Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Jeremiah writes to the Jews deported to Babylon with king Jeconiah, to build houses, since they will remain there for 70 years, and not to believe the two false prophets Zedekiah and Ahab (whom, because they were adulterers, he predicts will be roasted in fire by Nebuchadnezzar), who promised the contrary, verse 21. Hence Shemaiah, a third false prophet among the Jews held captive in Babylon, writes back to Jerusalem, verse 25, to have Jeremiah seized, against whom Jeremiah threatens destruction, last verse.
Vulgate Text: Jeremiah 29:1-15
1. And these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile; and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 2. After Jeconiah the king had departed, and the queen, and the eunuchs, and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem: 3. by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan, and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in Babylon, saying: 4. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5. Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and give your sons wives, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters: and multiply there, and do not be few in number. 7. And seek the peace of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away: and pray for it to the Lord: for in its peace shall be your peace. 8. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets who are among you, and your diviners, deceive you: and do not attend to the dreams which you dream. 9. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; and I did not send them, says the Lord. 10. For thus says the Lord: When seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you; and I will raise up over you My good word, to bring you back to this place. 11. For I know the thoughts that I think concerning you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of affliction, to give you an end and patience. 12. And you shall call upon Me, and you shall go: and you shall pray to Me, and I will hear you. 13. You shall seek Me and find Me: when you shall seek Me with all your heart. 14. And I will be found by you, says the Lord: and I will bring back your captivity, and I will gather you from all nations and from all places to which I have driven you, says the Lord: and I will cause you to return from the place to which I caused you to be carried away. 15. Because you have said: The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon.
Verse 16
16. For thus says the Lord to the king who sits upon the throne of David, and to all the people who inhabit this city, to your brothers who did not go forth with you into exile. 17. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword and famine and pestilence: and I will make them like bad figs that cannot be eaten because they are so rotten. 18. And I will pursue them with the sword and with famine and with pestilence: and I will give them over to be a vexation to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them: 19. because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising early and sending: and you have not listened, says the Lord. 20. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to Ahab son of Kolaiah, and to Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy to you in My name falsely: Behold, I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them before your eyes. 22. And from them shall be taken a curse by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying: May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in fire: 23. because they have done folly in Israel and committed adultery with the wives of their friends, and have spoken a word in My name falsely which I did not command them: I am the judge and the witness, says the Lord. 24. And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall say: 25. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying: 26. The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, that you should be ruler in the house of the Lord over every madman and prophet, to put him in the stocks and in prison. 27. And now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you? 28. For on this account he has sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is long: build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruits. 29. So Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. 30. And the word of the Lord came
Verse 1
1. THE WORDS OF THE LETTER — that is, the words of the epistle. For the Hebrew ספר (sepher) signifies a book, a letter, a catalog, and any narration: for the root ספר (supher) means to narrate, to recount. Thus in Matthew 1:1, it is said, "the book (that is, the catalog) of the generation of Jesus Christ." Similar is the usage here in verse 25.
Verse 2
2. TO THE REMNANTS — of the Jews who had been deported to Babylon, both with Jeconiah (or Jechoniah), as St. Jerome, Rabanus, and Hugo hold, and earlier with Joakim, in his fourth year; for these had already been in captivity for eight years, and in their weariness were longing for a return to Judea. For this letter was written by Jeremiah in the first year of Zedekiah.
THE QUEEN — namely the queen mother of Jeconiah: for she was led to Babylon together with her royal son. So Lyranus, Hugo, and Vatablus.
EUNUCHS — that is, courtiers: for since the courtiers who were placed in charge of the women's quarters were castrated lest they be suspected of unfaithfulness in their continence, and were made eunuchs, and were then intimate with the king and queen; hence "eunuch" signifies every courtier or one familiar with the king: for otherwise eunuchs could not exist among the Jews, according to the law of Deuteronomy 23:1.
SMITHS — jewelers. See what was said at chapter 24, verse 1.
Verse 3
3. BY THE HAND OF ELASAH — through Elasah. Note: King Zedekiah, seeing that Hananiah the false prophet, who had promised the Jews immunity from the Chaldeans and all prosperity, had been punished with death, was seized with fear and began to believe Jeremiah, and therefore according to his advice sent these ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar, to bring him tribute and to renew peace and a treaty with him, and to promise that the Jews would be his subjects and tributaries. So Hugo, Lyranus, and St. Thomas. Through these same ambassadors, therefore, Jeremiah likewise sent this letter, saying, that is, writing or announcing to the captive people this prophecy of his.
Verse 5
5. BUILD — that is, you will be in Babylon for a long time; therefore build houses there, plant gardens, establish families, as if you were to be permanent citizens there, and not sojourners about to return shortly to your homeland.
Verse 10
10. WHEN SEVENTY YEARS SHALL BEGIN TO BE ACCOMPLISHED IN BABYLON (in the kingdom of the Babylonians: hence in Hebrew it is "Babyloni," that is, as to their dominion over the Jews) — that is, you shall not return from Babylon before 70 years. For these are the 70 years of empire, or rather of the Babylonian captivity.
You will ask, where do these years begin and where do they end? It is certain among all that they end and terminate in year 1 of Cyrus, as is evident from 2 Chronicles 36:22. But where they begin is a great controversy: there are four probable opinions.
First, some begin them from year 13 of Josiah king of Judah: for in this year Nineveh appears to have been overthrown, and the monarchy transferred from the Assyrians to the Medes and Babylonians through Cyaxares and Nebuchadnezzar the elder, as I said from St. Jerome and Eusebius on Jeremiah 1:2. Given this, this opinion is proved: first, because these 70 years seem to have been given to the Chaldean monarchy; but that monarchy began immediately when the Assyrian monarchy was overthrown; and this was overthrown in year 13 of Josiah, as I said: therefore these 70 years are to be begun from there.
Second, because St. Augustine, St. Jerome, Isidore, Theodoret, Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria, and others whom Pererius cites on Daniel chapter 9, verse 2, count only 30 years from the 11th year of Zedekiah to the 1st of Cyrus; and thus the desolation of the Jews and the Babylonian captivity properly lasted only 30 years: but from year 13 of Josiah to the 11th year of Zedekiah, only 40 years elapsed; therefore only 70 years intervene from year 13 of Josiah to year 1 of Cyrus (for if you join 30 and 40, you will have 70): since therefore it is established that these 70 years end in year 1 of Cyrus, it follows that they are to be begun in year 13 of Josiah.
Third, because Daniel (as I said on Daniel 5:1) teaches that Nebuchadnezzar the Great was the father of Belshazzar, the last king of the Chaldeans, not his grandfather: but nearly all agree that these two did not reign together for 70 years: therefore these 70 years are to be begun not from Nebuchadnezzar the Great, but from his father, who began to reign in year 13 of Josiah. Thus these 70 years seem to be computed as follows: Nebuchadnezzar the Great began to reign in year 3 of Joakim, and reigned 45 years: then Belshazzar reigned three years, which joined to 45 make 48 years: to these add the 22 years of Nebuchadnezzar the elder, which remain from year 3 of Joakim going back to year 13 of Josiah, and you will have these 70 years of captivity.
Fourth, because Jeremiah in this year 13 of Josiah began to prophesy, and he saw the scepter of the Assyrians, and after it all other kingdoms crushed by the rod and scepter of the Chaldeans, as I said on chapter 1, verse 12; whence he threatens this rod throughout this entire book against the Jews and all nations, and describes its force, strength, and duration, namely that it will last 70 years, from year 13 of Josiah to year 1 of Cyrus.
But against this opinion there are objections: first, that Jeremiah always reckons these years from Joakim or from Jeconiah, not from Josiah, as is evident from chapter 25, verses 1 and 11; chapter 27, verses 1 and 7; chapter 29, verses 1 and 10. Second, that these years are commonly called by Jeremiah, Zechariah, and the interpreters the years of desolation and captivity of the Jews: but according to the opinion just reviewed, the servitude of the Jews lasted not 70 but only 30 years: therefore this opinion does not agree with the sense of Scripture and the interpreters, which is that the Jews were captive not for 30 but for 70 years. Third, because in year 13 of Josiah, neither the Jews nor their neighbors served the Chaldeans, which is nevertheless said of these 70 years in chapter 25, verse 11.
Second, Lactantius, Sulpicius Severus, Bede, Abulensis, Lyranus, and from them Pererius on Daniel chapter 9, begin these 70 years from the 11th year of Zedekiah: for then Jerusalem was completely overthrown together with the temple, and all the people were carried away. But it is difficult to find and compute 70 years from year 11 of Zedekiah to year 1 of Cyrus, or from year 48 of Nebuchadnezzar (for this coincides with year 11 of Zedekiah and the destruction of Jerusalem) to the last year of Belshazzar. Second, Daniel and many others who were men in the time of Zedekiah prolonged their lives until the time of the release from captivity, indeed until the restoration of the temple, which was done under Darius Hystaspes, as is evident from Haggai 2:4. Now if the captivity lasted 70 years, it follows that they lived an exceedingly long time and far surpassed the hundredth year: who would believe this?
Third, the Hebrews, Eusebius, Theodoret, Clement of Alexandria, and Berosus, whom Ribera and Castro follow, begin these 70 years from the 4th year of Joakim, which was year 1 of Nebuchadnezzar, when he subdued the Phoenicians and Jews and carried away Joakim together with Daniel and other Jews. This is proved: first, because in chapter 25, verse 1, Jeremiah records this year as seemingly the beginning of these 70 years. Second, because in chapter 27, verse 7, it says that "all nations shall serve him," namely Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned 44 years, "and his son," namely Evil-Merodach, who reigned 23 years, "and his son's son," namely Belshazzar, who reigned three years: which years joined together make 70. Against this opinion there are objections, both others and especially the fact that in this 4th year of Joakim, there seems to have been a small or even no public and general captivity of the Jews, as R. Saadias, Maldonatus, and others hold. For only Daniel and a few others were carried off with Joakim, who seem to have soon been brought back: for Joakim was soon restored to his kingdom. Hence Jeremiah expressly, in chapter 52, verse 28, records the first captivity of the Jews not in the third but in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, which was the eleventh and last year of Joakim.
Fourth therefore, others very probably judge that these 70 years are to be begun from the deportation of Jeconiah (or Jechoniah), or from the defeat and death of Joakim, which occurred in the 11th year of his reign; for this disaster and captivity under Joakim and that under Jeconiah are reckoned as one and the same. For only three months intervened between the two. This opinion is proved: First, because the first notable devastation, the common captivity, was this one in the time of Joakim and Jeconiah, as I showed just above, and this is evident from 2 Kings 24:12. Second, because Jeremiah in this chapter, after the deportation of Jeconiah, says in verse 10: "When seventy years shall have been accomplished in Babylon"; therefore from that event they seem to be begun. Third, because from this deportation of Jeconiah, as from a common era of the captivity and of that age, Ezekiel numbers and records his prophecies, chapter 1, verse 2, and thereafter. Fourth, because St. Matthew, chapter 1, verse 11, calls this captivity the "transmigration to Babylon": because Jeconiah voluntarily surrendered to the Chaldeans and was not carried off by force, but willingly migrated to Babylon. Fifth, because these 70 years were ordained not properly and directly for the empire of Babylon, but for the captivity of the Jews, as is evident from this passage and from chapter 25, verses 8 and 11. Hence Daniel, chapter 9, verse 2, and Zechariah, chapter 1, verse 12, call these 70 years of servitude and desolation of Jerusalem, and this in punishment of its sins: because from year 13 of Josiah to year 11 of Joakim, it refused to listen to the Prophets, especially Jeremiah preaching for 31 years; hence Jeremiah threatens it with punishment and penance of 70 years in Babylon as the penalty for such obstinacy, so that the time of punishment would be double (and more) the time of guilt. Now the desolation of the Jews began in this 11th year of Joakim: therefore from there these 70 years are to be begun; and from there you will easily compute them thus: the 11th year of Joakim was the 8th of Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned 44 years: from his year 8 to 44, you have 36 years of captivity; to these add the 34 years of Evil-Merodach and Belshazzar, and you will have 70 years of captivity, as I said on Daniel 5:1. Therefore many modern chronologists judge this opinion to be very probable: hence I proposed it in the chronological table which I exhibited at the beginning of the Pentateuch.
You will say: In the 4th year of Joakim it is said in chapter 25, verses 1 and 14, that "all these nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years": therefore from the 4th year of Joakim these years are to be begun. I respond by denying the consequence: for the prophecy is not about the present time but the future. Jeremiah therefore predicts there, at the beginning of the 4th year of Joakim, that after eight years, namely in the 11th year of Joakim, the Jews and other nations will begin to serve the Chaldeans for 70 years. For it is certain that the Ammonites, Moabites, Coele-Syrians, Egyptians, and other nations that were subdued by the Chaldeans after the final devastation of Jerusalem, according to Josephus, Book 10, Antiquities, chapter 11, did not serve them for 70 years. See what was said at chapter 25, verse 11, and chapter 27, verse 7. Whether these 70 years of servitude are the same as the 70 years of desolation mentioned in Zechariah chapter 1, verse 12, I will discuss there.
Tropologically: For so long, says St. Jerome, we dwell in Babel, that is, in the confusion of this age, until through patience and penance we deserve to receive the rest of the number seven. Again, as the Psalmist says, Psalm 89: "The days of our years
Cf. the annotation on verse 11 of chapter 25 of Jeremiah.
in them are seventy years": these therefore are the 70 years of life, as well as of our exile and captivity, which when they have been completed, then we shall return to the Lord, and shall receive our heavenly homeland as the end of our labor and patience.
For this reason God appointed for the Jews in captivity a period of 70 years, which is the measure of human life, so that most of those who had grown old in their vices would die there, and therefore He commands them to build houses there: and after them a new generation of children would grow up, which, instructed by the punishments of their fathers, would be wise, and which God would form for Himself through Ezra and other teachers as disciples and followers as they returned to Jerusalem: for few of the elders who survived 70 years returned to Judea with Ezra. For, as Macrobius says, Book 1 on the Dream of Scipio, chapter 6: "Seventy years is believed by natural philosophers to be the limit of living, and this is determined as the perfect span of human life; whoever exceeds it, being freed from all duty, devotes himself solely to wisdom and study." Prudent prelates do the same when they wish to restore collapsed discipline in a monastery or other congregation: namely, they allow the old men, set in their habits and incorrigible, to die off, or they transfer them elsewhere: and in their place they receive novices—young men of good character and spirit—whom they bend and form like tender plants to the norm of religious life.
I WILL RAISE UP OVER YOU MY GOOD WORD — that is, I will cause to stand, I will bring about and fulfill My joyful promise which I promised you in chapter 25, verse 12, namely that after 70 years I will bring you back from Babylon to Judea.
Verse 11
11. PATIENCE — that is, constancy and endurance in bearing the hardships of exile and captivity: so St. Jerome and St. Thomas. Second, Sanchez says: God gives "patience" when He provides alleviations of pain and hardship, as He does here for the Jews, commanding them to build houses in Babylon, plant gardens, establish families, etc. Third and more fittingly, St. Jerome says, "patience" here means the reward of patience, or the object of patience, that is, what you patiently and most eagerly await: hence in Hebrew and Chaldean it is תקוה (tiqvah), that is, hope or expectation, namely what you eagerly hope for: namely, freedom and return to the homeland, which is the fruit and reward of your patience and long-suffering, and the end of all your misery.
Verse 12
12. AND YOU SHALL GO — namely, rejoicing that you have obtained your liberation by prayer, you shall return joyfully home to your homeland from this exile: hence Symmachus translates, "and you shall find," namely the fruit of your invocation, the end of your distress and captivity.
Verse 13
13. AND I WILL HEAR YOU. YOU SHALL SEEK ME AND FIND ME: WHEN YOU SHALL SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART. — This promise is made to the Jews as much as to Christians: therefore it is certain and undoubted. Whoever therefore worships God and seeks Him with all his heart will obtain from Him whatever he wishes (provided it be beneficial to him) or things better than what he asks for. Hear from Sophronius how God meets and satisfies the wishes of His saints.
The Abbess Damiana the solitary, mother of Abbot Athenogenes Bishop of Petra, related to us, she said: "There was a certain Abbot on holy Mount Sinai, named George, a man of marvelous virtue and abstinence. On the great Sabbath day, the desire came to him in his cell to celebrate the holy day of the Resurrection in the holy city, and to receive the venerable mysteries at the holy Resurrection of Christ our God. Throughout the whole day therefore the elder was occupied with this thought. When evening had come, his disciple came saying: Command, Father, that we go to the synaxis. But the elder answered him: Go, and at the time of holy communion come to me, and I will go. So the elder remained in his cell. But when the time of holy communion had arrived in the holy city, the elder was found near the Archbishop, blessed Peter, who gave holy communion both to him and to the priests. Seeing him therefore, the Patriarch said to Menas his assessor: When did the Abbot of Mount Sinai arrive? He answered: By your prayers, my Lord, I did not see him until just now. Then the Patriarch said: Tell him not to depart; for I wish him to eat with me. He then went and said this to the elder, who said: The will of God be done. When therefore he had greeted the assembly and worshiped at the holy sepulcher, he was found back in his cell. Behold, his disciple knocked and said: Father, come to receive communion. And the elder, going to the church with his disciple, again received the venerable mysteries." So Sophronius, Spiritual Meadow, chapter 127.
Theodoret in the Philotheus, chapter 2, relates that a certain young man, reared in luxury, asked the elder Asterius to be his companion as he went into the desert, to whom the elder objected the softness of his upbringing and the harshness and dryness of the wilderness. The young man persisted. Overcome by his prayers, the elder yielded. The young man therefore followed him at first indeed cheerfully: but when the first, second, and third days had passed, and he was being scorched by the sun's rays (for it was summer: and when summer presses, the flame of the sun is indeed more fierce), he was perpetually suffering from thirst. And at first he was ashamed to reveal his ailment, calling to mind what had been predicted to him by his master. But at last, overcome and completely failing, he begged the elder to have mercy on him. The elder, having recalled what he had predicted to him, ordered him to return. But when the young man said that he neither knew the way that led to the cave, nor, even if he knew it, could he walk, since his strength was consumed by thirst—the divine man, pitying the young man's plight and pardoning the weakness of his body, knelt and prayed to the Lord, and watered the ground with warm tears, and sought a way of salvation for the young man. He who does the will of those who fear Him and hears their prayer made the drops of tears that had touched the dust into a fountain of waters: and thus, having filled the young man with the stream, he ordered him to depart immediately. And the fountain remained to the present day.
Hear another story about the monks of Cluny, which is found in the Life of St. Odo, Abbot of Cluny. In the year of the Lord 938, says the author of the Life, the prince Albericus gave us the monastery of St. Elias, which blessed Gregory mentions in his Dialogues. But since it is hard (as the same blessed Gregory says) to meditate new things in an old mind, we could not draw back the monks whom we found there from eating meat. Therefore our Father established there a Provost, one of our brothers named Theodoardus. When he saw that he could not draw them back from that vice by virtue and holiness, he began to buy fish in neighboring regions, so as to satisfy their will at least in that way. For the horses that Father Odo had left him had by now entirely failed, running hither and thither. The Provost repeatedly informed our Father of their obstinacy and his own labor. When he therefore was beseeching the Lord, a valley over which the monastery rises, not far away, was so enclosed by the hills joining together that the passage was blocked for a small stream that flowed through it. From there, therefore, a great mass of water gradually collected and formed a lake: nor was there any further need for the Provost to buy fish, since that lake supplied them. But certain ignorant men did not at all notice to whom this should be attributed, because they had not heard with their ears the prayers which blessed Odo had poured out to the Lord for that purpose, not heeding that saying of the Psalmist: "The Lord has heard the desire of the poor; Your ear has heard the preparation of their heart." Likewise: "He will do the will of those who fear Him, and He will hear their prayer." So the Life of St. Odo, and from it Baronius, Volume 10 of the Annals, at the year of Christ 938.
Gregory the Great, Book 3 of the Dialogues, chapter 15, relates that God, to fulfill the desires of His own, sent thunder from a clear sky, in these words: When the great fame of Florentius was spreading far and wide, a certain deacon positioned far away endeavored to go to him, to commend himself to his prayers. Coming to his cell (not far from Norcia), he found the entire area round about filled with innumerable serpents; and when he was greatly terrified, he cried out saying: "Servant of God, pray!" But there was a marvelous clear sky. And Florentius, going out, raised his eyes and palms to heaven, that the Lord, as He knew how, might remove that plague. At his voice the sky suddenly thundered, and that same thunder killed all those serpents that had occupied the place; when the man of God Florentius saw them dead, he said: "Behold, You have killed them, O Lord; who will remove them from here?" Immediately at his voice as many birds came as there had been serpents killed, and carrying them away, they cleared the place.
Something not dissimilar is read in the Life of St. Abercius of Hierapolis on October 22. For when the place needed baths for the comfort of the sick, Abercius, stationed by the river, fell on his knees to the ground before God. And behold, thunder broke forth from a clear sky; and the earth sent forth springs of hot water, and God is praised in all things, who thus hears the righteous.
Verse 15
15. BECAUSE YOU HAVE SAID: THE LORD HAS RAISED UP, etc. — that is, but because there are among you those who say you have prophets in Babylon who promise a swift return from captivity, let them hear what the Lord says: "For thus says the Lord." The word "because" corresponds to the Hebrew כי (ki) and is redundant, being merely a marker introducing the discourse. This therefore says the Lord: So far are you from a swift return, that rather I am about to consume with pestilence, famine, and sword king Zedekiah, who sits on the throne of David, together with his people who inhabit Judea, and the few who survive this disaster I will lead captive to Babylon.
Verse 16
16. TO THE KING WHO SITS UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID — to Zedekiah who now reigns.
Verse 17
17. BAD FIGS. — In Hebrew, foul figs: see what was said about figs in chapter 24.
Verse 18
18. TO BE A VEXATION. — לזעוה (lezavah), that is, to be a commotion; so that they may be moved and scattered through all the kingdoms.
When Andronicus Comnenus, an emperor imbued with the ways of tyrants, was raging against Christians in Constantinople, he also threw into prison George Disypatos, a reader of the great temple, because he had complained too freely about his cruelty; and he had in mind to have him pierced with spits and, being a plump man, roasted like a pig over coals and sent to his wife; and he would certainly have done so, had not Leo the Monasteriota, his father-in-law, who on account of his prudence in delivering opinions was called "the mouth of the Senate" by Andronicus, repressed the tyrant's fury by his authority. Disypatos therefore in prison stretched out his hands to God, and prayed with David: "Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name," and often repeated these words: "Shall I look again upon Your holy temple?" But what did he pray? "Blot me out, O Lord, from the memory of Andronicus; may I be unknown to him at all times; let him not remember my name, until he has been blotted out of the book of the living." And the Divinity did not delay, nor did He spurn his prayers, but brought him out of prison unharmed, Andronicus having been killed a few days later. So Nicetas Choniates in his Annals on the Empire of Andronicus Comnenus.
Verse 21
21. TO AHAB AND ZEDEKIAH. — The Hebrews, as St. Jerome attests, and from them Rabanus, Hugo, St. Thomas, and Lyranus, report that these two, namely Zedekiah and Ahab, were those elders who attempted the chastity and life of Susanna, Daniel 13; for both were in Babylon in the time of Nebuchadnezzar and Astyages the Mede; both were liars; both were killed for adultery; to both God says: "I am the judge and the witness." To others, however, this seems to be a fable. So Africanus, Maldonatus, and others; indeed St. Jerome sometimes calls it a fable, and this first because those in Jeremiah were Prophets, while those in Daniel were Judges. Again, Nebuchadnezzar killed those in Jeremiah, while the people killed those in Daniel.
Lyranus and St. Thomas respond that Nebuchadnezzar, to whom the Jews in Babylon were subject, passed sentence of death upon them, especially because the crime was enormous and they themselves were judges of the Jews who were guilty; and the people approved and carried out this sentence.
Second, that this is a fable is proved from the fact that Nebuchadnezzar is said here to have roasted them in fire; but Daniel implies that his elders were stoned.
Others respond that Daniel does not say this; but only, because they were false accusers, asserts that by the law of retaliation, which Deuteronomy 19:19 has: "A life for a life," etc., they were punished with death, though of a different kind. Delrio, Adage 861, and Lyranus respond differently, namely that they were first stoned as adulterers, as Daniel implies, and then, as Jeremiah says, burned with fire because they were false prophets. Something similar happened to Achan, Joshua 7:15 and 25.
These things are said but not proved: for Daniel has nothing of the kind in his long and detailed narrative of the event, which greatly differs from this account of Jeremiah. Wherefore Maldonatus, Pererius, Sanchez, and others rightly judge that these prophets in Jeremiah were different from those elders in Daniel.
Verse 22
22. WHOM HE ROASTED. — In Hebrew קלם (kalam), that is, he roasted or parched. Thus the Maccabees were roasted, 2 Maccabees 7:3, and the Jews, Amos 4:2.
Verse 23
23. BECAUSE THEY HAVE DONE FOLLY. — "Folly" in Scripture signifies a notable crime against public decency, unworthy of a prudent and wise man, such as adultery is here.
I AM THE JUDGE AND THE WITNESS, SAYS THE LORD — that is, no one can deceive or escape Me; because I Myself who will judge am also an eyewitness of all things; hence Malachi 3:5 says: "I will draw near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and perjurers." Therefore, when companions or concupiscence tempt you to sin, consider this eye that beholds you and all your doings, who will be your judge as well as your witness. Thus St. Job thought, chapter 16, verse 20: "Behold," he says, "my witness is in heaven, and He who knows me is on high."
Verse 24
24. AND TO SHEMAIAH. — Note: This Shemaiah, hearing the letter of Jeremiah written to the Jews held captive in Babylon, in which he was rebuked as a false prophet because he was promising peace to the Jews (hence he was fittingly called the Nehelamite, that is, the dreamer, as R. David translates: although he was properly a native of Nehelam), angrily wrote letters from Babylon to Jerusalem, to have Jeremiah seized and punished as a false prophet.
Verse 25
25. BECAUSE YOU HAVE SENT. — Supply: "I will visit upon you and upon your seed," as is said in the last verse. For there the sentence of this verse is completed, which is interrupted up to that point by the narration of Shemaiah's prophecy.
ZEPHANIAH THE PRIEST. — Not the high priest, for that was Seraiah, but his deputy; whence in 2 Kings 25:18, this Zephaniah is called "the second priest," whose duty it was to judge concerning prophecies and to punish false prophets.
Verse 26
26. THE LORD HAS APPOINTED YOU PRIEST IN PLACE OF JEHOIADA. — Shemaiah flatters Zephaniah, as if to say: It is yours, O Zephaniah, as heir of the priesthood, holiness, and zeal of the most holy pontiff Jehoiada of old, to do what I ask, namely, as another Jehoiada who killed Mattan the priest of Baal (2 Kings 11:18), to put to death Jeremiah the false prophet. For the flatterer compares Zephaniah the priest to Jehoiada the high priest, on account of a similar zeal and office. So St. Jerome, Maldonatus, and others.
Although some, like Castro, think this Jehoiada was not that high priest who had long since died, but a priest still living, whose duties in his absence Zephaniah was performing.
A MADMAN. — In Hebrew משגע (meshugga), that is, insane, frenzied; the Chaldean says, a fool; the Septuagint, one who is raving, that is, a fanatic, who pretends to be a prophet; or one who, seized by a demon, prophesies by its impulse in such a way that he seems to rave and be insane. About these Cicero truly said, Book 3 of On Divination: "What authority has that frenzy which you call divine, so that what the wise man does not see, the madman sees; and he who has lost his human senses has acquired divine ones?"
TO PUT HIM IN THE STOCKS — in the pillory, that is, in wooden or iron manacles: so Vatablus. See what was said at chapter 20, verse 2. The Syriac translates: "That you may throw him among the bound in prison."
Verse 28
28. FOR ON THIS ACCOUNT — that is, because Jeremiah dares, with your connivance, to prophesy falsely in Jerusalem, he also dares to write his false fabrications to us in Babylon, and to disturb and alarm us.
IT IS LONG — namely, the time during which you will be captive in Babylon, namely 70 years.
Verse 29
29. THE LETTER — the letters of Shemaiah.
31. SEND — write letters. TO ALL THE EXILES — to all the Jews who migrated to Babylon with Jeconiah.
Verse 32
32. HE SHALL HAVE NO MAN — there shall be no one from the posterity of Shemaiah who shall be a citizen of Jerusalem at the time when others shall joyfully return from captivity, meaning: Shemaiah shall not return with the others to Jerusalem, but shall perish with his own in the exile of Babylon; because he falsely predicted that this would soon end; so that in the very thing in which he sinned, in the same he may be punished. Thus Elisha, promising wheat in a famine, when mocked by a certain officer, said to him: "You shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it," 2 Kings 7:2.
FOR HE HAS SPOKEN REBELLION (that is, false oracles) AGAINST THE LORD. — For by these means he attempted to overturn the oracles of God issued through Jeremiah, and to bring it about that the people, obedient to him, would be disobedient to Jeremiah and to God.