John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 8:17

"For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 8:17 (ASV)

He increases their terror by another comparison—that not only would enemies violently attack them, but their bitings would also be venomous. He had spoken of horses and mentioned their violent onsets; but he now expresses another thing: that the Jews would have to carry on war with vipers and basilisks.

The Prophet, no doubt, only meant to show that they could not possibly escape. For as men can hardly escape from serpents, especially when they are numerous and assail them on every side, so he intimates that the war would be fatal to the Jews when attacked by serpents and vipers.

They shall bite you, he says, and for them there will be no incantation; that is, by no means can they be driven away from you. If one asks, "Can serpents be driven away by incantations?" the answer is—that the Prophet here does not refer to what is true but speaks according to the common opinions of men.

It has been thought in all ages that serpents can be driven away by incantations, killed, or deprived of their power of hurting. "The deadly snake," says Virgil in Eclogue 8, "is dissolved in the meadows by singing." What that pagan poet has said has also been believed by other nations; and as I have already said, it has been a commonly held opinion that serpents may be charmed.

Since it was a common belief, the Prophet says, "If you think that these serpents can be turned away, and the hurt that proceeds from them, you are greatly deceived; for there will be for them no incantation." Mention is also made of incantation in Psalm 58:6; but as I have already said, the prophets accommodate their words to the understanding of men.

The Prophet here also indirectly reproves the Jews by comparing their false resources to incantations, as though he had said—"You think that you can soothe your enemies with flatteries and bribery so that they may not hurt you; and you also think that you have ready at hand various means by which you may avert the evils that impend over you. 'In vain,' he says, 'you deceive yourselves with such hopes, for all your incantations regarding these serpents shall be to no purpose and wholly useless.'"

We now perceive, then, the Prophet’s intention and see that by this figure he ironically derides the crafty measures of the people and all the remedies they thought they had in readiness when assailed by their enemies.