John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 43

Here the Prophet continues with the remaining part of the narrative. He says that the whole people obstinately persevered in their wicked design, so that he accomplished nothing by his warning and protest. This stupidity of the people was monstrous, for they had discovered by experience the Prophet's faithfulness for many years. Furthermore, they had gone to him because they believed that he was a faithful and an approved servant of God.

He had not merely answered them in God’s name, but, knowing their stubbornness, he added solemn declarations which might have moved even stones. But he addressed the deaf, and from this it appears that they were utterly bewitched by the devil. And so, let us learn not to mock God, nor to bring a divided heart when we inquire about His will, but to submit to be ruled by His word.

Now he says that when he had finished speaking to the whole people, as God had commanded, then John the son of Kareah, and Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, being the first among them, spoke against him. Regarding Azariah, we cannot know with any certainty who he was. But we have here in John the son of Kareah a noteworthy example.

We have seen that he was a bold, wise, and prudent man, and also of an upright character. In short, when we consider what the Prophet has previously said of him, we cannot help but think he was by nature a heroic man. Indeed, when he is compared with Gedaliah, who at the same time was an excellent man and whom the Prophet has praised highly, John nevertheless far excelled him.

Gedaliah, indeed, had a kind nature; he was courageous in protecting the people and a man of integrity. Besides, he was a father to the people and conducted himself in such a way when things were in a hopeless state that, beyond everyone's expectation, he gathered together the remnant of the people. We have also seen that by his efforts the Prophet had been saved from immediate death.

But John the son of Kareah had been a remarkable helper to him, having come to him of his own free will and offered him his assistance. Furthermore, he faithfully and prudently warned him to beware of the treachery of that unscrupulous man, by whom Gedaliah was afterwards killed.

Gedaliah fell through excessive trustfulness. John, then, the son of Kareah, had a greater appearance of excellence than Gedaliah had exhibited. But what does the Spirit of God now declare concerning him and his associates? They are said to have been proud and obstinate. Thus we see that some men excel in greatness of mind, yet have a rebellious nature; and this is usually the case during unsettled times.

For some show themselves to be wonderfully courageous; but when things do not go according to their wishes, they become ferocious and rebel against God and men. Besides, they will never endure submission. Such, then, was John the son of Kareah: at one time he manifested extraordinary virtue, but finally his true nature was revealed.

The Prophet, with the authority of a judge, declares that he and his associates were proud: Then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and John the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, said, A falsehood do you speak. This was extremely insolent and reproachful, for they had recently testified that they regarded Jeremiah as God’s faithful servant and that they would receive whatever he might bring as God’s true oracle. But now they charge him with falsehood! How great was this presumption! From this it appears how deep and various, and how devious are the hidden places in human hearts; for at one time they announce honeyed words, and afterwards they utter nothing but malice. So from the same mouth, as it were, almost in the same moment, comes forth what is sweet and what is bitter.

From this let us learn that the human heart is full of every kind of deceit until it is cleansed by the Spirit of God. We also see, when once ungodliness boils up, to what extremes it will proceed; for these men were not only insolent and reproachful towards Jeremiah, but also towards God Himself. And they did not now use evasions as before, nor did they raise objections; but they openly raged against the Prophet. Thus hypocrisy indeed has its disguises for a time, but when the ungodly are pressed by God, then they know no limits: You speak what is false.

They afterwards cast the blame on Baruch, who had been the Prophet’s faithful servant. As they could not find any reason why Jeremiah should speak falsely, they turned their fury against Baruch. They did not then spare Jeremiah out of respect for him, but as they had no reason whatever to speak evil of him, they fixed the blame on Baruch, who nevertheless was as innocent as Jeremiah.

Baruch, they said, excites you against us. Even if Jeremiah had prophesied this way through the influence of another, his crime might have at least been mitigated. Now they said that he was deceitful and brought forth nothing but deceptions; but the ungodly do not care what they say, for the devil drives them headlong.

And they charged Baruch with a very great crime: that he wished to betray them to the Chaldeans, then to expose them to be slaughtered, and to hand them over to be driven into exile. All this would have been the greatest cruelty. But if we then consider what kind of man Baruch had been, how innocently he had conducted himself, and how he had endangered his life in defending the true worship of God and prophetic doctrine, there was surely no reason for heaping such reproach upon him.

But we see that God’s servants have always been exposed to extreme reproaches, even when they have exhibited the greatest integrity. If then, today, we hear evil reports after having labored to act uprightly, it should not seem a hard or new thing to us to bear them with patience. We must, indeed, do what we can to stop the mouths of the malicious and the wicked; nor ought we to give opportunity, as Paul admonishes us, to the malicious. But when we have done our duty faithfully, if dogs still bark at us, if we are burdened with many accusations and alleged crimes, let us learn patiently to endure them. This, then, is what we ought to do, since we see that Baruch was accused of extreme treachery and cruelty.

What, then, did Baruch have to do with the Chaldeans? Had he fled to them? Was he anxious to gain influence for himself or to procure favor for himself? There was no such thing; he always followed Jeremiah wherever he went. Jeremiah had indeed obtained some favor, but this was to be attributed to the undeserved kindness of God.

Baruch, then, had received permission from the Chaldeans to remain with the Prophet, for the condition of both was the same. Yet he had not followed the Chaldeans when the option was given to him. For when the Chaldeans offered safety and rest to Jeremiah, Baruch might also have gone to that fertile country; but he chose to remain in the land.

Thus we see that he had removed every suspicion from himself, and yet he could not stop the mouths of the malicious, but they slandered and calumniated him. Let us then know that God’s servants prove their firmness and steadfastness when they are attacked on every side by the calumnies of men, and yet are satisfied with the testimony of their own conscience, continue on their path, look forward to the judgment of God, and do not care what people think or say, as long as God approves of them and is their judge in heaven.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since we see what you formerly threatened to all the despisers of your word, we may learn to submit to be ruled by you, and so surrender all our powers and faculties to your will, that we may receive immediately without any dispute whatever you command, and so prove our sincerity, that our deeds may correspond with our words, and that our life may show that we do not falsely profess your holy name, but declare what we have in our minds and what you yourself know, until the last day will finally appear, when the books shall be opened, and all the thoughts of men shall be revealed, so that we may then appear upright in your sight, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Prophet had sufficiently shown that John, the son of Kareah, and the rest had not, in good faith, inquired of the Prophet what the will of God was. For when they saw that God’s counsel did not harmonize with their wicked and foolish desire, they rose up against the Prophet.

But he now more clearly condemns their obstinacy in not obeying God. It is emphatically stated that they did not obey the voice of God because they denied that God had spoken.

Although they sought to evade, Jeremiah, on the other hand, declares that he was a true interpreter of God’s will, that he had announced nothing but what had come from God. He then holds them all as guilty, the leaders and the whole people, so that no one might think it strange that innocent men, willing to submit to God, were driven into Egypt.

Hence, the Prophet shows here that they were all implicated in the same sin, since not only the leaders resisted the oracle, but also the whole people. It now follows.

The Prophet now gives us a narrative of what he had briefly touched upon. He then says that John and the rest of the leaders took the remnant of the people who were still alive there, and those who had returned from various countries. For many had become fugitives among the Moabites and the Idumeans when they saw the city surrounded by King Nebuchadnezzar's forces. Then they fled here and there, as usually happens, and waited for the outcome of the war.

But after Nebuchadnezzar had departed, and permission had been given to Gedaliah to gather what remained of the people and to place them in cities and towns, many returned to the land, now desolate. For they had lived with foreigners and had been miserably treated. Since they could not settle outside their own land nor find any quiet place to live, they returned, as is usual for people reduced to poverty, who have no settled dwelling. They then returned so that they might live under Gedaliah's protection.

Now the Prophet says that they were taken by John and brought into Egypt. This, then, was the way in which they showed their obstinacy. We therefore see how audacious these leaders must have been, that they did not hesitate to go into Egypt, even though it was shown to be a fatal step.

Indeed, there was no army of Nebuchadnezzar in Judea at that time, though his vengeance might have been dreaded. And then, having fled to Egypt, they might have been ill-treated there and not hospitably received.

But we therefore perceive that when people once shake off God's yoke, they are hurried on by a diabolical madness, so that nothing is insurmountable to them. Had they been asked whether they acted rightly, they might have raised a thousand arguments as excuses; but when they followed their own inclination, they, so to speak, leaped over the clouds. Impiety, then, is always full of rashness and audacity.

But as we see that the ungodly thus rush headlong into ruin, even when God pronounces a curse on their counsels and actions, let us learn to always take encouragement to obey God. For He promises a joyful and blessed outcome at all times when we follow the ways He points out. John then and the other leaders of the forces took the remnant of the people.

And then he shows how little those exiles, who had returned to live in the land of Judea, considered their own good. For they might have still rested safely among the nations who had kindly received them. But in Egypt, God soon executed His judgments on the natives as well as on foreigners. But they deserved such a reward because they preferred to obey the command of the perverse and obstinate rather than to obey the voice of God speaking through His Prophet.

The Prophet also mentions particularly who they were: they were men and women and children. Some render the last word 'puberty,' which I do not approve, since Scripture speaks this way about children. Then John and his associates took childhood, or children; and he adds, the daughters of the king.

We have previously inquired who these daughters of the king were: the probability is that they were his daughters by his concubines, and that they had been put in some safe place so that if any great evil happened, they might not fall into the hands of enemies. Then these daughters of the king had returned with the other exiles but were afterwards carried into Egypt.

Finally, he adds, all the souls which had been left by Nebuzaradan with Gedaliah, with Jeremiah, and with Baruch. This had not been expressed elsewhere—that is, that Jeremiah and Baruch were joined with Gedaliah as rulers over the remnant of the people. But it was not Jeremiah's design to relate everything that then took place.

Now then, when an occasion occurred, he says that he and Baruch were also made governors in connection with Gedaliah. He then adds that they all came into Egypt, or that they entered into Egypt. For the first word used, ויבאו (vaibau), may be translated, “And they entered into Egypt”; and then he adds, ויבאו עד-תחפנחס (vaibau od-tachephnuches), “And they entered (or penetrated) as far as Tachephnuches.”

It was formerly one of the chief cities of Egypt, but its name has perished along with its wealth; for in pagan writers, the name of this city is hardly found.

They indeed mention the city Taphnim but do not speak of Taphnees. It is then probable, as changes take place in a country, that this city gradually became forsaken, so as to become obscure and insignificant, and that other cities were built which exceeded it in wealth. He then says that they came to Taphnees.

This passage shows that the Prophet was by force drawn away with others, so that he became an exile in Egypt contrary to his own wishes; for he did not go there of his own accord, since we have seen how strictly he forbade them all to go down to Egypt. He was, however, compelled to go there, as though he had been bound with chains. He did not then go there intentionally, nor did he through despair follow those miserable men; for he would have preferred to die a hundred times through famine and want in the land of Judah rather than to have sought in this way the lengthening of his life. It then appears that he was driven there as it were by enemies.

But as nothing happens except through God’s purpose, so from this prophecy it appears that God ordered his servant’s going down, and that he was not so subjected to the will of the wicked, but that he was always guided by the hidden influence of God; for it was God’s will to have his herald even in the midst of Egypt, that he might declare to the Jews what was to be.

His doctrine, indeed, was not of any benefit to them; but it was God’s purpose to drive them as it were into madness, since their wickedness was wholly irreclaimable; for it is a harder thing for the wicked to hear God’s voice when he threatens vengeance, than to feel his hand.

When, therefore, the unbelieving avoid the word of God, they are still constrained, willing or unwilling, to hear what they willfully reject, even that God will be their judge. The Prophet then was sent, according to the hidden purpose of God, into Egypt, that he might there perform his usual vocation, continue to discharge his office, and there carry on his prophetic work.

But this prophecy was greatly disliked; for as the Jews had been already much exasperated, this threatening was still more calculated to kindle their fury. Jeremiah also created danger for himself from the Egyptians, for he not only threatened the Jews, but also the whole kingdom of Egypt. Thus we perceive how invincible his courage was, for he marched through certain deaths, and yet was terrified by no dangers, but performed the office entrusted to him by God.

Some think that he was on this account stoned by the Jews; but this is not probable. In fact, it may be gathered from other places that he died a natural death. However this may have been, his perseverance and firmness were wonderful, for he struggled to the end, and without weariness, with those wild beasts, whose savagery he had more than enough experienced.

Let us now see what this prophecy is: The word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah; The sum of it is that the Prophet was commanded not only to proclaim the vengeance of God, but also to confirm it by a visible symbol, as it was necessary to arouse unbelieving people. For so great was their stupidity, that unless God roused all their senses, they would never have paid attention; they were deaf.

Then the Lord set before their eyes what they were unwilling and refused to hear. For this reason the Prophet was commanded to add an outward sign to his prophecy, according to what we have stated in other places: signs were often connected with the doctrine on account of the slowness, or rather the stupidity of people.

He was then commanded to take great stones, and to hide them in the clay, or cement, in a brick-kiln,—that is, in a kiln where bricks were burned, or in a place where they were usually made, or where materials were taken to form them. This place was not far from the palace of the king in the city of Taphnees, as the Prophet expressly declares; in fact, he says that it was near the gate.

Since, then, this place was near the palace, the Prophet was commanded to hide the stones there, and in the sight of the Jews. This was the symbol.

Now, it is shown for what purpose God would have the stones to be fixed in the clay or cement; for if the stones were only rolled there with great labor by the Prophet, there would have been no instruction. We know that all signs are meaningless and without any importance without the word. It is God’s word, then, that in a way gives life to signs, and applies them for the benefit and instruction of people.

Therefore God’s command is added, that he was to speak to the Jews: Thou shalt say to them, Thus saith Jehovah. He brings in God as the speaker, so that the threatening might be more effectual, as it has been stated elsewhere. For if he had only related the words of God, he could not have thus arrested their attention, which was very slow. This, then, is the reason why he speaks in the person of God himself.

Behold, I, — the particle demonstrative and the pronoun are both emphatic, הנני, enni; Behold, I send, he says, to bring Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne on these stones.

We now understand the meaning of the whole matter: namely that these stones were thrown into the cement, so that God might build up a throne for Nebuchadnezzar. The time, indeed, for building the throne had not yet come; but God’s purpose was to lay the foundations, so that they might be hidden until the time arrived. The Prophet, then, built a throne for Nebuchadnezzar when he cast these stones into the place of the brick-kiln.

We must now examine each particular point in order. God says that he would send to bring Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. This mission must not be understood otherwise than as referring to the secret providence of God; for he had no attendants by whom he might send for Nebuchadnezzar, but he called him, as it were, by his nod only.

Moreover, this way of speaking is borrowed from human behavior: when people wish anything to be done, they make known their purpose, and then, when they give orders, they issue their commands. This is what earthly kings do, because they can accomplish whatever comes to their minds by a nod only.

But God, who needs no external aids, is said to send when he executes his own purpose, and does so by his incomprehensible power. Furthermore, God indicates that when Nebuchadnezzar came, it would by no means be by chance, but to take vengeance on the perverse Jews, who hoped for a safe refuge in Egypt, when God had promised them a quiet habitation in the land of Judah, had they remained there.

Then God declares that he would be the leader of that march when Nebuchadnezzar came into Egypt, as though he had said that the war would be carried on under his banner. Nebuchadnezzar did not intentionally obey God, for ambition and pride led him to Egypt when he came. This was because the Egyptians had so often provoked him that he could no longer defer vengeance without dishonor to himself.

It was, then, for this reason he came, if we consider his objective. But God declares that he overruled the king as well as all the Babylonians, so that he would arm them when he pleased, bring them into Egypt, and by their means carry on war with the Egyptians.

For the same reason he calls him his servant; not that Nebuchadnezzar was worthy of so honorable a name, for, as we have said, he had no intention at all of serving God. But he is called God’s servant because he executed what God himself had decreed.

The Scripture sometimes calls even demons the servants of God; but strictly speaking, angels and the faithful are alone his servants. Kings and prophets are also, for a special reason, called God’s servants, to whom authority is committed to rule or to teach. But in this place, as in many other places, the Scripture calls those God’s servants whom he employs to accomplish his purpose, even when they themselves have no such design.

The Prophet, no doubt, also had the Jews in mind, so that they might know that this war was approved by God; for Nebuchadnezzar would not have come unless he had been brought there by God.

It then follows, and I will set his throne. This, also, is what God claims for himself, namely, the erecting of the throne of King Nebuchadnezzar before the palace of the king of Egypt. The king of Babylon, doubtless, thought that the war was carried on through his own efforts and valor, and the courage of his soldiers; moreover, he sacrificed to his own fortune, as heathens are accustomed to do. And hence it is said in Isaiah of the Assyrian:

“He will not think so” (Isaiah 10:7).

But God designed this to be declared to the Jews beforehand, that they might then know that the just reward of their obstinacy would be rendered to them, for they were to be taught, as we have said, for their good. But as they were already without excuse, it was God’s purpose to shame them more and more, so that they might know that a just punishment would be inflicted on them, because they had so obstinately rejected all the counsel of God.

I will, then, erect his throne on the stones which I have hidden. The Prophet here speaks irregularly, sometimes in God’s name, sometimes in his own; but this was not done without reason. We have stated why he introduced God as the speaker: it was so that he might make the Jews more attentive, for he knew that all his threatenings would be derided unless God’s majesty was set before them. But now he connects himself with God, as though he had said that he had nothing apart from God.

This is the reason why he said, upon the stones which I have hid. God had not hidden the stones, but the Prophet speaks, nevertheless, in the person of God. But, as I have already said, this connection shows that the prophetic word is so connected with the hand and power of God, that when the Prophet speaks, it ought to be considered the same, as though God openly thundered from heaven.

And this way of speaking ought to be carefully noticed, so that we may learn reverently to receive whatever faithful teachers declare in His name while performing the duties of their office. For they are not to be regarded as mere men, because otherwise whatever proceeds from them may be disregarded. Instead, we ought to receive the doctrine proclaimed by their mouth as though God himself had descended from heaven to speak to us.

He afterwards adds, and he shall extend his tabernacle or his tent; for שפריר, shepherir, is taken from a word which means beauty, and properly means here a royal tent. The Hebrews do not give this name to the tents of shepherds, but only to those tents which excel in magnificence and splendor, according to what we say in French, Le pavillon du Roy.

He confirms the former verse by what he says here and in the two following verses to the end of the chapter. Since Egypt had cities well fortified and deemed impregnable, the Jews never thought that the Chaldeans could so easily penetrate them. For, first, that country is situated on a plain; and, secondly, in the midst of lakes; and it is partly surrounded by the Nile and the Red Sea. Since, then, Egypt was so well fortified on every side, they thought that they would find a quiet nest there. But God declares that King Nebuchadnezzar would become the conqueror of the whole land, and he removes all objections when he says:

Those for death, to death; those for captivity, to captivity; those for the sword, to the sword; as though he had said, “Even if Egypt were very populous, the immense multitude of people would still accomplish nothing, for they will be conquered by their enemy. Some will perish by the sword, some by various kinds of death, and some will be driven into exile; and Egypt will be destroyed, as though no one stood up in its defense.” We therefore see that this was added so that the Prophet might shake off the false confidence of the Jews. The two following verses serve the same purpose.