John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 50:6

"My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting-place." — Jeremiah 50:6 (ASV)

As the clock strikes, I must stop here.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that we may not be intoxicated by the sweetness of earthly blessings which You continually bestow on us, but instead learn to ascend to the hope of celestial life and eternal bliss. And, in the meantime, may we have such a taste of Your blessings that we may know You are an inexhaustible fountain of all bliss, so that we may cling to You with a sincere heart and in perfect integrity, until at last we are brought to the full fruition of that kingdom which Your only-begotten Son has procured for us by His own blood. — Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

The Prophet, in the sixth verse, compares God’s people to lost sheep. He therefore says that the Jews wandered on the mountains and went from mountain to hill. He throws the blame on the shepherds, by whom the miserable people had been led astray.

Nevertheless, God does not extenuate the fault of the people, nor did He accuse the pastors as though their wickedness and treachery absolved the people. On the contrary, He commends the greatness of His own grace: that He had mercy on a flock that was lost and without hope.

We now understand the Prophet’s design when he spoke thus in the person of God: My people have become lost sheep, and the shepherds have seduced them, on the mountains have they made them to go astray, from mountain to hill have they gone;

He adds that they had forgotten their lying down; for when there is no fixed station, the sheep have no place to rest. Flocks, we know, return in the evening to their folds. But the Prophet says that the Jews, when scattered, forgot their lying down because they had no settled habitation.