John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 51:33

"For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her." — Jeremiah 51:33 (ASV)

By this comparison the Prophet confirms what he had previously said, namely, that God would be the avenger of His church and would justly punish the Babylonians, but at the appropriate time, which is usually called in Scripture the time of visitation. He then compares Babylon to a threshing floor, not indeed in the sense that interpreters have imagined, but because the threshing floor is only used during harvest time, and is afterwards closed up and not used.

Babylon, then, had for a long time been like a threshing floor, because there had been no treading there—that is, no noise or shouting. But God declares that the time of harvest would come, when the threshing floor would be used. Oxen then trod the grain; for the grain was not beaten out with flails, as it is with us and in most places in France, though the inhabitants of Provence still use treading.

In Judea they trod out the grain on floors, and oxen were used for this purpose. Now, the reason for the comparison seems evident: the time would come when God would strike Babylon, just as oxen after harvest tread out the grain with their feet on the threshing floor, which for the rest of the year is not needed, but remains closed up and quiet.

Therefore, I have said that what we have seen before regarding the time of visitation is confirmed. For it was strange at first glance to promise deliverance to the Jews while Babylon was still increasing more and more and extending the limits of its monarchy (Isaiah 28:24–26).

God shows in that passage that it was no cause for wonder if He did not daily exercise His judgments to the same degree. He bids us consider how farmers act, for they do not sow wheat, barley, and other kinds of grain at the same time; nor do they always plow, or always reap, but wait for opportune times. “Since, then, farmers are endowed with so much care and foresight as I have taught them, why may I not also have My times rightly distributed, so that there may be now the harvest, and then the treading or threshing? And should I not at one time sow wheat, and at another cumin?” for the Prophet adds these various kinds. This is the same line of reasoning here, though the Prophet speaks more briefly.

He then says that Babylon would be like a threshing floor; and how? Because it had been like a place closed up and entirely quiet. For God had spared the Chaldeans, and, as we shall see later, they had been so intoxicated with pleasures that they feared no danger.

And then immediately he explains himself: it is time to tread or thresh her. Then Babylon became like a threshing floor, for she had not been trodden or threshed for a long time, just as the threshing floor is not used for nine or ten months throughout the whole year. But he adds, yet a little while, and come will her harvest.

We learn from this and other passages that treading or threshing was used among the Jews and other eastern nations only during harvest. In other places, grain is often kept in the ears for five or six years. Some thresh the grain after six, eight, or nine months, as it suits their convenience.

But there are many countries where the grain is threshed immediately; it is not stored up but is immediately transported to the threshing floor, and there it is trodden by oxen or threshed with flails. Since, then, it was usual to tread the grain immediately, God therefore declares that the time of harvest would come when Babylon would be trodden, just as the threshing floor is trodden after harvest.

We must observe that a little while is not to be understood according to human notions. For though God suspends His judgments, He never delays beyond the proper time; on the contrary, He performs His work with all due speed. The Prophet Haggai says, “Yet a little while, and I will shake the heaven and the earth.” (Haggai 2:7).

But this was not fulfilled until many years later. We must, however, remember what is in Habakkuk: “If the vision delays, wait for it, for it will come and will not be slow.” (Habakkuk 2:5).

He says that prophecies delay—that is, according to the judgment of humans, who are too hasty and are even carried away headlong by their own desires. But God performs His work with sufficient speed, provided we allow Him to arrange the times according to His own will, as it is just and right for us to do.

Whenever, then, the ungodly enjoy ease and securely indulge themselves, let this fact come to our minds: that the threshing floor is not always trodden, but that the time of harvest will come whenever it pleases God. This is the application we ought to make of what is said here.