Berean BlueApp preview

John Calvin on Leviticus 26:29-33

Commentaries. Browse this work.

Leviticus26:29-33

29. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons. This scourge is still more severe and terrible (than the others;) Added from Fr. yet we know that the Israelites were smitten with it more than once. This savage act would be incredible; but we gather from it how terrible it is to fall into the hands of God, when men, by adding crime to crime, cease not to provoke His wrath. Jeremiah “Jeremie recite que cest acte monstreux est advenu de son temps;” Jeremiah relates that this monstrous act occurred in his own times. — Fr. mentions this monstrous case among others: “The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children,” and prepared them for food, (Lamentations 4:10;) and hence, not without cause, he mourns that this had not been done elsewhere, that women should devour the offspring which they themselves had brought up. (Lamentations 2:20.) And See Josephus’ Jewish War, B. 7. c. 2. the last siege of Jerusalem, which in the fullness of their crimes was, as it were, the final act of God’s vengeance, reduced the wretched people who were then alive to such straits, that they commonly partook of this unholy food.

When He again declares that He “will cast their carcases upon those of their idols,” He shews by the very nature of the punishment that their impiety would be manifest; for apostates take marvelous delight in their superstitions, until God openly appears as the avenger of His service. But that their idols should be cast into a common heap with the bones of the dead, was as if the finger of God pointed out His abomination of their false worship. And then, because their last resource was in sacrifices, He declares that they should be of no avail for atonement; for, in the expression, “savour of peace,” “Savour of your sweet odours.” — A.V. “Odoris pacifici.” — Lat. “D’odeur paisible, ou de repos.” — Fr. He embraces all the expiatory rites, by their confidence in which they were the more obstinate. Afterwards He threatens banishment as well as the desolation of the land; by which punishment He made it apparent that they were utterly renounced, as we shall again see a little further on.

John Calvin, Commentaries, Leviticus 26:29-33. Public domain.

Permanent link. Source edition.

Read Leviticus 26. Compare commentaries on this chapter.

Source and publication rights

Public domain. Public Domain. Source edition.

Berean Blue opens December 1, 2026. Explore this passage in the app preview.