John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 6:8

"Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited." — Jeremiah 6:8 (ASV)

Although the Prophet had spoken as if there was no remedy for the evils of Jerusalem, he still exhorts it to seek peace with God, and addresses, in God's name, those who seem beyond remedy. It is then as if God were stopping in the midst of His wrath and saying, “What is to be done? Shall I destroy the city which I have chosen?” He then attributes a paternal feeling to God here, as we also find in several other places. God appeared unwilling to proceed with extreme rigor in punishing His people.

Alas! I will now take vengeance on mine enemies,
he says through Isaiah (Isaiah 1:24).

He called them enemies, and justly so; for as was said before, they did not cease to carry on war against Him. But He spoke with grief: “Alas! Must I take vengeance on My enemies? I would, however, willingly spare them, if it were possible.” God is not indeed subject to grief or repentance, but His ineffable goodness cannot be expressed to us in any other way than by such language. So also, in this place, we see that God, as it were, restrains Himself. For He had previously commanded the enemies to ascend the walls quickly, to overturn the towers, and to destroy the whole city. But now, as if He had repented, He says, Be instructed, Jerusalem; that is, “Can we not yet be reconciled?” It is like the behavior of an offended father who intends to punish his son, and yet desires to moderate his displeasure and blend some indulgence with rigor. Be then instructed; that is, “There is still room for reconciliation, if you wish; provided you show yourself willing to relinquish that perverseness by which you have until now provoked Me, I will in return prove Myself to be a father.”

There is no doubt that the object of the prophets' threatenings was to lead the people to recognize their sins and humbly seek pardon. For why were the unbelieving threatened, except that God thereby tested whether they were healable? It is indeed true that the reprobate are known by God, and that God does not try or seek to find what is in their hearts, as if He did not know their obstinacy. But as I have already said, God speaks here in the manner of men. And He also shows what is the purpose of teaching, which is to lead men to repentance; and this cannot be done without giving them the hope of pardon and reconciliation. The Prophet thus briefly shows here for what purpose he had until now so dreadfully threatened the Jews: namely, to lead them eventually to repentance.

Lest torn shall be my soul from thee. Here God more clearly shows that He was still restrained by love. He alludes, no doubt, to a comparison we have observed in another place. For God sustains the character of a husband to His Church, and hence He shows that He had not yet divested Himself of that love which a husband has towards his wife.

For a husband, when grievously offended by his wife, cannot immediately cast aside his conjugal affection; some feeling of this kind will always remain. And we have seen in the fourth chapter that God surpasses all husbands in kindness, for He says there, When a repudiated wife has found another husband, will the former receive her again?

Return to me, thou harlot, return to me, thou strumpet and adulteress, and I am ready to pardon thee. It is the same course that God pursues here: Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul wholly depart from thee; as if He had said, “Even though I am now angry and have resolved to severely punish your perfidy and rebellion, I shall still be reconciled to you, provided you return.” And it is added, Lest I make thee a desolate land, a land uninhabited.

The Prophet, in short, shows in this verse that however grievously offended God was with His people, there was still a hope of pardon; for He would be propitious to the people if they turned, humbly confessed their sins, and sought to return into favor with Him.