Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
While the city was now under siege, Jeremiah, confined in prison, is commanded by God to buy the field of his cousin, so that by this act he might give hope to his people, who were about to go captive to Babylon, that they would return from there to possess their fields again.
1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah: that is the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2. Then the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king
Vulgate Text: Jeremiah 32:1-29
1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah: this is the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Judah. 3. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying: Why do you prophesy, saying: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will take it? 4. And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans; but he shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon: and his mouth shall speak with his mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes. 5. And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon: and there he shall be until I visit him, says the Lord. But if you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall have no success. 6. And Jeremiah said: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: 7. Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum your cousin will come to you, saying: Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption by kinship belongs to you to buy it. 8. And Hanameel the son of my uncle came to me according to the word of the Lord to the vestibule of the prison, and said to me: Buy my field which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: for the inheritance belongs to you, and you are the near kinsman to possess it. And I understood that it was the word of the Lord. 9. And I bought the field from Hanameel the son of my uncle, which is in Anathoth: and I weighed out for him the silver, seven staters and ten pieces of silver. 10. And I wrote it in a deed, and sealed it, and took witnesses: and I weighed the silver on the scales. 11. And I took the deed of purchase, sealed, and the stipulations, and the ratifications, and the outward marks. 12. And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel my cousin, in the sight of the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase, and in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the prison. 13. And I commanded Baruch before them, saying: 14. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these documents, this sealed deed of purchase, and this open document: and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days. 15. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses, and fields, and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. 16. And I prayed to the Lord, after I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, saying: 17. Alas, alas, alas, Lord God: behold, You made heaven and earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm: nothing is too hard for You: 18. You who show mercy to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: Most Mighty, Great, and Powerful, the Lord of hosts is Your name. 19. Great in counsel, and incomprehensible in thought: whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the children of Adam, to render to each one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his deeds. 20. You who performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt even to this day, and in Israel, and among men, and made for Yourself a name as it is this day. 21. And You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt, with signs and wonders, and with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror. 22. And You gave them this land, which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23. And they entered and possessed it: and they did not obey Your voice, and they did not walk in Your law: everything You commanded them to do, they did not do: and all these evils came upon them. 24. Behold, the siege mounds have been raised against the city to capture it: and the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, and famine, and pestilence, and whatever You spoke has happened, as You Yourself see. 25. And You say to me, Lord God: Buy a field with silver, and take witnesses: when the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans? 26. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 27. Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is anything too hard for Me? 28. Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will deliver this city into the hands of the Chaldeans, and into the hands of the king of Babylon, and they shall take it. 29. And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and set it on fire, and burn it, and the houses on whose rooftops they sacrificed to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to foreign gods to provoke Me.
Verse 30
30. For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have been continually doing evil in My sight from their youth: the children of Israel who even now provoke Me with the work of their hands, says the Lord. 31. For this city has been to Me a cause of fury and indignation, from the day they built it until this day when it shall be removed from My sight. 32. Because of the wickedness of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they committed to provoke Me to anger — they and their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33. And they turned their backs to Me, and not their faces: though I taught them early and instructed them, they would not listen to receive discipline. 34. And they set up their idols in the house upon which My name was invoked, to defile it. 35. And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to consecrate their sons and their daughters to Moloch; which I did not command them, nor did it enter My heart that they should do this abomination, and lead Judah into sin. 36. And now therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel to this city, of which you say that it will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence. 37. Behold, I will gather them from all the lands to which I have cast them out in My fury, and in My anger, and in great indignation: and I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell securely. 38. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God. 39. And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me all their days, and that it may be well with them and with their children after them. 40. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I will not cease to do them good: and I will put My fear in their heart, that they may not depart from Me. 41. And I will rejoice over them when I do them good: and I will plant them in this land in truth, with My whole heart and with My whole soul. 42. For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought upon this people all this great evil, so I will bring upon them all the good that I speak to them. 43. And fields shall be possessed in this land, of which you say that it is desolate, because neither man nor beast remains, and it has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans. 44. Fields shall be bought with money, and deeds shall be written and sealed, and witnesses shall be taken: in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the south: for I will restore their captivity, says the Lord.
Verse 1
1. In the tenth year — when Jerusalem had already been besieged for one year, for its siege began in the ninth year of Zedekiah, 2 Kings 25:1. 2. In the court of the prison — that is, in the prison of the court, or which was in the court, so that it is an anastrophe or hypallage: so Vatablus and R. David. Second, and better, "in the court," that is, in the vestibule of the prison: for that Jeremiah was there as if in an open custody is clear from Chapter 37:20. For the Jews, and especially Zedekiah who consulted him, used some clemency toward him as a priest, and gave him a relaxed custody, yet so that he could not escape: so St. Jerome. Therefore in this court Jeremiah continued to prophesy, since a great multitude of people gathered there.
Verse 3
3. For Zedekiah had shut him up. — These words up to verse 7 are inserted as if in a parenthesis, to narrate the reason why Jeremiah was imprisoned, and at the same time to prepare the way for the following prophecy, verse 7: for since Jeremiah had struck Zedekiah with his sad prophecy, namely that he with his people was to be led captive to Babylon, hence in verse 7 he mitigates it, saying that God would bring the Jews back from there.
Verse 4
4. His mouth shall speak with his mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes. — This was a great punishment for Zedekiah, that indeed, as a traitor and one guilty of violating a treaty, captured and bound, he had to endure the threatening eyes and words of the conqueror Nebuchadnezzar. Whence St. Jerome says: "Greater is the terror of seeing the one you fear, and of enduring the torment of rebuke before words rather than before punishments." Thus for the wicked it will be a grievous punishment on the day of judgment to see the flaming face of the angry judge Christ. Whence they will say to the mountains and rocks: Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? Revelation 6:17.
Verse 5
5. Until I visit him — whether for good or for ill; He speaks ambiguously and prudently moderates His speech, lest He offend the king; yet He means to say, until Zedekiah dies in Babylon. So St. Jerome, Rabanus, Lyranus. For Zedekiah was miserable for the rest of his life, being imprisoned and blinded, so that he wished for death as an end to his miseries. But in death he was honored; for he was buried as a king with royal pomp, as will be shown in Chapter 34.
Or else, as Maldonatus says, he puts the king for the people, the head for the body, as if to say: Until I visit the people of Zedekiah, that is, bring them back from captivity.
of miseries. But in death he was honored; for he was buried as a king with royal pomp, as will be shown in Chapter 34. Or else, as Maldonatus says, he puts the king for the people, the head for the body, as if to say: Until I visit the people of Zedekiah, that is, bring them back from captivity.
Verse 7
7. Cousin. — The Hebrew word dod, Vatablus and others translate as "uncle"; our translator better renders it as "cousin"; namely Hilkiah and Shallum were brothers: Hilkiah begot Jeremiah, Shallum begot Hanameel, therefore Hanameel was the cousin of Jeremiah. God put into Hanameel's mind the idea of selling a field, when the city was besieged and affairs were desperate, so that no one would seem likely to buy a field, because He likewise put into Jeremiah's mind the idea of buying a field, so that by this purchase he might portend and predict the future liberation from captivity and return to Judea, where each person would return to his own estates. Whence he says in verse 8: "I understood that it was the word of the Lord." For God rules and bends wills, and all secondary causes, and arranges and adjusts them among themselves, so that one corresponds equally to another.
One may ask, what was this field? For Levites and priests, such as Jeremiah was, did not have fields and possessions, but only the offerings of the people, Numbers 18:20. I respond that the Levites had houses, cities, and suburbs, namely estates around the city for a thousand paces, both for gardens and for pasturing cattle. This field therefore was either in the city, as Vatablus holds, or suburban, as St. Jerome holds. You will say: Leviticus 25:34 forbids the suburbs of the Levites to be sold. I respond: They are forbidden to be sold outside the family and tribe, but not to kinsmen.
For the right of redemption by kinship belongs to you to buy — for although I might sell the field to another, you nevertheless, as a kinsman, could redeem it at the same price: for this right still holds even now; but it was most strictly observed among the Jews, where the greatest care was taken that inheritances should not be transferred from one tribe to another, but should remain (as far as possible) in the same tribe and family.
Verse 8
8. Possess — that is, buy. For in Hebrew it is the same word as before, namely kanah, which means to buy and by buying to possess. Plutarch records something similar about the Romans in the Life of Hannibal, to show their courage and spirit: namely, when Hannibal with his army threatened the city of Rome and pointed it out from a nearby hill, at Rome the field which Hannibal had occupied was put up for sale and found a buyer. Such was the confidence, such was the spirit of the Romans. But their affairs were not as desperate as those of the Hebrews under Zedekiah, with the city already besieged.
Verse 9
9. Seven staters and ten pieces of silver. — The Chaldean renders: Seven minas and ten pieces of silver; a mina contains 60 shekels, Ezekiel 45:12. Thus Jeremiah would have paid 430 shekels for the field in total; but the Hebrew shekel signifies a shekel or stater, not a mina, nor is the shekel understood otherwise in the Prophets than in Moses; although Arias Montanus attempts to assert this in his Apparatus. Second, St. Jerome, Rabanus, and a Castro judge that Jeremiah paid 17 silver shekels for the field in total. For the Hebrew reads: And I weighed out for him silver, seven shekels and ten of silver, that is, I weighed out for him money of silver, seventeen shekels of silver: for Scripture usually places the smaller number before the larger. Moreover, 17 shekels are 17 Brabantine florins; a Brabantine florin contains 4 reales, or four julii. Therefore from this passage it is not proven that the silver piece was different from the stater or shekel, or that it was half a shekel, as some contend.
But how could a field be bought for 17 florins? I respond, because with captivity imminent, everything was abandoned and cheap: the field was also small (and perhaps on barren soil), like a kitchen garden, says Vatablus; perhaps also Jeremiah later paid the remaining price, and it is not counted here. Third, it could be said that a gold shekel is understood here; for it is distinguished from a silver one by our Interpreter. Moreover, the weight of a shekel was four drachmas; whence a gold shekel was equal to four French crowns, a silver one to four Spanish reales, or four Italian julii. Seven shekels therefore make 28 crowns, ten silver pieces make ten Brabantine florins. But the objection is that Scripture usually names gold pieces, especially when they are distinguished from silver ones; which however is not done here, and in Hebrew everything plainly sounds like silver: therefore the second meaning is the genuine one.
Second, Jeremiah made a copy of this document: whence in verse 14 he calls them two deeds, one sealed, namely the original with seal and witnesses, which had legal force in court; the other a copy, that is, a copy of the original without the public signature, which would always be at hand and could be shown to everyone, so that those who wished might read it, and therefore it is called in Hebrew galui, that is, open; our translator renders: "The outward marks," that is, a copy of the document designating and describing to all what the previously closed original contained. So the Chaldean, Vatablus, and the Hebrews generally.
Verse 14
14. And put them in an earthen vessel — of pottery, lest they rot from decay or be corrupted by moisture; but so that we may find them intact when we return from captivity: by which he signifies first, that the time of captivity will be long; second, that the return will be certain. So Maldonatus. Sanchez judges that St. Matthew, Chapter 27, where he narrates that with the thirty pieces of silver for which Christ was sold, the potter's field was bought, cites this passage of Jeremiah. For Matthew says: "Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying: And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him who was priced, whom they priced from the children of Israel: and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed for me." For although the earlier words are from Zechariah 11, nevertheless, because the latter words are from Jeremiah here, they are cited under his name by synecdoche; because the matter concerns not so much the price for which Christ was bought, as the price of the field bought with that price. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: The field bought by Jeremiah was a type of the potter's field, bought by the Jews with the price of the selling of Christ, for the burial of strangers.
For Jeremiah does not seem to have bought this field for himself, or for children, which he did not have, or for the Jews who were about to go to Babylon: therefore for foreigners, and that for burial. Moreover, that field was called the potter's field because this earthen vessel of Jeremiah with the instruments of purchase seems to have been buried and interred in that field, to be preserved for a long time. By a similar trope, Mount Calvary was so named from the skull and cranium of Adam buried there, and Aceldama, that is, the field of blood, was the name given to this same field, because it was bought with the price of Christ's blood. Thus Cajeta, Misenus, and Palinurus received their names from companions of Aeneas of that name who were buried there. The earthen vessel of Jeremiah is therefore called by St. Matthew a potter by metonymy, just as we call the five books of the Pentateuch Moses, and the writings of Homer and Plato we call Homer, Plato, because they were written and composed by them. Thus coins struck by King Philip we call Philippics. Thus Juvenal, Satire 10, said the walls of Babylon were fortified by potters, because they were made and fortified from bricks which potters bake. Thus here the earthen vessel signifies the potter its maker, especially because artisans, such as potters, often inscribed their names on vessels they made, as they still do.
The meaning therefore is, as if to say: I Jeremiah bought and paid the price to acquire the potter's field, that is, the field of the earthen vessel, or the field in which I buried and interred the earthen vessel with the instruments of purchase: "As the Lord appointed" and commanded "me," so that by this act I might give a type and represent that the Jews with the price of the selling of Christ would buy the potter's field, and that for the burial of strangers. For Christ wished all His things to be profitable for us, and therefore wished the price of His blood to benefit strangers, namely the Gentiles, for burial. This opinion is an ingenious conjecture, but difficult and involved; for it presupposes other uncertain things, such as that an earthen vessel was buried in the field bought by Jeremiah, that the field was bought for the burial of strangers, etc.; and it embraces other harsh conclusions, such as that the field in which the earthen vessel was buried is called the potter's field; especially because the field bought with the price of the selling of Christ truly belonged to a potter, not to an earthen vessel buried in it. Furthermore, when Matthew says: "They gave them for the potter's field," "them" refers to the "thirty pieces of silver" that preceded. But Jeremiah did not buy this field for 30, but for 17 pieces of silver, as I showed a little before. Moreover, Matthew says: "They gave them;" but Jeremiah: "I gave them."
Therefore we will say more easily and directly with St. Jerome, Baronius, Jansenius, Maldonatus on Matthew Chapter 27; Suarez, Volume II, Part III, Disputation 34, Section 1, and others, that in St. Matthew's text the name of Jeremiah was added in the margin by some would-be scholar, and crept into the text, and therefore should be deleted, or else that St. Matthew cites other writings of Jeremiah in which these words were found, which no longer exist but have perished, just as the visions of Iddo the Seer, of Ahijah the Shilonite, and of other Prophets have perished. But more on this in Matthew 27.
Verse 15
15. Houses and fields shall still be possessed (shall still be bought after the return from captivity). 17. By Your outstretched arm. — In Hebrew, "lofty." A lofty arm, by way of explanation, is the same as great strength. So Lyranus. Therefore Dionysius the Carthusian and some others incorrectly think that "outstretched" signifies the execution of divine power.
manna in the urn, etc. So Maldonatus and Sanchez. in a thousand generations, says St. Jerome), and You repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children. — That is, You punish the sins of the fathers in the children, as You threatened, Exodus Chapter 34, verse 7, and Deuteronomy Chapter 5, verse 4. See what was said there.
Verse 19
19. Incomprehensible in thought. — In Hebrew, "great in work or invention"; the Septuagint, "powerful in works," which namely surpass not only the power and efficacy, but also the grasp and understanding of all men and angels, and therefore are incomprehensible. For God can devise infinite modes of acting and governing. Again, He can adduce innumerable reasons, ends, and intentions for His works. Finally, He has infinite ways by which He brings His intentions to effect. Hence it is clear that the Prophet speaks properly of incomprehensibility, not of the essence and substance of God, but of His counsels and works; whence preceded: "Your name is Great in counsel." So Capella and our Vasquez, Part I, Disputation 52, Chapter 1. Nevertheless, from this the incomprehensibility of God's substance is rightly deduced. For if He is incomprehensible in thought and in work, therefore also in substance: for this is the source of His thoughts and works. So St. Jerome, the Glossa, Lyranus, and the Scholastics with St. Thomas, Part I, Question XII, Article 8. To this the Apostle alluded, Romans Chapter 11, verse 33: "How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways!"
Whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the children of Adam. — Would that we always kept these eyes of God in view. Pliny writes, Book 18, Chapter 6: "The ancients said that the eye of the master is the most fertile thing in a field," because one who frequently visits his field brings fertility to it. In the same way the eye and gaze of God, if always reflected upon, brings fertility of good works to the soul. Plutarch narrates, in his book On the Education of Children, the elegant saying of a groom: "Nothing fattens a horse so much as the eye of the king:" so nothing so fattens the soul as if the eyes and watchfulness of God are always present to the mind. Hence David said: "I set the Lord always in my sight," Psalm 15; and Elisha: "As the Lord lives, in whose sight I stand." Thus Enoch, Genesis 5; Abraham, Genesis 17, and others continually walked in the sight of the Lord and with the Lord. See what was said there.
Verse 20
20. Even to this day — namely, the memory of the wonders which God performed in Egypt endures; so Lyranus, and indeed even their traces. Thus Orosius reports, Book I, Chapter 10, that in the depths of the Red Sea the ruts of the wheels of Pharaoh's chariots that were submerged in it still appear. Second, St. Jerome explains, as if to say: Even to this day the continuation of His miracles endures, when through Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, and others He continues to perform miracles for the Jews against their enemies, so that He seems to renew the ancient wonders of Moses from time to time. Third, as if to say: We have today signs and monuments that preserve fresh the memory of the wonders of Egypt, namely the paschal lamb, unleavened bread, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
As appears today. 24. Because of the sword, and famine, and pestilence. — That is, by sword, famine, and pestilence. It is a Hebraism. Similar is Psalm 59:6: that they may flee from the face of the bow. For the Hebrews attribute a face to all things, even inanimate ones.
Verse 29
29. On the rooftops — the roofs, which in Judea were flat, so that they could walk and sacrifice on them as they wished, as on high places looking toward heaven and God. 31. This city has been to Me a cause of fury. — That is, "to" or "for" fury. So the Hebrew, as if to say: Jerusalem seems to have been made for this purpose, that I might show My fury upon it, and hurl the thunderbolts of plagues. Second, "in fury," that is, provoking My fury by continuous and new crimes, or the object and provocation of My fury. Whence the Chaldean translates: For My anger and My fury has settled upon this city.
From the time they built (that is, restored, enlarged, adorned) it — Solomon and the Jews. So Lyranus, Maldonatus, and others. 34. In which My name was invoked — which is called the house of God from My name, to which it is dedicated.
Verse 35
35. They would consecrate — by a certain rite and marks burned by fire, they would dedicate to the service and worship of Moloch (the Septuagint: they would sacrifice), just as the faithful are initiated into Christianity through baptism; Jews into Judaism through circumcision; priests into the priesthood through anointing; martyrs into martyrdom through blood and death.
Verse 36
36. And now therefore — namely, do not despair or lose heart, as if you were to be punished with perpetual captivity: for after 70 years you will return to this land and your fields. So St. Jerome, Rabanus, St. Thomas, and a Castro. Second, more sublimely Sanchez, as if to say: "Therefore," that is, because you are so unworthy of My grace and benefits that you despair of them; for this reason, so that I may show My lofty and divine clemency.
I might show My lofty and divine clemency, which contends with the impiety of men and does not allow itself to be conquered by it, but the greater that impiety is, the more it exalts itself and surpasses it; for this reason, I say, I will gather you from captivity. Similar is Isaiah Chapter 7:7 and Chapter 28:16. That it will be delivered — that it may be delivered.
Verse 37
37. I will gather — namely, having gathered the Jews from Babylon, I will bring them back to Judea through Zerubbabel, say Theodoret, Lyranus, and Sanchez; and after 500 years I will bring them back from the captivity of sin in the golden age of the Gospel and the perpetual jubilee, to the Church through Christ. For He properly entered into an everlasting covenant with the Jews passing from the law to the Gospel. For with the Jews living in Judaism this covenant was only everlasting in the sense that it was long-lasting. Christ also gives His own one heart and one soul. Therefore in one glance God saw and noted the temporal happiness of those returning from Babylon, and the spiritual happiness foreshadowed by it, of those returning from sin to grace and salvation which was to come shortly after: therefore He speaks more of the spiritual than of the temporal. So St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo, St. Thomas.
Verse 41
41. And I will rejoice — as if to say: It will be My pleasure to do them good, just as it will be their pleasure to live well, serve, and obey Me. I will plant (the Chaldean: I will establish) them in this land, in truth (the Septuagint: in faith, that is, truly and faithfully, without pretense or deceit), with My whole heart — that is, entirely from the soul, most lovingly, so that He may not retain any part of offense or memory of sins.
Verse 43
43. Fields shall be possessed — after the return from Babylon; as a sign of which I buy and possess this field. Mystically, in the Gospel fields shall be bought in which the treasures of virtues are hidden, whether in the mountains of contemplation, or in the plains of charity, or in the valleys of humility, and finally the heavenly field, Matthew 13:44. Here ends the Commentary, that is, the six books of St. Jerome on Jeremiah; for on the remaining chapters nothing of his survives.