John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 7:17-19

"Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith Jehovah; [do they] not [provoke] themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?" — Jeremiah 7:17-19 (ASV)

Here God first shows why he ought to be implacable towards the people. The command to the Prophet not to pray for them seems at first hearing to be very severe, and it might have been objected, “What if they repent? Is there no hope of pardon?” God shows that they were past remedy. How so? He says, Do you not see? Here he refers the examination of the cause to his servant Jeremiah, as though he had said, “There is no reason for you to contend with me; open your own eyes, and consider how they have fallen; for children gather wood, and fathers kindle the fire, and women knead dough.”

Some render the last words, “Women are busy with the paste;” but literally, “they set the dough,” la paste. God briefly intimates here that the whole people had become corrupt, as though they had wickedly conspired together, so that men, women, and children were all led away into idolatry as by a mad impulse, for he speaks here only of their superstitions. He had previously charged them with adulteries, murders, and plunders, but he now condemns them for having wholly profaned God’s worship. At the same time, he shows the fruit of their impiety: that they all strove to outdo one another by an insane rivalry.

The children, he says, gather wood. He ascribes the collecting of wood to the young, for it was a more laborious work. As that age excels in strength, they collected wood; and the fathers kindled the fire. The women, what did they do? They were busy with the meal. Thus no part was neglected. “What then is to be done? And what else can I do but wholly cut off a people so wicked?”

Then he says, that they may make כונים, cunim, which is translated “cakes,” and this is the most common rendering. Some think that kindling is meant, deriving the word from כוה, cue, which means to kindle. But I prefer the opinion of those who derive the word from כון, cun, which is to prepare, as cakes are things prepared. I do not doubt, then, that cakes are meant here, as it also appears from other places. The second interpretation I regard as too refined.

With regard to the word למלכת, lamelcath, many consider that the letter א is left out and think that “works” are intended. In this case, מ would be a servile letter; but others consider it a radical letter and render the word “Queen,” which appears probable to me, though I do not wholly reject what some hold: that the workmanship of the heavens is meant here.

Some understand the stars, others the sun, and others the moon: let everyone enjoy his own opinion. However, I think that if the workmanship of the heavens is meant, the whole celestial host is to be included, as Scripture thus calls all the stars. But if “the Queen of the heavens” is adopted, then I am inclined to think that the moon is intended; and we know how much superstition has always prevailed among most people regarding the worship of the moon. Hence I approve of this meaning.

Yet I readily admit that all the stars, not one only, may be designated here and called the work or the workmanship of the heavens. And the Jews, we know, were very much given to this madness. For as the sun was considered by the Orientals as the supreme God, when the Jews became enamored of this error, they also thought that some high and adorable divinity belonged to the sun. They also turned afterwards to the stars, and this absurdity is often referred to in the Law and also in the Prophets.

It is then added, That they may pour forth libations to foreign gods, to provoke me to wrath. When God complains of being provoked, it is the same as though he had said that the Jews now openly carried on war with him: “They do not sin through ignorance, nor is it unknown to them how much they offend me by these profanations; but it is, as it were, their object and design to provoke me and to carry on war with me by these acts of impiety.”

He then adds, Do they provoke me, and not rather to the shame of their own faces? God here intimates that however reproachfully the Jews acted towards him, they yet brought no loss to him, for he stood in no need of their worship. Why then does he so severely threaten them? Because he had their sins in view. Yet he shows that he did not care for them or their sacrifices, for he could be without them at no loss to himself. Hence he says that they sought their own ruin, and whatever they devised would fall on their own heads. “They seek to provoke me; they shall know with whom they have to do.”

It is like what is said by the Prophet Zechariah, “They shall know whom they have pierced: I indeed continue uninjured; and though they provoke me as much as they can, I yet despise all their wickedness, for they cannot reach me; they can neither hurt me nor take anything from me.” But he says, they provoke themselves, that is, their fury shall return on their own heads; and hence it shall be that their faces shall be ashamed.

Prayer: Grant, Almighty God, that as we are inclined not only to superstitions but also to many vices, we may be restrained by your word. As you are pleased daily to remind us of your benefits, may you keep us in the practice of true religion. O grant that we may not be led astray by the delusions of Satan and by our own vanity, but continue firm and steady in our obedience to you, and constantly proceed in the course of true piety, so that we may at length partake of its fruit in your celestial kingdom, which has been obtained for us by the blood of your only-begotten Son. Amen.