John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 5:19

"And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah our God done all these things unto us? then shalt thou say unto them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours." — Jeremiah 5:19 (ASV)

It therefore appears that what I have said is true—that the Prophet did not soften what was severe in the threats we have noticed, but that he treated the Jews according to their perversity. For he saw that they were untameable, and the Spirit had taught him that their obstinacy would be such that, until they were completely broken down, they would not bend their necks to receive the yoke. He further assigns the cause here, so that they might not contend with God, as hypocrites are accustomed to do whenever God sharply chastises them. For they murmur against Him, complain, and demand reasons why He treats them so severely, as though they were completely innocent. Since, then, hypocrites made such complaints, the Prophet here replies to them.

It shall be, he says, when you shall say: he addresses the Jews in the person of God. He then immediately turns God’s address to himself, Why has Jehovah our God done to us all these things? He ascribes here to hypocrites what is always in their mouths whenever they are summoned to judgment. For they are so well prepared to contend, as though their cause were the best that could be; and, if God could be compelled to give an account, they would prove Him guilty of cruelty and of immoderate rigor.

We therefore see how graphically the Prophet describes stubborn people, who will not yield nor acknowledge their fault, but with an iron front rise up against God. We find the same thing in other passages in the prophets, especially in Malachi 1. For there the Prophet often repeats the words of the people, “In what? In what? What does this mean?” So also here Jeremiah says, When you shall say, Why has Jehovah done all these things to us? as though they were innocent.

For the reprobate, as though they had washed away all their sins by having wiped their mouths, boldly come forward and demand a reason why God chastises them. So also in this place, they do not hesitate to call God their God, as though they had not denied God, according to what we have seen previously. For such gross impiety was prevalent among them that they imagined that all things were ruled by chance and that God unjustly punished them. Although they had treacherously forsaken God, yet the Prophet, to expose their petulance, here introduces them as saying that they regarded God as connected with them.

Then, he says, you shall say. God at one time addresses the people, and at another time the Prophet. Therefore, when they begin to murmur like this, then you may reply, Because you have forsaken me. So that what was said might have more weight, God wanted the Prophet to speak in His name, “because you have forsaken me,” as though Jeremiah himself did not say the words, but God spoke through his mouth; and have served the gods of the alien (that is, of aliens) in your land.

God shows here briefly what the Jews deserved, and He thought it sufficient to mention only one kind of sin. We will see elsewhere, as we have often seen, that they were in other respects wicked and guilty before God. But the Prophet observes brevity here and charges them only with one sort of sin. You shall serve tyrants, he says, in a strange land, who shall cruelly oppress you, because you have served their gods in your own land.

God here reproves them for having abused His kindness. For He had expelled the heathen nations from Canaan and gave them that land, which was so pleasant and fruitful, as an inheritance, to be a perpetual rest for them. God called the land His own rest because He protected the Jews there and appointed them as the legitimate heirs of the land, even to the end of the world. Therefore He now says, your land. Reminding them of this kindness was doubtless intended to magnify their guilt, for they possessed the land by the best title, though they had not acquired it themselves.

In your land, he says, you worshipped gods. He does not say “strange gods,” but “the gods of the stranger,” or of strangers. The prophets often speak in this way; they call them the gods of the strangers, or of strange people. But the expression is emphatic, for it was very contemptible and less excusable for the Jews, while they had God dwelling among them, to seek gods here and there and, as it were, to beg heathens for gods, saying, “Give us your gods.” It was then this contemptible conduct that the Prophet now points out as if with his finger: Because you have served the gods of strangers.

He afterwards adds, You shall serve strangers. He does not mean, in my opinion, strange gods; and it seems to me that those who introduce “gods” here pervert the meaning. He speaks of tyrants, according to what is said elsewhere:

I had given you My good laws, which if anyone keeps he shall live in them; and you would not obey. I will therefore give you laws which are not good (Ezekiel 20:21, 25).

That is, “I will lay on you a tyrannical yoke, and conquerors—those barbarians whose language will be unknown to you—will plunder you and your possessions, because you have been disobedient and unteachable.”