John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 9:2

"Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men." — Jeremiah 9:2 (ASV)

Here the Prophet entertains another wish: He had before wished that his head were waters, that he might shed tears, and he had wished his eyes to be the fountains of tears; but now, after having carefully considered the wickedness of the people, he sets aside every feeling of humanity, and as one incensed, he desires to move elsewhere, and completely to leave the people; for their ungodliness had so prevailed that he could no longer live among them.

It is indeed certain that the Prophet had no ordinary grief when he perceived that God’s dreadful vengeance was not far distant. It is also certain that he was moved and constrained by their detestable conduct to desire to be removed elsewhere. But he speaks not only for his own sake, for he regards his own nation and expresses his feelings that he might more effectually touch their hearts.

We must then understand that so great was the sympathy of the Prophet that he was not satisfied with shedding tears, but that he wished that his whole head would flow into tears. It also appears that he was so moved with indignation that he wished completely to leave his own people. But, as I have said, his object was to try whether he could restore them to the right way.

He then shows, in this verse, that the Jews had become so detestable, that all the true servants of God wished to be removed far away from them: Who then will set me in the desert? He does not seek for himself another country; he does not desire to dwell in a pleasant situation, or that some comfortable refuge should be offered to him; but he desires to be placed in the desert, or in the lodging of travelers.

He speaks not of those lodgings or inns, which were in villages and towns, but of a lodging in the desert, as is the case when, during a long and tedious journey through forests, some sheds are formed so that when a traveler is overtaken by the darkness of night, he might be protected by some covering and not lie down in the open air.

It is of this kind of lodging that the Prophet speaks: so he undoubtedly means a shed; but as to the word, we may retain, as I have said, its proper meaning. What is meant is, that to dwell in the desert among wild beasts was better than to be among that abominable people.

By expressing this wish he undoubtedly inflamed the fury of the whole people, or at least of most of them; but it was necessary to address them so forcefully: as they submitted to no kind and wholesome warnings and advice, they were to be forcibly stimulated and urged by such reproofs as these.

I will leave my people. This had an emphatic bearing, for one's native soil is delightful to everyone, and it is also delightful to dwell among one’s own people.

Since the Prophet wished to be removed into the desert, and to leave his own people—all his relatives and the nation from which he sprang—and to depart from them, it follows that they must have reached an extreme state.

And the reason is added, For all are adulterers. I take the word מנאפים menaphim, adulterers, in a metaphorical sense, as meaning all those who had departed from God and abandoned themselves to ungodly superstitions, or those who had become so vitiated and corrupt as to retain no integrity. He does not, therefore, call them adulterers because they were given to sexual immorality, but because they were immersed in all kinds of defilements.

He afterwards calls them an assembly of apostates, or of perfidious men. The word עצר, otsar, means to prohibit, to restrain: hence the noun עצרת, ostaret, means a summoned assembly, when, according to an oath or laws, men are forced to meet; and after the assembly is proclaimed, they do not dare to depart.

So the Prophet by this word points out the consent and union that existed among that people, as though he had said that they clung to their sins no less than if by a solemn rite, authority, or ordinance they had been summoned together and were prohibited from departing.

Thus we see that he condemns the impious consent that was among the people, and also their stubbornness, for they could in no way be restored to a right mind. For this reason he also calls them בגדים, begadim, transgressors; for by this word the Hebrews mean not every kind of sinner, but those who are completely wicked. Hence the prophets, when they speak of apostates and revolters, always call them בגדים, begadim, as in this passage. I will not proceed further.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since you have been pleased that the prophetic writings should be preserved for our use, that they may continually stir us to repentance, and that since you daily raise up those who urge us by their exhortations, and draw us, as it were by force, to repent—O grant, that such perverseness as we see existed in your ancient people may not be in us; but that we may make ourselves teachable, and be so moved by your threatenings, as to anticipate your judgment, lest we, mistaking your forbearance, should at last be visited with that dread, described to us by your servant Jeremiah, but that we may, on the contrary, find you to the end to be not only a reconcilable but also a most merciful Father, until we at last enjoy a fuller knowledge of your goodness in your celestial kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord.—Amen.