Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Zedekiah, besieged in Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, asks Jeremiah to pray to God for his and the city's deliverance: Jeremiah responds that the city with the king will be captured. Whence, in verse 8, he sets before them the way of life, urging them, namely, to surrender to the Chaldeans, and to duly administer justice to the poor and oppressed: and the way of death, if they resist the Chaldeans.
Vulgate Text: Jeremiah 21:1-14
1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashur the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying: 2. Inquire of the Lord for us, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us: perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, and he will withdraw from us. 3. And Jeremiah said to them: Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: 4. Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, and with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you around the walls: and I will gather them into the midst of this city. 5. And I Myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, and in fury, and in indignation, and in great wrath. 6. And I will strike the inhabitants of this city; both men and beasts shall die of a great pestilence. 7. And after this, says the Lord: I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and his people, and those who are left in this city from the pestilence, and the sword, and famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword, and shall not relent, nor spare, nor have mercy. 8. And to this people you shall say: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9. He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence: but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you shall live, and his life shall be to him like plunder. 10. For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 11. And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of the Lord. 12. O house of David, thus says the Lord: Judge with justice in the morning, and rescue the oppressed from the hand of the slanderer: lest My indignation go forth like fire, and burn, and there be no one to extinguish it, because of the evil of your deeds. 13. Behold, I am against you, O inhabitress of the solid valley and of the plain, says the Lord: you who say: Who shall strike us? And who shall enter our houses? 14. And I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your deeds, says the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in its forest: and it shall devour everything around it.
There is here a hysterologia, or inverted order: for here are narrated events under Zedekiah, while afterwards in chapter 24 and following are narrated events under Joakim and Jehoiachin, who reigned before Zedekiah. Again, the prophecy of this chapter was delivered long after the preced-
ing ones was delivered; for they were delivered long before the coming of the Chaldeans, but this one was delivered in their presence and while they were besieging the city. See the chronological table at the beginning of the book. This Pashur was the son of Malchiah: whence he is different from the Pashur son of Immer, who struck Jeremiah in chapter 20. So St. Jerome. But both were impious and unjust toward Jeremiah. For this one urged Zedekiah, in chapter 38, to kill Jeremiah.
Verse 2
2. INQUIRE. — The Hebrew דרש daras means to inquire, and also to ask or seek the Lord by beseeching and requesting help. So the Chaldean here, Vatablus, Theodoret, and it is clear from what follows that both meanings are taken here. Behold, here is fulfilled what God promised to Jeremiah, 15:19: "They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them:" for necessity compelled the impious Zedekiah to approach and seek help from Jeremiah.
ACCORDING TO ALL HIS WONDERFUL WORKS — by which He wondrously delivered His people from Pharaoh, Exodus 14, and from Sennacherib, 4 Kings 19, and from Holofernes, Judith 13. Here Zedekiah tacitly confesses that he cannot be delivered from the Chaldeans by his own or human strength, but only by the help and miracle of God.
AND WITHDRAW FROM US — not God, but Nebuchadnezzar.
Verse 4
4. I WILL TURN. — Theodoret says: I will render useless. More simply, "I will turn," that is, I will blunt your weapons, that is, I will prevent you from using them and from resisting the Chaldeans. So Isidore. Third, most simply Hugo, St. Thomas, Lyranus, Vatablus: "I will turn," that is, I will turn back, "the weapons," that is, the implements of war, against you, so that the Chaldeans, seeing you armed with them, may be more provoked to fight against you, and when the city is captured, as usually happens, may seize them from you, and gather them in the middle of the city, namely in the marketplace, the town hall, or the armory, and slay you with them. Fourth, Sanchez: "I will turn," he says, your weapons against yourselves, as if to say: I will cause factions among you, and you will destroy each other by mutual slaughter. But the following words indicate the third exposition. For it follows: "And the Chaldeans," namely I will turn and incite against you: "and I will gather them in the midst of the city:" "them," namely the "weapons
of war," that is, your weapons. Nor do we read that there were factious Zealots in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, but rather by the Romans.
Verse 5
5. AND I WILL FIGHT (fighting for the Chaldeans against you) WITH OUTSTRETCHED HAND — that is, a powerful one, which will continuously and rigidly extend itself to strike and slaughter you.
Verse 8
8. BEHOLD, I SET BEFORE YOU THE WAY OF LIFE AND THE WAY OF DEATH — as if to say: I give you the option of life and death, and I propose the plan and one means by which you can live; and another by which you will bring death upon yourselves; namely, if you wish to live, surrender to the Chaldean: if you resist by sustaining a siege in the city, you will perish by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. If therefore you perish, attribute it to your own guilt and disobedience, and do not accuse Me of cruelty. And so to remain in the city and be besieged was the way of death: but to flee to the enemy was the way of life, as if to say: Things will go so badly for you that you cannot be saved except through the enemy: that you cannot escape death except through captivity.
Tropologically, "the way of life" is the pursuit of virtue and the law of God: "the way of death" is sin and the transgression of the law and will of God. Let preachers often set both before the eyes of the people, so that since many are called and few are chosen, and since many enter the way of death, few the way of life: each person, loving his own salvation, may strive with the few to flee from the burning of Sodom, and as it were rescue and save his soul like plunder, so that through the way of life he may escape to a blessed and eternal life.
Second and more aptly: "the way of life" is to submit to the cross sent by God: "the way of death" is to resist and fight against it. Whence Christ says, Matthew chapter 16:24: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it: but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it." St. John says the same, chapter 12:25.
Verse 9
9. AND HIS LIFE SHALL BE TO HIM LIKE PLUNDER — he will rescue from death his soul, that is, his life, and will have it like plunder; because, just as plunder is someone else's, not one's own, for it is seized from the enemy: so the Jews in the siege will save their life, which was desperate, lost, and in the power of the enemy, and will as it were snatch it like plunder from the enemy, by surrendering to the enemy. Second, just as soldiers rejoice over plunder, as a reward that comes unexpectedly: so the Jews will rejoice over their life preserved beyond hope. So Vatablus and Maldonatus. Similarly also Capella: He will free his life, he says, and keep it whole, like plunder that one snatches from pillage and fire, and carefully guards. Isidore says otherwise: With his life safe, he says, he will live as a captive, and will be plunder for the enemy. Jeremiah repeats this phrase in chapter 38:2, and 39:18, and 45:5.
Verse 10
10. FOR I HAVE SET MY FACE AGAINST THIS CITY FOR EVIL — with a resolved and hostile mind and eyes I have looked upon Jerusalem, and have determined and firmly decreed to give it to the Chaldeans to be burned.
Verse 11
11. AND TO THE HOUSE OF THE KING — namely, you shall say. God commands the Prophet to turn his discourse from the people to the leaders.
Verse 12
12. HOUSE OF DAVID — that is, the house of the king: for the king was of the stock of David. He mentions David, because he wanted to exhort his descendants to judgment and justice, in which David excelled, as is clear from 2 Kings 8:15, as if to say: If you are sons of David, do the works of David.
IN THE MORNING — that is, promptly, vigilantly, diligently, and quickly settle the disputes and causes of the innocent. So Hugo and Lyranus. Second, Vatablus says, "in the morning," namely when you are fasting, lest through drunkenness, with your brain disturbed, you pervert judgment. Third, mystically St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo: "In the morning," they say, that is, in the light of justice, not in the darkness of falsehood. The first sense is the simplest.
Verse 13
13. BEHOLD, I AM AGAINST YOU, O INHABITRESS OF THE SOLID VALLEY. — For 'solid' the Hebrew is צור tsur, which Symmachus, says St. Jerome, translates as 'rock'; Theodotion, 'besieged'; Aquila's second edition, 'Tyre'; our translator, 'solid'; the Chaldean, 'valley of strength.' He therefore denotes Judea and especially Jerusalem, says St. Jerome, which, situated in a solid and strong valley like a rock, was fortified by Zion and other mountains and very great walls, like Tyre: so that it was at once both rock and valley. Second, because, as St. Jerome says, just as Tyre was surrounded by the sea, so Jerusalem when besieged was surrounded by the Babylonian army. Jerusalem is called flat because it had part of it on a plain and had plains nearby.
He addresses Jerusalem, that is, the citizens who guarded the fortifications of the city, as though it were impregnable, as if to say: Do not trust in a place fortified by nature: for I am the one who fights against you, and I will easily open a way for Myself: "for if you are exalted like an eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars, from there I will drag you down," as I threatened Edom, Obadiah verse 4.
Symbolically, Jeremiah, just like Isaiah in chapter 22:1, calls Jerusalem and Zion a valley, even though it is situated on a mountain; because he saw it so depressed and destroyed by sins and by the arms of the Chaldeans alike, that no trace appeared in it either of its ancient religion and holiness, or of its old height and glory, as if to say: O mountain, no longer noble and illustrious, but ignoble and a deep valley, which by your corrupt morals you have sunk yourself to the bottom of vileness and ignominy, and therefore have been cut down and overthrown by the Chaldeans to your very foundations. So Sanchez.
Verse 14
14. I WILL VISIT UPON YOU ACCORDING TO THE FRUIT OF YOUR DEEDS — as if to say: I will punish you according to your deserts; so that, whatever seeds of sins you have sown, such fruits of plagues you will also reap from them: you have sown the wind, you will reap the whirlwind: you have sown thorns, you will reap the thorns of destruction and fire.
I WILL KINDLE A FIRE IN ITS FOREST. — By forest, or wood, he calls the houses and streets of Jerusalem, says St. Jerome, partly because of the multitude and density of the houses and inhabitants, says Theodoret; partly because the gates and houses were constructed from the timber of the forest; partly because in it was the House of the Forest of Lebanon, built by Solomon. This sense is required by the question of the Jews: "Who shall enter our houses?" For to this God responds: I and the Chaldeans; and through them "I will kindle a fire in your forest." So in chapter 22:6, and elsewhere, he calls Jerusalem Lebanon. R. David and Jonathan understand by 'forest' the neighboring cities, which surrounded Jerusalem like a forest; as if explaining, he adds: "And it shall devour everything around it." He alludes to fire, which when set loose in a forest ranges through the whole of it, and is inextinguishable. We saw a similar phrase in chapter 5:14.
Sanchez says otherwise: The Jews, he says, had sacrificed in forests: and they had around the city groves and gardens for pleasure and delight. He therefore declares that both the forests and groves, defiled by sacrifices to idols, and the gardens planted for the relaxation of souls and furnished with every amenity (in which therefore they indulged in gluttony and lust) are to be ravaged by fire; so that neither in the city nor outside the city will anything be safe from the sword, or free from fire. Just so the pleasure gardens, which Belgian merchants and the wealthy had built for themselves around Antwerp, Brussels, Bruges, and other Belgian cities, so that they seemed to be earthly paradises — because of the luxury and sins committed in them, God in our own age, in these lament-
able times burned and destroyed them with fire in the Belgian tumults; so that Belgium, which once seemed to be the eye and delight of Europe, now seems to be a valley of tears, indeed a mass grave and place of funerals. But with the return of the ancestral faith and integrity of our fathers, the ancestral opulence, elegance, and prosperity will also gradually return.
Mystically, says St. Jerome, Jerusalem is called the forest of Lebanon because it did not have fruitful trees of good works: into this forest therefore God will cast fire, both of the Chaldeans and of eternal damnation; whence John the Baptist says: "Now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire."
Allegorically, says the same St. Jerome, whatever is prophesied concerning the royal house and the capital city, let us refer to the Ecclesiastical order and the leaders of the Churches — only those, however, who have given themselves over to pride, riches, and wantonness. Note the same, and apply it to the following chapter.