John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 42:18

"For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: As mine anger and my wrath hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt; and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more." — Jeremiah 42:18 (ASV)

The Prophet confirms what he had already said by an example of God’s vengeance, which had recently been shown concerning the Jews. For though the destruction of the city and the Temple had often been predicted to them, they had nevertheless become unresponsive to God’s threats. God, however, after having delayed for a long time, finally executed what He had threatened. They had then seen that dreadful example, which should have filled them, and also their posterity, with fear. Then the Prophet, seeing that they were so slow and dull that they thoughtlessly derided God’s threats, reminded them of what they had recently seen. “You know,” he says, “how God’s fury was poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem; such fury will also be poured out on those who flee into Egypt.”

Now Jeremiah was able to speak with authority, as he had been the herald of the vengeance just mentioned. If anyone else had declared in God’s name what had happened, they might have objected, saying that they had indeed been justly punished by God, but that it did not therefore follow that what he said was true. But as the Prophet had for forty years often and constantly denounced against them what they had finally and by experience found to have been predicted to them from above, he was able to repeat a similar judgment of God with the highest authority, as he now does.

Thus saith Jehovah, he says, as My fury was poured forth, etc. The comparison is taken either from water or from metals; therefore, some render this as, “As My fury flowed down.” But the verb used by Jeremiah properly means “to pour forth.” It may, however, as I have said, be applied to water, which spreads when poured out, or to metals, which, being liquid, spread out.

He means, then, that all who would go to Egypt would be wretched and miserable. For wherever they might try to withdraw, the vengeance of God would still find them, even as exiles, because it would spread like a deluge over all the inhabitants, so that they would seek hiding places in vain. We now see the Prophet’s intention. The meaning is that, just as the Jews had by their calamity recognized him as a true and faithful servant of God in foretelling the destruction of the city and Temple, so they would now find—unless they repented—that the message by which he threatened a second destruction had also come from God. Poured forth, he says, shall be My indignation on you when ye come into Egypt.

He then adds a passage from the Law, which often occurs in the Prophets, that they would be an execration, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach. The word אלה, ale, which we have translated as “execration,” properly means an oath; but since an imprecation is often added when we wish to be believed, it is also understood as an execration.

He then says that they would be an execration; that is, a formula of execration, as we have elsewhere explained. Whoever then wished to express a curse would, as the Prophet says, use this form as a common proverb: “May God curse you as He did the Jews”—“May I perish as the Jews perished.” In short, he intimates that the punishment would be so horrible that people would turn it into a common proverb. He adds, And an astonishment, meaning that God’s vengeance would be so dreadful that all would be filled with amazement. He further adds, And a curse and a reproach. The sum of what is said is that God would inflict on the Jews not a common punishment, but one that would be remembered among all the nations, so that it might be clear that their wickedness in obstinately rejecting the prophetic word was not minor.

Finally, he adds that they should never see their own land. It was not the intention of the Jews to live permanently in Egypt, for they pretended that they remained firm and constant in their dependence on God’s promise and boasted that they had a hope of return because God had fixed seventy years for their exile. Since they then so foolishly boasted that they hoped in God for the promised favor, he says that they were excluded from any hope of return. For though God would restore the other captives dispersed throughout the East, yet the Egyptian guests were doomed to die in their exile. This, then, was to cut off every hope from them, so that they might know that they were wholly rejected and would no longer have a place among God’s people, however much they might wish to be considered the first.