John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 8:12

"Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 8:12 (ASV)

The Prophet in these words shows still more clearly that they were completely irreclaimable, for they had lost all sense of shame. It is undoubtedly a proof of incurable wickedness when no shame remains. This verse has also been explained in the sixth chapter; it is Jeremiah 6:15. But we must bear in mind the Prophet's purpose. It is, briefly, this: to show that the wickedness of the people was incurable, and for this reason: because they had a brazen face.

Hence he asks, Have they been ashamed, because they have committed abomination? as if he had said, “They have been proved guilty of wickedness; can they be made to feel any shame?” To this he answers, Even in their shame they are not ashamed. The particle גם, gam, even, is emphatic. The meaning may then be given as follows: that when God confronted them with their shameful conduct and proved them guilty, so that they could not escape by any evasion—even when they were thus convicted, they still had no feeling of shame. At the same time, this passage may be explained as referring to what is commonly called actual conviction, for they were almost consumed with miseries through their untamable perversity, while struggling against God’s judgment. Even then, in shame itself they had no feeling of shame.

The reason is added: They know not how to blush. By this lack of shame, then, Jeremiah proves that they were men beyond remedy. And on this account he adds, Fall therefore shall they among those who fall, and in the time of their visitation they shall perish, or stumble. By these words he indicates that they were no longer to be reasoned with, and that God’s vengeance would be just in completely destroying them, for he had in vain spoken to them, he had in vain contended with them, he had in vain tried to bring them to the right way. The meaning of the whole then is this: that the only thing that remained for them was destruction, for they had shamelessly rejected all instruction and every warning.

And he says, among the fallen, because everyone, as is commonly the case, encouraged others in their contempt for God and in their perversity. When, therefore, they saw others to be like themselves, they hoped for impunity, and so they were lured into sin by this deception. On this account the Prophet says that ruin was near them all. They shall fall, he says, among the fallen, and stumble in the time of their visitation. He shows that God had appointed a day on which they were to be destroyed. But if He deferred the time, they had no reason to think it would be to their advantage, for by their obstinacy they would bring upon themselves a heavier judgment. In short, though God might spare them for a time, the Prophet warns them that this would be of no avail to them, as God’s time of visitation was set. A confirmation then follows —