Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Here is the second alphabet of the mournful song, by which Jeremiah again laments not so much the kingdom of Judah, as the burning and overthrow of the city of Jerusalem and its temple by the Chaldeans, and especially he recalls its former splendor and glory, which through the destruction was completely obscured, worn away, and extinguished. So Eusebius, Rupert, Hugo, and Lyranus.
Vulgate Text: Threni 2:1-22
1. How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His fury: He has cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, and has not remembered the footstool of His feet in the day of His fury. 2. The Lord has cast down headlong and has not spared all the beautiful things of Jacob: He has destroyed in His fury the strongholds of the virgin of Judah, and has brought them to the ground: He has polluted the kingdom and its princes. 3. He has broken in the wrath of His fury every horn of Israel: He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy: and He has kindled in Jacob as it were a fire of devouring flame round about. 4. He has bent His bow like an enemy, He has fixed His right hand like a foe: and He has slain all that was fair to see in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His indignation like fire. 5. The Lord has become like an enemy: He has cast down Israel headlong, He has cast down all its walls: He has destroyed its strongholds, and has filled the daughter of Judah with humiliation upon humiliation. 6. And He has pulled down His tent as a garden, He has destroyed His tabernacle: the Lord has caused the solemn feast and the sabbath to be forgotten in Zion; and has delivered up in the indignation of His fury the king and the priest to shame. 7. The Lord has cast off His altar, He has cursed His sanctuary: He has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of its towers: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as on a solemn feast day. 8. The Lord has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: He has stretched out His line, and has not turned away His hand from destroying: and the bulwark has mourned, and the wall has been destroyed together. 9. Her gates have sunk into the ground: He has destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes are among the nations: there is no law, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord. 10. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep silence: they have sprinkled their heads with ashes, they are girded with sackcloth, the virgins of Jerusalem have cast down their heads to the ground. 11. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the little one and the suckling fainted in the streets of the city. 12. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosom of their mothers.
1. How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His fury: He has cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel, and has not remembered the footstool of His feet in the day of His fury. 2. The Lord has cast down headlong and has not spared all the beautiful things of Jacob: He has destroyed in His fury the fortifications of the virgin of Judah, and cast them to the ground: He has polluted the kingdom and its princes. 3. He has broken in the wrath of His fury every horn of Israel: He has turned back His right hand from the face of the enemy: and He has kindled in Jacob as it were a fire of devouring flame all around. 4. He has bent His bow like an enemy, He has steadied His right hand like a foe: and He has slain all that was beautiful to see in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His indignation like fire. 5. The Lord has become like an enemy: He has cast down Israel headlong, He has cast down all its walls: He has destroyed its fortifications, and has filled the daughter of Judah with the humbled and the humiliated. 6. And He has torn down His tent like a garden, He has demolished His tabernacle: the Lord has given over to oblivion in Zion the festival and the sabbath; and to disgrace and to the indignation of His fury, the king and the priest. 7. The Lord has rejected His altar, He has cursed His sanctuary: He has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of its towers: they raised their voice in the house of the Lord, as on a feast day. 8. The Lord planned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: He stretched out His measuring line, and did not turn back His hand from destruction: and the rampart mourned, and the wall was likewise destroyed. 9. Her gates have sunk into the ground: He has destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes are among the nations: there is no law, and her prophets have not found a vision from the Lord. 10. They sat on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion fell silent: they sprinkled ashes on their heads, they girded themselves with sackcloth, the virgins of Jerusalem cast down their heads to the ground. 11. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the ground for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the little child and the nursing infant fainted in the streets of the city. 12. They said to their mothers: Where is bread and wine? when they fainted like the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in their mothers' arms.
13. To whom shall I compare you? or to whom shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To whom shall I equate you, and comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For great as the sea is your destruction: who shall heal you? 14. Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish things, and they did not lay open your iniquity, to provoke you to repentance: but they saw for you false oracles and banishments. 15. All who passed by clapped their hands at you: they hissed and shook their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: Is this the city, they said, of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth? 16. All your enemies opened their mouths at you: they hissed and gnashed their teeth, and said: We will devour her: behold, this is the day we waited for: we have found it, we have seen it. 17. The Lord has done what He planned, He has fulfilled His word, which He had decreed from days of old: He has destroyed and has not spared, and He has made the enemy rejoice over you, and has exalted the horn of your foes. 18. Their heart cried out to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Zion: Send down tears like a torrent, by day and by night: and give yourself no rest, nor let the pupil of your eye be silent. 19. Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches: pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your little children, who have fainted from hunger at the head of every street. 20. See, O Lord, and consider whom You have thus gleaned: shall women then eat their own fruit, little children the span of a hand? Shall the priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21. The boy and the old man lay on the ground outside: my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword: You have slain them in the day of Your fury: You have struck them down and have not had mercy. 22. You have summoned as to a feast day those who would terrify me from every side, and there was none in the day of the Lord's fury who escaped or was left: those whom I raised and nourished, my enemy has consumed.
Verse 1: HOW HE HAS COVERED WITH A CLOUD.
1. HOW HE HAS COVERED WITH A CLOUD. — As if to say: How by this sad calamity and devastation has God covered over that former beauty and splendor of Jerusalem: how that magnificence, that majesty of the holy city has been obscured: R. Abraham and Kimchi translate: How He exalted the daughter of Zion up to the clouds: for He raised her as it were to heaven (as follows), and thence cast her down to earth. For the Hebrew iaib, from ab, that is, cloud, is derived, and signifies to cloud over, that is, to cover and darken with a cloud, as our translator, the Septuagint, and the Chaldean render it. But R. Abraham explains 'to cloud over' as 'to raise up to the clouds.'
Israel's was a renowned city, the glory and honor of Israel on account of God's temple and worship. So the Septuagint and the Hebrew. Thus tropologically the holy soul, which was a citizen of the Saints and a member of God's household, when it sins, as it were casts itself down from the heaven of grace to the earth of sinners, living with brutes and serpents, eating earth and feeding and delighting itself on its goods. For the holy soul is like a heaven, in which the sun is the intellect or zeal for justice, the moon is faith and continence, the stars are the remaining virtues, which in the adversities of this world shine forth like stars in the night, says St. Bernard, sermon 27 on the Canticle.
In a similar way Seneca complains in the Octavia: 'Why, powerful Fortune, having flattered me With deceitful countenance, me who was content with my lot, Did you raise me up so high? So that I might fall more heavily, Received into the lofty citadel?'
But the former sense is more true and more fitting. For what follows is about clouds and heaven. For there is a gradation, meaning: How God obscured my glory, so magnificent: and not only obscured it, but cast it down like a bright star from the clouds, indeed hurled it down from heaven itself? So Sanchez and others.
FROM HEAVEN. — Paschasius says, from His protection and guardianship. Better, Rabanus, Hugo, Lyranus, and Thomas explain, meaning: From the pinnacle of royal dignity and from the lofty degree of glory He brought down Jerusalem, and cast it as it were to the ground, and leveled its proud houses and temple with the soil. It is a hyperbole: Jerusalem, I say, 'the glory of Israel,' that is, which was Israel's renowned city, Israel's glory and honor.
Thus concerning the sinning angel, Christ says: 'I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven'; and Isaiah concerning the king of the Chaldeans, namely the proud Belshazzar, already overthrown, in chapter 14:12 says: 'How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who used to rise in the morning! You have fallen to the ground, you who wounded the nations! You who said in your heart: I will ascend to heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mount of the covenant, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be dragged down to hell, to the depths of the pit.' And of the king of Tyre, Ezekiel says in chapter 28:12 and following: 'You were the seal of likeness, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, you were in the delights of the paradise of God. Every precious stone was your covering. You were the extended and protecting Cherub, and I placed you on the holy mountain of God, you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day of your creation, until iniquity was found in you. And your heart was lifted up in your beauty, I cast you to the ground,' etc. Behold, these are types of the soul falling from the sublime state of grace and casting itself down into the state of sin and damnation.
HE HAS NOT REMEMBERED THE FOOTSTOOL, — that is, Jerusalem. So Rupert and Rabanus. Secondly, the temple, say the Chaldean, Theodoret, Olympiodorus, St. Thomas, Lyranus, and commonly others. Thirdly, and most properly, 'the footstool,' that is, the ark of the covenant: for the propitiatory with the Cherubim was like the seat of God, and the ark placed beneath it was like His footstool, as I said at Exodus 25:20. Under 'the ark' by metonymy understand the place of the ark and the whole temple: for otherwise God was indeed mindful of the ark itself, since He led it out of the temple through Jeremiah and hid it, lest it fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, 2 Maccabees 2:5.
Allegorically, the footstool of divinity is the humanity of Christ and the cross. Thus St. Augustine and Cassiodorus explain that verse of Psalm 98: 'Adore the footstool of His feet,' that is, adore the ark, allegorically meaning: Adore the humanity of Christ.
Tropologically, the soul which was God's footstool, through sin becomes the devil's footstool. Tamerlane, the Tartar king, having defeated Bayezid the emperor of the Turks in battle, enclosed his captive in a cage and paraded him around: and whenever he was about to mount his horse, behold, he used him as a footstool: for stepping on the back of Bayezid, who lay on the ground, he mounted his horse. Whence Bayezid, unable to bear this disgrace, killed himself by dashing his head against the cage. Thus the devil makes the sinner whom he has conquered his footstool. This is visibly evident in witches, whom he treats, beats, and scourges like the vilest slaves.
Verse 2: HE HAS CAST DOWN HEADLONG (in Hebrew billa, that is, He h...
2. HE HAS CAST DOWN HEADLONG (in Hebrew billa, that is, He has swallowed up, devoured me), AND HAS NOT SPARED, — meaning: Without mercy He cast down headlong and swallowed me up. For the Hebrews often put a verb in place of an adverb, so that 'He did not spare' means the same as implacably, irremissibly, mercilessly. So Maldonatus.
HE HAS POLLUTED HIS KINGDOM. — The Septuagint translate: He has polluted his king, that is, He has given him over to disgrace, He has treated the king and princes unworthily, as verse 6 says. For He slew Jehoiakim through the Chaldeans, and buried him with the burial of a donkey; He shut Jehoiachin in prison; He blinded Zedekiah. For the kings of the Hebrews were anointed with oil and as it were consecrated to God: whence David called Saul the Lord's Anointed; and did not dare to lay hands upon him, though he was his enemy. Secondly, others say 'He polluted,' that is, He showed it to be polluted. Thirdly, and genuinely, 'He polluted,' in Hebrew ehillel, that is, He profaned — that is, God cast out the kingdom, meaning the king, princes, and people of Judah, formerly devoted to Him and as it were sacred, now as profane, unclean, and polluted, outside the shrine and temple, and handed them over to the profane gentiles to be devastated, plundered, slaughtered, and consigned to slavery and prison. Thus it is said in Psalm 78:1: 'O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance, they have defiled Your holy temple, they have made Jerusalem like a hut for guarding fruit.'
Verse 3: HE HAS BROKEN (in Hebrew gada, that is, He has cut down) ...
3. HE HAS BROKEN (in Hebrew gada, that is, He has cut down) EVERY HORN OF ISRAEL, — that is, all the glory and pride of Israel; so the Chaldean, Rupert, Lyranus. Secondly, Paschasius, Rabanus, and Vatablus say 'every horn,' that is, every kingdom, namely both the kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes, and of Judah and David. Thirdly, Origen, Olympiodorus, St. Thomas, Hugo, and Theodoret say 'every horn,' that is, all the princes, who were eminent and were as it were the summit and strength of the kingdom, just as the horn is prominent in an animal. Fourthly, and most simply, 'every horn,' that is, all strength and fortitude, God took from Israel, so that it could not resist its enemies. For the Hebrews call strength a horn, because in bulls all strength is in the horns. Therefore the Jew and the sinner is akeratos, adoxos, atheos, that is, hornless, inglorious, without God.
The Jews gather from Scripture ten horns, namely: first, of wealth and abundance of goods; second, of protection and miracles; third, of the kingdom; fourth, of leaders and wise men; fifth, of prophecy; sixth, of the law; seventh, of the priesthood; eighth, of the tabernacle, the ark, and the propitiatory; ninth, of walls, citizens, and soldiers; tenth, of the Messiah — which were given by God to the fathers, and were taken away from Israel in its destruction on account of the sins of their descendants.
Whence, explaining these horns, he adds in verse 5: 'He has cast down all its walls, He has destroyed its fortifications'; and verse 7: 'The Lord has rejected His altar'; and verse 9: 'He has broken its bars, its king and princes; there is no law, and the Prophets,' etc.
Hear the Rabbis in Midrash Tehillim, that is, in the Exposition of the Psalms, on that verse of Psalm 74:11: 'I will break all the horns of sinners, and the horns of the righteous shall be exalted,' and from them Galatinus, book 9, chapter 14, listing these ten horns of the fathers: 'The first horn was of Abraham, of whom it was said, Isaiah 5: My beloved had a vineyard on the horn, the son of oil. The second horn was of Isaac, of whom it is written, Genesis 23: And behold one ram caught in the thicket by its horns. The third horn was of Joseph, that is, the horn of the kingdom, of which it is said, Deuteronomy 33: The horns of the rhinoceros are his horns. The fourth horn was of Moses, of which it was said, Exodus 34: He did not know that his face was horned. The fifth horn was of prophecy, of which it was said, 1 Samuel 1: And Hannah prayed and said: My heart has exulted in the Lord, and my horn is exalted. The sixth horn was of the law, of which it is said, Habakkuk 3: And two horns from his hand to him. The seventh horn was of the priesthood, of which Psalm 111 says: His horn shall be exalted in glory.
(1) The basis of the metaphor by which the notion of swallowing, devouring is transferred to destruction is generally drawn, as in the verb acal, from the voracity of a wild beast devouring and swallowing everything. I suspect, however, that if not generally, at least in this passage, there is a more beautiful reference to the earth, gaping and opening wide, which swallows and devours what is placed upon it; so that God is said here to have thrust down as through an abyss of the earth into the underworld the prosperous dwellings of the Jacobites. (Pareau.)
The eighth horn was of the Levites, of which 1 Chronicles 25 says: All these sons of Heman the Seer of the king in the words of God, to exalt the horn. The ninth horn was of Jerusalem, of which Psalm 21 says: And from the horns of the unicorns You have heard me. The tenth horn was of the Messiah, of which 1 Samuel 2 says: And He will give dominion to His king, and will exalt the horn of His Christ. And thus Psalm 131 says: There I will make the horn of David to spring forth, I have prepared a lamp for my Christ. But when Israel sinned, these horns were taken from it and given to the nations of the world, as it was said in Daniel 7: Behold a fourth beast, terrible, etc., and it had ten horns. And in every time when the horns of the nations of the world are intact, the horns of Israel will be broken, as it is said in Lamentations 2: He has broken in the wrath of His fury every horn of Israel.' Thus do these Rabbis rabbinize.
HE HAS TURNED BACK HIS RIGHT HAND (that is, God withdrew His help from Israel, drew back His helping hand), FROM THE FACE OF THE ENEMY. — That is, in the presence of the enemies, when it was time to fight against them. So the Chaldean, Origen, Olympiodorus, and Theodoret.
Others, such as Olympiodorus and Lyranus, not incorrectly translate 'His right hand' as the people's, meaning: God withdrew strength from the people, and weakened their forces when it was time to come to blows with the Chaldeans: and so He brought it about that they succumbed, fled, and were slaughtered by them.
Thirdly, Maldonatus explains, 'He turned back,' not God, but Israel, 'its right hand,' meaning: Israel, with God abandoning it, fled from its enemies and did not dare to engage them in combat. For among the Hebrews there is a frequent and tacit transition from one person to another. The first exposition best fits our Latin translation.
LIKE A FIRE OF FLAME. — By which Jerusalem and the temple were set ablaze: or He calls the devastation a flame, because like a flame it quickly devastated everything all around. Whence in the following verse he says: 'He poured out His indignation like fire.' Hence Maldonatus says, fire, that is, the enemy who consumed everything like fire. He alludes to Jeremiah 21:14, where he says: 'I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it shall devour everything around it.' For just as farmers, to clear a field that is becoming overgrown, set fire to its brush in various places, so that the fire creeping forward burns all the shrubs in every direction, and thus restores the field to the plow and the sowing: so also God destroyed all of sinful Jerusalem, in order to found a new city and nation, as it were, or rather to recall and renew the former one.
Tropologically, in these three verses, note nine effects of sin. For the sinner casts himself into nine harms and miseries. First, he is covered with darkness and blinded; second, he is cast from heaven to earth, indeed into hell; third, from a temple of God he becomes a footstool of the devil; fourth, all his beautiful virtues and graces are plundered; fifth, all his fortifications are destroyed; sixth, his holy and chaste kingdom is polluted; seventh, his horn and strength are broken; eighth, deprived of God's grace, he goes backward and falls before his enemies; ninth, the flame of concupiscence is kindled in him, which devours all the goods of the soul: for although Adam and Eve were wounded by sin in intellect, memory, will, and the irascible appetite; yet of all they were most wounded in the concupiscible appetite: for just as a wild beast is seized toward prey, so concupiscence is seized and seizes man toward the pleasures and allurements of sin.
Verse 4: HE HAS BENT HIS BOW.
4. HE HAS BENT HIS BOW. — 'His bow,' that is, His avenging power, says Origen, by which with a firm right hand and bow, as it were, God hurled arrows most powerful, most certain, and most effective like thunderbolts, that is, the greatest calamities upon Jerusalem. So Rupert.
HE HAS STEADIED HIS RIGHT HAND LIKE A FOE. — For in order for someone to shoot an arrow from a bow directly and with great force, it is necessary that he hold the bow firmly with his left hand, and with his right hand firmly release it at the target, as Vegetius teaches, book 1, chapter 15. The same applies in the firing of our cannons. The Hebrew and the Chaldean have: His right hand stood like an enemy, that is, God stood, and God's hand and help stood at the right hand of the Chaldeans, as an enemy of the Jews. He said 'as it were,' says Origen, because God does not punish as one waging enmity, but out of love, to benefit those who suffer, or those who see and grow wise by observing the punishment of others.
HE HAS SLAIN (that is, He destroyed with His arrows (for He persists in this metaphor) all the beautiful buildings, says Rupert and St. Thomas, ornaments and vessels; and secondly, properly, He slew all the handsome and flourishing young men, virgins, and priests. So the Chaldean, Olympiodorus, Theodoret, and Hugo, and this) IN THE TABERNACLE OF THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, — that is, in Jerusalem. Olympiodorus, however, and Lyranus take 'tabernacle' to mean the temple.
HE HAS POURED OUT HIS INDIGNATION LIKE FIRE, — just as Etna, Hekla, and similar mountains pour forth and vomit fires and fiery torrents, by which they turn everything around them to ashes for a hundred miles.
Verse 5: HE HAS FILLED (the Septuagint says, He has multiplied) IN...
5. HE HAS FILLED (the Septuagint says, He has multiplied) IN THE DAUGHTER OF JUDAH THE HUMBLED AND THE HUMILIATED, — meaning: God has filled Jerusalem with very many (for doubling among the Hebrews denotes abundance, especially if the feminine is joined to the masculine, as I said at Isaiah 3:1) humbled, that is, afflicted, men and women; or He has humbled, that is, afflicted, all both men and women. In Hebrew it is: He has filled the daughter of Judah with blow upon blow, that is, calamities, driving the Jews from every side to ruin and mourning; whence the Chaldean, Vatablus, Maldonatus, and Pagninus translate: He has filled the daughter of Judah with grief upon grief, or with weeping and grief.
Verse 6: HE HAS TORN DOWN HIS TENT LIKE A GARDEN.
6. HE HAS TORN DOWN HIS TENT LIKE A GARDEN. — For 'He has torn down,' the Hebrew is iachmos, that is, He has seized, plundered, snatched away: for from this is derived the noun chamas, which signifies violence, force, plunder, meaning: God tore down from its foundations the temple, which was as it were His tent and tabernacle, just as a tent in a garden is torn down from its foundations when one moves away from there. For 'garden' is the same as 'the tabernacle of a garden': whence from the Hebrew, instead of 'garden' it can be translated 'of a garden,' meaning: Just as those who guard gardens, after the fruits have been gathered, tear down from the roots and pull out the hut or the cabin in which they lived, and either scatter it, or burn it, or transfer it elsewhere: so God tore down and burned the temple, and either slew its priests and people, or transported them to Babylon.
Moreover, Maldonatus takes 'tent' to mean Jerusalem; others commonly take it as the temple, and this is more fitting; for there follows: 'The Lord has given over to oblivion in Zion the festival and the sabbath.' Others plainly explain it thus, meaning: God has scattered His tabernacle, just as a garden is scattered when the hedge is broken and thrown down, so that it lies open to everyone's plundering; or when a garden becomes an arable field, or a forest. For this is what Isaiah threatened the Jews with, in chapter 5:5.
Note that the temple is called a 'tabernacle,' partly because it alludes to the tabernacle of Moses, which was like a mobile temple, traveling with the Hebrews through the desert; partly because the people would come together at the tabernacle for worship and prayer of God, so that there they might be sheltered and protected from every heat of evils; and finally because the temple was like a temporary dwelling of God living among the Jews: for a tabernacle is easily pitched, and just as easily taken down, when it is dismantled or transferred elsewhere. Such was the Jewish temple, in which God dwelt for a short time, namely until Christ: for through Christ He founded the Church, to which He migrated, and in which He fixed for Himself an everlasting throne, as Isaiah teaches, chapter 33:20, and the Angel to the Mother of God, Luke 1:32.
Moreover, here the word 'tabernacle' chiefly implies divine protection, as if God from the temple, like from a hut, would survey the whole city, and protect both it and all the surrounding Judea: for thus a garden keeper from his hut surveys and protects the whole garden from thieves and wild animals.
Hence secondly, Vatablus and Pagninus translate, meaning: As easily as a gardener moves the hut of his garden, so easily God transferred the temple, that is, the ornaments of the temple, to Babylon; whence the Septuagint edition of Carafa reads thus: He made His tabernacle fly away like a vine.
Thirdly, Vatablus again translates: He scattered His tabernacle which was like a paradise, meaning: God tore down His temple, though it was most pleasant and most beautiful like paradise. Fourthly, R. Abraham translates: He stripped bare and uncovered His tabernacle. Whence also the Septuagint edition commonly reads thus: He spread out His tabernacle like a vine, that is, so that the people and the priests, who are as it were the vineyard of God, stripped of His protection, temple, and fortress, might be exposed to the plunder of enemies.
HE HAS GIVEN OVER TO OBLIVION (that is, into oblivion), — meaning: God brought it about that there was no longer any mention of feast days, because there were none who could celebrate them; thus he said in chapter 1:4: 'The ways of Zion mourn, because there are none who come to the solemnity.' Again, God gave over the Jewish feasts to oblivion, because, as it were not caring about or valuing them, He allowed them to be abolished, and a long silence and, as it were, a cessation to be imposed upon them.
THE KING AND THE PRIEST TO DISGRACE. — Repeat the word 'He gave over,' meaning: God gave over King Zedekiah to disgrace, because He blinded him at Riblah, that is, Antioch; and He killed Seraiah the high priest, 2 Kings 25. So the Chaldean, Rupert, Maldonatus, and Castrius. Whence in Hebrew it reads: And He cast away in the indignation of His wrath the king and the priest, and consequently the kingdom itself and the priesthood; for the latter depends on and is sustained by the high priest, the former by the king, as by a head. So Sanchez and others. Whence follows: 'He has rejected His altar,' etc.
Verse 7: HE HAS CURSED HIS SANCTUARY.
7. HE HAS CURSED HIS SANCTUARY. — This means, God allowed His sanctuary to be overthrown, as if He hated it, abhorred it, and wished every evil upon it; likewise as if it had been cursed, not blessed and consecrated. Again, a curse signifies the heaping together of every calamity and evil, just as a blessing signifies the abundance of all good and desirable things.
For 'He cursed,' the Hebrew is niets, that is, He rejected, spurned, abhorred; the Chaldean says, He despised; the Septuagint, He shook off by force; but they read nier instead of niets, that is, He shook off. Moreover, He calls 'sanctification' the sanctuary, that is, His temple. So the Chaldean, Vatablus, Pagninus. Secondly, Paschasius, Rabanus, and St. Thomas understand by 'sanctification' the sacrifices by which the people were sanctified. Thirdly, Hugo understands the people chosen by God and sanctified to Himself. For thus it is said in Psalm 113:2: 'Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominion (His empire, His kingdom).'
For this reason in 2 Chronicles 4, the temple in Hebrew is called azara, that is, help, protection: because the Lord would bring help to His own from the temple.
HE HAS DELIVERED INTO THE HAND OF THE ENEMY (Nebuchadnezzar) THE WALLS OF ITS TOWERS (the Hebrew and Chaldean say, palaces; Symmachus, basilicas), — namely, of the city, say Origen, Rabanus, Hugo: or rather of the temple, about which the foregoing was said. So Olympiodorus, St. Thomas, and Lyranus. Moreover, 'the walls of towers,' that is, turreted walls, or walls fortified and adorned with towers. For that there were towers in them is taught by Villalpando, vol. 2, book 2, ch. 20, Adrichomius, Josephus, and others.
Tropologically, God takes away from the sinning soul the walls, that is, the freely given graces, and the fortifications, that is, the graces that make one pleasing, namely faith, hope, and charity, says St. Gregory, book 11, Moralia 11.
THEY RAISED THEIR VOICE, — namely, the Chaldean enemies, in the burning and plundering of the temple, singing 'Io Paean, Io Triumph.' So the Chaldean, Origen, Theodoret, Olympiodorus, and all others except Rupert, who takes this of the Jews, meaning: The Jews never sang more loudly in the joy of their solemnities than they then cried out shouting in their anguish and grief. Morally, learn here that the best walls and towers of cities are religion, and that it is useless to be surrounded by walls unless they are also surrounded by religion and justice.
(1) J. D. Michaelis in his notes to the German version says that no one else can be understood here except the pious King Josiah, since at the time of Jerusalem's destruction under Zedekiah, God was especially angry at the king and the priests. But Pareau rightly points out that it is not apparent what force this observation has, since only the external dignity of the king and the priests is being discussed. 'Namely, God is compared to an enemy who destroys everything, and cares nothing for the splendor of the temple and city, nor respects the majesty of sacred things, nor takes any account of the person of the king or the priests.' (Rosenmuller.)
Whence concerning the Romans, Cicero says, On the Nature of the Gods, book 3: 'You surround the city with more diligent religion than with the walls themselves.' 'For unless the Lord guards the city, he who guards it watches in vain,' Psalm 126:2.
Therefore Lactantius truly says, On the Wrath of God, book 3, chapter 12: 'Religion and the fear of God alone is what preserves the fellowship of men among themselves'; because, as Livy says, book 5: 'All things turn out prosperously for those who worship God, adversely for those who despise Him.' Hence it came about that at Rome, from its founder Romulus, with the very first foundations of the city, religion, even though vain, was established, and temples 'were dedicated to Jupiter Stator and Feretrius; and sacrifices were made to other gods, in the Alban rite, and to Hercules in the Greek rite,' as Livy says, book 1. Pliny writes, in the book On Illustrious Men, chapter 2, that Numa Pompilius, the second king of the Romans, tamed the fierce people by the institution of religion and useful laws, and so shaped his kingdom that during his reign no one made war upon him.
Cyrus admonished his son Cambyses that he should do nothing public or private unless he first had recourse to God, and unless he first recognized His will, since the world, he said, is full of errors. But God, as one who has always existed, knows past, present, and future things; and when invoked, He hears the prayers of those who cultivate religion and piety, and by many signs shows them what they should do. The witness is Xenophon, Cyropaedia, book 8.
Agesilaus, the leader of the Spartans, was so devoted to religion that he would venerate shrines even situated in enemy territory, and would restrain the violence of his soldiers from them. 'For he considered that divine aid must be implored no less on hostile than on friendly soil,' says the same Xenophon in the Praise of Agesilaus.
Do you want examples from the faithful? David, about to die, said to his son Solomon: 'You will prosper if you keep the commandments and judgments which the Lord commanded Moses,' 1 Chronicles 22:13. Therefore, intending to obey this parental command, he prayed to God for wisdom, he built a magnificent temple to God, he enlarged religion, he established twenty-four thousand Levites: and then he flourished in wealth and glory above all kings. But after he was led to idols through his idolatrous wives and began to worship them, the Lord said: 'Because you have had this in you, and have not kept my covenant and my commandments which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant,' 3 Kings 11:11.
Hear what Scripture says about Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 17:3: 'The Lord was with Jehoshaphat,' it says, 'because he walked in the first ways of David his father; and he did not put his hope in the Baals, but in the God of his father, and he proceeded in his commandments, etc., and the Lord confirmed the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat; and he had infinite riches and great glory.'
Wherefore rightly and wholesomely Agapetus the Deacon admonishes the Emperor Justinian: 'Since you have received the scepter of empire from God, consider in what ways you will please Him who gave it to you; and since you have been set above all men by Him, hasten to honor Him above all.' So he writes in the Admonition to Justinian, which Baronius cites in volume 7. Thus through divine worship, Constantine and the two named Charles the Great, and the latter's grandfather Charles Martel, Alfonso II, king of Castile, and Rudolf, who from Count of Habsburg became Emperor and bequeathed the Empire to his Austrian family to this very day, became glorious and blessed. This is what the Lord says to Eli, 1 Samuel 2:30: 'Whoever glorifies me, I will glorify him; but those who despise me shall be ignoble.' The same was felt by the pagan Gaius Marcius in Livy, book 44, saying: 'The gods favor piety and fidelity, through which the Roman people has reached such a height.'
THEY RAISED THEIR VOICE (the enemies, as preceded, namely the Chaldeans) IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, AS ON A FEAST DAY, — meaning: Just as formerly the temple resounded with the festive playing and singing of musicians, organs, and psalteries; so in its destruction it resounded with the war-cries of the exulting Chaldeans, and with their clanging drums and trumpets; just as the pavement of the temple, formerly flooded with the blood of sacrificial victims, now was flooded with the blood of priests.
Verse 8: HE PLANNED,
8. HE PLANNED, — meaning: Not by chance, not suddenly, not rashly, but by a deliberate and settled decree God destroyed Jerusalem.
HE STRETCHED OUT HIS MEASURING LINE. — With measuring lines they formerly measured fields and inheritances: hence metaphorically in Psalm 15:6, Psalm 77:55, and elsewhere in Scripture, the measuring line signifies the inheritance or lot due to each one. Here therefore it signifies the punishment and total devastation owed to and proportioned to the sins of Jerusalem. So Theodoret, Olympiodorus, Rabanus, Rupert, and St. Thomas. Whence Rupert takes this measuring line to mean the 70 years of captivity; for this is the length of this line. But Rabanus and Isidore say 'measuring line' because the enemies divided the city of Jerusalem among themselves as with a measuring line, and distributed it among themselves.
Secondly, and better, the measuring line, or as it is in Hebrew, kav, that is, a rule, is here understood as that which is stretched out by architects with water-level straightness and balanced by a lead weight, so that they may build houses to plumb, or destroy and level them: so that nothing uneven, crooked, protruding, sunken, gaping, or rough is left in them. For with this rule, as with a level and a standard, they investigate what is straight and properly proportioned, to be left standing; what is crooked and disproportionate, to be demolished; and this both in the planning and design, and in the actual execution and demolition of the same.
For architects who plan to build or destroy something are accustomed first, in the planning itself, to stretch out a line, so that they may build or destroy according to just proportion and correct measure; and then they actually build or destroy according to the same line and measure, so as not to deviate from their plan and design, meaning: God planned, and as it were by stretching out a line, He designated the just demolition of Jerusalem, and as He designed it, so He actually accomplished it, and brought it about that the Chaldeans devastated and destroyed it, as it were according to this just rule of the divine sentence. Therefore, just as Jerusalem was once beautifully built according to a rule, so now it has been entirely destroyed according to the same rule, and leveled as if to a line by the Chaldeans, who seemed as if securely, at leisure, without fear, with deliberation and fixed purpose, to pursue this one aim steadily. So Hugo.
This measuring line therefore signifies: first, God's careful examination of merits and demerits; then the just decree and sentence of God concerning the overthrow of Jerusalem. Whence St. Bonaventure says: 'By the measuring line is understood the rectitude of divine justice, repaying that unhappy people according to their merits.' Second, the precise measure of this sentence, which would correspond to the measure of its crimes, so that it would be measured back to it by the same measure with which it had measured God and its neighbors, says St. Jerome. Third, the actual execution of the sentence pronounced against it. Fourth, that the Chaldeans carried out this sentence of God so deliberately, boldly, and diligently, and destroyed Jerusalem as if they had been builders who think of nothing else than properly building or demolishing some edifice. Fifth, that Jerusalem was leveled to the ground and flattened by them.
A similar phrase is in 2 Samuel 8:2, where it is said of David: 'He measured them (the Moabites) with a line, making them level with the ground: and he measured two lines, one for death and one for life,' meaning: David completely humiliated and prostrated the Moabites, so that he could measure them with a line as if prostrate on the ground: and from them he made two portions and lots, but with the measure of justice, as befitted a fair prince, one of those to be killed, the other of those to be spared. So Angelomus, Bede, and Cajetan at that passage, which see. And 4 Kings 21:13: 'And I will stretch over Jerusalem,' He says, 'the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb-line of the house of Ahab,' that is, I will pronounce against Jerusalem the same sentence that I pronounced against Samaria, and according to it I will destroy and demolish it. Whence, explaining, He adds: 'And I will wipe out Jerusalem, as tablets are wiped clean,' meaning: I will level it with the ground.
Thus in these years we have seen the measuring line of God stretched over our Belgium, and by it cities devastated, monasteries, churches, and very many palaces razed and leveled to the ground.
AND HE DID NOT TURN BACK HIS HAND. — That is, after He began to destroy and demolish Jerusalem, He did not cease, nor did He remove His hand from the work until He completed it.
IT MOURNED, — that is, it caused mourning. Secondly, some think that instead of abal, that is, it mourned, one should read nabal, that is, it flowed down, collapsed. Thirdly, and best, just as metaphorically meadows smile when they bloom: so 'it mourned,' that is, it was mournful, because Jerusalem's 'wall and rampart' were desolated and overthrown. For they used to make a rampart or embankment before the walls, to keep the enemy further from the walls, and this is called the rampart. Sanchez adds that in violent destruction and grief, especially of princes, walls were sometimes torn down. For thus Alexander the Great mourned the death of Hephaestion, as Plutarch testifies in the Pelopidas: 'Alexander,' he says, 'when Hephaestion had died, not only sheared his horses, but also tore the battlements and parapets from the walls; so that even the cities seemed to weep.' Aelian adds, book 7, that the very walls of Ecbatana were also torn down.
Symbolically, Hugo says: The wall of Jerusalem and of any soul is the guardianship of angels; the rampart is the guardianship of men, for example, of prelates and pastors.
Allegorically, Christ, taken away from the Synagogue of the Jews, was transferred and became the wall and rampart of the Church, that is, all its defense and support. He 'mourned' when He wept over Jerusalem; He collapsed when He was crucified.
Verse 9: HER GATES HAVE SUNK INTO THE GROUND:
9. HER GATES HAVE SUNK INTO THE GROUND: — Understand the gates and bars of the city and the temple, in which the ark was. So the Chaldean, Origen, Theodoret, Hugo, Lyranus, Dionysius. These gates and bars, therefore, 'sank into the ground'; because by the collapse and rubble of the falling walls and gates they were so buried that scarcely anything of them was visible. The Rabbis fable that the gates of Jerusalem in its destruction were swallowed by the earth, so that they would not be overthrown by the enemy; and this because they had been made by David, and because the ark passed through them, and at its coming, while the Levites sang: 'Lift up your gates,' Psalm 24, they opened of their own accord.
Secondly, Paschasius, Rabanus, Rupert, St. Thomas, and a Castro understand by 'gates' the princes and judges who sat in the gates, Deuteronomy 16:18. The same, they say, are called 'bars,' because they hold the people together and keep out enemies. These have been 'fixed in the ground,' because they were carried off and detained in Babylon, a gentile and hostile land, and there, obscure and shut up in prison, they were buried alive, as it were. Whence, explaining, he adds: 'He has destroyed the kingdom and its princes.' The former sense, as simpler, is more literal; the latter seems more symbolic.
(1) Or, with C. B. Michaelis, this can be understood as meaning that the destroyed gates sank down into the ditches beneath them.
THERE IS NO LAW, — because all the scrolls of the law were burned with the temple; for which reason Ezra, after the captivity, had to restore and reconstitute them from memory or from divine inspiration. So Paschasius, Hugo, Dionysius, Lyranus. But this is uncertain, indeed rather improbable. For copies of the Scriptures were not only in the temple, but the Jews had them at home and read them. They were therefore scattered throughout Judea.
Secondly, the meaning can be, meaning: Now there is no observance of the law, because before the captivity the Jews violated it. So Theodoret, Rabanus, Vatablus, and Sanchez; after the captivity too, even though willing, they cannot carry out the divine service according to the law in the temple, since it has been burned, and thus observe it. So Theodoret, the Chaldean, Vatablus. Again, the law can no longer be read on sabbaths, as was customary, nor can the people, since they are scattered and carried away, be gathered to hear it. Therefore the promulgation, knowledge, and observance of the law have ceased.
Thirdly, and most simply, meaning: Now there is no form of a state; for the law together with the magistrates constitutes this: for the magistrates, who are the guardians and enforcers of the law, have been captured, and consequently all law lies prostrate. So Rupert and St. Thomas.
HER PROPHETS HAVE NOT FOUND A VISION FROM THE LORD. — 'Prophets,' that is, false prophets, say Origen, Theodoret, Hugo, Lyranus, meaning: Jerusalem was overthrown because it did not observe the law of God, nor listen to His Prophets; but seduced by false ones, it despised God's commands. So Theodoret, Rabanus, Vatablus, and Sanchez. Secondly, better, the Chaldean, Paschasius, Rupert, St. Thomas, meaning: The true Prophets, on account of the sins of the people, do not receive responses from an angry God. For Jeremiah laments that not only the magistrates, kings, and princes have failed, but also the true Prophets; and that thus the entire state of the Jews has been changed into a miserable condition, and sacred things as well as profane have been overturned. For although Jeremiah from time to time at that period received visions from the Lord, yet he was one man, and hated and despised by the people, and regarded as a false prophet. Add that Jeremiah thought, with the city now destroyed and the end, as it were, having come, that he would prophesy no more.
Verse 11: MY LIVER IS POURED OUT UPON THE GROUND.
11. MY LIVER IS POURED OUT UPON THE GROUND. — 'Liver,' that is, blood, whose source is the liver, meaning: From grief and anguish I sweat blood (like Christ, Luke 22:44) so copiously that I am almost bloodless, say Rupert, Hugo, and Dionysius. Secondly, meaning: When these my children and citizens, whom I so love, were struck down by the enemies, at the same time 'my liver,' that is, my love, whose seat is the liver, was cast to the ground, meaning: All affection, all spirit within me has collapsed and fallen. Thirdly, others explain, meaning: 'The liver,' that is gall, that is, the most bitter tears, signs of the greatest grief, were poured forth from me, so that the liver stands for the receptacle of gall, which has its seat in the hollow part of the liver. So a Castro.
Fourthly, 'my liver is poured out upon the ground,' that is, my life, delight, happiness, and glory; for these either consist in the liver, or are symbolically signified by it. Whence the Hebrew cabed, that is, liver, in sound and etymology is almost the same as cabod, that is, glory. Hence the ancient pagans, if the liver was missing from the entrails of a sacrificial victim, took this as an omen of great misfortune. Whence Pliny, book 11, chapter 37: 'For Marcus Marcellus,' he says, 'around the time of his death, when he perished at the hands of Hannibal, the liver was missing from the entrails. It was also missing for Gaius Marius when he was sacrificing at Utica; likewise for the Emperor Gaius on the first of January of the year in which he was killed; and for his successor Claudius in the month in which he was killed by poison.' On the contrary: 'For Augustus, sacrificing at Spoleto on the first day of his power, the livers of six victims were found doubled over from the lowest fiber inward, and the response was that he would double his empire within the year.'
This exposition is supported by the Syriac version, which reads thus: My honor (my glory) has returned to the ground upon the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Arabic also supports this, which I shall cite shortly. Fifthly, and best, so that it is a hyperbole, meaning: 'When they fainted,' namely from hunger and thirst, my little children and nursing infants dying; I was so afflicted with compassion that I seemed about to pour out my liver and bowels and all my innards upon the ground. He names the liver above other organs because the liver is the seat of compassion and love. Thus the Psalmist often complains that his bowels are poured out from grief, as also Job, chapter 16, verse 14.
This exposition is supported by the Antiochene Arabic: His bowels were twisted in his belly, and his heart was congealed, because his honor was overturned upon the ground; and the Alexandrian Arabic: My bowels afflicted me with pain from the abundance of weeping. My honor fell upon the ground from grief over the city of my people.
Gregory of Nyssa relates in the Eulogy of his brother St. Basil, that when a certain Arian prefect threatened to tear out his liver from his bowels, Basil replied with a smile: 'I shall be grateful to you for this intent and purpose. For the liver weighing upon the bowels is no small nuisance. If therefore you tear it out, as you threaten, you will have freed the body from a troublesome and hateful thing.'
(1) When the temple was destroyed, says Pareau, the worship prescribed by the law ceases, as Ezekiel 7:26: The law shall perish from the priest. But as Rosenmuller more correctly notes, at that passage of Ezekiel and in this place, the whole body of the Mosaic laws is evidently meant, both those that pertain to sacred things and those that pertain to civil affairs, which ceased when the city was overthrown.
Here is a striking image and portrait of penitents, in which the outward appearance and squalor fittingly corresponds to the inner grief, and is its sign and witness. First: 'They sat,' he says, 'on the ground'; second, 'they fell silent'; third, 'they sprinkled ashes on their heads'; fourth, 'they girded themselves with sackcloth'; fifth, 'they cast their heads to the ground,' which they formerly raised proudly to heaven, so as to profess themselves wretched, humble, and suppliant; sixth, 'my eyes have failed with weeping'; seventh, 'my bowels are troubled'; eighth, 'my liver is poured out upon the ground for the destruction of the daughter of my people.'
Hear the penitents pouring out their livers, as described by Climacus, Step 5, On Penance: 'Some,' he says, 'I saw standing all night long until morning in the open air, keeping vigil, holding their feet motionless, and when they were miserably oppressed by sleep and tossed about, they forced nature and allowed themselves no rest whatsoever; but rebuked themselves, and roused themselves with insults and reproaches. Others miserably gazing at heaven, and from there invoking help with groans, sighs, and cries. Others standing in prayer, and in the manner of criminals with hands bound behind their backs, bowing their pallid faces to the ground, crying out that they were unworthy to look up to heaven. Some sitting on the floor covered with sackcloth and ashes. Others continually beating their breasts. Very many, as is usual at funerals, were uttering wailing of dire voice over their own souls. Others were roaring from the depths of their hearts, and restraining the sound of their groans within their mouths. But sometimes when they could not contain themselves, they suddenly cried out; you would have seen in them their tongues panting like those of dogs, protruding from their mouths. Of these, some tormented themselves under the most burning heat of the sun: others, on the contrary, afflicted themselves with the most bitter cold. Some, tasting a little water so as not to dry up entirely from thirst, rested thus; some, when they had received a tiny bit of bread, threw the rest far away, declaring themselves unworthy to eat rational food, since they had acted irrationally. What place could laughter have had among them? What idle talk?'
Verse 12: THEY SAID TO THEIR MOTHERS: WHERE IS BREAD AND WINE?
12. THEY SAID TO THEIR MOTHERS: WHERE IS BREAD AND WINE? — 'They said,' not the nursing infants, but the somewhat older little children; for these feed on bread and wine, the former on milk.
LIKE THE WOUNDED, — just as the wounded faint from their wound, so these were dying of famine, fainting and expiring; for famine is a weapon harder than a sword driven into the bowels; which would pierce the hearts not only of mothers, but also of enemies. A babbling little child with gasping voice asked for bread, and in the very act of asking, as his breath failed, breathed out his soul. An infant brought its mouth to its mother's dry breasts, and in their embrace, with its spirit dissolving, expired; indeed there was here: 'Grief, everywhere terror, and death's image on every side.'
THEY BREATHED OUT THEIR SOULS, — from starvation. So the Chaldean and others commonly. Differently Vatablus; for he translates, when they poured out their soul, that is, their vow and desire.
IN THEIR MOTHERS' ARMS, — asking from them bread and food. Similar is 1 Samuel 1:45 and chapter 18:1; for Jerusalem was besieged by the Chaldeans for two years, whence there was an immense famine in it, so that many were killed by it; and even mothers ate their own sons, as is evident from verse 20.
Verse 13: TO WHOM SHALL I COMPARE YOU?
13. TO WHOM SHALL I COMPARE YOU? — In Hebrew ma aidech, what testimony shall I bring, that is, what example of calamity shall I be able to find that is similar to yours, in order to console you? For it is a comfort for the wretched to have a companion in their misfortunes. But your disaster surpasses the slaughter of the Egyptians under Moses, Exodus 14, of the Canaanites under Joshua, chapter 7, of the Philistines under David, of the Hebrews under Eli; and every other ever seen or heard of in the world. So the Hebrews, the Chaldean, and the Septuagint.
TO WHOM SHALL I EQUATE YOU? — The Septuagint translate: Who will save you? For by metathesis, instead of asue, they read osca, that is, I will save, from the root iasca, that is, he saved.
AND I WILL COMFORT YOU, — that is, so that I may comfort you, namely by some companion in suffering, equal or nearly equal to you in punishment.
GREAT AS THE SEA. — Just as no quantity of waters can be compared with the sea, so that all the rivers flowing into the sea do not increase it because they are like a drop: so no grief can be compared with your grief, because all the calamities of others are to yours as a drop to the sea. So Lyranus. Again, just as the sea is so vast that it cannot be contained or enclosed: so your grief is so great that it cannot be restrained by any barrier of consolation. Thirdly, the Chaldean and Vatablus explain, meaning: Your affliction is as great as the surging of the sea; your sorrows are as numerous as the storms and waves by which the sea is lashed. Whence the Syriac translates: Your destruction is multiplied like the sea; and the Arabic: Your destruction has prevailed. Fourthly, your destruction is 'like the sea' because it is most bitter, incurable, most profound, immense, and a virtual abyss of evils. The Septuagint translate: Great is the cup of your destruction; for they had read cos, that is, cup, instead of keiam, that is, like the sea.
(1) Differently C. B. Michaelis, according to the Hebrew: 'What attestation shall I use toward you? meaning: The magnitude of your evil seems to require consolation from me, which I would most willingly impart to you; but to one seeking arguments of consolation, nothing presents itself that could in any way lighten your grief.' Similarly Pareau: How shall I adjure you, namely, to accept consolation?
Finally, just as the sea, raising its waves and dashing them together, shatters and breaks ships, and swallows the broken ones: so God shattered and swallowed up the commonwealth of the Jews, and brought it about that only a few planks, signs of shipwreck, floated to the surface. Thus the Jews, now scattered throughout the whole world, what else are they but the pitiable signs and planks of this shipwreck, according to that saying of Isaiah 30:17: 'Until you are left like the mast of a ship.' Again Rupert says: 'Like the sea, because whoever approaches to heal' your evils and waves, 'suffers the shipwreck of persecution and death.'
Note: So great are the waves and destructive power of the sea, that Cato regretted ever having gone by ship where he could have traveled on foot. Aristotle calls seafaring men twice dead, because they are never sure of their life until they reach port. Crantor, a disciple of Plato, closed the windows of his father's house that looked out upon the sea: asked why, he said: 'I do not wish to gaze upon the waters, lest my mind desire to embark upon them.' For it is more fitting for a fool to sail than for a wise man; for God assigned the land to men, the air to birds, the water to fish. Rightly Sirach 43:26 says: 'Let those who sail the sea tell of its perils.' And Psalm 106:23: 'Those who go down to the sea in ships, doing business in great waters, they have seen the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.' Hence Seneca says that sailors walk between the paths of life and death: and Anacharsis said they are only four fingers (by which the ship rises above the sea) distant from death, as Laertius testifies. Wherefore the Psalmist, Psalm 68:3, says: 'I have come into the depth of the sea,' that is, to the summit of evils.
Tropologically, all these things are easily applied to the sinning soul, which like the sea is continually tossed and surges with the waves of thoughts, desires, griefs, anxieties, fears, and all the passions. Whence Hugo matches seven qualities of the sea to an equal number of vices: namely, the wonderful swellings of the sea (Psalm 92) to pride; its saltiness, which brings thirst, to avarice that is always crying: 'Bring more, bring more'; its bitterness, to envy; its waves, to anger; its foam, to lust, according to that saying of Jude: 'Raging waves of the sea foaming out their own confusions'; its depth, to hypocrisy and human cunning, whose heart is deep and unsearchable; its whirlpools, to gluttony; its turbulence and darkness, to sadness. So also Delrio, adage 878.
DESTRUCTION, — that is, the punishment and plague by which you have been crushed; so the interpreters: or by which the Chaldeans have crushed you. Differently Rupert, meaning: Your fall and sin surpasses the sin of the Ninevites, who repented at the preaching of Jonah, and of Tyre and Sidon which border the sea; because if they had seen what God did in you, they would have done penance in ashes and sackcloth, Luke 10:43. But 'destruction' here, just as it does not signify the virtue of contrition and penance, so neither does it mean a fall into sin; but only affliction, grief, and sorrow. For this is the Hebrew scebar; yet from this one rises to penance, namely: for ordinarily grief over punishment leads men to grief over the guilt which was the cause of their punishment: for whoever clearly sees destructions, that is, the penalties which guilt has brought, is easily stirred to contrition and penance for the guilt.
Therefore, just as grief and sorrow over punishment is like the sea: so also sorrow over guilt ought to be like the sea. For not all the waters of the sea would suffice for the tears with which a single mortal sin would need to be worthily bewailed.
Rightly therefore St. Ambrose, in the book To a Fallen Virgin, chapter 8, prescribes this form of penance for her: 'First of all,' he says, 'all care for this life must be destroyed in you, and considering yourself as dead, as you are, think about how you may come back to life. Then you must put on mourning garments, and your mind and each of your limbs must be punished with fitting chastisement. Let the hair be cut off, which through vainglory provided the occasion of lust; let tears flow from the eyes, which did not look upon a man innocently; let the face grow pale which once bloomed with immodesty; finally let the whole body be wasted by hardships and fasts, sprinkled with ashes and covered with sackcloth, let it shudder, because it was wrongly pleased with its own beauty. If the sinner does not spare himself, God will spare him; a great wound needs deep and prolonged medicine; a great crime requires a great satisfaction.'
Thus like the sea, the contrition of St. Mary Magdalene, St. Mary of Egypt, and other penitents in Climacus, Step 3, was immense, as well as that of St. Pelagia the Penitent, who, converted by Blessed Nonnus, changed her garments and fled to Jerusalem, and there to the end of her life lived in prayer and tears doing austere penance, as her Life records on October 12. Of whom therefore a Christian poet said truly and acutely: 'From sea to sea, tearful Pelagia, you pass, While you overwhelm your sad deeds with your tears.'
Allegorically, many apply these things to Christ, suffering the most atrocious things on the cross for our sins, and to His Mother suffering with Him; for great as the sea was Your destruction, O Christ, and O Virgin, who could truly say with Naomi: 'Do not call me Naomi (that is, beautiful), but call me Mara (that is, bitter), for the Almighty has filled me with bitterness,' Ruth 1:20. Likewise, call me Mara, not Maria.
Verse 14: YOUR PROPHETS (false prophets, whom you said were true Pr...
14. YOUR PROPHETS (false prophets, whom you said were true Prophets) SAW (that is, prophesied) (for Prophets were called Seers) FOOLISH THINGS (in Hebrew, insipid; because) THEY DID NOT LAY OPEN YOUR INIQUITY, — but excused it and glossed it over by flattering you and pandering to your pleasures, desires, and vices.
Note: A preacher ought not to preach soft and pleasing things, but hard and harsh things, sometimes even seasoned with the salt of reproof: where this salt is, there is wisdom, there is purity, there is truth, there is compunction, there is health. But the soft and carnal prefer to be anointed with the oil of flattering speech than to be rubbed with salt: hence they rot and perish.
TO PROVOKE YOU TO REPENTANCE. — Rightly: for in Hebrew it is, to turn your turning. The Septuagint however translate the same: To bring back or avert your captivity, as Theodoret explains. Again R. Solomon translates, to turn back, that is, to correct, your turnings away, that is, your transgressions; for the Hebrew scebutech signifies all these things. The meaning is, says Olympiodorus: Your prophets did not tell you what was true, they did not set before your eyes the gravity of your iniquities, so that you might recognize them, groan, and be converted to God, and thus not become a captive; because, as the Chaldean translates: They did not preach the vengeance that was to come upon you for your wickedness.
BUT THEY SAW (that is, prophesied) FOR YOU FALSE ORACLES. — In Hebrew it is massa, that is, burden or load, as Aquila translates, that is, a burdensome prophecy threatening punishment: so the Chaldean, Pagninus, Vatablus; whence our translator renders it 'oracle': because this burden is taken up or raised against someone. Again because it must be borne by him upon whose shoulders it is aimed and imposed by God through the Prophet.
You will say: These prophets were prophesying prosperous and happy things for the Jews; how then are their prophecies called a burden? I reply: 'Burden' or 'oracle' is sometimes extended to any prophecy, even a joyful one. Secondly, properly it was here a burden, because these Prophets, in order to imitate Jeremiah who was threatening the Jews with 'the burden of the Lord,' and to show that his threats were empty and false, were prophesying that this burden of the Lord rested on the Chaldeans, not on the Jews; namely, that the Chaldeans would shortly be punished and devastated by God; and thus they incited the Jews to rebel against them and fight bravely against them.
Thirdly, and more subtly, Maldonatus says: These prophets, lest they seem always to prophesy pleasant things, would sometimes mix in certain slight adversities, but false and fabricated ones, just as flatterers, as Plutarch said in the treatise On Distinguishing a Flatterer from a Friend, lest they seem to always speak for favor, sometimes rebuke those whom they most flatter, like puppies that pretend to bite their master but do not sink their teeth in. For a true friend sinks his teeth in and bites, in order to bite off and remove the vice from his friend. Therefore he calls their prophecies a burden.
AND BANISHMENTS. — In Hebrew madduchim, that is, expulsions. Now first, Olympiodorus, Theodoret, and Vatablus supply 'from God': for they prophesied those things which drove the Jews from the right way, and removed them far from God. Secondly, 'banishments,' namely of the Chaldeans from Judea, or from Chaldea itself and its empire, say Hugo, St. Thomas, and Bonaventure. Thirdly, 'banishments,' namely those which would cast off from your back the burdens threatened by the true prophets, and throw them upon the back of your enemies, namely the Chaldeans. So Paschasius. Or they were predicting 'banishments,' that is, they were predicting that it would soon come about that Jehoiachin and others ejected from Judea to Babylon would return to their homeland.
Fourthly, Lyranus and Dionysius say, 'banishments,' meaning: Their false burdens, that is, prophecies, although outwardly flattering and prosperous, in reality were your banishments, because while you believed them, you deserved to be cast out of your land and to go captive to Babylon: you deserved to be cast down from your dignity, rank, honor, and all your goods, and to fall into disgrace, poverty, exile, and every misery. This sense seems fuller and more forceful.
Fifthly, Maldonatus, as I said, judges that these false prophets mixed in some sad things with the happy ones, and threatened the Jews with some banishments and exiles, but light and brief ones, especially if they would not believe in them and their prophecies, and would not obey.
Verse 15: THEY CLAPPED,
15. THEY CLAPPED, — with the gesture of mockers, says Lyranus: or rather, as Theodoret, Olympiodorus, Hugo, St. Thomas say, with the gesture of those admiring, grieving, and astonished at so great a change and calamity of Jerusalem.
IS THIS THE CITY OF PERFECT BEAUTY? — In Hebrew: Is this the city, the perfection of beauty? that is, of consummate beauty, so that it seemed it should be called beauty itself, loveliness itself, indeed the perfection of all loveliness. Thus of the most beautiful Queen Jezebel, torn apart by dogs, 'passersby said: Is this that Jezebel?'
THE JOY OF ALL THE EARTH, — because, namely, she as mistress of all the earth, which obeyed her, rejoiced and gloried. Again, Jerusalem, heaped with riches, pomp, wisdom, the royal court, the pontificate (for it was the seat and court of both pontiffs and kings), peace, trumpets, psalteries, and every good thing, seemed to be the joy of the world, especially on feast days and solemnities, to which therefore nations from the whole world flocked, and those entering it seemed to be entering a wedding feast and pure joy. For as Psalm 86:7 says: 'As the dwelling of all the joyful is in you.' For earthly Jerusalem was a type of heavenly Jerusalem, which is the city of eternal happiness and delight.
Verse 16: THEY OPENED THEIR MOUTHS AGAINST YOU,
16. THEY OPENED THEIR MOUTHS AGAINST YOU, — like famished beasts desiring to devour and swallow you with the full gaping of their mouths and throats. So Origen, Rabanus, Hugo. Or in order to insult and reproach you, and to mock and ridicule you. So Theodoret, Paschasius, Hugo, St. Thomas, Vatablus.
THEY HISSED, — like serpents, which, having seized their prey, hiss before they tear it apart and devour it. THEY GNASHED THEIR TEETH, — like wolves and lions, which sharpen their teeth by gnashing them upon the prey they hold in their claws. This is also the gesture of those who insult and mock.
WE WILL DEVOUR HER, — let us devour; for the enemies here stir themselves up against Jerusalem, and to display their fury more fully, they speak like cannibals craving human flesh: 'We will devour,' not 'let us devour'; the Hebrew and the Septuagint have, 'we have devoured,' that is, 'we will devour,' in the prophetic manner.
WE HAVE FOUND IT, WE HAVE SEEN IT. — To find is to achieve one's goal and obtain one's wishes, as is evident from Proverbs 19:8; to see is to enjoy and feast upon the thing desired; as if they said: Behold, the long-desired day is here, on which we may storm and devastate the Jews, so hateful to us: on which we may satiate ourselves with their spoils, blood, and slaughter.
Verse 17: HE HAS FULFILLED THE WORD WHICH HE HAD DECREED,
17. HE HAS FULFILLED THE WORD WHICH HE HAD DECREED, — namely, to be proclaimed or threatened against you through the Prophets. So the Chaldean, Rupert, Bonaventure. Or more simply, 'which He had decreed,' that is, ordained and established as the penalty for the violation of His precept.
HE HAS DESTROYED AND HAS NOT SPARED, — that is, irremissibly, and, so to speak, implacably He has destroyed Judea and Jerusalem. For a verb is used in place of an adverb, in the Hebrew manner.
HE HAS EXALTED THE HORN, — that is, the power, strength, and forces. So St. Thomas, Hugo, and Vatablus, and consequently the victories, triumphs, glory, and dominion. So the Chaldean.
OF YOUR FOES. — Note: Jeremiah in this chapter and chapter 3 places the letter pe before the letter ain, whereas commonly the latter is now placed after the former, as he placed it in chapter 1. Wherefore it seems that formerly there was no fixed order between these letters; but now this one, now that one was placed first. So Sanchez. Or rather, Jeremiah looked to the order and connection of meaning and thoughts rather than of letters (for these are trivial minutiae). For since in the preceding letter samech he had said: 'They hissed and shook their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: Is this the city, they said, of perfect beauty?' etc. Hence he fittingly adds not the letter ain, but pe, which signifies 'mouth,' and continuing the thought begun under samech, he says: 'All your enemies opened their mouths against you: they hissed, and gnashed their teeth; and said: We will devour her: behold, this is the day we awaited: we have found it, we have seen it.' Similar is chapter 3:48.
Verse 18: THEIR HEART CRIED OUT TO THE LORD.
18. THEIR HEART CRIED OUT TO THE LORD. — 'Their,' not of the Chaldeans and of Rabshakeh, Isaiah chapter 36:4, who blasphemed God, as if He could not have protected the Jews from his hand and army, as Paschasius, Rabanus, St. Thomas, and Lyranus explain. For he cried not to, but against the Lord. Nor of Moses and the Prophets, as Rupert says, but of the Jews, who in their being conquered, cried out to God from their inmost heart and grief, that He might have mercy on them. So the Chaldean, St. Thomas, Lyranus, Dionysius.
UPON THE WALLS, — for the walls, lest the walls of Jerusalem be overthrown; or rather, that those already overthrown, as is evident from the preceding verse, might be restored. Differently Sanchez: The Jews, he says, here exhort the walls of the daughter of Zion, that is, themselves (for the containing thing is put for the contained, namely the city and walls for the citizens), that each one should continually weep and cry out to the Lord, who alone can restrain the Chaldeans and restore the walls. Therefore one says to another: 'Send down tears like a torrent.' But this cry is to the Lord, not to the citizens, and it is not of the walls, but for the walls. Whence the Roman edition places a colon before 'send down,' as if a new sentence began there, as I shall shortly explain.
Differently also from the Hebrew the Septuagint translate, connecting them with what follows, namely: O wall of Zion (once splendid, now mere ruins), make tears flow down like a torrent, as if it were a personification addressed to the walls, that they should weep. But better, the Latin translator punctuates and divides these words so that before 'send down' he places a period, and there a new sentence begins, in which the Prophet turns his speech from the Jews crying out for the walls to the daughter of Zion, whom he wants to weep continually; whence he says: 'Send down tears like a torrent' — not 'send them down' (plural).
NOR LET IT BE SILENT, — that is, let it not cease from tears: for the Hebrews often take 'to be silent' to mean 'to cease,' as I said at Jeremiah 47:6.
Verse 19: CRY OUT.
19. CRY OUT. — The Septuagint, Vatablus, and Pagninus translate, cry aloud or shout. For the Hebrew ranan signifies to cry out, whether in praise, in song, or in lamentation: commonly, however, it signifies to rejoice and to praise. Thus our translator here renders it 'praise,' that is, pray, beseech: and this, first, because prayer is a silent praise of God, and in it praise of Him must be taken up. Second, because the Jews when praying would take up the praises of their ancestors, saying: For the merits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have mercy on me; for thus Jeremiah did, chapter 7:11, and Judith, chapter 9:2. Third, because prayer must begin with praise and thanksgiving; for thus when we are about to ask something from a prince, we capture his goodwill by first commemorating and praising his generosity toward us and others. Fourth, because prayer is most efficacious if in adversity as well as in prosperity we praise and give thanks to God, and say with David: 'I will bless the Lord at all times'; and with holy Job: 'The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.'
Whence that holy Abbot in the Lives of the Fathers, in the treatise On Fortitude, teaches that a singular remedy against all temptations and tribulations is, if anyone in them resigns himself to God and gives Him thanks; and that God soon removes from such a person every warfare of temptation, and he gives the proof and example of this.
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WATCHES. — He does not say, in the first watch, or at the rising of dawn, as the Chaldean translates, nor at the beginning, that is, before all the watches, as Origen and Olympiodorus explain; but he elaborates on what he had said: 'Arise, cry out in the night,' namely through each watch of the night, at their beginnings praising, that is, adoring, God: for your affliction will rouse you to this, so that while other men sleep, you in your grief cannot sleep, but lie awake to God, and ardently and frequently beseech Him to relieve your extreme misery.
(1) In Hebrew: O wall of the daughter of Zion, send down tears like a torrent. Since this personification seemed to some of the more recent interpreters too bold and not sufficiently elegant, they thought the passage was corrupt, and various ones tried to emend it in various ways.... Yet as Pareau wisely points out, no serious reason for questioning this passage appears. 'For just as among all the best writers, both Greek and Latin, through the fiction of a person, not only speech is attributed to regions, cities, and the state, so that, according to Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory, book 9, chapter 2, even cities receive a voice, but also sentiments of the soul are attributed to them, and among the Hebrews this kind of thing is by far the most frequent. Thus Isaiah 3:26, grief and mourning are announced to the gates of Zion. Above in 1:4, the ways of Zion are said to mourn. Why then should not in this place the deserted and desolate walls cause a torrent of tears to flow down, and then also in simple prayer beseech deliverance from this so wretched fate?' (From Rosenmuller.)
To this purpose serves the exposition of Sanchez, which is as follows: Do not cease from tears and prayers, until, when the other fountains of tears have been exhausted, the heart itself wastes away, and melted, flows out through the dropping eyes. As a sign of this, the afflicted and those praying would pour out water, as is evident from 1 Samuel 7:6.
Morally, note here that the power and efficacy of prayer does not consist in many well-composed words, but in affection, groaning, desires, and an affectionate and ardent pouring forth of the heart. Whence St. Bernard says: 'A great cry in the ears of God is vehement desire'; for before God, not the cry of the mouth, but the love of the heart avails; and Paul, Romans 8, says: 'The Spirit pleads for us with unutterable groanings.' Hence David praying says, Psalm 141:3: 'I pour out my prayer before Him.' And Psalm 41:5: 'I have poured out my soul within me.' And Psalm 61:9: 'Pour out your hearts before Him.' Thus in the time of Judith, chapter 5:14: 'All the Jews, from a common lamentation and weeping, unanimously poured out their prayers to the Lord.' Thus barren Hannah poured out her soul before the Lord, and obtained her son Samuel, 1 Samuel 1:15.
For to pour out one's heart before the Lord means to lay bare before God all the affections of the heart, all griefs, all feelings of the soul, all prayers and desires, and to transfer them into His bosom and providence, so that He Himself may help and provide for them. And so this phrase signifies: first, the immense affliction of the one praying: for those who are greatly afflicted are accustomed to pour out their griefs through tears, groans, and complaints into the ears of friends and listeners; second, humility, that they pour their heart before God like water on the ground, as it were; third, sincerity, that they pour out all their affections before God, hiding nothing, withholding nothing; fourth, resignation, that they pour and resign all their affairs into God's providence; fifth, hope and trust, that by as it were alienating and casting away all their affections and desires from themselves, they believe and commit them to God alone.
LIFT UP YOUR HANDS — to almsgiving, to works of mercy and virtue; so Origen, Paschasius, Rabanus, Rupert, Hugo; secondly, and better, the Chaldean and St. Thomas: 'Lift up your hands,' that is, pray. Xenophon, Cyropaedia, book 9: 'We raise our hands,' he says, 'to heaven, by which posture we testify that we offer prayer to God as a most pleasing gift; or that we raise our heart to God as an excellent offering.' Hence in the sacrifice the priest raises his hands. See the many things I noted about this gesture at 1 Timothy chapter 2:8.
FOR THE SOUL, — for the sake of the soul, for the sake of the life of which the little children have been deprived, who were gradually consumed by famine (for this is the Hebrew ataph), so that at the sight of them He may have mercy on you. Therefore, some less correctly refer these words to prayers for the souls in purgatory, which they try to prove from this passage, when other clear arguments are available.
Note first: The Romans in their camps divided the night into four watches, so that four times, that is, every three hours, some watchmen would succeed others at their post upon a signal given by the trumpeter. Whence Lucan, book 7: 'The third hour had already roused the second watch.' Hence the Jews received the first, second, third, and fourth watches of the night, Mark 13:34.
Again, both Christians and Jews derived from this the prayer hours of Prime, Terce, Sext, and None; for the first watch begins at the first hour, the second begins at the third hour, the third begins at the sixth hour, the fourth begins at the ninth hour.
Note here, second, that pious men, awakened at night at the beginning of the watches, were accustomed to praise and pray to God. Thus Christians of old used to sing pre-dawn hymns to Christ and God, as Pliny writes to Trajan. Thus 'Theodoric, king of the Goths, with a minimal retinue, would go every day to the pre-dawn assemblies of his priests, and would venerate them with great devotion,' says Sidonius Apollinaris, book 1, epistle 2. And from this arose the three nocturns and Lauds in the Ecclesiastical Office: for these correspond to the four watches of the night. Moses also admonished this, Deuteronomy 6:7, saying: 'You shall meditate (on the precepts of God) while sleeping.' For this reason God willed that roosters should crow, to rouse the sleeping to this, as I said there. Wherefore St. Jerome rightly instructs the virgin Eustochium, saying: 'Be the cicada of the nights, wash your bed every night, water your couch with your tears. Be watchful, and become like a sparrow in solitude.'
Hear also the notable teaching of St. Gregory Nazianzen, and from him of Damascene, book 2 of the Parallels, chapter 39: 'This is the most excellent order, that whoever undertakes any prayer or business should both begin with God and end in God.' Let Christ be your beginning, let Christ end all things for you.
POUR OUT YOUR HEART LIKE WATER BEFORE THE FACE OF THE LORD, — so that the hardness of your heart may be melted through love and devotion, says St. Thomas. Secondly, Paschasius says: Pour out from your inmost heart the tears of compunction; the Chaldean: Pour out through penance, like water, the perversity of your heart.
Thirdly, and best, meaning: Just as one who turns a vessel upside down pours out all the water; so from the vessel of the heart, set forth and pour out to God all your desires, afflictions, and groans, with tears rather than with words. Note here: He does not say: Pour out like oil, some part of which always clings to the vessel, but like water; because nothing of it remains in the vessel, but it is entirely poured out: so we must pour out our whole heart, and all its loves and griefs, to God. This is the prayer pleasing to God.
OF THE CROSSROADS. — In Hebrew chutsoth, that is, of the streets.
Verse 20: SEE.
20. SEE. — This is the prayer of the people of Jerusalem, to which they were urged and led by Jeremiah in the preceding verse. So Hugo and St. Thomas.
WHOM YOU HAVE GLEANED, — that is, to what few remnants You have led away and taken us captive through Nebuzaradan. See chapter 1:22. So Olympiodorus.
SHALL THEY THEN EAT? — meaning: Who has ever heard of such a frenzy of famine, that mothers should eat their own infants, as happened in Jerusalem?
OF THE SIZE OF A PALM. — In Hebrew, that is, of the size of a palm, palm-sized, that is, newborn infants and little children. Note: The Hebrew tapach signifies to spread out with the palm, to stretch, as mothers stretch out the limbs of little children, so that they do not remain contracted or twisted; but rather properly flatten them: hence tapach also signifies to raise, and to bring to growth and full size, as is evident from verse 20 and the last verse. Whence Pagninus translates, little children of nurturing; the Chaldean, lovable infants, who were wrapped in silken cloths, meaning: Mothers ate their own little ones, whom they had recently given birth to, raised, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and formed with their palms, and whom therefore they loved most tenderly: so great was the bitterness of famine!
The Lord had threatened this, Deuteronomy 28:53; and that it happened in Jerusalem is evident from Lamentations 4:10: 'The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children.'
Note: This punishment belonged to unbelief and unbelievers, that mothers should eat their children. For thus in Samaria, when it worshipped the golden calves, mothers in the siege ate their children, as is evident from 4 Kings 6:28. The same happened to Jerusalem when besieged by the Chaldeans, as is evident here, because it was faithless to Jeremiah and to God. The same happened to it again when besieged by Titus and Vespasian, as Josephus testifies, Wars, book 3, chapter 8, because it was then faithless to Christ. The same happened in this century in a city of France commonly called Sancerre: for when it was besieged by Catholics, two Calvinist women ate their infants in the year of the Lord 1572, as Florimundus Remundus testifies, in the book On the Antichrist, chapter 7; and indeed the heretics themselves who were present and published a book about this siege testify to it.
WAS THE PRIEST SLAIN? — From this it seems that some priest and prophet was slain in the temple by the Chaldeans, one or more. The Hebrews with the Chaldean take these words as referring to Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, meaning: Why do you complain, mothers, that you ate your children, when you yourselves killed Zechariah the prophet and priest in the temple? Whence the Jews relate that the blood of the slain Zechariah boiled like a bubbling pot until the arrival of Nebuzaradan: who, learning of this, avenged his death with a great slaughter of the senators, and once vengeance was taken, the blood ceased to boil. But the credibility of this rests with the Jews. I certainly give no credence to this exposition or this story: for it smacks of some Rabbi's brain and invention.
Verse 21: THEY LAY
21. THEY LAY — slain. Lyranus, Maldonatus, and Sanchez; or rather, as the Chaldean translates from the Hebrew, meaning: The rich and pampered, who used to recline on swollen cushions and ivory beds, now cast out and despised by the Chaldeans, lie and sleep 'outside,' that is, in the streets. So also Paschasius, Hugo, and St. Thomas. Thus in chapter 4, verse 5, he says of the same: 'Those who were nourished in scarlet have embraced dung.'
YOU STRUCK. — The Hebrew, the Chaldean, the Septuagint say: You butchered, you slaughtered like a butcher; for this is the Hebrew tebachta.
Verse 22: YOU SUMMONED AS TO A FEAST DAY THOSE WHO WOULD TERRIFY ME...
22. YOU SUMMONED AS TO A FEAST DAY THOSE WHO WOULD TERRIFY ME FROM EVERY SIDE, — meaning: By Your nod and command, as of a general of a hostile camp, the neighboring nations were summoned and gathered together, just as they formerly used to flock to Jerusalem whenever some great feast was being celebrated; so now they came with the Chaldeans to terrify and plunder me. This is evident from Jeremiah 1:15. The Hebrew has it more forcefully: You called megurai, that is, my fears, terrors, or dreads, that is, as Vatablus says, You summoned the enemies who are a terror to me, and whom I fear, lest they snatch away my little ones and children.
The Septuagint: You summoned my colonies or parishes, that is, You summoned all those dwelling in villages and neighboring places to Jerusalem out of fear of the Chaldeans, where they were all besieged, slain, or captured. So Theodoret.
Sanchez notes that there is an allusion here to three things that used to happen on a feast day and solemnity: first, victims were slaughtered on it, meaning: So You summoned the Chaldeans as sacrificers, to slaughter not bulls, but Your own citizens; second, an immense crowd of people would flock from everywhere to the feasts, meaning: So You assembled an immense force of enemies against Jerusalem; third (which is chiefly intended here), at feasts there were security, ease, and joy, meaning: With You as leader summoning the enemies, they, as it were certain of victory and plunder, flocked into the city so eagerly, as if they wished to observe festive and joyful days, and did not have to undergo the heavy burden of war.
I RAISED. — In Hebrew tippachti, that is, I flattened, formed, and nurtured the little children, about which I spoke at verse 20. Each of these words must be weighed, for each one contains immense pathos.
HE CONSUMED THEM. — The Septuagint translate 'all of them'; for they read cullam; better, our translator and others commonly read killam, that is, he consumed them.
Tropologically, this entire chapter can easily be applied to the sinning soul, which, having been endowed by God with so many benefits, through ingratitude lost all of them, and all grace and beauty; whence, repenting, it returns to God and prays for pardon.
Of the crossroads. — In Hebrew muna chutsoth, that is, of the streets.
20. See. — This is the prayer of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to which they were impelled and led by Jeremiah in the preceding verse. So Hugh and St. Thomas.
Whom you have harvested, — that is, to what few remnants you have carried away and taken captive through Nebuzaradan. See chapter I, 22. So Olympiodorus.
Shall they then eat? — as if to say: Who has ever heard of such a frenzy of hunger, that mothers should eat their own infants, as happened in Jerusalem?
To the measure of a palm. — In Hebrew ביחים ביף שניהים chim, that is, of the size of a palm, palm-sized, that is, newborn infants and little ones. Note: The Hebrew neu tapach means to spread out with the palm, to extend, as mothers stretch out the limbs of their little ones, lest they remain contracted or distorted; but so that they may properly smooth them: hence tapach also means to nurture, and to bring to growth and full size, as is clear from verse 20 and the last verse. Whence Pagninus translates, little ones of nurturing; the Chaldean, lovable infants who were wrapped in silken cloths, as if to say: Mothers ate their little ones, whom they had recently borne, raised, wrapped in swaddling bands, and shaped with the palm, and whom therefore they loved most tenderly: so great was the severity of the famine! The Lord had threatened this, Deuteronomy XXVIII, 53; and that it happened in Jerusalem is clear from Lamentations IV, 10: "The hands of women have cooked their own children."
Note: This punishment was the result of faithlessness and of the faithless, that mothers should eat their children. For thus in Samaria, when it worshipped the golden calves, mothers during the siege ate their children, as is clear from IV Kings VI, 28. The same happened to Jerusalem besieged by the Chaldeans, as is clear here, because it was unfaithful to Jeremiah and to God. The same happened to it when besieged by Titus and Vespasian, as Josephus testifies, Book III of the War, chapter VIII, because it was then unfaithful to Christ. The same happened in this age in a city of France which is commonly called Sancerre: for when it was besieged by the Catholics, two Calvinist women ate their infants in the year of the Lord 1572, as Florimundus Remundus testifies, Book on the Antichrist, chapter VII; indeed even the heretics themselves who were present also published a book about this siege.
In Hebrew muna chutsoth, that is, of the streets. Let the credibility rest with the Jews. I certainly give no credence either to this interpretation or to this history: for it smells of some Rabbi's invention and fabrication.
21. They lay — slain. Lyranus, Maldonatus, and Sanchez, or rather, as from the Hebrew, the Chaldean translates, as if to say: The wealthy and the pampered, who used to recline on swollen cushions and ivory couches, now cast out and despised by the Chaldeans, "outside," that is in the streets, they lie and rest. So also Paschasius, Hugh, and St. Thomas. Thus in chapter IV, verse 5, he says of the same: "Those who were nurtured in saffron garments have embraced dung."
You have struck. — The Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint have: you have butchered, you have slaughtered like a butcher; for this is the Hebrew תבחם tebachta.
22. You have called as to a solemn feast day those who terrify me from every side, — as if to say: At your nod and command, as if you were the general of the enemy camps, the neighboring nations were summoned and gathered, just as they once used to flock to Jerusalem when some notable feast was being celebrated; so now they have come with the Chaldeans to terrify and plunder me. This is clear from Jeremiah I, 15. The Hebrew has it more forcefully: You have called מנורי megurai, that is, my fears, terrors, or dreads, that is, as Vatablus says, you have summoned enemies who are a terror to me, and whom I fear, lest they snatch away my little ones and children. The Septuagint has: you have called my colonies or parishes, that is, you summoned all those dwelling in villages and neighboring places to Jerusalem out of fear of the Chaldeans, where all were besieged, slain, or captured. So Theodoretus.
Sanchez notes that there is here an allusion to three things that used to happen on a feast day and solemnity: first, on it victims were slaughtered, as if to say: Thus you summoned the Chaldeans as sacrificers, so that they might slaughter not oxen but citizens for you; second, to the feasts there flowed together from everywhere a vast multitude of people, as if to say: Thus you gathered an enormous force of enemies against Jerusalem; third (which is chiefly intended here) at the feasts there was security, ease, and joy, as if to say: With you as leader summoning the enemies, they, as though certain of victory and plunder, flocked so eagerly into the city as if they wanted to observe festive and joyful days, and not undertake the heavy burden of war.
I have reared. — In Hebrew מפחתי tippachti, that is, I smoothed, formed, and nourished the little ones, about which I spoke at verse 20. Each of these words should be weighed, for each contains immense pathos.
He has consumed them. — The Septuagint translates, all of them; for they read כלם cullam; better our Translator and others generally read כלם killam, that is, He has consumed them.
Tropologically, this whole chapter is easily applied to the sinful soul, which, having been blessed by God with so many benefits, through ingratitude has lost all those things, and all grace and beauty; whence the penitent returns to God and prays for pardon.
If the priest is killed? — Hence it appears that some priest and prophet was killed in the temple by the Chaldeans, one or more. The Hebrews along with the Chaldean understand this of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, as if to say: Why do you complain, mothers, of having eaten your children, when you yourselves have killed Zechariah the prophet and priest in the temple? Whence the Jews relate that the blood of the slain Zechariah boiled like a seething pot, until the arrival of Nebuzaradan: who, learning of this, avenged his death with a great slaughter of senators, and after this vengeance was taken, it ceased to boil. But the credibility of these things rests with the Jews. I certainly give no credence either to this interpretation or to this history: for it smells of some Rabbi's invention and fabrication.