John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 44

Jeremiah had already prophesied against the Jews who had taken refuge in Egypt, as though there would be for them in that rich and almost unassailable land a safe and quiet retreat. But he now speaks against them for another reason and denounces on them something more grievous than before, because they had not only gone into Egypt against God’s will, but when they arrived there, they polluted themselves with all kinds of superstition.

God, no doubt, designed, in due time, to prevent this when He forbade them to go into Egypt, for He knew how prone they were to idolatry and to false and adulterous modes of worship. He was therefore unwilling that they should dwell in that land, where they might learn to corrupt His worship.

And this had happened, as it appears from the present prophecy. Since they had then cast aside all shame and given themselves over to the superstitions of the heathens, the Prophet again testified that God would take vengeance on them.

But we shall see that he had to deal with refractory men, for without showing any respect for him, they attacked him with impetuous fury. The sum of what is said, then, is that the Jews who lived in Egypt were unworthy of any pardon because they had, as it were, intentionally rejected the favor of God, and their obstinacy had become altogether hopeless. We shall now consider the words:

A word is said to have been given to Jeremiah to all the Jews. But God did not speak to Jeremiah in the same way as He did to the Jews, for He entrusted to him the words which He commanded him to deliver to others. Thus, the word was directly given to Jeremiah only; but since Jeremiah was God’s interpreter to the people, the word is said to be given to all in common, although at first, as has been stated, it was entrusted to Jeremiah alone.

For He did not favor the Jews with such an honor as to speak to them directly, but He sent the Prophet as His messenger. He said then to the Jews who lived in Egypt, and afterwards he mentions certain places, first Migdol, then Tahpanhes, and thirdly, Noph. Some have rendered the first name as Magdal.

That city was not as well known at the time when Egypt flourished, but it has been mentioned by heathen writers. Of Tahpanhes we spoke yesterday. Noph has been identified as Memphis; and it is generally agreed that what the Hebrews called Noph was the noble and celebrated city Memphis, which, it is supposed, is now called Cairo (Le Caire). Finally, he mentions the country of Pathros, which some suppose to have been near Pelusium.

But I do not expend much effort on such a matter as this, for even heathen writers have regarded this as an obscure country of no importance. Pathros is elsewhere mentioned as a city, and some think it to have been Petra of Arabia. But the Prophet no doubt refers here to the country in which Memphis and other cities were situated, where the Jews lived.

He says these things because a question might have been raised: "Since the Jews lived in Egypt, and the land was so large, how could the Prophet have announced God’s commands to everyone?" This, then, is why he indicates that they were not dispersed everywhere throughout Egypt, from one end to the other. Instead, they were in one part only and were so gathered that his word could reach everyone. This, then, was the reason why he mentioned the places where the Jews sojourned.

He now begins with reproof because they were so foolish as not to remember the vengeance God had executed on themselves and on the whole nation. They had been left alive for this purpose: that they might acknowledge God’s judgment and thus return to a right mind.

Here, then, the Prophet upbraids them for their insensibility, because they had profited nothing under God's scourges. It is commonly said that fools become wise when they are beaten.

Since the Jews had not repented after being so grievously chastised, it was a proof of extreme perverseness. For if the remnant had possessed even a grain of sound judgment, they would have been humbled at least by the final destruction of their nation, when the city and the temple were demolished.

Since they then followed the same wicked courses for which God had inflicted so severe a punishment, it was evident that they were wholly irreclaimable and destitute of reason and judgment. This is the meaning of all the Prophet's words that we have read.

He says first, “You have seen what great evils I brought on you and the land.” Then you know that you have justly suffered all the evils that have happened to you; for you have not sinned through lack of knowledge, but when I had diligently warned you by My Prophets, you remained ever obstinate; you have therefore fully deserved such punishments. Now, when God spared you and wished that a small number should remain, to preserve a seed, as it were, how is it that these evils, which are still, so to speak, before your eyes, are not remembered by you? We now understand the Prophet's intention.

But it may be well to examine every part. “You have seen,” he says, “all the evil which I have brought (evil here means calamity) on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and, behold, they are now a waste, and no one dwells there.” There is here an emphatic comparison between Jerusalem and Memphis, between the cities of Judah and Heliopolis and the whole country of Pathros. If then God had not spared the holy city which He had chosen, if He had not spared the cities of Judah which were under His protection, how foolish it was for the Jews to think that they would be safe in the cities of Egypt? By what privilege could these be secure, since the cities of Judah had been reduced to a waste? We now perceive why the Prophet mentioned Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; it was so that he might expose the foolishness of the Jews, because they thought themselves safe in Egypt, a land which God had ever held in abomination.

He afterwards adds, “For the evil which they did to provoke Me.” He refers to the sins by which the Jews had provoked God's wrath, for the people whom Jeremiah addressed had relapsed into those superstitions which had been the cause of their ruin. If the Prophet had spoken generally, saying that it was strange that the Jews had forgotten the punishment God had inflicted on the whole nation, his teaching would not have been so impressive.

But when he now points out as if with his finger how they had brought such calamities upon themselves, he presses and urges them more forcefully to acknowledge their madness. They continually provoked God in this way, and sinned not through ignorance, but offended Him by the same sins for which they had already suffered such grievous and dreadful punishment.

This is the reason why the Prophet says, “For the evil which they did to provoke Me, even to go,” he says, “to offer incense and to serve alien gods.” To go here intimates the care and diligence they exercised in false worship. God had shown the Jews a certain way in His Law which they ought to have followed: if they had then continued in the teaching of the Law, they would have kept to the right way and proceeded to the right destination. But they are said to go because they disregarded the Law and went here and there, like those who wander aimlessly, not knowing where they are going.

Therefore, a contrast is to be understood between going and remaining under the teaching of the Law. In short, to go is to weary oneself by an erratic course when God's word is neglected and the way it points out is forsaken. This is one point.

Then he adds, “to offer incense and to serve alien gods.” Incense here is mentioned as a particular thing; then, what is general is added, for incense, as is well known, was an evidence of worship. Thus, the Prophet, by this one thing, condemns the idolatry of his own nation. But finally, he shows that they were given to other abominations, that they had devoted themselves to the false worship of alien gods.

This passage, and those like it, deserve particular notice; for from this we learn that men depart from God and alienate themselves from His true worship whenever they mix something of their own with it and dream of this and that according to their own will—the very thing intended, as we have said, by going as used by the Prophet.

As soon, then, as men devise new modes of worship for themselves, it is as if they turned backward or willfully wandered, for they do not keep to the right and legitimate way. We also learn from the second clause that idolaters offer excuses in vain to excuse themselves.

For if they transfer to another what belongs uniquely to God, and what He claims for Himself, it is more than sufficient proof of idolatry; and incense, as I have said, was a symbol of divine worship. Since they offered incense to their idols, they robbed the true God of His own honor, and chose new gods, and adorned them with the prerogatives of the only true God.

In vain, then, and foolishly do Papists today seek evasions when we object to them, saying that gross idolatries prevail among them: “He! It is not our intention to transfer the worship that uniquely belongs to the only true God to saints or to images; but we apply all this to God.” Since they burn incense to saints, images, and pictures, and even offer incense to the dead, there is surely no further need to dispute the point. And when they try to evade, whatever they may bring forward is refuted by this one expression of the Prophet, for when he speaks of incense, he condemns the Jews for their idolatry.

But as I have said, he speaks afterwards generally, and says, “and to serve alien gods.” Then it follows, “whom they knew not, neither you nor your fathers.” Here the Prophet amplifies the sin of his own nation, because they had devoted their attention to unknown gods. Here again, a contrast is to be understood: between God, who had revealed Himself by His Law, by His Prophets, and by so many miracles and blessings, and the fictitious gods, whom the Jews had invented and contrived without thought and judgment.

Now, it was evidence of a base and intolerable ingratitude that the Jews should have forsaken the true God after He had made Himself known to them. For if the Law had never been given, if God had allowed them, like other nations, to be entangled in their own errors, their offense would have been lighter.

But God had made Himself so intimately known to them that He was pleased to give them His Law to be a sure rule of religion; He had also exercised His miraculous powers among them. Since, then, the knowledge of the true God had been made so remarkably clear to them, how great and how base was their ingratitude to reject Him and to depart from Him in order to run after idols, when they contrived for themselves vain gods that were nothing but fictions!

If anyone had inquired what sort of god Baal was, or what their Baalim were, they would have said that they had Baalim as their patrons, who obtained favor for them with the supreme God. But from where had they derived their vain notion? It was nothing but superstition founded on no reason.

This ought to be carefully observed; for if anyone today were to ask Papists by what right they have devised for themselves so various and so many modes of worship, devotion alone, they say, will suffice, or a good intention. Let us then know that religion separated from knowledge is nothing but the sport and delusion of Satan. It is therefore necessary that men should know with certainty what god they worship. And Christ thus distinguishes the true worship of God from that of vain idols:

“We know,” He says, speaking of the Jews, “whom we worship” (John 4:22).

He then says that the Jews knew—even those who worshipped God according to what the Law prescribes—He says that they knew whom they worshipped. He then condemns all good intentions in which the superstitious delight, for they do not know whom they worship. And I have said that religion ought not to be separated from knowledge; but I call that knowledge not what is innate in man, or what is acquired by diligence, but that which is delivered to us by the Law and the Prophets.

We now, then, understand why the Prophet says that the Jews devoted themselves to alien gods, whom they had not known, nor their fathers.

Now follows a circumstance by which their impiety was still further enhanced: God had sent them Prophets who stretched out their hands to them to draw them from their errors. For if they had never been warned, their condemnation would have been just, for God had once shown them by His Law what was right. The teaching, then, of the Law ought to have been sufficient for all ages.

But when God had never ceased to send Prophets, one after another, it was a sign of hopeless obstinacy to reject so many and so constant warnings. God then added this circumstance so that it might appear that the Jews were wholly inexcusable and worthy of a hundred or a thousand deaths because they had so perversely despised all the means of salvation.

But God says that He had “sent to them all His servants.” What is universal has its own particular importance, for if one or two Prophets had been sent, the Jews would have been proven guilty, as the law does not require more than two or three witnesses to condemn those who have done wrong (Deuteronomy 17:6).

But God shows here that there had been a vast number of these prophets, through whom, if they had been believed, the Jews might have been preserved in safety. They might, then, have been proven guilty not only by three or four witnesses but even by a great number, for the Prophets had continually succeeded one another. And thus had been fulfilled what God had promised in the Law:

“A Prophet will I raise up from the midst of your brethren, him shall you hear; and every one who will not hear that Prophet shall be cut off from his people” (Deuteronomy 18:18–19).

For God shows in His proclaimed Law that this would be one of His chief blessings: always to keep the Jews in the knowledge of their duty by never leaving them destitute of Prophets and faithful teachers.

Here then He shows that He had always really performed what He had promised by Moses, for He does not say that He had sent only a few, but, as I have said, that there had been a copious abundance. In every age there were several Prophets, and some, when it became necessary, succeeded others. But what had been the fruit? He afterwards complains that all the Prophets had been rejected.

But to render their sin still more heinous, He says, “rising up early and sending.” An explanation of this kind of speaking has been given elsewhere (Jeremiah 7:13; Jeremiah 11:7). It is metaphorical language, for God does not rise, nor does He change places; but here He applies to Himself what uniquely belongs to men. For one who is attentive to business does not wait until the sun rises but anticipates the morning dawn. So also the Prophet says that God had been vigilant, for He had been solicitous concerning the well-being of the people.

We further learn from this mode of speaking how invaluable is the benefit God bestows when He raises up honest and faithful teachers; for it is the same as when the head of a family rises early from his bed, calls up his children, and takes care of them. Let us, then, know that teaching, when it is communicated to us, is evidence of God’s paternal solicitude, because He would not have us perish, but comes down to us and sees what is needful, as though He were present with us. And as a father towards his children, He takes care of us and our affairs. This is the meaning.

He now adds the substance of His message: “Do not the thing of this abomination which I hate.” God intimates, in short, that it was not His fault that the Jews did not return from their errors to the right way, because He had stretched out His hand to them and had, as it were, imploringly requested them to provide better for themselves and not knowingly and willfully seek their own destruction.

He acted as if He were a husband who, anxious to preserve his wife's fidelity, might say to her—“Behold, you know that I cannot endure unchasteness; beware, then, lest you prostitute yourself to adulterers.” So God shows here that He had testified by all His servants that all kinds of idolatry were displeasing to Him, so that the Jews might keep themselves from idolatry.

And He adds, “But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to alien gods.” Here God charges the Jews with irreclaimable obstinacy, for the teaching of the Law did not keep them in obedience, nor did they pay attention to it, though often and at different times warned and admonished by the Prophets.

And He still more clearly sets forth their perverseness by the second clause, when He says that they did not incline their ear. If He had said, “They have not hearkened,” it would have been quite sufficient; but when He adds, “They have not inclined their ear,” He expresses, as I have said, something worse than contempt: that they intentionally rejected the teaching of the Prophets.

They disdained to hear the Prophets or to listen to their admonitions, but willingly became deaf, indeed, closed up their ears, as rebels do, who are said elsewhere to harden their hearts. We now understand the meaning of this verse.

Now He adds, “On this account My wrath and My fury has been poured forth, and has burned through the cities of Judah and through the streets of Jerusalem; and this day they are a waste and a desolation.” The word שממה, shimme, sometimes means amazement, as has been stated before; but when it is connected with חרבה, cherebe, as here, it means desolation.

“As at this day.” A dreadful waste was then apparent; he again refers to this truth: that the Jews ought to have been so touched by that remarkable and memorable instance of God’s displeasure as not to abandon themselves afterwards to new idolatries. They ought to have remembered so recent an example of punishment.

Since, then, they still persevered in their hardness, it was evidence of extreme impiety. The Prophet says that the perverseness of the Jews had not been unpunished, for God’s wrath had been poured forth against the cities of Judah, indeed, against Jerusalem itself, the sanctuary of God, so that all things had been reduced to desolation.

The Jews, then, ought, on the one hand, to have seriously considered how inexcusable their impiety had been in so perversely despising God; and then, on the other hand, they ought to have felt fear and dread, since they saw that God had taken such vengeance on those who had despised His teaching and violated His worship.

He then adds, “Why then do you now do this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah, that nothing may remain for you?” Here at length the passage is finished, for what we have read until now would have kept the reader in suspense if this had not been added.

He then says, “Since the sin of your fathers ought to have been detested by you, and since God’s judgment was dreadful, and that punishment ought to fill you with fear today, how is it that you seek to bring God’s vengeance on yourselves again?” Why then, he says, now, etc.

This now is emphatic; that is, after so many and so remarkable examples, after so many admonitions, after the most severe punishment inflicted on the obstinate.

He says, “against your own souls;” and by this He touched them very sharply, reminding them that what they were doing would be their ruin. It is as though He had said that God would suffer no loss from their wickedness, but that they would become the authors of their own destruction.

He indeed intimates, as I have already said, that their impiety would not be without its punishment; but He shows at the same time that God could, if He thought proper, look down with indifference on their impieties, for He would remain perfect even if they were the worst.

For when God is robbed by men of His just and legitimate worship, nothing is taken away from His greatness; for He always remains the same and is neither advanced nor diminished by the will of men. Then the Prophet shows that the Jews were acting madly to their own ruin when he says that they did evil against their own souls.

And this He explains more fully by adding, “To cut off man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah.” He intimates that God still manifested His mercy while there was any remnant.

They could have remained in Judea, even in their own inheritance, and the country could have been inhabited until the seventy years God had fixed for the exile had elapsed. Now the Prophet shows that they fought, as it were, against the goodness of God, for they sought to extinguish their own name, so that nothing would remain of that people to whom God had still left some seed, that they might not wholly perish.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since You unceasingly show us Your paternal love and care,—O grant that we may not be so insensitive as to turn a deaf ear to Your teaching and admonitions; but as You watch over our safety, may the constancy of our faith and obedience so respond to You that we may reverently receive Your word, allow ourselves to be ruled by it, and follow the way which You have set before us, until we attain complete salvation and enjoy that blessed inheritance which has been prepared for us in heaven by Christ our Lord.—Amen.

In the last lecture, I was obliged to cut short the subject of the Prophet, for this verse depends on the preceding one and is to be read together with it. The Prophet asked why the Jews willingly cut themselves off from every hope of safety and were seeking their own ruin. He now expresses the matter more fully: that they were provoking God’s wrath by their superstitions. He then points out the cause of all evils—the pollution of God’s true worship by idolatries.

Here we see that there is no end to sinning when men despise God and allow themselves every license in doing evil. God was unwilling that the Jews should go to Egypt, for He had promised to cherish them, as it were, under His own wings. Thus, He intended to show them mercy so that they might remain in safety, even in a country then miserable and desolate.

But against His command, they went into Egypt. When they arrived there, in order to gain favor with the Egyptians, they polluted themselves with vain superstitions.

They could have worshipped God in purity in the land of Judah without any danger. Distrusting the favor of God, they fled into Egypt, and the fear of men led them to deny their religion. Hence, we see how one evil proceeds from another; when the Jews coveted the favor of that heathen nation, they polluted themselves with many ungodly superstitions.

This is the sin to which the Prophet now refers—To provoke me, he says, by the works of your hands. Here, a contrast is to be understood between the works God had commanded and those which men had devised for themselves.

The altar and the whole Temple were indeed works done by the hand and art of men; but as God had commanded the altar to be made and the Temple to be built, the Temple was not, properly speaking, a human work but a divine work, since it had been commanded.

But whatever men devise for themselves for the purpose of worshipping God is what is called the work of their hands, for they invent things themselves and follow only their own fancies. They do not attend to what pleases God but give license to their own imaginations, so that according to their own will, they mingle together any sort of worship they please.

This, then, is the reason, and it is in this sense, that the Prophet says that the Jews provoked God by the works of their hands: they corrupted His lawful worship and departed from true religion when they attached themselves to heathen actions and corruptions.

He then adds, To offer incense to alien gods. Under this specific example, as has already been said, the Prophet includes what is general, for the Jews sinned not only by offering incense but also through various other superstitions. But by stating a part for the whole, he clearly intimates that they denied the true God when they worshipped idols.

And then he adds, in the land of Egypt, into which ye have entered, that ye might dwell there. He takes away the excuse they might have made: that they were constrained by fear because they were unhappy exiles and saw that their own religion would not be tolerated by that proud nation. The Prophet says that they had come into Egypt when God commanded them to remain in the land of Judah. That plea, then, could not have been admitted—that, being terrified by danger, they sought to please the Egyptians—for they had brought themselves into that bondage when they could have been free in the land of Judah to worship God in purity. This is the reason why he says that they came into Egypt to sojourn there.

At length, he adds, to cut you off. The construction is indeed different, but the meaning is clear. He intimates, in short, as he said in the preceding verse, that they willingly and, as it were, intentionally, rushed headlong into their own ruin. He then adds, and ye shall be a curse and a reproach among all nations. By these words, he means that their destruction would be memorable, and this was harder than if their memory were buried with their life. But the Prophet says that their death would be such an example that they would be deemed execrable by all. In short, he declares that they would be exposed to all kinds of reproaches even after their death.

The Prophet now explains how extremely shameful was the insensitivity of the Jews, in not acknowledging that God had most severely and grievously punished the superstitions to which they had previously been devoted. At the same time, if we consider the word used, he seems not to mean punishments by evils, but rather the wicked deeds by which they had provoked God.

And this should be noted, for some interpreters offer this interpretation, "Have you forgotten your evils and those of your fathers?"—that is, how severely God had afflicted you? But there is no doubt that the Prophet means by רעות, rout, their sins, by which they had exposed themselves to God’s judgment; for it immediately follows, which they did, or committed, in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. But although he means the sins of the people by this word, there is still no doubt that he also includes the punishments by which they should have known that the impiety in which they most obstinately persisted had displeased God.

When therefore the Prophet says, Have you forgotten your evils and those of your fathers? he assumes it was well known that God had taken vengeance on them for their sins; for he does not address the Jews in their prosperity, but when they were fugitives from their own land and under the curse of heaven. Since, then, they were evidently condemned by God, the Prophet justly asks them, "Have you forgotten that you have been condemned for the sins of your fathers and those of your kings, even for those which they had committed?" This he asked, because it was a terrible stupidity, that though the city had been overthrown and the temple burnt, they still did not abandon their superstitions, especially when such a remarkable vengeance of God should have kept their descendants in fear and obedience for even ten generations. Thus we see that punishment is linked with sins.

He says, of the kings of Judah and of their wives. The relative is singular, his wives; but it undoubtedly refers to the people. Some read, of every one of them; but there is no need, as it is a singular number referring to a collective noun, Judah. He afterwards adds, which they did. This should not be confined to the women (nor is it suitable), but it refers to all the Jews as well as to kings of Judah, and also to the women—which then they did in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem.

When he mentions the streets of Jerusalem, he emphasizes their wickedness. For we know that city was, as it were, the earthly sanctuary of God. It was then a most disgraceful impiety to pollute that place which God had consecrated for himself. The whole land of Judah was indeed under his authority and power, but he had favored the city, and especially Mount Sion, with unique privileges. Then the Prophet further highlights the greatness of their sin when he says that Jerusalem had been polluted by their superstitions.

He afterwards mentions how great the perverseness of that people had been: They are not humbled, he says, to this day, though they had been most severely struck by the rods of God. Even fools, when struck, become wise, as the old proverb says. Since the Jews then had been so grievously chastised by God’s hand, and had experienced extreme severity, should they not have considered what they had deserved? But the Prophet shows that their wickedness was past remedy, for though broken down they were not yet humbled, like those who are of a perverse disposition, who could not be reformed even if they were broken down a hundred times. Then the Prophet rebukes the Jews for their obstinacy, because not even the greatest calamity had brought them to obedience.

They were not then humbled to that day, nor did they fear. Fear should also be referred here to the calamities which they had experienced, for God had sufficiently shown that he had been grievously offended by their impiety. Since then God’s dreadful judgment had been made clear to all, the Prophet here condemns their dullness, because they had not been brought back to a sound mind so as to fear God.

He now adds another instance of obstinacy: that they had not walked in the Law of God and in his commandments. Then he shows that their obstinacy was twofold: they had profited nothing from his teaching, and they had disregarded his punishments. The Law itself was a rule for them according to which they were to worship God, nor should they have sought elsewhere what they were to do.

Since, then, they had a revelation in the Law regarding true religion, it was an intolerable contempt to depart from it of their own accord and to abandon themselves to all kinds of errors. But the Prophet shows that they had been extremely unteachable, because they had not only cast aside all regard for the Law, but they had also despised God’s hand and refused to be corrected by any punishments.

To show still further that they had sinned through sheer wickedness, he says, They have not walked in my Law nor in my statutes. This second clause seems to be superfluous; but the Prophet here commends the clear teaching of the Law, as though God had said that he had not only shown in a brief manner what was true and right, but that he had also by many statutes taught the Jews, so that they had no pretext for their ignorance.

And he confirms the same thing in other words, when he says that he had put these statutes before their face; for by these words he intimates that there is nothing obscure in the Law, and that the Jews therefore had not gone astray through lack of knowledge. For men always downplay their sins with excuses when their impiety is condemned. The Prophet then says that the Jews were inexcusable, because the rule of true religion had been set before their eyes.

Now this passage testifies that the teaching of the Law is not doubtful, as some profane men say, who hold that Scripture may be turned any way like a nose of wax. But God declares that he had not spoken ambiguously.

Since, then, the Prophet affirms that the Law had been set before the eyes of the Jews, that they might surely know the will of God, we should maintain today that in the Gospel, clearly revealed to us by the coming of Christ, there is nothing obscure. Instead, the treasures of all knowledge have been made known to us, as far as it is necessary.

Therefore, those who now go astray vainly pretend that they do so because the will of God is hidden from them; for they can only err by dissembling and willfully closing their eyes, lest the brightness of the sun should reach them.

Yet let us know that the more plainly God is made known to us, the more grievously we sin when we turn aside from his true worship and service; for he has omitted nothing in his word which is necessary to worship him acceptably. Since, then, we have before our eyes the rule of a godly life, unless we follow it, this reproof belongs to us: that God has set his statutes before our eyes.

He again denounces punishment on the obstinate; nor is it a wonder that these threats were so often repeated, since he had to deal with men so ferocious and rebellious. The reason, then, why he pronounced God’s judgment on them was because they boldly derided him; and it will become more evident from what follows how necessary such vehemence was.

And first, indeed, the Prophet briefly shows that all those would perish who had until then falsely imagined that they could not otherwise be safe than by fleeing into Egypt. Then Jeremiah here reproves and condemns their false and vain confidence. And then he explains the manner when he says, I will take away all the remnant of Judah, who have set their face to come to Egypt, etc. By these words and the following, God intimates that the Jews had in vain sought hiding-places in Egypt, because there he would inflict on them the punishment which they had deserved.

He names the sword and the famine; the third kind he omits here, but he will mention it soon. Then he says that they were to perish, partly by the sword and partly by famine, and in order to speak more emphatically, he uses different words, They shall be consumed by famine, they shall fall by the sword, they shall all be consumed, and then he says, from the least to the greatest.

Finally he adds, And they shall be a curse. We have said elsewhere that the word אלה, ale, sometimes means a curse, though it properly signifies an oath; and the reason is, because men in swearing often introduce a curse, “Let God curse me,” — “Let me perish.” Then he says, that the Jews would become an example of a curse; for in making an oath this would be the common form, “Let God destroy me as he destroyed the Jews.” He afterwards adds, an astonishment, because all would be horrified at the very sight of their calamity. It follows lastly, a curse and a reproach, of which we have spoken before. Let us now proceed, —

He confirms in this verse what He had said in the last: that He would again take vengeance on impiety, as He had done previously. The Jews were previously afflicted by a very grievous calamity when they were intoxicated with prosperity. But now, as God wanted to shake them out of their lethargy, the Prophet justly reminds them of the calamities they had suffered: As, then, I visited Jerusalem, so will I visit those who dwell in Egypt.

The argument also proceeds from the greater to the lesser: if God had not spared the holy city, in which He had chosen a habitation, how could He spare Egypt? For Egypt was not worthy of God’s regard; we know that it was a profane and accursed land.

It was, then, the greatest madness for the Jews to hope to be safe in Egypt when they could not have been safe in the holy land—which was God’s sanctuary, their heritage, and even God’s rest.

We now see the Prophet’s purpose, for he set before them the ruin of the city and of the land of Judah, so that they might know that they could not escape God’s hand while they lived in Egypt contrary to His command. For God would be a more severe judge to them there than He had been previously in the land of Judah.