John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 44:14

"so that none of the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or be left, to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save such as shall escape." — Jeremiah 44:14 (ASV)

The Prophet seems to be inconsistent with himself, for at the beginning of the verse he says that there would be no residue, but at the end he adds an exception: that there would be few alive who would flee and, by some miracle, escape from death. Some take this view: that none of the ungodly despisers would remain, but that some would yet be preserved alive—even those who had been drawn there against their own will, such as Jeremiah, Baruch, and such as were like them.

But this explanation may seem forced at first glance. Yet, if the Prophet is speaking of the Jews who had fled into Egypt, it is necessary to understand it this way; otherwise, there would be a manifest inconsistency and contradiction.

However, we may also refer what he says at the end of the verse to the exiles in Babylon. For those who had hidden themselves in Egypt thought that it was all over with all others, because they had been led away into a distant country. Since, then, a return to their country was closed off to them, they thought that they themselves would become the sole heirs of the land. Egypt was not far from the land of Judah, so a return was easy and also free, because they had made a treaty with the Egyptians. Furthermore, they had gone to them as friends to partake of their hospitality. Those, then, who lived in Egypt thought that the land of Judah would be their own.

But God says that none would return to that land except those who would escape—even those to whom permission to return would be given at the end of their captivity and exile.

I take then the word פלטים, pelethim, at the end of the verse, as referring to the remnant which God would eventually gather when liberty to return was granted to the Jews by the edict of Cyrus, at the end of the seventy years which the Prophet had previously mentioned. And this seems to me a simpler meaning: that is, that none would remain of that remnant which had gone down to Egypt, who came, as it is expressed, to sojourn in the land of Egypt and to return to the land of Judah, for this was their purpose.

He then adds, To which they lift up their souls to return there. The Prophet here exposes the confidence by which the Jews still deceived themselves, for the lifting up of which he speaks means to aspire or to hope, and denotes pride and presumption.

So by saying that they lifted up their souls, he reproves them because they were still inflated with a foolish hope and persuaded themselves that a return would soon be open for them, as the land was without any possessors. Since, then, they were cherishing such delusions, they were to understand that they were never to return there. They shall not return, he says.

And then follows an exception, Except those who escape, even those of whom the Jews in Egypt despaired, who thought that they had done well and had made a prudent decision, because they had for a time a quiet hiding-place in Egypt.