Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to commend and exhort his people to wisdom, and teaches that it consists in the law and worship of God: this he does from verse 1 to 9. Then he introduces Jerusalem as a mother mourning the captivity of her children, whom she consoles with the hope of liberation from verse 9 to verse 30. From there to the end of the chapter the Prophet consoles Jerusalem herself, predicting the destruction of Babylon and the freedom of the Jews.
Vulgate Text: Baruch 4:1-37
1. This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that is forever: all who hold fast to it shall attain life, but those who have forsaken it, unto death. 2. Turn back, Jacob, and take hold of it, walk toward its splendor, in the direction of its light. 3. Do not give your glory to another, nor your dignity to a foreign nation. 4. We are blessed, Israel: because what is pleasing to God has been made known to us. 5. Be of good heart, people of God, memorable Israel: 6. you were sold to the nations not for destruction: but because in anger you provoked God to wrath, you were delivered to your adversaries. 7. For you embittered Him who made you, the eternal God, sacrificing to demons, and not to God. 8. For you forgot the God who nourished you, and you saddened your nurse Jerusalem. 9. For she saw the wrath coming upon you from God, and said: Hear, neighbors of Sion, for God has brought great mourning upon me: 10. For I have seen the captivity of my people, of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal brought upon them: 11. For I nourished them with gladness: but I sent them away with weeping and mourning. 12. Let no one rejoice over me, a widow and desolate: I have been forsaken by many because of the sins of my children, because they turned aside from the law of God. 13. But His ordinances they did not know, nor did they walk in the ways of the commandments of God, nor did they enter upon the paths of His truth with justice. 14. Let the neighbors of Sion come, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal brought upon them.
15. For He brought upon them a nation from afar, a wicked nation, and of another tongue: 16. who had no reverence for the aged, nor pity for children, and they led away the beloved of the widow, and left her desolate, bereft of her children. 17. But how can I help you? 18. For He who brought evils upon you, He Himself will deliver you from the hands of your enemies. 19. Go, my children, go: for I am left alone. 20. I have put off the robe of peace, and have put on the sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry to the Most High in my days. 21. Be of good heart, my children, cry to the Lord, and He will deliver you from the hand of the princes of your enemies. 22. For I have hoped in the Eternal for your salvation: and joy has come to me from the Holy One, on account of the mercy which shall come to you from our eternal Savior. 23. For I sent you forth with mourning and weeping: but the Lord will bring you back to me with joy and gladness forever. 24. For as the neighbors of Sion have seen your captivity from God, so they will also see in haste your salvation from God, which will come upon you with great honor and eternal splendor. 25. My children, patiently endure the wrath that has come upon you: for your enemy has persecuted you, but you will quickly see his destruction: and you will mount upon his neck. 26. My tender ones have walked rough ways: for they were led away like a flock seized by enemies. 27. Be of good heart, my children, and cry out to the Lord: for you shall be remembered by Him who led you. 28. For as your mind was set on straying from God: ten times as much shall you seek Him again when you turn back. 29. For He who brought evils upon you, He Himself will again bring you everlasting gladness with your salvation. 30. Be of good heart, Jerusalem: for He who named you exhorts you. 31. The wicked shall perish who vexed you: and those who rejoiced in your ruin shall be punished; 32. the cities which your children served shall be punished; and she who received your children. 33. For as she rejoiced in your ruin and was glad at your fall, so she shall be grieved at her own desolation. 34. And the exultation of her multitude shall be cut off, and her rejoicing shall be turned to mourning. 35. For fire shall come upon her from the Eternal for long-lasting days, and she shall be inhabited by demons for a long time. 36. Look about you, Jerusalem, toward the east, and see the gladness coming to you from God. 37. For behold, your children are coming, whom you sent away scattered, they come gathered from east to west, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the honor of God.
Verse 1: This book of the commandments of God
1. This book of the commandments of God. — That is, the wisdom of which I treated in the preceding chapter is nothing other than "the book of the commandments of God." See the remarks on chapter 3:14. As David says, Psalm 118:105: "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths;" and Solomon, Proverbs 6:23: "The commandment is a lamp, and the law is light."
And the law that is forever. — Note: He is not speaking of the evangelical law, as Theodoret holds, but of the old law: for he commends this to his fellow Jews. So Hugh and Lyranus. This law is eternal, first, because it lasts a very long time, namely the entire duration of the old law. Second, because the old law as to its moral precepts is eternal; as to its ceremonial precepts, it is eternal not in itself, but as to their completion and perfection in their antitype: for they endure in the new law, namely in the mysteries of Christ and the Church, which they foreshadowed and prefigured, and through which they are fulfilled. Third, because the old law in itself is always true and just, and contains true, not false, promises, even though it was to be changed and abolished. Fourth, because it led its observers to eternal life: for those who observed it out of a spirit of charity and obedience were saved. So Maldonatus.
Verse 2: Turn back, Jacob (O descendants of Jacob, O Israelites), wal...
2. Turn back, Jacob (O descendants of Jacob, O Israelites), walk toward its splendor, — follow the law as a torch shining before you, advance along the path which it shows you by its light and splendor: for, in the direction of its light, — that is, toward the region of its light, as happens when we follow a lamp going before us.
Verse 3: Do not give your glory to another,
3. Do not give your glory to another, — do not subject yourself or seek to please anyone against or apart from God's will, so that for his sake you squander your glory, which is the worship and religion of the one supreme true God, by turning aside to idols and vices. This sense is fitting and genuine. Secondly, Maldonatus says: He calls the law of God the "glory" of the Jews: for through this they were celebrated and glorious among the nations. Thirdly and better, he calls the "glory" of the Jews their Church, priesthood, prophets, etc., by which the people of God was glorious, as if to say: Take care not to offend God and His law, lest God in His anger take from you His worship, the Church, prophets, sacrifices, miracles, and other privileges by which you gloriously surpass other nations, and transfer them to the Chaldeans or another nation, just as He transferred to them your homeland, wealth, and citizens: and just as after Christ He transferred all these things from the Jews to the Christians, according to Christ's prediction, Matthew 21:41. So Hugh, Lyranus, and a Castro.
Verse 4: We are blessed, Israel, because what is pleasing to God has...
4. We are blessed, Israel, because what is pleasing to God has been made known to us, — because, namely, He has declared His will through the law which He gave us. This is what the Psalmist exults in, saying Psalm 147:9: "He has not done so for every nation: and His judgments (His laws) He has not made known to them;" and Moses, Deuteronomy 4:8: "For what other nation is so distinguished as to have ceremonies, and just judgments, and the whole law, which I shall set before your eyes today."
Verse 5: Memorable Israel,
5. Memorable Israel, — that is, O Israel, who are not in forgetfulness but in the memory of God, so that He may free you. So Hugh and Lyranus. But note: In Greek it is μνημόσυνον, that is, memorial or monument, as if to say: O people of God, O Synagogue of the Jews! you are the monument of Israel, namely in which the name and memory of Israel or Jacob are preserved, and of the whole people born from him, who is worthy of eternal memory. He calls the people a memorial because, cut down by wars and reduced to a few, those who survived had been preserved by God as remnants, lest the memory and line of Israel should perish.
Verse 6: You were sold to the nations
6. You were sold to the nations. — That is, you were delivered into servitude to the Chaldeans, just as if you had been sold to them as slaves. It is a catachresis. Thus the Apostle, Romans 7:14, says he was sold under sin, that is, delivered over to concupiscence; and Ahab is said to have been "sold to do evil," that is, given over to his lusts and wickedness, 3 Kings 21:25. Secondly, in the proper sense, the Chaldeans sold the Jews they had captured to other Chaldeans and nations; therefore the Jews were literally sold to the nations. Not for destruction, — not to utterly destroy and annihilate you, but to chastise and purify you.
Verse 8: For you have forgotten the God who nourished you
8. For you have forgotten the God who nourished you. — In Greek it is, ἐπελάθεσθε δὲ τὸν θρέψαντα ὑμᾶς Θεὸν αἰώνιον; that is, you have forgotten the eternal God who begot you, and therefore you have deserved that God likewise forget you forever; but He Himself will forget you for only 70 years, and leave you in captivity, so that by having recourse to Him you may experience His former fatherly care. This is the immense goodness of God. You saddened your nurse Jerusalem. — He calls Jerusalem, not the city and its citizens, for these had sinned and saddened Jerusalem; but the Church which had nourished them in the faith, law, and worship of God. For just as he calls God 'father,' so he calls the Synagogue 'mother' of the Jews.
Verse 9: She saw
9. She saw. — Jerusalem, that is the Church, through the prophets, as through her eyes; for they foresaw and foretold these evils that befell the people of God. Hear, neighbors of Sion. — It is the voice of Sion or Jerusalem, that is, of the Church, as a mother to her captive children, and to the "neighbors," that is, the neighboring cities once subject to her. So Theodoret, as if to say: When the Church saw that the coming captivity was imminent, she warned you and mourned the bereavement threatening her: but you did not heed these warnings, nor did you come to your senses.
Verse 12: Let no one rejoice over me,
12. Let no one rejoice over me, — let no one insult me. The Church warns, says Maldonatus, heretics and those weak in faith, not to insult her and say: The Church is afflicted by God because she is not the true Church of God, hence God neglects her; and lest they say: "There is no salvation for him in his God," Psalm 3:3, or: "Where is their God?" Psalm 113:2. For she is afflicted for a time, not because she is a false church, but because her children have offended God. A widow and desolate, — forsaken by God my husband, and by His vicar the Supreme Pontiff, and equally bereft of my children. Let them remember, — by lamenting with me let them recall the disaster of my children, so that this lamentation may be a consolation to me and alleviate my sadness.
Verse 15: He brought upon (against) them from afar, (from Chaldea) a wicked nation,
15. He brought upon (against) them from afar, (from Chaldea) a wicked nation, — in Greek, ἀναιδῆ; that is, shameless, which without shame and without regard for rank or age, treats nobles equally with the poor, the old equally with the young, women equally with men, unworthily, despoils or kills them, Lamentations 4:10 and chapter 5:12. And of another tongue, — that is, barbarous, in Greek ἀλλόγλωσσον: for this is an immense misery, as we see when Christians captured by the Turks cannot understand them, and therefore, since they cannot comply with them and carry out what they command, they are badly punished. Moses had threatened this to the Jews, Deuteronomy 28:49, and Jeremiah chapter 5:13.
Verse 16: They led away (so it should be read, not 'they brought,' as...
16. They led away (so it should be read, not 'they brought,' as the Plantin editions have) the beloved of the widow (my children, for I am a widow) and they left the bereaved one desolate, deprived of her children, — that is, they left me, bereft of my children, deserted and alone.
Verse 19: Go, my children,
19. Go, my children, — go into captivity, and I shall be left alone; I will bravely endure my desolation, so that you may bravely and calmly endure captivity, until God frees you from it and restores you to me.
Verse 20: I have put off the robe of peace
20. I have put off the robe of peace. — A "robe" was a long garment for women, which they used in times of prosperity and gladness, in place of which Jerusalem here, being desolate, says she puts on the sackcloth of supplication, that is, a garment of mourning, such as penitents wear, or those who beseech for pardon, namely a hairshirt, as is clear from Jonah 3:6. See the remarks on Lamentations 2:10. I will cry to the Most High in my days, — that He may lead you back from Babylon to me in Jerusalem. She speaks as a woman who would live for 70 years, for that long the captivity was to last, Jeremiah 25:11.
Verse 22: For I have hoped in the Eternal,
22. For I have hoped in the Eternal, — in Greek τῷ αἰωνίῳ, in the Eternal: thus she is accustomed to call God, as if to say: Granted that your captivity may last 70 years, God will outlast these years (for He is eternal), and when they are fulfilled He will free you from it, and give eternal salvation, and thus He will communicate His happiness and eternity to you. Note: He calls "salvation" the liberation from the Babylonian captivity, as Theodoret and Hugh explain, and under its type he understands liberation from sin and death, and the full redemption through Christ; for this will properly be eternal. So Lyranus.
And joy has come to me from the Holy One, — from God to whom the Seraphim sing Holy, Holy, Holy, Isaiah 6, as if to say: When I was hoping and praying to God for your liberation, He Himself infused hope and joy in me, when through the prophets He made known to me that He will soon (for in Greek it is ἐν τάχει) save and free you. For she calls God "the Savior," that is, the one who saves: for this is the Greek σωτῆρος.
Verse 24: The neighbors of Sion
24. The neighbors of Sion. — The Gentile nations and cities neighboring Judea, such as the Ammonites and Idumeans, who mocked the Jews as they went into captivity, Jeremiah 48:27. Your captivity from God, — into which God justly permitted you to be led. With eternal splendor. — "Eternal," that is, lasting for a long time. The Roman Greek text has: with the splendor of the Eternal One Himself, namely of God, as if to say: You will return with divine splendor and glory: for all will see that your God is your liberator and guide.
Verse 25: Your enemy has persecuted you
25. Your enemy has persecuted you — the Chaldean. So all except Theodoret, who by 'enemy' understands the neighboring Idumeans and Ammonites; for these were hostile to the Jews. You will mount upon his neck, — you will dominate him, you will rule over him, to such an extent that you can use them as footstools: just as Sapor king of the Persians used the Roman Emperor Aurelian, and Tamerlane used Bajazet emperor of the Turks. Thus Job, chapter 16:13, says: "He has seized my neck, He has shattered me;" just as a soldier, seizing a hen by the neck and wringing it, breaks and kills it. From this it seems that Cyrus exalted the Jews so that they could act imperiously as masters over their enemies, namely the Chaldeans, conquered by Cyrus. More fully, however, this was accomplished by Christ, who made the Church and the apostles rule over all nations, Isaiah 60:14. Thus, literally, Pope Alexander III tamed and trampled upon the proud neck of Frederick Barbarossa, when at Venice, pressing his foot upon the neck of Frederick prostrated on the ground, he said: "You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon." When Frederick protested: "Not to you, but to Peter;" Alexander replied: "Both to Peter and to me." So the Chronicle of Bessarion, and more recent chroniclers, especially Protestants. But Cardinal Baronius shows that these things, being bombastic and arrogant, are foreign to the notable modesty of Alexander III and to truth, in the year of Christ 1177, volume 12, from the historians of that age who were present at the absolution of Frederick.
Verse 26: My tender ones,
26. My tender ones, — children raised by me in comfort. The other part of the antithesis must be supplied here, in this way: The enemy led my tender ones through rough ways; but God will bring them back through level ways. The devil does the same thing mystically, and Christ the opposite: for this is what Isaiah says, chapter 40:4: "The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth."
Verse 27: For you shall be remembered,
27. For you shall be remembered, — that is, of you, as if to say: God will remember you, so that, just as He led you to Babylon, so also He may lead you back from there.
Verse 28: As your mind was set (in Greek διάνοια, that is, your though...
28. As your mind was set (in Greek διάνοια, that is, your thought, conception, and will, to) stray from God: ten times as much, etc., — in Greek δεκαπλασιάσατε, that is, tenfold seek Him when you turn back. This is what Paul, alluding to this passage, urges, Romans chapter 6:19: "As you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members to serve justice unto sanctification," as if to say: O my children, the Jews, granted that you have offended God, do not despair, because it belongs to a penitent and generous soul not to lose heart on account of the sin into which it has fallen, but from it to rise more strongly and to double, indeed to tenfold, its course in the race of virtue. And this is what usually happens, and from this comes what Saint Gregory says, "that usually a fervent life after a fault is more pleasing to God than an innocence grown sluggish in security." This is truly the case in Saint Paul, in Saint Mary Magdalene, in Saint Peter, Matthew, and other truly penitent persons.
Verse 30: Be of good heart
30. Be of good heart. — Maldonatus thinks these are the words of Jerusalem, that is, of the Church, to Jerusalem, that is, to the city of Jerusalem. But, to avoid this equivocation in the word Jerusalem, it is more fitting to say these are the words of God, or rather of the Prophet, to Jerusalem. For in the prophets there is a frequent interchange of persons, whom they introduce speaking variously as if in a dialogue. For He exhorts you, — in Greek παρακαλέσει σε, which Theodoret and others translate as 'He consoles you,' namely by exhorting you to hope for a better lot and fortune. Who named you, — so that you might be called Jerusalem, you who were formerly called Salem and Jebus, says Dionysius. Secondly, Hugh says: "Who named you," that is, who made you known and famous throughout the world; thirdly, others say: "He will name," that is, He will give you a new name, when He leads you back as new from captivity and reforms you, so that you may be called the new Israel; fourthly, "He named," that is, He uniquely loves you and holds you in His memory and care, knowing you by name: thus of Bezalel it is said: "I have called by name," Exodus 31:2; and of Moses: "I have known you by name," Exodus 33:12; and of Christ, Isaiah 49:1 says: "The Lord has called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother He has remembered my name;" fifthly and best: "Who named you," that is, called you, "the city of the Holy One, that is, of God," Isaiah chapter 52:1 and chapter 60:14. For God had His temple in Jerusalem, like a royal throne in His capital.
Verse 31: The guilty shall perish
31. The guilty shall perish. — In Greek it is δείλαιοι αἱ κακώσασαί σε, that is, wretched shall be those who vexed you, as Isaiah brilliantly predicted, chapters 18, 19; and Jeremiah, chapters 46, 47, 48, 49, 50.
Verse 32: And she who received,
32. And she who received, — Babylon, which received and afflicted your children in captivity and prison.
Verse 34: And the exultation shall be cut off,
34. And the exultation shall be cut off, — in Greek καὶ περιελῶ, that is, and I will remove the exultation of her thronging multitude, that is, in which her teeming people exults, or in which Babylon herself exults on account of the frequency and multitude of her people. And her rejoicing, — γαυρίαμα, that is, the pride and boasting with which she arrogantly exults, will be turned to mourning: thus in tyrants and the wicked, "mourning seizes the extremity of joy;" on the contrary, to the pious and afflicted, Christ says: "Your sorrow shall be turned to joy."
Verse 35: Fire,
35. Fire, — that is, bitter punishment like fire will come upon Babylon; secondly, literally, "fire from the Eternal," namely from God, hurled by the Persians into Babylon over many days, burned it and reduced it to ashes, as is clear from Isaiah 13:19; Jeremiah 50:39. And this as a fitting punishment, because the Babylonians had tyrannically burned Jerusalem with fire. It shall be inhabited by demons, — by Satyrs and Fauns. See the remarks on Jeremiah 50:39, and Isaiah 34:14.
Verse 37: From east to west,
37. From east to west, — that is, from Persia, Media, Babylon, which are to the east of Jerusalem (although Babylon itself properly was to the north of Jerusalem), the Jews will return to Jerusalem. At the word of the Holy One, — that is, according to the promise of God, by which He Himself promised it through the prophets, and which He Himself will carry out and command through Cyrus, to whom He will inspire this, and whom He will make well-disposed toward the Jews. So Theodoret. Allegorically, this is more truly fulfilled in the faithful, who from every part of the world flock to Christ and the Church of Christ.