John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 9:12

"Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and [who is] he to whom the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken, that he may declare it? wherefore is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passeth through?" — Jeremiah 9:12 (ASV)

Here the Prophet reproves more sharply the insensibility of the people, because no one paid attention to the judgments of God; for though they were apparent, no one considered them. The question arose from astonishment, for it was like something dreadfully monstrous that so few among the people knew that God would be the punisher of crimes so apparent to all.

If they had possessed even a particle of understanding, they must have known that a dreadful calamity was near, since they continued in so many ways to provoke God. And now, after the Prophet had said what ought to have roused them all, his labor had been entirely in vain—was this not doubly monstrous? For he had spent a long time and had never ceased to cry, and yet all were deaf; indeed, his teaching was treated with contempt.

Hence his astonishment when he says, Who is a wise man? He intimates that there was hardly one in a hundred whom the fear of God influenced. It must then be remembered that the Prophet complains of the small number of those who perceived that God would inevitably and shortly put forth His hand to punish the wickedness that then everywhere prevailed.

Yet he also exhorts all the faithful children of God to disregard the multitude, to gather courage, and to value God’s word more highly than the rebelliousness of them all. There are two aspects to this sentence. First, the question implies that few could be found among the people who were wise and who applied their minds and thoughts to consider the miserable state of the people. Second, on the other hand, he intimates that it is true wisdom for God’s faithful servants not to lose heart and not to follow the multitude.

He then intimates that those alone are truly wise who consider God’s judgments before He openly executes them. There is a similar sentence in Psalm 107:43, for the Prophet, after having spoken of God’s judgments, which are visible throughout the whole world, exclaims,

“Who is a wise man, that he may understand these things?”

It is as if he had said that even though the works of God, which demonstrate both His goodness and His judgment, might indeed be observed in every part of the world, yet all were blind. The Prophet then, by this exclamation, condemns the insensibility of people, who overlook God’s judgments, though they are apparent before their eyes. So also the same thing is meant in this place: Who is a wise man?

But we must further notice the second point to which I have referred: namely, that all the faithful are here encouraged. For the Prophet teaches us that this is the rule of wisdom—to open our eyes to see God’s judgments, which are hidden from the world. While others are drawn away by their sinful desires or sunk in their stupor, the Prophet teaches us that we are wise when we duly consider, as I have already said, what the Lord has made known to us in His word.

From this it follows that all the wise people of this world are foolish, who so harden themselves that they do not perceive in God’s word what is yet open to their eyes. Who then is a wise man, and he will understand these things?

He afterwards adds, To whom has the mouth of Jehovah spoken to declare this? He complains here that there were no prophets. He said, at the beginning of the verse, that there were no wise people, because all heedlessly despised the threatenings and judgments of God. Now, secondly, he adds, there were none to arouse the careless people who were asleep in their sins.

But by this sentence he claims authority for himself. For though he was without associates and assistants, he yet intimates that his teaching was not, on that account, any less valuable. “Be it,” he says, (for he speaks by way of concession), “be it, that there is no prophet to recall the people from their sins, to exhort them to repent, to terrify the ungodly; however this may be, yet the Lord has appointed me to teach and to exhort the people.” We therefore see that the Prophet claims for himself full and complete authority, though he alone denounced God’s vengeance.

Many indeed then boasted that they were prophets, but they were only false flatterers. When the Prophet saw that many abused the name and did not perform the office faithfully and sincerely, he set himself in opposition to them all, as if he had said, “It is enough that the Lord has commanded me to do this; I therefore denounce on you this calamity, which you heedlessly disregard, because false teachers deceive you by their harmful flatteries.”

Who will declare, he says, why the land is to perish, and to be laid waste like the desert, so that there should be no inhabitant? We may apply this to two periods. For when Jeremiah spoke, the kingdom was still standing and, as I have said, the Jews were not subdued enough to humble themselves before God; they were therefore still indulging themselves in their sins.

Now, from where did this indulgence proceed, if not from their prosperous condition? Yet the Prophet says that the land had perished, and rightly so. He says this because he did not judge the people’s state according to its apparent condition at the time, but according to the judgment which he saw by the prophetic spirit was impending over them.

And we may extend this further, as if Jeremiah had said, “When God has so chastised this people that there might be, as it were, a visible monument of heavenly wrath, there will still be no prophets then to remind them from where these evils have proceeded.” This indeed we know was the case when the city was partly burned and partly demolished, and the temple pulled down.

The rebelliousness of the people was so great that their hearts were stone and their minds iron. There was then a monstrous hardness in that calamity. They indeed cried out because of their afflictions, but no one perceived that God was executing what He had denounced for so many years.

For Jeremiah, as we have said, exercised his office of teaching for a long time. But before he began, Isaiah had already been worn out; and before Isaiah, Micah had prophesied. However, though threatenings had been renewed daily for a hundred years, and terrors had been announced, yet there was no one who paid attention.

This passage, then, may be explained in this way: that when threatenings should be shown by their outcome not to have been announced in vain, yet the people would even then be unresponsive, for no one would pay attention to or consider God’s judgment. They would all indeed feel their afflictions, but no one would regard the hand of Him who struck them, as it is said in another place (Isaiah 9:13).

Either meaning may be allowed. But, as I think, the Prophet here deplores the hardness and rebelliousness of the people at that time, as if he had said that there was no one who considered God’s judgments, and that there was no prophet to rouse those who were lethargic. Yet, as has been stated, he thus intimates that he had sufficient authority, though he had no associate or assistant, for he had been chosen by God and had been sent to carry this message.