John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 8

I have said that Jeremiah repeats in the first verse what he had previously said—that the Jews would be deprived of their graves, so that there might be on the dead a mark of God’s vengeance. It was as if he had said that after being destroyed by the hand of enemies, their punishment would be extended further by having their dead bodies exposed to the wild beasts and birds.

The faithful, as I have said, suffer no loss when burial is denied them; yet they do not disregard burial, inasmuch as it is a badge of the resurrection. Though God allows them to be involved in this disgrace with the reprobate, this does not prevent God from executing His vengeance on the wicked through such a temporal punishment, which turns into a blessing for the faithful. Therefore, it is not a meaningless denunciation when the Prophet says that the time was near when their bones would be taken out of their graves.

He mentions the bones of kings, and of priests, and of prophets, and of the whole people. The kings thought that as soon as they were hidden in their graves, their dead bodies would be deemed sacred. The same notion prevailed regarding rulers, priests, and prophets. But he says that no grave would be untouched or free from the outrage of enemies.

Thus he shows that the city would be rooted up from its foundations. If the city were to remain safe, the graves would be spared. Hence, this punishment could not have been inflicted unless the enemies dug up the very foundations of the city. In short, he points out here a dreadful and final overthrow, and at the same time he shows the reason why God would manifest such severity towards the Jews.

It was because they served the sun, and the moon, and the stars. It was God’s just vengeance that their bones should be taken from their graves, so that the sun and moon and all the stars might be witnesses of His judgment. By these words Jeremiah indirectly condemns the senselessness of the people for thinking that they performed an acceptable service to the sun and moon.

He therefore says that all the stars and the planets would become, as it were, spectators of the vengeance which God would execute; as if he had said that the whole celestial host would approve of that punishment, for nothing is more detestable to creatures than when the glory of their Maker is ascribed to them.

It is indeed true that the sun, moon, and stars are without sense or reason; but the Prophet here attributes reason to them, in order to shake the Jews free from that stupidity in which they hardened themselves, while they thought that they were rendering an acceptable service to the sun.

At the same time he alludes, as it appears also from other places, to the punishment inflicted on adulterers: for when a harlot is drawn out and led forth in contempt and disgrace in the presence of her adulterers, it is deemed a most just punishment. And thus as the Jews had, as it were, committed adultery with the sun and the moon and the stars, so the Prophet says here that their disgrace and baseness would be made manifest in the sight of the sun, and the moon, and the stars.

He says, which they have loved. He no doubt alludes to the blind ardor by which idolaters were possessed when they zealously pursued their illicit devotions. For it was a kind of unbridled and mad passion, as it appears from other places; for no fornicator burns with a more impetuous lust for a woman than idolaters do when Satan dazzles their eyes and fascinates their hearts.

It is of this impure love, then, that the Prophet now speaks. At the same time, he indirectly condemns the Jews for having alienated themselves from God without cause, who was their legitimate husband. Indeed, nothing is less tolerable than for people to thus perfidiously forsake God, when He has invited them to Himself and contracted, as it were, a holy and inviolable marriage with them.

He afterward adds, whom they have served. This was still more base; they devoted themselves to the work of serving the sun, the moon, and the stars. He mentions in the third place, that they walked after them. God had shown them the right way and had commanded them to follow Him; but they forsook God, says the Prophet, and followed the stars of heaven.

He states in the fourth place, that they sought them. By this he refers to their perverseness. Some interpret the word as “consulted,” which I do not approve, as it is strained and far-fetched. The Prophet, I doubt not, here denotes the persevering attention of the Jews to the objects of their worship, for they followed their idols not by a sudden and momentary impulse, but they resolutely devoted themselves to them and became, as it were, fixed in their wicked purpose.

And he says in the last place, that they prostrated themselves before them. This was the way in which they served them. It is an evidence of reverence when people prostrate themselves before their idols, and thus they serve them, for it is an act of worship.

The Prophet might indeed have sufficiently expressed the impiety of the people in one sentence, but he joins together several sentences for amplification, to make more evident the ingratitude of the people in seeking unknown gods for themselves and in setting up false and fictitious modes of worship, rather than rendering obedience to the only true God and acquiescing in His law, which is a sure rule and never leads anyone astray.

He afterward adds, They shall not be gathered, nor be buried; for dung shall they be on the face or surface of the land. He confirms what he had previously said about the punishment—that because they had acted disdainfully towards God and had prostrated themselves before their idols, after death they would be made base and detestable, so that one’s mind would revolt at such a hateful sight. This is the meaning.

He intimates in this verse that all survivors would be doubly miserable, as it would be better for them to die at once than to waste away in unceasing suffering. For those who give another meaning to the words do not seem to understand the Prophet's design.

The meaning of the passage, then, is this: however dreadful God’s judgment would be when slaughters prevailed everywhere and dead bodies that had been previously buried were drawn out, all this would still be a slight punishment compared to what God would inflict on the rest—those who remained alive.

He also intimates that their life would be more miserable than death itself, indeed, even more than ten deaths.

So that those who would escape death might not think they had gained any advantage, the Prophet says, Chosen shall be death before life by all the residue.

From this we learn how grievous God’s vengeance was to be, for nothing would be better or more desirable than to undergo death at once, as life would be nothing but continued weakness and torment.

Expected then will be death in all places where there will be survivors, where I will drive them.

He mentions a reason for this twofold misery: they would not be allowed to live in their own country but would become exiles, and they would find God’s hand against them in their exile, as if following them everywhere.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as you terrify us daily with your judgments, and as it is necessary for our laziness to be spurred and for our corruption to be corrected in this way—O grant that we may be moved by your threats.

May we also allow ourselves to be kindly invited by you and make such progress in your word that, being terrified by threats, we may also readily and willingly obey whenever you, in a fatherly manner, call us to yourself.

May we labor in every way to devote ourselves wholly to you by subduing the corrupt desires of our flesh, so that nothing may hinder us from being submissive to your will, until at last we enjoy the rest of that eternal inheritance which you have promised to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Though God had reminded His prophet of the event, He still invited the Jews to repentance. This was not because there was any hope of restoring them to a right mind (for He had said that they were wholly irreclaimable), but so that their perverseness might be less excusable. It was also His object to afford some relief to the small number of the godly who still remained, for they had not all fallen away into impiety, though the great body of the people had become corrupt.

God then, partly to aggravate the sin of the ungodly and partly to provide for His faithful people, exhorted those to repentance who were still wholly intractable. And here we ought to consider that God’s goodness, when abused, brings a much heavier judgment. God here, in a manner, contends with the wickedness of His people by setting before them the hope of pardon if they repented.

You shall then say to them; that is, “Though I have already testified to you that your labor would be in vain, yet you shall not give over your work.” Shall they who have fallen rise again? This sentence is variously explained. Most interpreters confine it to the Jews only: “Shall the Jews who have fallen rise again?”

As to the second clause, some give this explanation: “If Israel returns, will not God also return?” (that is, from His wrath, or, “Will He not be propitious?”). Or, “If Israel turns away, will not God also turn away?” Others understand both parts of the sentence as referring to the people: “If the people have once turned away, will they not yet return to God?”

For the verb שוב, shub, has contrary meanings: it means to fall away, to rebel, to go back; and it also means to return. But after having maturely considered the words and the design of the prophet, I think it to be a general statement, as if he had said, “When anyone falls, he immediately thinks of recovering from his fall. When anyone deviates from the right course, being warned of his going astray, he immediately looks for the road.”

This is what is usually done. What then does this great stupidity mean, that the people of Jerusalem do not repent, when they ought to have long ago acknowledged their fall and their wanderings?

Whoever impartially considers the prophet’s discourse must see that this is the real meaning; for, in the second of these verses, he says, Why is this people of Jerusalem, etc.; he now first speaks of the people, as it clearly appears. It then follows that the former verse should not be applied to the people; but it contains only a general statement.

In short, Jeremiah here condemns the madness of the people because they did not follow the example of those who have either fallen or deviated from the way by mistake. For it is naturally implanted in everyone that they do not willingly perish in their misfortunes. He who falls, then, immediately strives to rise again; and he who leaves the right way tries, if possible, to return to it.

This, then, is what even the most foolish will do. Why then, Jeremiah asks, does not this people imitate such an example? He therefore shows by this comparison that their conduct was monstrous, for they obstinately adhered to their vices and never thought that there was a hope of reconciliation if they returned to God from the heart.

And he emphatically mentions Jerusalem. For if such obstinacy had prevailed among the Chaldeans or the Egyptians, it would indeed have been inexcusable, but not so strange as among a people to whom the law had been given and to whom God had plainly revealed the way of salvation. When, therefore, this people so hardened themselves as to reject all warnings, was it not monstrous?

Then he says that they were rebellious with a pertinacious rebellion; that is, they forsook God not only through levity, thoughtlessness, or some sudden impulse, but so pertinaciously that the prophets spent their labor in vain teaching and exhorting them. Hence he calls it a strong rebellion, though the word may be taken here, as in other places, in the sense of perpetual.

And he assigns the cause: because they laid hold on deception, that is, they held fast to deception. But the prophet means by deception not that by which a neighbor is deceived or circumvented, but hypocrisy, by which people so blind themselves that they are unwilling either to attend to God’s word or to open their eyes to see the light. When, therefore, people through willful obstinacy bury themselves in darkness, they may be said to lay fast hold on deception.

David says, in Psalm 32:2, that the man is blessed in whose spirit there is no guile: he entertains no guile, as we commonly do. Now, to entertain guile is to possess a deceitful heart. He had before said that they are blessed whose sins are forgiven and to whom iniquity is not imputed: he adds by way of explanation, provided there be no guile in the spirit; and why?

Because wicked people seem to themselves to be blessed, for they do not perceive their own misery, because they are enveloped in their own coverings; and this is the guile of which David speaks. According to the same meaning, our prophet says that those laid fast hold on deception who were so involved in darkness or so blinded by their lusts as to seek to deceive God; but they deceive themselves.

This then is the cause why those whom God corrects and chastises feel no penitence: for they are willfully blind, they close their eyes and deafen their ears, and seek to be deceived by the devil. They do not attend to the holy warnings given them for their salvation.

If, then, we wish to be healed of our vices, let us always begin in this way: let us carefully examine our thoughts and our motives, and not please ourselves nor deceive ourselves by empty flatteries, but strive to shake off whatever is reprehensible and vicious. The very beginning of true repentance is to renounce all deceptions and fallacies and to seek the light, which can alone discover to us our evils.

These words may be considered as spoken by God himself—that He from heaven examined the state of the people. However, it is more suitable to regard them as spoken by the Prophet, for he was placed, as it were, in a watchtower to observe how the people acted towards God.

He now testifies that, having seen their pursuits and their actions, he saw nothing that was right. The people ought to have been more touched by these words.

We indeed know how ready we are naturally to seize upon any pretenses when we wish to remain quiet in our dregs. So the greater part are accustomed to object and say, "Oh, indeed, you reprove me, but inconsiderately; for you do not know what is in my heart."

Therefore, the Prophet says that he had carefully examined what sort of people they were, and that he spoke of what was well known to him and fully seen by him—

I have heard, he says, and attended; but they speak not rightly. He means that the Jews were so far from repenting truly and sincerely that they did not even profess to do so with their mouths.

It is less to confess sins than truly to amend; but the Prophet says that they did not even say what was right. It therefore follows that they were very far from having any serious thoughts of repentance, since they were so reckless with their tongues, or at least offered no evidence of sorrow.

He then adds that there was no one who repented, saying, etc. This clause is explanatory, for Jeremiah proves here more clearly that they did not speak rightly, because they did not say, What have I done?

But he says first that there was no one who repented of his wickedness. He afterwards shows that what is first necessary for repentance is that the sinner should call himself to account. For as long as we rest secure in our sins, it is impossible for us to repent. It is therefore necessary that everyone should examine himself, so as to call himself to account, and, in a way, to summon himself before God’s tribunal.

We then see that people can never be brought to repentance unless they set their own evils before their eyes, so as to feel ashamed, and to ask themselves, as it were in great fear, "What have we done?" For this question is evidence of terror.

Many, we know, formally own their sins; but this is useless, for afterwards such an acknowledgement vanishes without producing any benefit.

Then real repentance necessarily requires that the sinner should not only be displeased with himself, not only be ashamed, but also be filled with terror at his own sins. For this is what is meant by the inquiry, What have I done?—for it implies astonishment.

We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet’s words: he says that he did not inconsiderately reprove the people, but that he found such perversity in them that no one spoke rightly, no one repented, because they did not consider what they were, nor examine their own lives, but slept securely in their sins.

He pursues the same subject when he says that all turned to their own courses, that is, to their own lusts. But by the word 'courses' the Prophet means impetuous movements; as though he had said that the Jews were so precipitous in following their lusts that they, in a way, ran headlong after them.

He compares them to horses rushing into battle. We know with what impetuosity horses advance when they hasten to battle, for they seem to fly, to cut the air, and to dig the ground with their hoofs.

Thus, the comparison is exceedingly suitable when the Prophet says that the Jews were so impetuous in pursuing their lusts that they rushed on, no less precipitously than war-horses advancing to battle.

Here again Jeremiah condemns the shameful insensibility of the people—that they had less wisdom than birds, not endowed with reason and understanding. He then says that the Jews were more foolish than cranes, swallows, and storks. He no doubt deeply wounded the feelings of the people by so severe a rebuke; but it was necessary thus sharply to rebuke those who despised God, for it is evident from these words that they had become exceedingly hardened in their vices. No wonder, then, that the Prophet declares that they were more silly than cranes and swallows.

Isaiah also exposes the same sort of madness, when he says that the ox knew his own master, and the ass his master’s crib, but that God was not known by his people (Isaiah 1:3). Now Isaiah made the Jews worse than oxen and asses, because these brute animals possess something like memory, so that they keep to their own manger and crib. So now Jeremiah, speaking of storks and so on, says:

Behold, the stork knows the time in which it ought to migrate from one country to another; and the same is observed by swallows and cranes. For at stated times they seek a warmer climate; that is, they leave a cold country, that they may escape the severity of winter; and they afterwards know the time in which they are to return.

As, then, the birds of the air observe their seasons, how is it that my people do not consider the judgment of God? By mentioning the heavens, he no doubt alludes to the constant flying of birds, the birds having hardly any rest, for they continually roam through the air.

Since, then, there is so much wisdom in birds, which yet the air wafts here and there, how is it that a people, who dwell quietly at home, who can leisurely meditate on God’s law—how is it that this people understand nothing? We therefore see that there is an import in the word heavens that has not been noticed.

Readers may still have their doubts, for it is not strange that birds in the heavens should have a clearer view, as they come nearer to the sun and the element of fire. But different seems to have been the Prophet’s object, which was to show that though birds labor, as it were, continually, they yet contrive to know the suitable time for going and returning. Hence, then, the insensibility of that people, who, while sitting leisurely at home, did not consider what God set before them, is more fully exaggerated.

The particle גם, gam, even, is emphatic: Even the stork, he says. What does this mean, that birds, though not possessed of understanding, still know their time? But my people... By saying “my people,” the Prophet no doubt intended more clearly to set forth their wickedness. For, as I have said before, such blindness in heathens would not have been so strange; but as they were the holy and peculiar people of God, it was far more shameful and monstrous that they did not know his judgment.

Christ uses other words in condemning the Pharisees for not attending to the time of their visitation. For He says, “You are accustomed to conclude what will be the state of the heavens in the morning; for if the sky is red in the evening, you say, ‘It will be fine tomorrow’; and you know the signs of future and approaching rain. You possess,” he says, “judgment sufficiently acute in external things, which lead to the benefit of the present life; yet you do not know the time of your visitation, and still you seek signs. But if you were attentive, God would show to you in a way clear enough, and as it were by his finger, that the time of deliverance which you pretend to expect is now near at hand.”

But the Prophet reproves the Jews in a severer strain, when he says that there was more fatuity and madness in them than in birds. They know not, he says, the judgment of Jehovah, though it had been shown to them many times, and for a long time.

But someone might have objected and said, “It is no wonder if we do not perceive God’s judgment, for his judgments are a great deep; and since these exceed what we can comprehend, there is no reason to find fault with us.” But the Prophet does not speak here of hidden judgments, which elude human comprehension, but of punishments, of which they had been so often warned. Since, then, they were so blind as not to see what was clear and evident, the Prophet justly says that they were more foolish than cranes and the other birds which he mentions.