John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 50:4

"In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God." — Jeremiah 50:4 (ASV)

The Prophet now explains more clearly the purpose of God: that in punishing the Chaldeans so severely, his object was to provide for the safety of his Church.

For had Jeremiah spoken only of vengeance, the Jews might still have raised an objection, saying, “It will not profit us at all that God should be a severe judge towards our enemies if we are to remain under their tyranny.”

Then the Prophet shows that the destruction of Babylon would be connected with the deliverance of the chosen people. Thus he points out, as it were, by the finger, the reason why Babylon was to be destroyed: for the sake of the chosen people, so that the miserable exiles might take courage and not doubt that God would at last be propitious, as Jeremiah had testified to them, having, as we have seen, set the term of seventy years.

He was derided by the Jews, who had become so hardened in heart that they counted as nothing, or at least regarded as fables, all the reproofs and threatenings of God, and also paid attention, as we have seen, to the flatteries of the false prophets.

Jeremiah now promises that God would be their liberator after the time of exile had passed, of which he had spoken. Thus we perceive the design of this passage, in which the Prophet, after having referred to the destruction of Babylon, makes a sudden transition and refers to God’s mercy, which he would show to the Jews after they had suffered a just punishment. In those days, he says, and at that time—he adds the appointed time, so that the Jews might not doubt that the Chaldeans would be subdued, because God had appointed them to destruction.

He says, Come shall the children of Israel, they and the children of Judah together; and he says this so that they might still suspend their desires. He commends here the greatness of God’s favor, because the condition of the Church would be better after the exile than it was before.

The ten tribes, as we know, had separated from the kingdom of Judah; and that separation was, as it were, the tearing asunder of the body. For God had adopted the seed of Abraham for this purpose, that they might be one body under one head; but they willfully made a defection, so that both kingdoms became mutilated.

The kingdom of Israel indeed became accursed, for it had separated from the family of David, and this separation was in a manner an impious denial of God. As, then, the children of Israel had alienated themselves from the Church, and the kingdom of the ten tribes had become spurious, their condition was undoubtedly miserable (though the Jews, as well as the Israelites, were alike inebriated with their own lusts).

But what does our Prophet now say? They shall return together, the children of Israel and the children of Judah. That is, God will not only gather the dispersed but will also apply such a remedy that there will no longer be any separation. Instead, brotherly concord will prevail between the ten tribes and the tribe of Judah when God shall restore them again to himself.

We therefore now perceive what the Prophet had in view. There is, indeed, here an implied comparison between their former state and that for which they could still hardly hope after their return from exile. For there is nothing better than brotherly concord, as it is said in the Psalms,

How good and how pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity. (Psalms 133:1)

For the kingdom and the priesthood, the pledges, as it were, of the people’s safety, could not stand together without the union of the Israelites with the Jews. But they had been long alienated from one another, so that the chief favor of God had been extinguished by this separation. The Prophet now says that they would come together.

And he adds, Going and weeping they shall come. This may seem contrary to what is said in the Psalms,

Going they shall go, and weep as those who sow; but coming they shall come with joy, carrying their handfuls. (Psalms 126:6)

The Prophet says here that they shall come with tears. How can these two things be consistent? Because weeping may be taken for that which flows from joy or from admiration, for we know that tears gush out not only through sorrow but also through rejoicing. Furthermore, when anything unexpected happens, tears will flow from our eyes.

We can then take the Prophet’s words in this sense: that they would come weeping because they would then find God merciful to them. But it is better to regard sorrow as simply meant. The two things may be reconciled in this way: the Jews would come with joy and also with sorrow, not only because the memory of their exile could not be immediately obliterated from their minds, but also because it was necessary for them to remember their sins.

They saw the Temple overthrown and the land wasted—sights sufficient to draw tears a hundred times even from the hardest hearts. On one side, there were reasons for joy, and on the other, reasons for tears.

We know that tears were shed, for the Prophet Haggai expressly tells us that the old men who had seen the former Temple were greatly disheartened because there was then no such glory as they had seen (Haggai 2).

However this may have been, the Prophet means that though the return would not be without many troubles, yet the Jews would come. Coming, he says, they shall come, that is, going they shall go, and weep, as it is said in the Psalms, that they would come through desert and dry places (Psalms 84:6).

The meaning then is that though the journey would be hard and laborious, the Jews would nevertheless return with alacrity to their own country, so that no labors would so fatigue them as to make them desist from their course.

He adds the main thing: that they would come to seek their God. Their change of place would have been useless had they not come animated with the desire of worshipping God.

For the worship had ceased during the time of exile, as it is said again in another Psalm,

How shall we sing songs to our God in a foreign land? (Psalms 137:4)

Then the Prophet here reminds them that God’s favor would be real and complete, because the Jews would not only return to their own country to possess it, but they would also set up the worship of God and dwell, as it were, under his protection.