John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 49:13

"For I have sworn by myself, saith Jehovah, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes." — Jeremiah 49:13 (ASV)

Here the Prophet confirms what he had already prophesied concerning the Idumeans. To remove every doubt, he says that God had sworn, and he introduces God as the speaker so that His word might be emphatic. He then declares that God had made an oath concerning the destruction of Bozrah. What is particular is put for what is general, for he includes the whole nation under the name of this city. Nor does he simply declare that the Idumeans would be laid waste and destroyed, but he accumulates words: Bozrah, he says, shall be a waste; secondly, a reproach; thirdly, a solitude, or desert; and fourthly, a curse.

What the Prophet said was undoubtedly something difficult to believe, for God did not invoke His own name without reason. For as He desires us to use it seriously and reverently, so He does not offer so precious a pledge except when absolutely necessary.

It is then certain that there was a weighty reason why God testified by an oath about what we read here concerning the destruction of the people of Edom. Now, I have said that what Jeremiah announced was scarcely believable. This was so because there was no cause for war; and besides, the country was fortified by its own defenses, for the Idumeans thought, it seems, that they were impregnable. This, then, was the reason why God intervened with an oath.

At the same time, His purpose was, as I have reminded you before, to act for the benefit of the faithful. For God makes an oath to apply a remedy to the weakness of our faith; for as we almost always vacillate, a simple testimony, without being confirmed by an oath, would not be sufficient for us. This then is the reason for an oath.

God is said to swear by Himself, because there is no one greater by whom He can swear, as the apostle states (Hebrews 6:13). In doubtful and hidden matters, people resort to God, who knows the heart, who is Himself the truth, and from whom nothing is hidden. An oath, as we learn from many places in Scripture, is a part of divine worship. Since this honor peculiarly belongs to Him—namely, that we should swear by His name—when He Himself swears, He cannot derive authority from another to confirm His words. He therefore swears by Himself. And we have heard what He declares through Isaiah: “I will not give my glory to another” (Isaiah 42:8).

God then prescribes to us the form of swearing when He swears by Himself. God is said to swear sometimes by His soul, or by His life, and He is said sometimes to lift up His hand. These expressions are not strictly literal but are transferred to God from human practices. But the way of speaking used by Jeremiah ought especially to be noted, for we see how an oath is to be rightly made: namely, by an appeal to God’s name, for He alone is the fit witness and judge in doubtful and hidden matters.

Therefore, under the Papacy, there is a base and intolerable idolatry, for the Papists swear by dead saints. This is nothing less than robbing God of His right. For since He alone, as has been stated, is the truth, He alone is the fit judge when things are hidden and cannot be ascertained by human testimony. We ought also to notice the words used in swearing—that is, when people submit to God’s judgment and implore Him as a judge. Whoever then swears by the saints, it is the same as making them occupy the place of God, thus appointing them as judges of the world and ascribing all power to them.

Paul says, “God is a witness to my soul” (2 Corinthians 1:23); and then we have such words as these: “May God do this to me and add that” (Ruth 1:17; 1 Samuel 14:44; 2 Samuel 3:35, and other passages).

By such expressions, as I have said, the authority and character of an oath are set forth. In short, we must bear in mind that when necessity compels us to swear, God is always the sole judge, and therefore His name is profaned when we swear by another.

What it means to be a reproach and a curse is evident from other passages, as when anyone is set, as it were, in a theater to be an example of disgrace, or when any calamity gives rise to execrations and maledictions, such as, “May God destroy you as He destroyed the Idumeans.” This is what it means to be a curse, as we have seen elsewhere.

He adds cities, and thereby indicates that this desolation would not be confined to one part but would be extended to all parts. He also says that they would be perpetual wastes; and thus He took away every hope of restoration. When the Prophet prophesied previously against the Moabites and the Ammonites, he mingled some consolation, but as for Edom, every hope is cut off. The nation undoubtedly deserved a heavier vengeance, for it had a closer connection with the Israelites—hence its cruelty was harder to bear. Besides, it appears that Edom exceeded all other nations in its barbarity, for it is not without reason that it is said in the Psalms: “Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, who said in the day of Jerusalem, Let it be erased, let it be wholly erased to its foundation.” (Psalms 137:7).

Hence, we learn that the Idumeans raged most cruelly against their own kin; and this was the reason why God declared that their cities would become perpetual desolations, for the word עולם, oulam, which some translate as “age,” often means perpetuity.