John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 49:16

"As for thy terribleness, the pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 49:16 (ASV)

Some render the first words thus: “Your idol has deceived you;” and others, “Your folly has deceived you.” The verb does indeed have this meaning, though there is a different reading, as some put a point over the right side of the letter, and others on the left. But the most suitable meaning is conveyed thus: Deceived you has your terror, the pride of your heart.

Those who render the first word “idol” consider that superstition is referred to—that the false confidence which the Edomites placed in their idols had deceived them. But this seems to be a forced explanation. Why others have rendered the word “folly,” I do not know.

The word properly means terror. The verb פלף, pelets, means to terrify, and from this the noun is derived. When the word is taken for an idol, it is so metaphorically, because idols terrify people, or because a terrible end awaits their worshippers. But I retain the proper meaning of the word.

At the same time, terror here is to be understood actively, because the Idumeans were a terror to other nations and were thus blinded with pride on account of their conceit about their power.

And the following words are explanatory: the pride of your heart; for those who despise others fill themselves with empty pride and thus elevate their own hearts. As the Idumeans, then, had gained for themselves the reputation of being a warlike people, the terror entertained for them inflated their own hearts with pride. But the Prophet says that they were deceived, as they arrogated to themselves too much power.

At the same time, he continues the subject which I have stated, as though he had said: “How does it happen that, since God has designed you to be contemptible, you take such authority for yourself among the nations? You fight against nature, for you have until now terrified your neighbors in vain. This is why you are swollen with pride; but it is a mere delusion. You are greatly mistaken and deceive yourself in thinking this way about your strength, since your condition ought, on the contrary, to make you humble.”

We now see how well the whole passage flows and how aptly the words agree. He then says that it was a foolish confidence by which the people of Edom, whom God had made contemptible, were deceived.

He now adds, by way of concession: You who dwell in the fissures of rocks and occupy the heights of mountains. In these words, the Prophet concedes something to the Idumeans. But he afterward adds that the fortresses by which they thought themselves to be protected would come to nothing: though you raise your nest high as the eagle, from there will I, says God, draw you down.

We therefore see that the Prophet concedes to the Idumeans some reason for boasting on account of their mountains, because they presented a defense against enemies on every side. And yet he shows that all this would be useless to them, for he says, though you raise your nest high as the eagle—that is, though you ascend, as they commonly say, above the very clouds—from there I will draw you down.

Now this passage teaches us:

1. First, that all who trust in their own earthly defenses deceive themselves.
2. Secondly, that all who arrogate to themselves more than what is just and right contend, as it were, against God, and that therefore it inevitably follows that God will lay them prostrate.

This doctrine, then, teaches us to cultivate humility. Humility has its roots fixed deeply within, so that the state of those who willingly submit themselves becomes firm and permanent; for the root, which does not appear on the surface, sustains the tree. So also, that humility, which is not known by men, is our real and solid prop and support.

Whoever takes wing and flies, and seeks through his own presumption to raise himself up, provokes God, as it were, intentionally. And here the Prophet shows what end awaits all those who thus raise themselves on high, seeking to set their nest on a summit like the eagle; for God will draw them down and lay them prostrate, as he did to the Idumeans.