Commentary on Jeremiah (In Jeremiam)

Here is set forth the threat against the kings, according as they are punished in their own person: and concerning this he does three things.

For first is set forth the command to announce, and he designates the place of preaching, "Go down": because the temple, where the prophet stood to pray, was situated in a higher place. Acts 10: "Go down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them." Secondly he gives the counsel of salvation, asking for a hearing, "Hear." Psalm 2: "And now, O kings, understand; be instructed, you that judge the earth." Setting forth the counsel that he should do good, keeping justice: "Thus says the Lord: Execute judgment" — the execution of justice, which properly belongs to a king and to a judge. Wisdom 1: "Love justice, you that judge the earth." And by hindering calumny: "and deliver him that is oppressed by violence." Psalm 81: "Rescue the poor, and deliver the needy out of the hand of the sinner." And that he should avoid evil as regards the unjust taking away of things: "and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, do not grieve." Exodus 22: "You shall not grieve the stranger; neither shall you afflict him." And as regards the killing of the innocent: "and shed not innocent blood." Exodus 23: "You shall not kill the innocent and the just, for I oppose the wicked." And he sets forth the fruit of the counsel, proposing a reward to those who keep it: "For if you will indeed do this thing, there shall enter in by the gates of this house kings of the race of David." Above, chapter 17, the same. And a punishment for those who despise it: "But if you will not hear these words, I have sworn by myself, that I have no one greater." Hebrews 6: "For God, making a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom he might swear, swore by himself." "Into a wilderness." Isaiah 1: "It shall be made desolate as with a hostile devastation." "House" — the palace, or the temple.

Thirdly he foretells the imminent danger: and first against the royal city, touching its glory: "for thus says the Lord concerning the house," namely Jerusalem: "you are to me a head" — that is, you were to me a head in the whole kingdom, just as Galaad is a head in the plain which is on the summit of Libanus, where Laban found Jacob, Genesis 31. Psalm 86: "The Lord loves the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob." He foretells the future punishment, setting forth the infliction of the punishment as regards the desolation of cities: "If I set not" — as if to say, let it not be believed of me — "cities" — subject to you. Joel 2: "The land is like a garden of pleasure before him, and behind him a desolate wilderness." And as regards the killing of men, setting forth the one who kills: "and I will sanctify" — as if to say: I will appoint them to fulfill my command. Likewise Isaiah 13: "I have commanded my sanctified ones, and I will call my mighty ones in my wrath, etc." And the killing: "and they shall cut down the cedars" — that is, the greater ones of the people, so that the metaphor be preserved. Zechariah 11: "Open the gates, O Libanus, and fire shall devour your cedars; howl, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the mighty are laid waste." Setting forth also the astonishment at the punishment inflicted: "and the nations shall pass through" — where he sets forth the question of those who are astonished: "Why has the Lord done thus to this city?" And the answer of those who hear: "and they shall answer." Deuteronomy 29: "And all the nations shall say: Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What is the immense wrath of his fury?" And they shall answer: "Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord which he made with their fathers, etc."

Secondly is set forth the threat against the royal stock: and first against Joakim the son of Josiah, at "for thus says the Lord"; secondly against Joatham the son of Josiah, at "woe to him who builds his house in injustice"; thirdly against Jeconiah the son of Joakim, at "as I live, says the Lord." And concerning these it is found in 4 Kings 24.

Concerning the first, two things. First the threat is set forth; where he forbids mourning for Josiah slain: "Weep not for the dead," namely Josiah. Ecclesiasticus 22: "Weep a little for the dead, for he is at rest." And he enjoins lamentation for Joatham, taken captive by Pharaoh: "lament for him." Job 20: "The eye that had seen him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him." Now weeping is said with the shedding of tears; mourning adds a certain solemnity; but lamentation further adds complaint through words.

Secondly is set forth the confirmation of the threat through the divine sentence: "for thus says the Lord to Sellum" — Joakim; for all the sons of Josiah were called Sellum, that is, "consummation," because in them the kingdom came to an end. Isaiah 22: "The Lord will toss you like a ball into a large and spacious land." And according to this, the whole prophecy of this chapter was made in the times of Joakim; and he speaks of the captivity of Joatham as past, and foretells the captivity of the others as future. But Jerome holds that what has been said should be expounded of Sedecias, and that up to this point the prophecy was made in the times of Sedecias from the beginning of the second chapter, and thereafter concerning Joakim.

Here a threat is set forth against Joakim.

First he charges the fault of unjust building, setting forth the unjust edifice: "Woe to him who builds" — namely Joakim, son of Josiah — "upper rooms," "chambers," and properly those to which one goes up by stairs or steps, called coenacula from dining. Ecclesiasticus 21: "He who builds his house with the expense of another is like one who gathers his stones in winter." "He will oppress his friend to no purpose" — namely by seeking help for the building. Leviticus 19: "Let not the wages of your hired servant remain with you until morning." Setting forth also the ornamentation of the building: "who says: I will build myself a wide house (...) paneled ceilings," which follow upon raised chambers into a sun-terrace for the sake of viewing, with sinopia, a red color named after Sinope, a city of the Persians.

Second, he excludes the false confidence by which he was promising himself prosperity — such as his father Josiah had had — setting forth a foolish comparison: "Shall you reign, because you compare yourself to cedar?" To your father. Psalm 36: "I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon." And he shows the difference between them, setting forth the justice of the father: "your father ate"; and yet, on account of his abundance, he did not abandon justice; and therefore things went well for him. Job 19: "and when I sat as a king, standing round about, yet I was a comforter of mourners." And setting forth the injustice of the son: "but your eyes" — as to knowledge — "and heart" — as to the affection of the heart — "unto covetousness" — as to the unjust taking away of things — "calumny" — a false imputation of a crime, so that by that occasion he might oppress — "unto the course of evil" — as if to say: what you had conceived in your heart, you carried out in deed. Genesis 6: "every thought of the human heart is bent upon evil at all times."

Third, he threatens punishment: "Because of this the Lord says."

And first, as to the king himself, by the privation of mourning: "they shall not lament" — his kinsmen — "nor shall they cry out together" — his subjects joining together in accord. Above, 16: "they shall not be lamented, and they shall not be buried: they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth." And by the privation of burial: "with the burial of an ass they are buried": because he was cast out to be devoured by beasts. Isaiah 14: "All the kings of the nations, all of them have slept in glory, every one in his own house; but you are cast out of your grave, like a useless branch, polluted, and wrapped up with them that are slain by the sword, and that go down to the bottom of the pit."

But concerning this Joakim, different things are found in different places. For in 4 Kings 24 it is said that the Lord sent bands of robbers of the neighboring nations against him, who slew him; and he slept with his fathers. But in 2 Paralipomenon 36, it is said that the king of Babylon went up against him, and led him into Babylon as a captive. But Josephus says that when Nebuchadnezzar, or Nebuzaradan, had entered the city, he broke the covenant, and killed many young men, among whom was also Joakim. But here it is said that he was left unburied. And therefore, to reconcile all of these, it must be known that this Joakim was put in the place of his brother Joatham by Pharaoh, and reigned afterward together with the king of Egypt. At length, in the eighth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar came against him, and he surrendered himself to him. And he became his tributary for two years. But in the tenth year he rebelled. Whereupon Nebuchadnezzar came against him, and was leading him captive into Babylon: but he made a covenant with him along the way, and he returned to Jerusalem. But Nebuzaradan, having gathered together the bands of robbers of the neighboring nations, entered Jerusalem, and breaking the covenant, killed him: and when he had been buried in the royal tombs by the people of the land, Nebuzaradan, indignant, had him dug up, and cast out to be devoured by beasts.

Second, against his princes, setting forth their destruction: "Go up to Lebanon" — the mountain of the temple — "in Bashan" — which lies beneath the mountain of Jerusalem. Isaiah 40: "Get up upon a high mountain, you that bring good tidings to Zion." "Lovers" — princes and defenders. Setting forth also the reason for this, from disobedience: "I spoke to you in your abundance," that is, when you abounded in the goods given by me. Above, 6: "Hear the sound of the trumpet." And they said, "We will not hear." And from an ancient custom: "This is the way" — namely, disobedience — "from youth" — namely, from the time when she went out of Egypt. Isaiah 48: "I called you a transgressor from the womb." Above, 2: "Of old you broke my yoke, you burst my bonds, and you said: I will not serve." And he sets forth the manner and order of their destruction: "all your shepherds" — that is, the princes — "the wind shall feed" — of dispersion into captivity — "lovers" — the Egyptians. Hosea 12: "Ephraim feeds on the wind, and follows the heat."

Third, he threatens confusion against the royal city itself: "and then you shall be confounded (...) you who sit in Lebanon" — by which pride is signified. Romans 6: "What fruit therefore had you then in those things of which you are now ashamed?" And sorrow: "How you have groaned when pains have come upon you, like the pains of a woman in travail?" The past for the future. Psalm 47: "There, pains as of a woman in travail."

Here the threat against Jechonias is set forth: and first he threatens captivity; second, barrenness, at the place, "earth, earth, earth." Concerning the first, two things. First the threat of captivity is set forth, because he threatens the loss of dignity, and the withdrawal of divine help: if Jechonias, son of Joakim, king of Judah, should be a ring upon the hand — however much in a walled place — so that, though he be king of my people, I will pluck him off, depriving him of his own dignity, and of my help. Apocalypse 2: I will remove your candlestick from its place, unless you shall do penance. He also threatens servitude to enemies: "and I will give you." Lamentations 1: The Lord has given me into a hand from which I shall not be able to escape. He also threatens captivity: "and I will send." Baruch 3: What is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your enemies? You have grown old in a foreign land. Second, the wonder of the threat is set forth: "Is this man Jechonias a vessel of clay, and broken?" As if to say: having no solidity of virtue or of power, nor of delight, since the Lord does not delight in him. Ecclesiasticus 21: The heart of a fool is like a broken vessel, and shall hold no wisdom.

Here he threatens sterility, which will not even hold the fruit of present prosperity: earth, earth, earth, as if he were to say: since men do not hear, let at least insensible things obey. Or it is a metonymy, the container for the thing contained. And he says it for greater emphasis; or on account of the three parts of the earth. Deut. 32: let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Write — as it were a sentence, which is committed to writing, so that it may be preserved in memory. Above, 17: the sin of Judah is written with a stylus of iron, with a point of adamant. Sterile, because in mind he will not conceive those things that would be useful to him. He shall not prosper, in his works. He will also be sterile, as to the fruit of succession in royal dignity. For there will not be a man who is a mere man: for Christ was of his seed; but he was God and man, Matth. 1. Nor was he a king in that manner of reigning, but he reigns eternally at the right hand of God the Father. Let him have power — as it were royal. Because Zorobabel, his grandson, was not king of the people. Below, 36: there shall not be of him one that shall sit upon the throne of David, etc. Note, on that verse, weep not for the dead, that one ought not to weep much over the dead, on account of the uselessness of lamentation. Ecclus. 38: give not up thy heart to sadness, but drive it away from thee. On account of the commonality of death. 2 Kings 14: we all die, and like waters we slip away into the earth, which do not return. On account of immunity from fault. Wisdom 4: he was taken away lest malice should change his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. On account of rest from labor. Apocalypse 14: from henceforth now, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors. On account of the attainment of glory. 2 Corinth. 5: for we know that if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, that we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. Likewise, on that verse, the wind shall feed all thy pastors, note that the wind of elation sometimes feeds the pastors of the Church. Isa. 57: the wind shall take them all away, the breeze shall carry them off. The wind of excessive expectation. Ecclus. 34: as one who catches at a shadow, and pursues the wind, so also is he who gives heed to lying visions. The wind of captivity. Ezech. 5: a third part thou shalt scatter into the wind, and shalt draw out a sword after them. And of future damnation. Above, 18: like a burning wind will I scatter them before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.