Commentary on Jeremiah (In Jeremiam)

The threat against the people being finished, the threat against the princes begins. And first the prophet's threat against the princes is set forth; second, the conspiracy of the princes against the prophet, below, chapter 26: in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. Concerning the first, two things. First he threatens against the princes of the Jewish people; second, against them and others, below, chapter 25: the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. The first into two. In the first he threatens against the princes established in the highest degree of dignity; in the second he threatens against all, below, chapter 23: woe to the shepherds who scatter and tear apart the flock. Concerning the first, two things. First he threatens against the highest in spiritual dignity, namely against the high priest; second, against the highest in temporal dignity, namely against the king, below, chapter 21: the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Concerning the first, two things. First the threat against the high priest is set forth; second, on account of the dangers that from this threatened the prophet, his complaint is set forth, there: you have deceived me, Lord. Concerning the first, two things. First the occasion of the threat is set forth, from the persecution of the prophet: where the reason for the persecution is given: prophesying these words, against the city: for this was the office of the high priest, namely, that he should correct those prophesying falsely. Below, 29: the Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, that you should be ruler in the house of the Lord over every man that is mad and that prophesies, that you should put him in the stocks and in prison, et cetera. The persecution of the prophet: and he struck (...) and put him in the stocks, in prison, a kind of torment for detaining captives, Benjamin, which led into the tribe of Benjamin; for the city was situated on the border of two tribes. The upper, because perhaps there were several gates leading into that land, in the house of the Lord: whence in that gate judgment was carried out concerning prophets and the ministers of the temple, and there they were shut up in prison. Lamentations 3: he has built round about me, that I may not go out, he has made my fetter heavy. And the deliverance of the prophet: and when it grew light on the following day, Pashur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Acts 4: and it came to pass on the following day, that their princes, and the elders, and the scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. Psalm 67: who leads forth the bound in strength. Second, the threat is set forth: and first the designation of the punishment is set forth by the change of name: and he said to him: he speaks after the manner of a fearful man, who looks about him on every side. Proverbs 10: fear to those who work evil. Second, the threat of punishment is set forth: for thus says the Lord: and first as regards his own friends: you, and all friends. Ps. 77: their priests fell by the sword. Second, as regards his subjects, setting forth the captivity of men: and all Judah. Lamentations 1: Judah has gone into exile because of affliction, and greatness of servitude; she has dwelt among the nations, and found no rest. And the plundering of goods: and I will give all the substance of this city. Isaiah 39: all that is in your house shall be taken away, and that which your fathers have laid up in store even to this day, into Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. Third, as regards his own household: but you, Pashur, and all the inhabitants of your house, shall go into captivity (...) and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely; promising prosperous things. Isaiah 22: the Lord will cast you like a ball into a land wide and spacious. There you shall die, et cetera. Amos 7: your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be measured out with a line; and you shall die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go into captivity out of his own land.

Here is set forth the prophet's complaint: and first he laments the office enjoined upon him, second the origin of his birth. Concerning the first, two things: first he laments the office enjoined upon him on account of the mockery that followed; second, on account of persecution, at the place, for I have heard the reproaches of many. Concerning the first, three things.

First, as if complaining, he makes known the manner of the injunction, "you have deceived"; that is, I received from your words an occasion of deception: for I believed that I would prophesy against the nations, and not against the Jews, from whom I suffer persecution. But he does not mean to impute the crime of deception to God, for that would be blasphemy. "You have prevailed," imposing the office upon me though I resisted, as above, 1. And this especially because he did not see the fruit of his preaching. Isaiah 49: I have labored in vain, without cause and in vain have I spent my strength.

Second, he sets forth the outcome of his preaching, setting forth the mockery: "I have become a derision" (...) all of them mock, wrinkling the nose, publishing abroad their derision. Lamentations 3: I have become a derision to all my people, their song all the day. And he assigns the reason, setting forth the word of his preaching, by which he openly rebuked their faults and threatened punishments: for now for a long time I have been crying out, proclaiming iniquity and devastation, which nevertheless has not yet come. Isaiah 16: to those who rejoice over the wall of baked brick, speak their wounds. And the resulting reproach: "and the word of the Lord has become to me a reproach," that is, a cause of reproach. Acts 26: Festus said to Paul: much learning has brought you to madness.

Third, he renounces the office enjoined upon him: "and I said." And first he casts off the office: "I will not remember," that is, I will no longer think to speak to the people. For he did not wish to scatter pearls before swine. Matthew 7: do not give what is holy to dogs. Second, he resumes the office he had cast off: "and it became as a fire"; for the more one abstains outwardly from words, the more he feels within the fervor of love. Psalm 38: my heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire shall burn. "In the bones," in the inmost parts of the mind, "I fainted," from my purpose, not enduring to bear the inward burning, "for I have heard the reproaches of many."

Here he complains of the office he had undertaken, from the fact that he was enduring persecutions. And first is set forth the persecution of his adversaries: and first he sets forth the multitude of those persecuting him, "of many," against whom resistance is not possible. "Persecute ye"; in which their conspiracy is noted. He also sets forth their familiarity: "from all the men who were at peace with me"; in which the imminent danger is noted. Obadiah: all the men of your covenant have deceived you, the men of your peace have prevailed against you.

Second, the prophet's comforting is set forth, setting forth the divine help: "but the Lord is with me," to defend me. Isaiah 50: the Lord God is my helper, and therefore I am not confounded. And his office: "and therefore they shall fall," because they persecute. Isaiah 40: the young shall faint and labor, and the youths shall fall by infirmity. "They shall be confounded," because they have spoken reproaches; "because they did not understand," that is, they were unwilling to understand, the reproach, of eternal damnation, or of future captivity. Psalm 39: let them be confounded, and let them fear who seek my soul to take it away.

Third, the petition is set forth: where he seeks to win goodwill, commending justice: "the tester," that is, the approver or examiner and discerner, "of knowledge," who sees the reins, as to the affections, and the hearts, as to the thoughts. Above, 17: I the Lord search the heart, and try the reins, who give to each according to his way, et cetera. He asks for vengeance: "let me see, I beseech you, my vengeance upon them"; he assigns the cause: "for to you have I revealed," not to one ignorant of this, but placing my whole cause in you. Above, 11: for to you have I revealed my cause.

Fourth, the giving of thanks is set forth, "sing to the Lord." Psalm 71: for he has delivered the poor from the mighty, the poor man who had no helper.

Here he laments the beginning of his birth. But an objection is raised against what is said here. For it belongs to the saints to glory in tribulations, as is said in Romans 5; therefore it seems that Jeremiah ought not to have burst out into cursing on account of his tribulations. Moreover, a day is a creature of God; but to curse a creature of God is a sin: therefore, etc. Moreover, a day is something transitory, and it is foolish to fit the penalty of a curse to it: therefore, etc. Moreover, no one ought to curse an innocent man; but that man, in that he did not kill Jeremiah, was innocent: therefore he sinned in cursing him.

To the first it must be said that tribulations, considered in themselves, are evil insofar as they are contrary to the good of nature, as Augustine says; and thus to abhor them with a natural hatred is not a sin. If, however, on their account reason were drawn away from its rectitude, this would be a sin. But considered insofar as they promote toward good, thus the saints glory in them, just as a sick man glories in the cutting by which he is healed. To the second it must be said, and to the third, that he does not curse the day considered in its own nature, because this would be foolish and a sin, but insofar as it is evil, that is, as something evil happened on it; just as, conversely, a feast day is kept on account of some good that happened on that day: and this is what that curse signifies. Gregory, however, looking to the nature of the day itself, says that it cannot be understood according to the letter. And likewise it must be said to the last, that he does not curse those men except insofar as they have a relation to their own act. Hence by this he gives one to understand his horror, speaking hyperbolically, and the weariness of his life on account of the anguishes which he was suffering.

Concerning this, then, he does two things. First he sets down a curse against the time of his birth: "Cursed be the day." Job 3: "Let the day perish in which it was said: a man is conceived." Against the messenger of his birth: "Cursed be the man who announced to my father, saying: A male child is born to you, and made him glad as it were with joy." Genesis 21: "The Lord has made joy for me, and whoever shall hear will laugh with me." And he explains the manner of the curse: "Let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew." Isaiah 25: "You have made the city into a tumult, the strong city into a ruin." And against the minister of life, that is, him who preserved it: "let him hear a cry" — namely, of death — "so that my mother might have been my grave," as though he had not been counted among men, an everlasting conception, one who, namely, would never have come to due birth. Job 3: "Why did I not die in the womb? Having come forth from the womb, why did I not perish at once?"

Secondly, the reason for the curse is set down: "why did I come forth from the womb?" Above, 15: "Woe is me, my mother, why have you borne me a man of strife, a man of discord, in all the earth?" 1 Maccabees 2: "Woe is me, why was I born to see the affliction of my people, and the affliction of the holy city, and to sit there when it is given into the hands of enemies?"

Note, on that word: "You have deceived me, Lord, and I have been deceived; you have been stronger than I, and you have prevailed" — because the Lord deceives by drawing through persuasions. 2 Corinthians, last chapter: "Being crafty, I caught you with guile." By alluring with consolations. Apocalypse 10: "When I had devoured it, my belly was made bitter." By strengthening with promises. Above, 4: "Have you then deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: Peace shall be to you? And behold, the sword has reached even to the soul." The Lord, moreover, prevails by correcting. Isaiah 8: "With his strong hand he instructed me, that I should not walk in the way of this people." By drawing back from harmful things. Hosea 2: "I will hedge your way with thorns, and I will hedge it with a wall." By binding with love. Hosea 11: "I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bonds of love."