Commentary on Jeremiah 1 part 4/12

'For not only do you know the things that appear, but also my hidden thoughts.'

'Gather them as sheep for the slaughter, and sanctify them for the day of their slaughter.' By 'sanctify' he means 'set apart.'

For he who wishes to sanctify himself sets himself apart;

wherefore also the Syrian has put 'prepare' instead of 'sanctify.'

'How long shall the land mourn, and all the grass of the field wither, because of the wickedness of those who dwell in the land? Beasts and birds have been destroyed, because they said, God will not see our ways.'

for they suppose that you do not oversee, nor behold the things ventured by them.

'Your feet run into wickedness, and they shall weary you.'

'How will you prepare yourself against horsemen, and are you confident in a land of peace?' This the Syrian thus interpreted:

'Running with footmen you have been overcome, and how will you be able to withstand horsemen?' And what he means is this:

'The neighbouring enemies — Moabites, Ammonites, Idumaeans, and foreigners — waged war on foot;

'and many times you were overcome when warring against them.'

'How then will you be able,' he says, 'to withstand the Babylonians drawn up in battle upon horses?' But according to the Greek interpretation it should be understood thus: 'Because the course you ran through your wickedness has enfeebled you, and stripped you of strength;

'and being deprived of vigour and strength, how will you be able to withstand and draw up in battle against those who campaign with a multitude of horses?' Both meanings I have set down, presenting to the readers the choice of the better.

'How will you do in the swelling of the Jordan?' The Syrian said it thus:

'How will you cross the Jordan when it floods?' And figuratively he called the multitude of the army of the enemies a flooding river;

and he reminded them also of the things in the days of Joshua son of Nun;

that 'When I cared for you, you crossed that river when it was in flood.'

'For even the house of your father, and these have dealt treacherously with you, and they too have cried out after you from behind;

'and these very ones have gathered together against you.'

For many, as is likely, even from the ten tribes, of those already made captives, were campaigning together with the enemies.

'Do not believe them, though they speak fair words to you.' Such was Rabshakeh, who used the Hebrew tongue and blasphemed against God.

'I have forsaken my house;

'I have abandoned my inheritance;

'I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.'

He displays his own goodness, and, exposing their abomination, teaches:

for he himself uses loving words, and calls his enemy the beloved of his soul;

but she works the deeds of foes and plotters;

'My inheritance has become to me as a lion in the forest.'

For instead of a bride she became a wild beast, and devoured the bridegroom.

'She has uttered her voice against me.' The Gospels teach the truth of this prophecy;

'Is my inheritance to me a hyena's cave? Or a cave round about her?' In the passages previously interpreted, he named the temple a den of robbers, because of the transgression of those who ministered in it;

but here by 'hyena's cave' he calls not only the city, but also the regions round about it, that is to say, Judaea;

and again he accuses the transgression committed against him.

'For to me,' he says, 'it has become a hyena's cave.'

Then he foretells her final destruction.

'Go, gather against her all the beasts of the field, and let them come to devour her.' For the Romans, having received dominion over the inhabited world, and having gathered an army from various nations, slaughtered some, and led others away as prisoners of war.

And he says that the teachers of the law were the cause of the impiety:

'Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;

'they have given the portion of my desire into a desolate wilderness.'

'It has become a ruin of destruction.'

And this he teaches more clearly:

at that time their land became desolate at the hands of the enemies;

but now they have been utterly deprived of their far-famed mother-city.

'Because there is no man laying it to heart.' That is, they do not use godly reasonings.

'Upon every path of the wilderness the destroyers have come, having brought misery in the wilderness.'

The Syriac rendered 'the pass' as 'a footpath.'

They filled, he says, the whole wilderness with footpaths, being wretched and fleeing from their enemies; for it is characteristic of fugitives not to make use of the accustomed roads.

For it is proper to those who flee not to make use of the customary roads.

For the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other end of the land; there is no peace for any flesh.

He speaks both of the things that befell the Jews—'from one end of the land to the other end' of the land of Israel—

and he foretells also the things brought upon the nations at various times,

against whom he prophesies also near the end of the prophecy.

You have sown wheat, and you shall reap thorns.

He charges them not to take confidence in the fruitfulness of the land, but in the righteous conduct of the land;

for the one who practices wickedness harvests thorns from it.

Your lots shall not profit you. Again he called good fortune 'lots,' in which he counsels them not to place their trust.

You have been put to shame because of your boasting, because of reproach before God. The things you suppose glorify you—namely, wealth and power—these, when you are judged before God, shall fill you with shame.

For having enjoyed the gifts from him, you have requited him with the opposite.

Thus says the Lord concerning all the evil neighbors, the shepherds who touch my inheritance, which I apportioned to my people Israel.

The Idumeans, Moabites, Ammonites, and Philistines were always disposed with hatred and hostility toward the Jews;

accordingly they rejoiced when they beheld the calamities brought upon them.

Therefore he forewarns them of the coming restoration of the Jews.

By 'shepherds' he means their rulers.

Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will cast out the house of Judah from among them.

(15) And it shall come to pass, after I have cast them out, I will return and have mercy on them, and I will settle them again, each in his own inheritance and each in his own land.

And it shall be, if they diligently teach my people my way, to swear by my name, 'As the Lord lives,' just as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.

But if they do not turn back, I will utterly remove that nation with removal and destruction, says the Lord.

He spoke also of the complete rejection of the nation of the Jews.

For I will remove that nation with removal and destruction, says the Lord. CHAPTER 13

After this the prophet is commanded to buy a linen loincloth, and having put it about his loins, to hide it away by the river Euphrates; and he immediately fulfilled the command.

When very many days had passed, he was again ordered to fetch the loincloth;

and taking it in his hands, he found it ruined and useless for any use.

Thus will I ruin the pride of Judah and the pride of Jerusalem, this great pride.

This wicked people,

who are unwilling to obey my words, and walk in the crookedness of their evil heart, and go after other gods to serve them and to worship them;

and they shall become like this loincloth, which shall no longer be of use for anything.

The loincloth was ordered to be hidden by the Euphrates, in the cleft of the rock;

and by 'the cleft of the rock' he means Babylon;

and being there, the people were useless, no longer called God's people, nor governing themselves, nor performing the services according to the Law;

but they were useless, like that ruined loincloth.

For just as the loincloth cleaves to a man's loins, so I made the house of Israel and all the house of Judah cleave to myself, says the Lord, that they might become for me a renowned people, a boast, and a glory;

By these words he showed the surpassing measure of his goodness, and taught the manner of the union, and that he indeed willed to make them illustrious and admired, but they by their transgression drew upon themselves reproaches.

Thus, having made the prophecy also through these deeds, he again foretells the things to come through another image.

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel:

Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.

And it shall be, if they say to you, 'Do we not surely know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine?' then you shall say to them:

The prophets and the priests, and all the people, with drunkenness.

And teaching what the drunkenness is, he added:

And I will scatter them, a man and his brother,

and his fathers and his sons together, says the Lord.

And showing the unchangeableness of his wrath, he added:

I will not yearn over them, nor spare, nor have compassion, so as to withhold their destruction—that is, so as to prevent their destruction. Thus he called the punishment 'drunkenness';

for those who fall into the greatest calamities resemble people stupefied, being unable, on account of the excess of their suffering, even to lament.

Hear, and give ear, and do not be lifted up.

Cease from your insolence and your frenzied arrogance;

receive the things spoken as from God.

Anticipate, he says, the time of punishment.

This the divine Apostle also urges:

'So then, as we have opportunity, let us work what is good.'—And you shall wait for light, and there is the shadow of death, and you shall be placed in darkness. For in the very time of punishment, though you plead, you shall not obtain any mercy.

And if you do not hear, your soul shall weep in secret because of pride;

and weeping it shall weep, and your eyes shall stream down tears, because the flock of the Lord is crushed.

The phrase 'shall weep in secret' hints at the excess of the evils;

for being enslaved to your enemies, you will not even dare to weep openly, but will do this secretly.

He also exhorts the king and the rulers to lament the changes of their circumstances;

and he reminds them also of the things already come to pass.

The cities toward the south were shut up, and there was none to open them.

Judah was carried away captive, he accomplished a complete deportation.

For Sennacherib enslaved many cities of Judea;

and these things, he says, they endured, paying the penalty for the wrongs they had committed.

He also bids Jerusalem behold the multitude of the enemies coming from the north, and he adds:

Where is the flock that was given to you, the sheep of your glory? That is, the multitude of the inhabitants.

What will you say when they visit you? That is, the enemies.

And you taught them, to your own hurt, lessons for your rule. For being warred upon by the Syrians, they called the Assyrians into alliance, when they ought to have sought the providence of God.

Pangs shall seize you, like a woman in labor. He showed the greatness of the anguish.

And if you say in your heart:

The multitude of thine iniquity is uncovered, thy hinder parts, so that thy heels may be made a public example.

Such a stripping bare covers with shame those who must endure it.

He says therefore: Was it not that thou wast stripped naked—that is, thy transgressions—that brought forth for thee these calamities also? Verse 23.

'If the Ethiopian will change his skin, and the leopard her spots, then may ye also be able to do good, having learned to do evil.'

True, then, is the saying that habit is second nature.

For by long custom he compared their deliberate dispositions with those things that are natural.

For this cause He threatens to scatter them like stubble, whirled hither and thither by the tempest.

He speaks also of the multitude of her sins—licentiousness, and insolence, and the worship of idols;

for He calls it the estrangement of her fornication.

'Upon the hills, and in the fields have I seen thine abominations.' Then in a mournful strain: 'Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem, for thou wast not cleansed to follow after Me!'

How much longer yet? For having dared to commit many transgressions, thou wast unwilling to make use of repentance;

but I will no longer be longsuffering.

It is better, then, to order one's life according to the divine laws;

but since we are men, and it is likely that we should stumble, it is fitting to make use of the remedies of repentance, and through these to propitiate the Judge, and to escape the experience of the punishments that have been threatened.

Of which may we also remain untouched, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory and might, together with the all-holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah concerning the drought.

He brings upon them chastisements of every kind, that He may check the course of their wickedness.

For He says that both the springs, and the wells, and the reservoirs formed by the rains have failed;

and there followed also the barrenness of the earth, and the cattle—not only the tame, but also the wild—partook of the suffering.

'For the hinds,' He says, 'calved in the field, and forsook their young, because there was no grass.'

'The wild asses stood upon the wooded glens, they snuffed up the wind like a dragon.'

And this too men do when thirsty, cooling their heat with the breezes of the winds.

Then the prophet offers supplication, and makes mention of the common sins, and by this propitiates God.

'For against Thee,' he says, 'have we sinned.' Verse 8.

'O hope of Israel, Thou savest in the time of evils.'

For from Thee do we all await mercy.

'Why hast Thou become as a sojourner upon the earth, and as one native-born turning aside to a lodging?' The phrase 'as one native-born,' the Syrian rendered 'as a wayfarer.'

'Why ever,' he says, 'dost Thou overlook us, and seem like a sojourner who despises dwellings as belonging to others, in which he lodges, and like a wayfarer passing by, who takes no care for the things along the road?' Verse 9.

'Be not as a man asleep, and as a man that cannot save.' For neither does the sleeper hear those who call upon him, and he who is yoked to weakness cannot come to the rescue.

for Thou both art able, and art awake, and art everywhere present, and standest by all.

'And Thou art in the midst of us, O Lord, and Thy name is called upon us;

forget us not.' He sets down also the answer given by God:

'They loved to move their feet, and spared them not.'

That is, into the way of wickedness;

for this also the words that follow teach.

'And God took no pleasure in them.' He says that He will make remembrance of their iniquities, and will exact from them penalties for the impieties they committed.

And He declares that He will neither give heed to their fasting, nor accept the sacrifices offered by them, but will deliver them over to famine and pestilence and slaughter.

Having heard these things, the prophet brings forward the predictions of the false prophets, and says that they foretell the contrary, and promise them peace, and abundance of good things.

'For I commanded them not,' He says, 'neither spake I unto them, that these prophesy unto you false visions, and divinations, and auguries, and the choosings of their own heart.' By 'visions' He calls dreams, and by 'auguries' the observation of birds;

and by 'divinations' those things wrought by the working of demons;

and by 'the choosings of the heart,' the deceit arising from their own reasonings.

Then to these very ones He threatens both death from sickness, and slaughter in war.

'For by a diseased death,' He says, 'shall they die, and by sword and famine shall they be brought to their end.' And along with these, also those who followed their words.

And they shall not be deemed worthy even of burial, all alike falling into the same evils.

But again the lover of mankind, having foretold the gloomy things, exhorts them to make use of the remedies of repentance.

'For bring down,' He says, 'tears in your eyes day and night, because of the greatness of the evils that shall be brought upon you.'

'If I go forth into the plain, then behold the slain by the sword;

and if I enter into the city, behold the anguish of famine.'

He adds to these also the evils of captivity.

For God, taking forethought for those unholy men, sent along also prophets, as it were certain overseers of children and teachers, that they might not utterly turn aside into impiety.

Having narrated these things, the prophet turns his words toward God;

'Hast Thou utterly rejected Judah? or hath Thy soul departed from Zion?' Meaning, Thy providence;

for in human fashion he has placed 'soul,' for a clearer expression of the prophecy.

And he says that the blow inflicted is incurable, and adds, speaking thus: Verses 20, 21.

'We know, O Lord, our sins, the iniquities of our fathers;

for we have sinned before Thee.'

'And look not upon us, but upon Thy name.'

For we are called Thy people.

'Destroy not the throne of Thy glory.' Thus he named Jerusalem;

and the Lord in the sacred Gospels, when forbidding oaths, said, 'Neither swear by Jerusalem, for it is the throne of the great King'; for there did He make His own manifestation.

And he calls to mind also the covenant made with the fathers, and that from the idols there is no help;

but He Himself supplies the rain that is borne down from above;

for the creation is not without a governor;

'And the heaven shall give its fulness.'

'Art not Thou Thyself He, O Lord? and we will wait upon Thee; for Thou hast made all these things.'

For think not, He says, that despising thee I receive not thine embassy;

for neither would I have yielded to those entreating, who wrought so many wonders.

Yet these He called to mind, both as elders, and as having often prevailed upon Him on behalf of the people;

and indeed Samuel too did this same thing, and brought down abundant rain in the season of summer.

Then He bids the prophet dismiss the people that stood by.

But if they say to you, he says, 'Where shall we go forth?', you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord:

Those destined for death, to death;

and those destined for the sword, to the sword;

and those destined for famine, to famine;

and those destined for captivity, to captivity.

For to these four calamities shall I subject them.

And besides these, those who have died shall become food for wild beasts and birds of prey.

And I shall hand them over to distresses among all the kingdoms of the earth.

He foretells also the things that would come to pass after the return, and the things that would befall them under the Macedonians, and the utter destruction that would be brought upon them by the Romans.

Yet he teaches that these first things came to pass on account of the impiety perpetrated by Manasseh;

but the Judge is not unjust, nor does he exact penalties for another's account; rather, as those who had shared in the impiety and had eagerly cooperated with the wicked king, he subjects them to the aforesaid evils.

Who shall spare you, O Jerusalem? and who shall be afraid for you? or who shall turn aside to ask after your welfare? That is to say: In the eyes of all men you shall seem to have suffered justly.

For men are wont, whenever they see one who lives in extreme wickedness being punished, not only to feel no pain along with him, but even to rejoice together with those who had been wronged, as being now delivered from that man's wickedness.

You have turned away from me, says the Lord;

and the phrase 'you shall go backward' he has set down in the sense of 'you shall be humbled.'

And I will stretch out my hand against you, and destroy you, and I will no longer spare them. For I will no longer employ my former forbearance.

Then, teaching that he is compelled to chastise against his own inclination, he speaks as one grieving along with them:

In the gates of my people they were bereaved of children;

I destroyed my people through their own wickedness, and they did not turn back. They themselves drew down destruction upon themselves, being unwilling to cease from their wickedness.

He says that, because of the slaying of the men, the widows too were multiplied, and again for the same reason the mothers were deprived of their children.

For I brought, he says, upon the mother of the young men misery at midday;

I cast upon her suddenly trembling and haste. (9)

She that bore seven is grown faint; her soul has fainted away.

The sun went down upon her while it was yet midday. For to those who mourn, even the light is called darkness;

having said these things and others like them, the prophet laments and wails:

Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me as a man who is judged and contended with in all the earth;

I have not profited, nor has anyone profited me;

my strength has failed among those who curse me.

The Syriac rendered 'I have profited' as 'I have owed';

so then he says: I have neither owed anything, nor lent anything;

and yet I have gained many enemies, who continually revile and curse me.

For counsels, for the most part, are wont to give birth to disobedience.

According to the Greek rendering, however, it is to be understood thus: I am worthy of lamentations, having been brought into this life to no purpose;

for neither did I benefit anyone, nor did I receive any benefit from others;

but I receive only curses from those who hear my prophecies.

Let it come to pass, O Lord, in their prospering, if I did not stand before you in the time of their evils, and in the time of their affliction, for good against the enemy.

Hear them, he says, cursing me;

many times I offered up to you my supplications on their behalf.

Then again in the person of God:

Shall iron be known, and a covering of bronze?

Your strength and your treasures I will give for plunder, as a recompense for all your sins throughout all your borders.

with coverings, not with iron ones;

for all your wealth I will hand over to your foes, and this shall be the requital of your sins.

And to these he adds also the captivity that had come upon them.

Having foretold these things, the prophet endures peril from those who could not bear to listen, who attempted to kill him, and he calls upon the God of all and says:

Remember me, O Lord, and visit me, and acquit me of those who pursue me.

Do not deliver me to those who pursue me;

Do not take me in your longsuffering. It bears the sense: 'you press me hard';

that is: by exercising forbearance and deferring the punishment of the wrongdoers, you grieve us who are being wronged.

Know that I have borne reproach for your sake. (16)

By those who reject your words.

for in conveying your words I became hateful to them.

Bring them to an end, and your word shall be to me for gladness and for joy of my heart, because your name is called upon me. Since they suppose that I foretell falsely, and give heed to the promises of the false prophets as if they were true, confirm my words by the deeds, and thereby comfort my soul.

Then he says that he shared with them neither table nor laughter, but esteemed the fear of God above all things;

and both on account of their wickedness and on account of the punishment, he continued in grief.

If you turn back, then I will also restore you; you shall stand before my face;

and if you bring forth the precious from the worthless, you shall be as my mouth.

Not small, he says, is the reward laid up for you by me, if you take up this labor;

for if you turn back any of those who go astray, you shall partake of great boldness before me.

For this is the meaning of 'you shall stand before my face.' And if you change any of the ungodly, and persuade them to choose the better course, you shall be likened to my mouth;

for I too by a word made the things that are, and you too by a word may transform the workers of wickedness into virtue.

And he promised him again invincibility and unconquerableness, and reminded him of the promises made from the beginning.

He charges him not to marry, nor to beget children, since both those who bear and those who are born would be given over to famine and pestilence, to slaughter and to slavery.

He exhorts him neither to rejoice with those who rejoice, nor to grieve with those who grieve.

For I have withdrawn, he says, my peace from this people, says the Lord, and my mercy, and my compassions. (6)

And great and small shall die in this land.

He says that they shall not even be deemed worthy of burial, nor shall the customary laments be made over them, nor shall the mourners be deemed worthy of any consolation;

and he threatens the city with the deprivation of every kind of gladness, so that not a single sound shall be raised—neither of weddings, nor of banquets, nor of the other things that make life pleasant to men.

And when they inquire, he says, and say:

I will cast you away from this land into a land which you did not know, neither you nor your fathers, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, who shall show you no mercy.

Since you love gods that have no existence, I will cast you out of the land of your fathers, and hand you over to your enemies, so that together with them you may be enslaved to error.

Yet He also promises their return.

In extolling God they will sing His praises, and they will no longer recount their deliverance from the bondage of the Egyptians, but all will marvel at the return from Babylon.

Behold, I will send many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall fish for them;

and after these things I will send many hunters, and they shall hunt them upon every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks.

By these words He has shown that the punishment is inescapable, namely, that the enemies, imitating fishermen and hunters, will net them all as with a seine, bringing under their power even those who try to hide themselves in the mountains.

For My eyes are upon all their ways; they were not hidden from My face, nor were their iniquities concealed from before My eyes.

I behold all things; nothing of what takes place escapes Me.

And I will first recompense to them double their iniquities and their lawless deeds, wherewith they have profaned My land with the carcasses of their abominations.

As one who loves mankind, He calls the punishment double the sins;

for according to the reckoning of what is just, they did not pay penalties worthy of their deeds.

And by 'the carcasses of the abominations' He means the slaughter of their sons and daughters, which they used to offer to the idols.

Having thus exposed the impiety of the people, He foretells the conversion of the nations.

O Lord, my strength and my help and my refuge in the day of evils;

unto Thee the nations shall come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, How false were the idols our fathers acquired, and there is no profit in them.

Those who had been deemed worthy of such great care, and had enjoyed the instruction both of the Law and of the prophets, persisted in impiety and in transgression;

but the nations, who had not enjoyed this providential care, and had merely heard the apostolic preaching, fled from error and drew near to the light of the knowledge of God.

And, calling to mind the former proverb, I cry out to Thee:

I foretell to them, He says, long beforehand the things that shall come to pass, and I teach them beforehand of My power, that through mean and few men I will accomplish their transformation.

Having thus foretold the conversion of the nations, He again arraigns the impiety of the Jews.

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with an adamantine point, engraved upon the breast of their heart and upon the horns of their altars.

Nothing is stronger than the conscience;

for the letters imprinted upon it are fixed and firm;

for even if all men should bear good witness to their conscience, the conscience of liars does not endure their wickedness, but is pricked and stung, and delivers an incorruptible verdict.

This too He says here, that both your deeds accuse you, and your conscience bears witness together against you.

He reminds them also of the groves and the altars, and of the error committed in them, and threatens to hand over all their wealth together with their idols to the enemies.

He foretells also the desolation of the city;

and after this He calls wretched, indeed thrice wretched, and subjects to curses the man who departs from God but puts his confidence in human power;

and He likens such a one to certain barren and worthless plants that grow in the wilderness and receive no care.