John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 44:24-26

"Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of Jehovah, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt: Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her: establish then your vows, and perform your vows. Therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith Jehovah, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the Lord Jehovah liveth." — Jeremiah 44:24-26 (ASV)

Jeremiah pursues the same subject, and not only bitterly reproves the ungodly men who so persistently despised his doctrine, but also shows that they could gain nothing by their audacity. He indicates that they would eventually be violently broken down because they could not bear to be corrected. He says at the beginning, You and your wives have spoken; the men are also included. You have spoken, both men and women, and with your hands have fulfilled it; that is, your obstinacy is complete, for, as you have spoken insolently against God, so there has been a performance; for by hands he designates the work done.

He then shows that they had advanced to the highest pitch of impiety, for they did not hesitate to vomit forth these impious words, We will not obey God, and they joined their hands to their mouth, for they strenuously executed what they had said. The thought itself was sufficient to condemn them; but when they thus spoke with their tongues, and then employed their hands against God, it was a proof of desperate audacity, as though they willfully intended to provoke him.

But he shows what outcome awaited these impious men, who so presumptuously rebelled against God. When he bids them to hear what God on the other hand had sworn, he compares God with themselves, as though he had said, “You may a hundred times increase in your madness, yet God will be the conqueror; for he is an adversary who will surely subvert all schemes and efforts.”

But before he comes to this, he mentions what they said, Doing we shall do our vows which we have vowed, to burn incense, etc. Here Jeremiah relates what we have before seen: that the Jews, under the pretext of doing what had been previously done, continued thus rebellious against God. We perceive this by the word vows; and the superstitious, when they are pressed, are inclined always to flee to this pretext, that to persevere in one’s resolution is a great virtue. While, then, they avoid the charge of fickleness, they harden themselves against God.

The same thing we see today under the Papacy: The older anyone is, the more obstinate he is. “What! Have I not learned during forty or fifty years what religion is, and how to worship God? I have been taught this way from a child, and have by long habit followed this way: it would be now a disgraceful thing for me to change my course and to relinquish the faith which I have professed for so many years.”

There is, then, no doubt that the Jews made a pretense of this kind against Jeremiah, when they said that they had vowed. For hypocrites make no distinction when they vow anything, but indiscriminately impose on God whatever comes to their minds; they afterwards stand fixed in their foolish fancies, and say that a vow is inviolable, a sacred thing.

Such was the excuse of the people. But we see from the Prophet’s answer how vainly they brought forward their vows in opposition to God—vows which had been made without judgment and without reason.

And this passage should be carefully noted, so that we may especially know that it is a folly in no way pleasing to God when men indiscriminately vow whatever they may dream according to their own fancies. God, then, would have sobriety and regard for his will to be observed concerning vows.

But when anyone has made an inconsiderate vow, to persist stubbornly in it is no less displeasing to God than the vow itself. The Jews had vowed; the warning of the Prophet ought to have constrained them to change their resolution. But while they avoided every kind of fickleness, we see that instead of constancy they set up their own perverseness and diabolical obstinacy in opposition to God.

When, therefore, we rashly make vows disapproved by God, nothing is better than immediately to retract them; for we have already sinned more than enough in having abused the holy name of God. For this reason the Prophet says that the Jews spoke thus, Doing we shall do the vows we have vowed; and what were these? To offer incense to the stars and to hosts of Heaven.

Had they vowed anything to God, they ought not to have broken their pledged faith; but they had made vows to the devil; then they ought to have immediately changed their purpose.

When I say that vows made to God ought to be performed, I mean lawful vows; for he who makes a vow without judgment does not vow to God. But those vows which God sanctions ought to be deemed sacred; and whatever vows God repudiates ought to be counted as nothing. We hence see that the Jews were justly condemned, for they stubbornly paid their vows to their own idols.

He adds by way of irony, Confirming you will confirm your vows, doing you will do your vows. Here the Prophet sharply rebukes their insolence, because they thus set themselves up against God, as though it were a great virtue to persevere in their wicked purpose; you cannot change, he says, but confirming you will confirm your vows!

Hear you now, he says, the word of Jehovah, etc. By these words, as I have already hinted, he implies that they could gain nothing by their insolence, except that they would thereby provoke God, who on the other hand did set up his own power against them. Thus, then, says Jehovah, Behold, I have sworn by my great name, etc.

As they had so often disregarded God speaking to them, he confirmed by an oath what he was going to say. Had he only threatened, they might have as usual disregarded him, as though the Prophet spoke what was vain. This is the reason why he now introduces God as making an oath.

And it should be noted that whenever God confirms his words by an oath, he does this either because he sees that he has to deal with men who are like stones, who cannot be made to feel by simple truth, or when he is pleased to give aid to our infirmity and sloth: for God confirms threatenings as well as promises by an oath.

When he thus confirms threatenings, then he indirectly condemns the obstinate wickedness of those whom he addresses. But when he promises anything by an oath, he shows how great our propensity is to indulge doubts, and what weakness there is in our faith; for if such faith were in us as there should be, we would be contented with one little word.

As, then, God introduces his own name as a pledge, it therefore appears that we are naturally unbelieving, or that the weakness of our faith is such that it needs this support. But here, as God threatens, he shows that the Jews were so obstinate in their wickedness that it was necessary to shake them by terror.

Now, God makes an oath by his own great name. Men, as the Apostle says, swear by God (Hebrews 6:16), because he is called as a witness and a judge when his name is introduced.

But it is no unnecessary addition when God not only swears by himself, but by his own great name. For he thus implied that the Jews were greatly deceived if they thought that God would not execute vengeance on them because they indulged themselves.

For it is a common thing with hypocrites to measure God by their own judgment; and when they diminish his power, they think of him as of a child. In order, then, to rid the Jews of this false imagination, he says, by his own great name. There is, then, implied here a contrast between the greatness of God’s name, which cannot be diminished at the will of man, and the presumption of the ancient people, who rendered God’s name contemptible.

He afterwards adds, If my name, etc. It is an imperfect sentence, which, as we have often said, was frequently used in order that a greater reverence may be observed by us when we swear by God’s name.

We must now come to what is said, There shall not be a Jew, who is to swear any more in my name. God himself makes an oath, and what is the oath which he makes? That no one was to desecrate his name; for they thought that it was some evidence of religion when they swore by Jehovah.

It was yet nothing but an awful desecration of God’s name. They defiled themselves, as it appears, with Egyptian superstitions; but that they might differ from the Egyptians themselves and possess something special—that they, in short, might seem to be a holy nation—they still retained a form of swearing distinct from what was common among the Gentiles.

God declares that he would not suffer his name to be any more irreverently used in Egypt. He says, Not invoked shall be my name any more by the mouth of a Jew.

And that he speaks of oaths we gather from the next verse, when he says, Live does Jehovah in all the land of Egypt. For, as it has been said, the Jews as yet boasted that they kept the Law, because God’s name was still in their mouth and on their tongue. But God says that it was to be taken away from them, because it was a disgraceful pollution of his name when they mingled themselves with the Egyptians in all kinds of superstitions, and yet boasted that they were God’s people.