Commentary on Jeremiah (In Jeremiam)

Here is set forth the universal threat against the princes of all nations: and it is divided into two parts. In the first the threat is set forth; in the second, the disclosure of the threat, at the place, "for thus says the Lord," etc. Concerning the first, two things. First he sets forth the title of the prophecy: "the word that came to Jeremiah," from which it is gathered that this prophecy precedes in time the vision that precedes it. Second, the prophecy of the threat is set forth, at the place, "from the thirteenth year of Josiah." And first he assigns the cause of the threat; second he threatens the punishment, at the place, "therefore thus says the Lord of hosts." Now he assigns the cause from disobedience, on account of which they themselves are numbered together with the other nations in punishment: which he aggravates from three considerations.

First on the part of the prophet himself preaching, because he was continuous in preaching: "from the thirteenth year of Josiah" — from which to the end of his life, and of his reign, since he reigned 31 years, there are 18 years; to which, adding the four years of Joakim, and the three months during which Joathan reigned, the year of Jeremiah's preaching in which these things were done is found to be 23. "Rising in the night," after the manner of one who is solicitous to complete some work. Proverbs 6: "Run about, hasten, stir up your friend," etc. Second, on the part of the one sending, who is found solicitous from the multitude of his messengers: "and the Lord sent" — above, 7: "I sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising at dawn, and sending: and they did not listen to me," etc. Now to designate the divine solicitude, he names the dawn, and he also names the night, because God shone in the darkness. These are those darknesses of which it is said, John 3, that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night; etc.

On the part of the admonition, which is honorable in itself, useful as to the pardon promised. Whence first he brings in the punishment for past evils, setting down the precept: "return, each one, from his evil way." Isaiah 55: "Let the impious man forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God; for he is abundant in forgiving." And the promise: "and you shall dwell in the land." Isaiah 1: "If you are willing, and hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land." Second, he enjoins a caution for future evils, setting down the precept: "do not go after strange gods," as to idolatry, "nor provoke me to wrath," as to sins of custom. Exodus 20: "You shall not have strange gods before me," etc. And the contempt of the precept: "and you did not listen." Deuteronomy 32: "They provoked me with that which was not God, and angered me with their vanities."

Here he threatens punishment: and first, the punishment which the Babylonians inflicted, describing the enemy: "behold, I will send, and I will take (...) as a servant," inasmuch as he was exercising the ministry of the divine will. Above, 6: "behold, a people comes from the land of the North, a great nation rises from the ends of the earth." And describing the imminent punishment as regards the slaying of men: "and I will slay them, and I will make them a horror, and a hissing, and everlasting solitudes." And that they will never be restored, but will be reduced, as it were, to the likeness of everlasting solitudes. Above, 19: "I will make this city a horror, and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be amazed, and will hiss over all its plagues." And as regards the cessation of human offices in matters of joy, "and I will destroy"; and in the comforts of life, "the sound of the millstone"; above, 16: "I will take away from this place, before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of gladness, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride." And describing also a harsher punishment: "and they will serve seventy years": for the kingdom of the Chaldeans lasted just that long. Isaiah 57: "I will not be angry forever, for the spirit shall go forth from my face," etc. Secondly, he sets down the punishment which the Chaldeans endured: "and when the seventy years are fulfilled." And first he sets down the threat, "I will visit." Apocalypse 13: "he who leads into captivity, shall go into captivity, and he who kills by the sword, must be killed by the sword." Secondly, the certainty of the threat: "and I will bring all that I have spoken against it." Isaiah 13, 21, 46 and 47: Jeremiah prophesied; below, 50 and 51: because they served; yet they themselves abused God's kindness unto pride. Thirdly, he shows the equity of the punishment: "and I will render to them." Psalm 27: "according to the works of their hands, give to them; render to them their recompense, for they have not understood the works of the Lord; and in the works of their hands you will destroy them, and you will not build them up."

Here is set forth the revelation of the aforesaid threat under an imaginary vision: and first he sets forth the vision; second he expounds it, at the words, "and you shall prophesy to them all these words." Concerning the first, two things. First he sends him to administer the drink; second those to whom it was being administered are invited to drink, at "and you shall say to them." Concerning the first, two things. First the Lord extends the cup according to what appeared to him in the imaginary vision: "take the cup of wine." It seemed to him that the Lord, with hand extended, was holding out the cup to him. By the wine is signified the divine indignation; by the cup, the power of the tyrants, through whom this indignation was to be poured out upon the nations. "You shall give to drink" — not as one inflicting punishment, but as one announcing it. Ps. 74: the cup is in the hand of the Lord, full of unmixed wine, mingled. Below, 51: Babylon is a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, inebriating the whole earth; of her wine the nations have drunk, and therefore they have been shaken.

Second he sets forth the effect of the drinking: "and they shall drink" — by enduring affliction; "they shall be troubled" — inwardly, by fear and grief; "they shall rave" — outwardly, by fighting with one another after the manner of drunkards. Isa. 24: the drink will be bitter to those who drink it.

Third the prophet carries out the office enjoined upon him, "and I took." And first he gives it to drink to the Jews, "Jerusalem." Ezech. 9: begin from my sanctuary. 1 Pet. 4: it is time that judgment begin at the house of God. Second, to the friendly foreign nations, beginning from the Egyptians, in whom they trusted: "to Pharaoh (...) of Ausitis," which by another name is called the land of Hus, on the border of Idumea and Arabia: "and to the remnant" — this he says with reference to Geth, which is the fifth city of the Philistines: "and to all the kingdoms." Isa. 14: this is the counsel that I have devised concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.

Third, to the Babylonians themselves: "and the king of Sesach," that is, of Babylon, which in Hebrew is called Babel. Whence, to conceal the name, he transposed the vowels, and changed the consonants joined to them, according to the custom of the Hebrews, who teach children to say the first letter together with the last, going backward, and the second with the second-to-last, and so on in sequence. Whence for the double Beth, which is the second letter among the Hebrews, he put Sin, twice, which is the second-to-last; and for Lamed he put Caph, which, according to the first reckoning, is joined to it. 1 Cor. 15: last of all, the enemy death shall be destroyed.

Here he is invited to drink; and concerning this there are three things. First, the invitation is set down: "drink" — by enduring punishments; "be inebriated" — from abundance, as though losing the use of reason, so that you do not know what you are doing; "vomit" — lose your riches; "fall" — into death and captivity. And he speaks after the likeness of a drunkard. Job 20: "the riches which he devoured he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly." Isai. 29: "be astonished, and wonder; waver, and stagger; be inebriated, and not with wine; be moved, and not with drunkenness, et cetera." Secondly, the compulsion is set down: "and when they are unwilling (...) drinking you shall drink" — that is, whether you will or not. Apoc. 14: "if any man shall adore the beast, and his image, and shall receive his character in his forehead, or in his hand, he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed with pure wine in the cup of his wrath." Thirdly, the reason for the compulsion is assigned: first, from example, "for behold, in the city" — namely, Jerusalem. 1 Petr. 4: "but if first from us, what shall be the end of them that believe not the gospel of God?" Below, 49: "behold, they to whom there was no judgment to drink the cup shall certainly drink; and shall you be left as though innocent? You shall not be innocent, but drinking you shall drink." Secondly, from the Lord's edict. "The sword" — which is the same as the drink. Ezech. 21: "I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will kill in you the just and the wicked."

Here is set out the exposition of the vision: and first against the nations, second against the princes of the nations, at the place, "Howl, shepherds." Concerning the first, two things. First he sets out the threat, setting forth the divine indignation: "the Lord will roar from on high," that is, from the height of his judgment, terribly, like an angry lion. Amos 3: "the lion will roar: who will not fear?" The universality of the punishment: "upon the beauty," that is, the temple; as if to say: it will begin from the temple, and his wrath will proceed into all the earth. "A shout as of those treading": the song of the grape-gatherers, by which is signified the joy of the victors in the depopulation of lands; who are signified by the treaders, because they pour out human blood, just as those pour out the blood of the grape. Whence Isa. 63: "I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the nations there is no man with me. I have trodden them in my fury, and trampled them in my wrath: and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment." Below 48: "the treader of the grape will by no means sing the accustomed shout." And he sets out the equity of the punishment, setting forth the judgment: "the judgment of the Lord with the nations." Mich. 6: "the judgment of the Lord is with his people, and he will be judged with Israel." And the manner of the judgment: "I have given over the wicked." Isa. 1: "for if you provoke me to wrath, the sword will devour you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Second, he sets out the process and order of the punishment: "thus says the Lord." And first he sets out the process of the punishment: "behold, it will go forth"; because one nation will attack another, and it itself will be attacked by another, and so on in succession; "from the heights," from the most powerful, as the Chaldeans, the Greeks, etc. Eccli. 10: "the kingdom is transferred from nation to nation because of injustices and injuries, and insults, and various deceits." Below 30: "behold the whirlwind of the Lord, fury going forth, a storm rushing, will come to rest upon the head of the wicked." Second, he sets out the effect of the tribulation, because they will be deprived of life: "and the slain of the Lord will be," that is, by the Lord. Above 12: "the sword of the Lord will devour from one end of the earth even to the other end of it." And they will lack burial: "they will not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried." Above 16, the same.

Here he threatens against the princes of the nations; and first, as to the persons, foretelling the punishment, "Howl," as though unable to express their grief in words, but by the raising of the voice. Isa. 34: "the sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with fat, with the blood of lambs and of goats, and with the blood of the marrowy rams," etc. "The nobles," who are the rich and the princes among the people. And he shuts out the way of safety: "and flight shall perish." Thren. 1: "they have gone away without strength before the face of the one pursuing." Secondly, as to the subject lands, "a voice of a cry." And first he sets forth, by a likeness, the devastation of the cities: "for the Lord has laid waste their pastures" - that is, their cities and villages, keeping the metaphor of the flock - "they have grown silent"; as if he were to say: they have been reduced to nothing, so that no word is made of them - "the fields of peace," which in time of peace were splendid. Joel 1: "fire has devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness, and flame has burned up all the trees of the land." And as to the destruction of the temple: "he has forsaken his covert" - the temple, namely - God, like a lion, while he was guarding it, no one dared to approach. Above, 12: "I have left my house." Secondly he sets forth the explanation: "for their land has been made a desolation before the face of the wrath of the dove," namely of God, who punishes without disturbance. Or, Jerusalem, which is enraged over the loss of God. Or, Nebuchadnezzar, on account of the folly of pride. Hosea 7: "Ephraim is like a dove seduced, having no heart." Or because he had a dove among his fields. Or because, like one that is tame, he carried out the command of the Lord. Or by antiphrasis, because he was cruel.