Commentary on Jeremiah 1 part 2/12

For 'A voice,' He says, 'was heard from the lips, weeping and supplication of the children of Israel, because they did wrong in their ways, they forgot their holy God.'

And having beheld their repentance, He exhorts them to persevere in it, and says:

Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your afflictions.

And He not only promises healing, but also teaches with what words they ought to make use, all but saying:

Behold, we will be servants to You, for You are the Lord our God. We renounce our error, we abhor the servitude of the demons;

You alone do we know as both Lord and God.

Truly the hills were a lie, and the power of the mountains.

Nevertheless, through the Lord our God is salvation for the house of Israel.

but the groves and the hills are hurtful and ruinous.

But shame has devoured the labours of our fathers from their youth—their sheep, their sons, and their daughters, as they burned them.

He showed also the excess of the honour they offered to the idols;

for besides oxen and sheep, they burned up even their sons and daughters;

and that they not only reaped no gain from thence, but along with the perdition of their souls they harvested shame as well;

for this He says by what follows:

We lay down in our shame, and our dishonour covered us;

because before our God we have sinned, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God.

And the divine Apostle says that the fruit of sin is shame:

What fruit, then, did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? CHAPTER.

Having thus taught them to make supplication, He promises them also the enjoyment of good things, if they should take on forgetfulness of the idols (for these He calls abominations), and should transfer their reverence to the true God;

so as to make their oaths no longer by the idols, but by Him, speaking truth and not lying.

If you swear, 'As the Lord lives,' in truth, in judgement, and in righteousness.

But in the sacred Gospels He laid down as law things more perfect than these:

For 'It was said,' He says, 'to them of old, You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord your oaths.'

But I say to you, Do not swear at all. To the Jews, however, as being weakly disposed, He enjoins swearing by Him, so that through the custom of the oath they might be taught to worship Him alone;

so that the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall praise God in Jerusalem;

for when these were pious, many of the neighbouring peoples came to learn piety anew.

From here He transfers the discourse from Israel to Judah, and says:

Break up for yourselves fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.

Till, He says, your own souls;

tear up by the very root the memory of the idols.

Then He teaches what manner of thing is the circumcision of God.

And be circumcised in the foreskin of your heart, you men of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Plainly He taught that the visible circumcision is a type of the hidden one, and that, the inward one being present, the bodily one is superfluous.

Taking his start from here, the divine Apostle wrote to the Romans:

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward, in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God. For he had heard God saying through the prophet:

Be circumcised to your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart, you men of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem;

lest My wrath go forth like fire and be kindled, and there be none to quench it, because of the wickedness of your practices. For you alone are able to quench it by repenting;

but if you make no use of repentance, no one is sufficient to deliver you from the punishment.

Make haste, do not stand still, for I am bringing evils from the north, and great destruction.

He says these things rather in a figurative manner;

and He calls Nebuchadnezzar a lion, and Babylon a lair;

and He says that this one, setting out from thence, both burned the cities and laid waste the lands.

For this reason, therefore, gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, and howl, because the fury of the Lord's anger has not turned away from you.

He foretells also the cowardice of the king—both of Jehoiakim, and of Jeconiah after him, and, last of all, of Zedekiah.

He foretells also the dread of the rulers and the priests.

Have you then indeed utterly deceived this people of God and Jerusalem, saying, 'There shall be peace,' and behold the sword has reached even to their souls? The prophet did not say these things as being true, but since the false prophets were promising peace, saying that God was announcing it, in refuting their lying speech he made use of these words. (11)

At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem: As a wind of wandering in the wilderness, the way of the daughter of my people is not toward what is clean, nor toward what is holy.

A wind of fulfilment shall come to me from these.

from whom the present evils have come upon me.

But now I will speak My judgements against them. That is, the calamities which I shall justly bring upon them.

And he enumerates these, likening the chariots to a cloud and a whirlwind, and the swiftness of the horses to eagles.

He also foretells the lamentation that is to come:

'Woe to us, for we are wretched!' And after these things he counsels them to reap salvation through repentance.

'For wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem,' he says, 'that you may be saved;'

'how long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?' For the wickedness of these reasonings became for you the author of these evils.

This was of the land of Israel, and the history of the Kingdoms bears witness to it;

and it too lies to the north, and Mount Ephraim is situated to the north of Jerusalem;

and from there the Babylonian made his march.

And a witness of this is both this prophet and the fourth book of the Kingdoms;

for they say that the men of Nebuchadnezzar led the captives away to Riblah of Hamath.

Now Riblah is a village of what is now called Emesa;

so that it is clear that by 'the great Hamath' he means Emesa;

and the other Hamath, Epiphania;

for so even up to the present it is called in the local tongue.

Since therefore, running from that place, they awaited grievous things:

'Behold, throngs come from a land far off, and they have raised their voice against the cities of Judah.'

'Like keepers of a field they were round about her.'

'For just as,' he says, 'those who guard the seeds or the vineyards keep them carefully, and prevent travellers from passing through them,'

'so these shall besiege Jerusalem, and shall permit no one to escape.'

'And these things you shall suffer,' he says, 'because you neglected me, says the Lord.' (18)

'Your ways and your doings have brought these things upon you;'

'this is your wickedness, for it is bitter, for it has touched even to your heart.'

'Things worthy of what you dared you shall endure, and you shall reap what you have sown.'

Having foretold these things, the prophet grieves on their behalf, and laments, and says that his belly is in pain, and the senses of his heart;

and he imitates a mother torn with anguish over the destruction of her children.

'For my soul is in a tumult,' he says, 'my heart is torn, I will not keep silence;'

'because my soul has heard the sound of a trumpet, the cry of war.'

And he invokes misery and destruction.

For these things the trumpet signifies, these evils it foreshows;

and he says that the land is made wretched, and the tent torn asunder, and the tent-curtains rent apart;

and through these things he hints at the overthrow of the city.

He describes also the multitude of those fleeing, and speaking in the person of God he says:

And lest they be thought worthy of pardon as being foolish, he immediately added:

'They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have not known.' For this indeed is the most grievous thing, that they employed their intelligence for nothing good, just as drunkards use wine, and murderers the sword.

'I looked upon the earth, and behold, there was nothing;'

'and toward heaven, and its lights were not there.'

'I saw the mountains, and behold, they were trembling;'

'and all the hills in commotion.'

'I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of heaven were terrified.'

These things those who fall into calamities are wont to suffer;

for neither does the light seem to them to be light, nor the day to be day, nor pleasant things to be pleasant.

All things are changed for them into the contrary.

'I saw, and behold, Carmel was a desert, and all the cities were burned with fire; from before the face of the Lord and from before the face of his wrath they were destroyed.'

It is likely that Carmel itself was laid waste in the incursion of the enemies;

but I think that here Carmel is figuratively named for Jerusalem, on account of the multitude of those dwelling in her.

'yet I will not make a full end.'

He means all the land of Palestine;

and he promises the recall.

'For these things let the earth mourn, let the heaven above grow dark, because I have spoken.'

For the creation sings in unison with its Maker.

'I have set myself in array, and I will not repent.' The phrase 'I will not repent' he has set down after the human manner;

meaning, 'I have determined to exact punishment.'

'I have set out, and I will not turn back from it,' that is, from the assault.

the archers all turned to flight, and some sought safety in the mountains, others in the groves;

and many, leaving the cities, took hold of the summits of the mountains.

Then, turning to Jerusalem:

'And you, O wretched one, what will you do?' Meaning, 'Where will you flee? What place will you seize? Though you clothe yourself in scarlet, and adorn yourself with ornaments of gold;'

'and though you paint your eyes with antimony, in vain has your adorning been;'

'your lovers have thrust you away;'

'they seek your life.' They were accustomed to deck themselves out in the festivals of the demons;

of that adorning he reminds them, and teaches that all those things are unprofitable and hurtful.

For they enjoyed no alliance from the demons, but rather these very demons became for them the authors of their evils.

'For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail;'

'your groanings, as of one bringing forth her first-born.'

Through the image he has set forth the measure of the anguish.

'Woe is me, for my soul faints over those who are slain.' He fulfils the divine law, to 'weep with those who weep,' suffering together with those who are punished.

But we, resting here, exhort those who shall read this book to flee the deceit of the demons, and in all things to serve God.

For thus shall we be able both in this present life to enjoy his providence, and to attain the good things that are to come;

by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the all-holy Spirit be glory, honour, and dominion, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

'Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and look, and know, and seek in her broad places, if you can find a man in her;'

'If there be found anyone who executes judgment and seeks faithfulness'—

'then I will be merciful unto her, saith the Lord.'

For they of one accord had turned to lawlessness;

yet for the sake of even one man living according to the Law He promises pardon to all.

As for the words, 'See, and know, and seek,' they stand in place of, 'Search with all exactness.'

'As the Lord liveth,' they say, and yet they swear falsely.

For even in what was said before He did not simply enjoin them to transfer the oath unto Himself, but to swear in truth.

'And Thine eyes are upon faithfulness.'

That is to say: 'Thou dost bear witness to what I speak.'

'Thou hast scourged them, and they felt no pain;

Thou hast utterly consumed them, and they would not receive correction.' The former expression signifies the measured chastisement;

but the word 'Thou hast utterly consumed' signifies the intensified chastisement;

yet nothing profited them, because of their stubborn disposition;

for this He states in what follows:

'They made their faces harder than a rock, and would not turn back.' By these words He shows their shamelessness and disobedience.

'Perhaps they are poor, and therefore they were not able, and knew not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.'

'I will go to the great ones, and will speak to them;

for these have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of God.'

By 'the great ones' He named the priests and the teachers of the Law;

and by 'the poor,' the rest, as those who had not acquired the riches of the divine knowledge;

yet He accuses both of lawlessness.

'And behold, of one accord they have broken the yoke, they have burst the bonds.' These things the prophet did not utter without cause;

he means those who had broken the yoke of the Law.

He calls Nebuchadnezzar a lion, and, as I think, Nebuzaradan the chief captain of the guard a wolf;

who, being sent later, both burned the city and led away captive the divine temple and those who were left behind;

and I suppose that by 'leopard' Antiochus called Epiphanes is meant;

'by all these,' He says, 'wast thou hunted, because of the error concerning idols.'

'For which of these shall I be merciful to thee?' And He tells also the kinds of the lawlessness.

'For not only,' He says, 'do ye and your children swear by gods that are not, but ye also cause others to swear;

yet I bestowed on you an abundance of good things.'

For this He means by, 'And I fed them to the full.' Besides these, ye also break into others' marriages, so that your lust is likened to horses maddened for the female.

'Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord;

or shall not My soul be avenged on a nation such as this?' 'Is it possible,' He says, 'that I should overlook these things? And how could the verdict of the righteous Judge be corrupted?' For this cause He pronounces this sentence, and commands both to pull down the walls and to raze the battlements;

yet He tempers the justice with goodness.

'For ye shall not make,' He says, 'a full end;

leave her supports, for she is the Lord's.'

By these words He hints at the recall and the second building.

He foretells also the cause of the calamities: that being lawless and ungrateful toward their Benefactor, they grew insolent, and supposed they would prevail over the calamities.

'For evils shall not come upon us,' they say, 'and sword and famine we shall not see.'

For the false prophets were the cause of these things;

for He accuses these in what is brought forward next.

'Your prophets were as wind;

and the word of the Lord was not in them.'

The phrase 'as wind' shows the vanity and falsehood of what was spoken;

for they had no share in the divine Spirit.

For which cause He says to the prophet, that 'The word which I utter through thy tongue shall consume them after the manner of fire;

and He indicates also the manner of the punishment. (15)

'Behold, I bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, an ancient nation it is.'

He calls them an ancient nation, since their kingdom is the oldest of all;

for Nimrod was the first among them to reign after the flood.

Then He speaks also of the strangeness of their tongue.

And He likens the quiver to an open grave, because of the deadliness of the arrows and the sureness of aim in their archery.

He speaks also of the devastation of the land, the sacking of the houses, and the slaughter of men.

Yet He foretells also the destruction of the enemies, and the recall of these people.

'For I will not make you,' He says, 'a full end.'

And since they were sick with insensibility, and did not see their own transgressions, but said [thus],

'Since,' He says, 'ye have denied My kingdom, I will deliver you over to other masters.'

These things He commands them to hear diligently, and calls them foolish and senseless, since they had not used the perceptions of the body as they ought.

'For they have eyes,' He says, 'and see not.'

'For the sea,' He says, 'keeps its bounds;

and I set for it bounds, not a wall of adamant, but the most worthless sand;

yet, though churned up and troubled, it does not pass over the bounds, but drawing near to them it recedes backward;

but these men, though honored with reason, loved unreason.'

'For to this people,' He says, 'there came a disobedient and rebellious heart.'

'For they perceive not the good things supplied by Me;

for I continually provide them with rain, both early and latter.'

Then, moreover, they enjoy the fruits of the earth as well.

For this He said, 'At the appointed time of fulfillment, the ordinances of harvest.' For He uses His will as a kind of decree;

and He bestows the fruits of the earth in full.

'Yet nonetheless, seeing you transgressing, I have deprived you also of these good things.'

'For there were found among my people ungodly men, and they set snares to destroy men, and they took them captive.'

'As a snare set is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit.'

By these words he has made plain their secret plots.

He speaks also of the wealth that arises from injustice, and of the arrogance that comes from wealth, and of the lawless manner of life, and of the wrong done against orphans and widows.

'Shall I not visit them for these things? or shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?' 'Foreign,' he says, 'to my righteous judgement is any disregard of such deeds.'

'And astonishment and horrors have come to pass upon the land.'

Whenever we see something done lawlessly beyond all expectation, we are accustomed to say such things:

'I was astonished at this; I shuddered on hearing that.'

Then he tells the causes of these things.

'Your prophets prophesy unjust things,'

'and the priests applauded with their hands.' This is a sign of assent.

'And my people loved it so.' He has pointed out the evil harmony of them all.

'And what will you do afterward?' That is to say, when the punishment is brought upon you;

and he makes this plain through what follows. CHAPTER.

For he exhorts the man of the tribe of Benjamin;

for this tribe was joined to that of Judah — to sound the trumpet and to make themselves ready for battle-array, since the enemies from the north were rushing against Jerusalem.

For he calls her comely and delicate;

comely, on account of the beauty of her buildings;

delicate, on account of the luxurious living of those who dwelt in her.

'Shepherds and their flocks shall come to her, and shall pitch their tents against her round about, and shall feed, each one, with his hand his own herd.'

By 'shepherds' he means the kings who campaigned together with Nebuchadnezzar;

and by 'herds and flocks,' the armies that served under them;

and by these he has signified the siege of the city.

Then he speaks of the assaults at noon, the evening attacks, and the night onslaughts, and he commands that she be cut down like an unfruitful forest;

'for she is wholly false in her power;'

and these things accord with what was said before.

'As a cistern keeps its water cool, so does she keep her wickedness cool.'

It was fitting that the city dedicated to God, and which received those who lived in lawlessness, should teach good order;

but now she is charged with the opposite, that she herself became a teacher of impiety;

and just as the cistern changes the water into a cold quality,

so she changed into wickedness those who came to her;

yet by 'the city' he means not the buildings, but the inhabitants.

'Ungodliness and wretchedness shall be heard in her, before my face continually.' 'They did not even fear my indwelling, but even while I looked on they dared every impiety.'

Then he introduces an admonition and counsel.

'Be instructed by toil and by the scourge, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, and I make you a desolate land, which shall not be inhabited.'

for while threatening her with grievous things, he promises her deliverance from these if she repents.

By 'grape-gatherers' he means the enemies;

and he commands them to gather all of them together, as the fruit of a vine, and he teaches the reason.

'To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that he may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear.'

'Behold, the word of the Lord has become to them a reproach;'

'they will by no means be willing to hear it.'

By 'uncircumcised ears' he means those that receive all things indiscriminately.

Readily receiving the pleasant things offered by the false prophets, they were unwilling to attend to the divine words, but mocked and derided the prophets.

Then he teaches the exceeding greatness of his long-suffering.

'I have filled up my wrath, and held it back, and did not make an end of them.'

That is to say, 'I was moved to punish them, and yet again I counted them worthy of pity and of sparing.'

He threatens to bring a common punishment upon young and old alike, upon men and women, since all in common loved lawlessness — even those deemed worthy of the priesthood, together with those who dared to foretell falsehoods.

He speaks also of the things dared by these men:

'And they healed the breaking of my people with contempt, despising me, and saying:'

'Where, then, is the fulfilment of the words?' For instead of peace they behold utter destruction.

'For being put to shame,' he says, 'as having foretold falsehoods, they refuse to blush.'

'Neither were they ashamed as those who are put to shame, and they knew not their own dishonour.'

'But nevertheless,' he says, 'they shall pay in due time the penalties for what they dared.'

'For in the time of their visitation they shall be brought low, says the Lord.' From this he teaches both the disobedience of the Jews, and proclaims beforehand the calling of the Gentiles.

'Stand in the ways, and see;'

'ask for the ancient paths, and see which is the good way, and walk in it, and you shall find sanctification for your souls.'

The many ways are the holy prophets;

but the way that is truly good is our Lord Himself;

for we hear Him saying:

'I am the way, and the truth, and the life.' Each of the prophetic ways, however, leads to this one;

for Moses the lawgiver also points to this one, saying:

'The Lord our God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brethren, like me;' and what follows.

And just as there is one road that leads to the greatest cities, which we are accustomed to call the royal and the king's highway, and into this certain footpaths from villages and fields empty out;

so there is one way that leads to the Father, the only-begotten Son of God;

and like certain footpaths, the blessed prophets lead into this way those who choose to journey by means of them.

The prophetic word therefore bids the Jews to search out the prophetic ways, and through them to learn the good way, and to walk in it.

But they gainsay as usual, and do not do what is commanded.

'For they said,' he says, 'We will not go.' Yet nevertheless he offers them still another admonition.

'I have set watchmen over you; hearken to the sound of the trumpet.'

And again he names the prophets themselves 'watchmen';

'I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.' And by 'trumpet' he means the preaching of the apostles.

This also those who were called watchmen foretold; for they too received the divine preaching.

for these too received the divine proclamation.

Thus also did the divine apostles Barnabas and Paul.

For having entered into a certain synagogue and discoursed at length with the Jews, then perceiving their disobedience, they said:

'It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you;'

'but since you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.'

'For thus the Lord has commanded us:'

'I have set you for a light of the Gentiles, that you should be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.' The outcome, therefore, accords with the prediction.

Here, however, the prophetic word threatens the disobedient Jews with a punishment fitting their contradiction.

And it also forbids the worship according to the Law.

'Why do you bring me frankincense from Sheba, and cinnamon from a far country? Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not been sweet to me.'

But if, even while the Law prevailed, these things were reckoned superfluous, the Jews have raged in vain, busying themselves after the cessation of the Law with the superfluities of the Law as though they were necessary.

Again he foretells the weakness to which they are yoked, for they not only oppose being servants but also appear abominable to all.

From here he transfers the prophecy to the Babylonian and to the kings who campaigned together with him, and he describes their strength, their full armament, and the harsh and beastlike quality of their purpose.

He also tells of their cowardice.

'For our hands are paralyzed,' he says, 'anguish has seized us, pangs as of a woman in travail.'

And he urges them not to venture out from the cities, since the enemies lie in wait before them.

He also urges Jerusalem to gird herself with sackcloth, to cast dust upon her head, and to imitate the mourning for an only-begotten child.

Then he charges the prophet to look upon their transgressions.

'And you shall know when you have tested their way.'

That is to say: You will not grow weary traveling around many cities and fields;

for in Jerusalem all are gathered together on account of the war.

He shows him the perversity of their purpose.

'All are disobedient, walking crookedly, like bronze and iron.'

'They are all corrupted.'

That is to say: counterfeit, having nothing of approved worth.

'The bellows has failed from the fire;'

'in vain the silversmith works his silver;'

'their wickednesses have not been melted away.'

By 'silversmith' he means the instructive word;

and by 'fire' and 'lead,' the punishment itself;

and by 'bellows,' the divine sentence, through which the punishment is applied.

The craftsmen of silver are also accustomed, when they wish to purify the silver, to cast in lead, so that through this the base alloy may be consumed.

'Call them rejected silver, for the Lord God has rejected them.'

'No device,' he says, 'prevailed over their wickedness;'

and he says these things not as accusing their nature, but their choice;

for he himself is the maker of their nature, and would not accuse that which he has made;

but of their choice they themselves are the fashioners.

After these things the prophet teaches that he was commanded to stand in the gates of the divine temple and to present the prophetic word to all who entered;

and this word contained counsel and a promise of good things.

He also accuses the false prophecy.

'Do not trust,' he says, 'in yourselves, nor in lying words;'

'they will not profit you at all who say, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord it is.'

For deceiving them they used to say, How is it possible for anyone to prevail against the divine temple? But he charges them not to take courage in these words;

but rather to embrace the change of life toward the better, to fear the judgments, to show care for those who need it, to cease from their former bloodshed and from the service of idols.

'For doing these things,' he says, 'you shall not be exiles, but shall remain in your ancestral land.'

'But if you dare the contrary, and travel through every lawlessness, you shall reap fruits corresponding to your practices;'

'for I do not look to false repentance, nor do I tolerate lying words;'

'for I see all things that come to pass.'

'For behold,' he says, 'I have seen, says the Lord.' Nor will I endure that the house consecrated to me be a lair of robbers.

Then from things that have already happened he confirms what has been said.

'For go to my house that was in Shiloh, where I made my name to dwell there formerly, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.'

Shiloh is a place situated within the ten tribes;

and when the Assyrians campaigned against those tribes, this place too was destroyed.

For which reason he adds that the house too will suffer the same things, and they themselves will receive the punishment of their brothers.

'For I will cast you away from my presence, just as I cast away your brothers, all the seed of the sons of Israel.'

He also forbids the prophet to offer any intercession on their behalf.