough the fallows; as if he were saying that they were like rough ground full of thorns, and that therefore, unusual and by no means common cultivation was needed. For when thorns and briers grow in a field, what benefit will it be to cast seed there? Indeed, a field cannot be well prepared by the plough alone to produce fruit; but much labor is also necessary, as is the case with fallow ground—what is called essarter in our language.

The Prophet, then, implies that the people had become hardened in their vices, and that they were not only full of vices, like a field left uncultivated for two years, but that their vices were so deep that they could not be thoroughly cleared away by ploughing alone, unless they were pulled up by the roots, as they were like thorns and brambles that have been growing in a field for many years.

We see from this that the Prophet refers not only to the impiety, contempt of God, and other sins of the people of Israel, but also to their perverseness. For they had so hardened themselves in their vices for many years that not only the plough was needed, but also other tools to tear up the thorns and eradicate those vices that had formed deep roots.

Therefore, just as he had previously warned them that they would labor in vain unless they returned to God with sincerity of heart and acquiesced in him, so here he commands them to examine their lives, so that they might not cast away their seed like hypocrites who merely make a formal acknowledgment of their sins. Therefore, he commands them to completely shake off their vices, which were hidden within, just as people do who tear up thorns and briers in a field that has long been neglected and left uncultivated.

The Prophet expresses here more clearly what he had before said metaphorically or by a figure; for he had bidden them to eradicate their vices, according to what is usually done by breaking up the fallow ground; but now dropping that figure, he clearly shews what was to be done, and yet the clause contains what is figurative.

He calls their attention to circumcision, which was a symbol of renovation, as though he had said, — That they sufficiently understood what they were to do, except they were wholly unteachable; “For why, “he says, “has circumcision been enjoined? Does not God by this symbol shew, that if a man rightly aspires after true religion, he ought to begin by putting off all the evil propensities of his flesh?

Is he not to deny himself, and to die as it were both to himself and to the world? for circumcision includes all this.” Then the Prophet shews that the Israelites had no excuse, that they went not astray through mistake or through ignorance; but they were acting perversely and deceitfully with God; for circumcision, by which they had been initiated into God’s service, sufficiently taught them, that God is not rightly nor faithfully served, except when men deny themselves.

We now then see what the Prophet meant by these words, when he bids them to be circumcised to God, and to take away the foreskin of their heart: Be ye circumcised, he says, to Jehovah Circumcision was their great boast; but only before men; for nothing but ambition and vanity ruled in them, while they openly exulted and boasted that they were God’s holy and peculiar people. Hence the Prophet bids them not to value what was of no importance, but to become circumcised to Jehovah; that is, he bids them not to seek applause before the world, but seriously to consider that they had to do with God. And hence he adds, Take away the foreskin of your heart, as though he had said, “When God commanded the seed of Abraham to be circumcised, (Genesis 17:10–12,) it was not his object to have a small portion of skin cut off, but he had regard to something higher, even that ye should be circumcised in heart.”

The Prophet, in short, teaches us here what Paul has more clearly explained, (Romans 2:29,) even this, — that the letter is of no value before God, but that the spirit is what he requires: for Paul in these words means, that the external sign is worthless, except accompanied by the reality within; for the literal circumcision mentioned by Paul is merely the external rite; in the same manner baptism with us may be called the letter, when there is no repentance and faith.

But the spirit, or spiritual circumcision, is the denial of self; it is renovation, and in a word, that true conversion to God, of which the Prophet speaks here. Nor has Moses been silent on this point; for in the tenth chapter of Deuteronomy he shews that the Jews greatly deceived themselves, if they thought that they did all that God required, when they were circumcised in the flesh; “Circumcise, “he says, “your hearts to the Lord.” He indeed reminds us in another place, that this is altogether the work of God; but though God circumcises the heart, yet this exhortation, that men are to circumcise themselves, is not superfluous: and the same is the case with baptism; for when Paul exhorts the faithful to fear God and to lead a holy life, he refers to baptism.

It is yet certain that men do not bestow on themselves what God signifies by the sign of baptism; but he counsels them to seek from God the grace of his Spirit, that they might not in vain be sealed by the external rite of baptism, while destitute of its reality.

When therefore the Prophet bids the Israelites to take away the foreskin of their heart, it is the same as though he had said, that they were indeed liberal enough with regard to ceremonies and outward worship, but that these were empty masks unless preceded by a right disposition within.

And he addresses the Jews, and also the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for they thought that they far excelled the Israelites, on whom God had inflicted so grievous a punishment. He then shews that the tribe of Judah, nay, that the very inhabitants and citizens of Jerusalem were not better than others, and that they could not be exempted, as it were, by privilege, except they returned to a right mind, except they seasonably and from the heart repented.

He then adds, Lest my fury go forth like fire The Prophet here expressly declares, that the Jews were not to wait until God came forth as an avenger; for then, he says, if, would be too late to repent: in short, he bids them to anticipate in due time the judgment of God; for if once his fury went forth, it would burn like fire so as to consume them, and there would be no extinguishing of it. But if they repented, he holds forth to them the hope of pardon; for the fury of God had not yet gone forth.

He afterwards subjoins, On account of the wickedness of your deeds By these words the Prophet again reproves them sharply, and shews that they gained nothing by their evasions; for when God ascends his tribunal and begins to execute his vengeance, then all vain excuses will come to an end, such as, that they deserved no such thing, or, that the atrocity of their sins was not great: “God, “he says, “will, with his own hand, teach you how grievous has been the atrocity of your vices; he will not, then, deal with you in words.”

Jeremiah treats his own people here with more severity, for he saw that they were rebellious and so obstinate in their vices that they could not by wise counsel be restored to the way of safety. Hence he addresses them here as men wholly irreclaimable, and to whom instruction was useless. But though, in the manner of the prophets, he sounds a trumpet to fill them with terror, he still seems to speak tauntingly when he bids them to proclaim in Judah, and to publish in Jerusalem. It is as if he had said, "When distress seizes you, you will then perceive by experience that God is angry with you. Though today you do not believe my warnings; yet God will not, indeed, by a violent hand, bring you back to Himself; and as you seek evasions for yourselves, you will sound the trumpet and proclaim, 'The enemies are coming and are near at hand; let, therefore, everyone flee to Jerusalem, and enter into the city, and resort to Zion: that is, If we cannot secure our safety in the city, we shall at least be safe in the fortress of Zion.'" But God, he says, brings an evil on you from the north; and whatever you may think will be for your safety will be completely useless. It is, however, especially proper to regard the Prophet as God’s herald proclaiming war; and though he exults over their perverseness, he still declares that terror would be so widespread that they would seek safety in flight.

Sound, he says, in Judah, and publish, or proclaim, in Jerusalem (הגידו, egidu, announce, literally). He does not speak here for the same purpose as Joel did (Joel 1:1, 15), when he commanded them to sound the trumpet, for Joel exhorted the people to repent. But Jeremiah, as I have already said, tauntingly reproves the people here for their obstinacy and perverseness, as if he had said, "I see what you will do when God’s vengeance comes upon you, such that you will not even then repent. For you will sound the trumpet through the whole land, ‘Let all resort to Zion,’ as though you could resist your enemies there and preserve your lives." He does not, then, bid them sound the trumpet but, on the contrary, shows what they would do.

Some improperly give this rendering, “Fulfill ye,” but the common version is, “Assemble yourselves.” But interpreters seem to me not to have regarded the etymology of the word, for it has the same meaning in Hebrew as when we say, Amassez-vous, Gather yourselves. And say, Be ye assembled, and let us go into fortified cities. It will, indeed, be announced to you to seek hiding places to protect you from the assaults of your enemies. If so, Raise a banner in Zion, and flee; but God will at the same time bring evil on you from the north.

The words אל-תעמדו, al-tomedu, may be explained in two ways: “Stand not,” that is, “Hasten quickly,” as is the case with those in extreme fear; or, “You shall not stand,” that is, “Though you may seek a firm position on Mount Zion, you shall not yet be able to continue there.” The first exposition appears to me the best, as it is more suitable to the context.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we do not cease daily to alienate ourselves from You by our sins, and as You yet kindly exhort us to repent and promise to be appeasable and propitious to us—O grant that we may not perversely go on in our sins and be ungrateful to You for Your great kindness; but that we may so return to You that our whole life may testify that our repentance has been unfeigned, and that we may so acquiesce in You alone that the depraved lusts of our flesh may not draw us here and there, but that we may continue fixed and immovable in our purpose, and so labor to obey You through the whole course of our life, that we may at length partake of the fruit of our obedience in Your celestial kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.