John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 4:21

"How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?" — Jeremiah 4:21 (ASV)

He concludes that part of his discourse, which, as we have said, he embellished with figurative terms to more fully rouse slow and sluggish minds. He confirms what he said at the beginning of the previous verse:

Distress has been summoned upon distress (Jeremiah 4:20).

Indeed, he repeats the same thing in other words: How long shall I see the standard, he says, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

That is, “You are greatly deceived if you think that your enemies, after marching through the land for a short time, will return home. For the evil of war will afflict you for a long time, and God will protract your calamities, so that the sound of trumpets will continue, and the standard will often, and even every day, be exhibited.”

So now we perceive the Prophet’s meaning. He first shows that even though their enemies were far away, they would still come suddenly, and that God’s horses would be swifter than eagles, as he said yesterday.

Afterward, he refers to the continued progress of the war. For it was necessary to show the Jews that, just as they had long heedlessly despised God, so His vengeance would not be momentary. Instead, it would rest upon them, so prolonged as to seem endless.

Now, we should understand that today there is no less dullness than there was among the Jews. Therefore, it is not enough merely to summon the ungodly and the wicked before God’s tribunal.

Instead, metaphorical language should be used that can strike terror and compel them to fear, even if they try in every way to harden their own consciences and stupefy themselves so that they can easily despise God.

Therefore, it is necessary that today God’s servants also speak more strongly and vehemently, so that they may rouse hypocrites and the obstinate from their sluggishness.