Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, Vol. 11: Prolegomena (prefaces and canons)
Jeremias
I. Chap. ii, ver. 16. “Also the children of Memphis and Taphnes have defiled thee even to the crown of thy head,” as if to say: The Egyptians have polluted and defiled thee wholly, O Israel, from head to foot, with their idolatry and vices.
II. Ver. 18. “And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the troubled water (of the Nile)? and what hast thou to do with the way of the Assyrians, to drink the water of the river” (Euphrates)? as if to say: Why runnest thou now to the Assyrians, now to the Egyptians, to implore their help, and to worship their gods, who as they bring muddy water, so bring help turbid, sad and deadly to thee.
III. Ver. 19. “Thy wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy backsliding shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God.”
IV. Ver. 20. “Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst: I will not serve.”
V. Ver. 25. “Keep thy foot from being bare, and thy throat from thirst,” as if to say: Spare thy vain and harmful labors, by which thou makest thy feet bare, to cross rivers into Egypt or Assyria; so thou wearest thyself out with toil and thirst, and that in vain: for they will not be able to help thee, and deliver thee from enemies. Hence he adds: “Thou shalt be confounded by Egypt, as thou wast confounded by Assur.”
… a man put away his wife, and she departing from him (the wife) take another husband: shall he return to her any more? shall not that woman be polluted and defiled,” so that she can neither return to her former husband, nor dare to? “but thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers: nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord.”
VI. Ver. 3. “Thou hadst a harlot’s forehead, thou wouldst not blush. Therefore at least from this time call me: My father, the guide of my virginity art thou,” as if to say: Call me: My first husband, and my lawful spouse from the beginning art thou, O Lord. They are the words of the Synagogue. For when she was born in Egypt, God soon joined her to himself through Moses at Sinai, and took her to be his spouse.
VIII. Chap. iv, ver. 2. “And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in judgment, and in justice.” An oath requires these three endowments: first, truth, that thou swear not falsely; second, judgment, that it be made not rashly but circumspectly, with forethought and reverence; third, justice, that thou promise or threaten nothing unjust by it.
IX. Ver. 9. “The heart of the king shall perish,” at the coming of the Chaldean enemy, “and the heart of the princes.” The heart is a symbol: first, of courage and fortitude; second, of counsel and prudence.
X. Ver. 10. “Behold the sword reacheth even to the soul.” To the inmost parts, to sever and cut the soul, that is life, from the body.
… of him that maketh an idol out of mount Ephraim,” as if to say: Watchmen from Dan and Ephraim cry that the Chaldean enemy is coming; for they see his idol, namely the fire, which the Chaldeans carry before their camps as a god and leader of war.
XII. Ver. 18. “Thy ways and thy devices have brought these things upon thee: this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it hath touched thy heart,” as if to say: Thy evil ways have procured for thee this gall and wormwood, they themselves have driven the enemy’s sword into thy heart and bowels. For behold
XIII. Ver. 19. “My bowels, my bowels are in pain,” as if to say: While in spirit I foresee the calamities to be inflicted on the Jews by the Chaldeans, my very heart and bowels seem to be split and broken with bitterness and grief; much more therefore will the same befall them, who shall actually receive and feel those calamities.
XIV. Ver. 22. “For my people are foolish, and have not known me: they are foolish and senseless children: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
XV. Chap. v, ver. 3. “Thou hast struck them, and they have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock.”
XVI. Ver. 21. “Hear, O foolish people, and without heart: who have eyes, and see not; and ears, and hear not.”
XVII. Ver. 30. “Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land: the prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?”
XVIII. Chap. vi, ver. 4. “Prepare war against her.” Proclaim a holy war against Juda, O Chaldeans, holy, I say; because you will slay the guilty and criminals, and enemies of God, and offer them as victims of divine justice.
XIX. Ver. 6. “This is the city of visitation.” Appointed and devoted by God to visitation, that is punishment and destruction, because “there is all oppression in the midst thereof.”
… all study covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest all deal deceitfully.”
XXI. Ver. 16. “Stand ye on the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths” of your fathers and patriarchs, “which is the good way, and walk in it.”
XXII. Chap. vii, ver. 4. “Trust not in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, it is the temple of the Lord.”
XXIII. Chap. viii, ver. 4. “Shall not he that falleth rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again? Why then is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a contentious revolting?”
XXIV. Ver. 7. “The kite in the air hath known her time; the turtle, and the swallow, and the stork have observed the time of their coming:” for in spring they return and build their nests: “but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord.”
XXV. Ver. 8. “Indeed the lying pen of the scribes hath wrought falsehood,” as if to say: Our doctors announce to us not so much the truth and sacred Scripture, as the figments of their own brain.
XXVI. Ver. 11. “And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace, and there was no peace.”
XXVII. Ver. 15. “We looked for peace, and no good came: for a time of healing, and behold fear.”
XXVIII. Ver. 22. “Is there no balm in Galaad? or is there no physician there? why then is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?” The balm of the Synagogue and of the sick soul is penance; the physician is the priest and pastor: but those who reject both cannot be cured.
XXIX. Chap. ix, ver. 4. “Let every man take heed of his neighbour, and let him not trust in any brother of his: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully.” Wherefore “thy habitation is in the midst of deceit,” as if to say: Thou dwellest, O Jeremias, in a city so deceitful that it seems to be deceit itself: for it deceitfully pretends to worship God while it worships idols; hence also it deceitfully feigns friendship with neighbors while plotting their ruin. Hence he adds: “Their tongue is a piercing arrow, it hath spoken deceit: with his mouth one speaketh peace with his friend, and secretly he lieth in wait for him.”
XXX. Ver. 15. “Behold I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them gall to drink.” Gall and wormwood are symbols of affliction and bitterness.
XXXI. Ver. 23. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.” Not speculatively but practically, namely that he worship me and obey me, acknowledging and hoping in my mercy, and fearing my justice.
XXXII. Ver. 26. “All these nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart,” as if to say: The Gentiles are uncircumcised in flesh, but Israel is uncircumcised in heart and mind.
XXXIII. Chap. x, ver. 2. “Learn not according to the ways of the Gentiles: and be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens fear,” as if to say: Do not fear and worship as God the sun, moon and stars, as the Gentiles do.
XXXIV. Ver. 7. “Who shall not fear thee, O King of nations? for thine is the glory.”
XXXV. Ver. 11. “The gods that have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth, and from among those places that are under heaven.”
XXXVI. Ver. 16. “The portion of Jacob is not like these (God, whom he worships as his portion and lot): for it is he that formed all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name.”
XXXVII. Ver. 19. “And I said: Truly this is my infirmity, and I will bear it.”
XXXVIII. Ver. 23. “I know, O Lord, that the way of a man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk, and to direct his steps,” as if to say: It is not of man but of God to direct the acts and steps of men.
XXXIX. Chap. xi, ver. 15. “What is the meaning that my beloved hath wrought much wickedness in my house?” bringing idols into the temple, and perpetrating other crimes there. “Shall the holy flesh take away from thee thy crimes, in which thou hast boasted?”
O Lord, if I dispute with thee: yet I will speak what is just to thee: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper? why is it well with all them that transgress and do wickedly?”
XLI. Ver. 3. “Gather them together as sheep for a sacrifice, and sanctify them for the day of slaughter,” as if to say: Slay the impious like victims, and as the world’s offscourings and expiations sacrifice them to justice and vengeance.
XLII. Chap. xiii, ver. 18. “Say to the king (Joachin), and to the lady (the queen): Humble yourselves, sit down: for the crown of your glory shall come down from your head.”
XLIII. Ver. 23. “If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots: you also may do well, when you have learned evil.”
XLIV. Chap. xv, ver. 1. “If Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul is not towards this people. Cast them out from my sight, and let them go. And if they say to thee: Whither shall we go? thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: They that are for death (destined by me), to death: and they that are for the sword, to the sword: and they that are for famine, to famine: and they that …
XLV. Ver. 9. “Her sun is gone down, while it was yet day,” as if to say: In full joy and prosperity she has fallen into extreme adversity and sadness, as if the sun should suddenly fail at noon.
XLVII. Chap. xvii, ver. 1. “The sin of Juda is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond, it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of their altars,” as if to say: The sin of the Jews is indelible, and as if in diamond, namely in their adamantine heart, graven and engraved, as well as on the altars of their idols.
XLVIII. Ver. 5. “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh (a fleshly man, not God) his arm.”
XLIX. Ver. 9. “The heart of man is perverse and unsearchable, who can know it? I am the Lord who search the heart, and prove the reins.”
L. Ver. 13. “O Lord, the expectation of Israel: all that forsake thee shall be confounded: they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth (delivered to oblivion, shall perish, vanish): because they have forsaken the vein of living waters.”
save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
LI. Ver. 16. “And I am not troubled,” like a sheep “following thee the shepherd, and I have not desired the day of man (the praise, applause and glory of men), thou knowest.”
LII. Chap. xxii, ver. 22. “The wind shall feed all thy pastors,” as if to say: The vain hope which the princes of the Jews place in the Egyptians vainly allures and feeds them, as if it were wind; for the Egyptians will not be able to deliver the Jews from the Chaldeans.
LIII. Chap. xxiii, ver. 19. “Behold the whirlwind of the Lord’s indignation shall come forth, and a tempest shall break out upon the head of the wicked.”
LIV. Chap. xxxi, ver. 2. “Israel shall go to his rest.” Namely, from the Babylonian captivity he will return to his country, or rather the spiritual Israel, that is the faithful, will go from the captivity of the demon to the Church, and to eternal rest.
thee: therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity.” They are the words of God to Israel; hence he adds: “Rejoice in gladness, O Jacob, and neigh against the head of the Gentiles: sound forth, and sing, and say: Save, O Lord, thy people, the remnant of Israel, etc.”
Ver. 9. “I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” He speaks of the conversion of Israel, that is of Samaria, to Christ. For Samaria was converted first before the other nations, through Peter, John and Philip, Acts viii.
LVI. Ver. 19. “For after thou didst convert me, I did penance: and after thou didst shew unto me my sins and the state of damnation in which I was, I struck my thigh,” in wonder and grief.
LVII. Chap. xlv, ver. 4. “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel to thee, Baruch: Behold them whom I have built I destroy, and them whom I have planted I pluck up, and all this land. And dost thou seek great things for thyself?” as if to say: All Jerusalem is in labor and sorrow: and thou, O Baruch, alone seekest ease, and all soft and pleasant things?
LVIII. Chap. xlvi, ver. 12. “The strong hath stumbled against the strong,” namely Pharao clashed with Nabuchodonosor, “and both are fallen together.”
LIX. Ver. 17. “Call the name of Pharao, a tumult: the time hath brought it,” as if to say: Call Pharao a tumult; for the time of his tumult, disturbance and destruction is at hand.
LX. Chap. xlvii, ver. 5. “Baldness is come upon Gaza. Baldness,” that is mourning and servitude. For mourners, like slaves, were wont to be shaved.
LXI. Ver. 6. “O thou sword of the Lord, how long wilt thou not be quiet? enter into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.”
“How can it be quiet, when the Lord hath given it a charge against Ascalon, etc. and hath appointed it there …
LXII. Chap. xlviii, ver. 9. “Give a flower to Moab, for it shall flourish and go out: and the cities thereof shall be desolate.” It is sarcasm, as if to say: Moab flourished in wealth and glory; but this flower the Chaldeans will pluck, and make her desolate.
LXIII. Ver. 10. “Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully.” The work of the Lord he calls the Lord’s vengeance upon Moab. Hence he adds in explanation: “Cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood.”
LXIV. Ver. 17. “How is the strong rod broken, the beautiful staff? Come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst,” as if to say: O Moab, once as mistress thou didst hold the sceptre, and like a rod didst smite the Jews; now come down as a captive handmaid, and sit on the dry ground.
LXV. Ver. 28. “Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, ye inhabitants of Moab: and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the mouth of the hole in the highest place,” as if to say: Flee, O Moabites, from the Chaldeans, and from the destruction of your cities: flee, I say, like timid doves, to the caves of mountains and rocks; hence he adds: … upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab.” And, “Woe to thee, Moab, thou art undone, O people of Chamos.”
LXVII. Chap. xlix, ver. 16. “Thy arrogance hath deceived thee (O Idumea), and the pride of thy heart: thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, and endeavourest to lay hold on the height of the hill; though thou make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence.” For the Idumeans, dwelling in mountains and rocks, thought themselves impregnable: but God dragged them down from thence by the Chaldeans.
LXVIII. Chap. l, ver. 2. “Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is overcome, their graven things are confounded, their idols are overcome.”
LXIX. Ver. 23. “How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and destroyed? how is Babylon become a desert among the nations?” For the Chaldeans like hammers struck the Jews and all nations.
LXX. Ver. 35. “A sword upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, etc. a sword upon her diviners, and they shall be foolish: a sword upon her strong ones, and they shall be afraid. A sword upon her horses, and upon her chariots, and upon all the mixed people, etc., a sword upon her treasures, and they shall be plundered.” This sword is that of Cyrus and the Persians, who overthrew her.
LXXI. Chap. li, ver. 20. “Thou breakest in pieces for me the weapons of war, and with thee I will break in pieces nations,” as if to say: As thou, O Babylon, hast broken the arms of other nations, so I will now break and crush thee and thy citizens and inhabitants by the Persians.
LXXII. Ver. 39. “In their heat I will set their drink, and I will make them drunk, that they may be stupefied, and sleep a perpetual sleep,” as if to say: I will make Cyrus attack Baltasar while holding his banquets, and slay the citizens buried in sleep and wine, that they may sleep an eternal sleep; hence follows:
LXXIII. Ver. 40. “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, and like rams with kids.”
LXXIV. Ver. 50. “You that have escaped the sword, come, stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come upon your heart,” as if to say: O Jews captive in Babylon, who have seen its destruction and escaped it, go, hasten to the country of your fathers, so many years longed for and prayed for: let the Lord, and his temple, and the city Jerusalem be ever before your mind.