Commentary on Jeremiah 6.23–6.33

[23] "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: They will still say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their captivity: The Lord bless you, beauty of righteousness, holy mountain! And Judah and all its cities will dwell in it together, farmers and those who drive flocks." The Seventy: "Thus said the Lord of powers, the God of Israel: They will still say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back its exile: Blessed be the Lord upon his righteous holy mountain, and those who dwell in the land of Judea and in every city of it with the farmer; and he will be lifted up in the flock." According to the Hebrew it is plain that at Israel's return to its land, when the captivity has been turned back, the cities of Judah will be inhabited, and it will be said to each of them: "The Lord bless you," who is truly the beauty of righteousness and the holy mountain, on which whoever dwells will fear no snares; and Judah will dwell without iniquity in its cities, and there will be farmers and a multitude of flocks. This seems to have been fulfilled in part under Zerubbabel and Ezra, but the fullness of the prophecy is to be referred to the times of Christ: either in the first coming, when these things were done spiritually, or in the second, when all things will be fulfilled; according to us spiritually, according to the Jews and our judaizers carnally. But according to the Seventy the sense is this: "This word will still be said in the land of Judah and in its cities when I turn back its captivity." What will be said? "Blessed be the Lord upon his righteous holy mountain." The mountain that deserves to receive the name "of righteousness and holiness" is none other than the Savior; for it is foolish, by Jewish error, to believe an irrational and insensible mountain "righteous and holy." He it is of whom it is also written in what follows: "and in every city of it" (the Savior's is understood) "with the farmer"; no doubt meaning God, of whom it is also written in the Gospel: "I am the vine, you are the branches, and my Father is the farmer"; hence the apostle too says: "You are God's field, God's building." And what follows, "and he will be lifted up in the flock," shows that in each of the flocks the Lord himself, righteous and holy and farmer, is lifted up and ascends to the heights in his servants and believers. [24] "For I have made drunk the weary soul (or: for I have made drunk every thirsty soul), and every hungry soul I have satisfied (or: filled). Therefore I awoke and saw, and my sleep was sweet to me." The change of persons makes the understanding of the prophets obscure. The Lord had said, "They will still say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their captivity." What will they say? No doubt what follows: "The Lord bless you, beauty of righteousness, holy mountain," and the rest. And again, while they say these things, the Lord answers: "For I have made drunk the weary (or: thirsty) soul and satisfied every hungry soul." And while he says this, the people that had come from captivity answers: "Therefore I awoke and saw, and my sleep was sweet to me." For the Lord makes the weary or thirsty soul drunk, and says in the Gospel, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink," and, "He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water"; and he satisfies every hungry and thirsty soul, of which hunger and thirst the same testifies in the Gospel: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied." And it is to be noted that "drunkenness" in this place is put in a good sense, of which the Song too says: "Eat, friends; drink and be drunk, beloved!"; with which drunkenness Joseph too was drunk with his brothers at noon. And those who had been weary and hungry, made drunk and satisfied, give thanks, answering: "I awoke and saw the Lord," namely raising me up and saying, "Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." "And my sleep," he says, "was sweet to me, so that I imitated the words of my Lord, who says: I slept and was overcome by sleep, and I rose again, because the Lord upheld me."

[25] "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men and the seed of beasts. And as I watched over them to uproot and tear down and scatter and destroy and afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they will no longer say: The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on edge; but each will die in his own iniquity: every man who eats sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge." "House" and "house," that is, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, the Seventy do not have, but only "Israel and Judah," so as to read: "and I will sow Israel and Judah." And what he added, "with the seed of men and the seed of beasts," we should refer to the rational and the simple. And as at the beginning of Jeremiah it was said to him, "Behold, I have set you today over nations and over kingdoms, to uproot and tear down and destroy and scatter, and to build and to plant," "and I watched over them to do what I threatened, so," he says, "now I will watch over them to build and to plant; for you are God's field, God's building." All promises of this kind the Jews and our judaizers think are to be fulfilled in the kingdom of a thousand years. But we, since the apostle says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth," and the prophet Isaiah records that the Savior is the builder of hedges and houses, maintain that they were fulfilled spiritually at the first coming of Christ, and fulfilled in part, not wholly, because now we see in a mirror and in a riddle and do not know as we ought to know; but when what is perfect comes, then what is in part will be done away; or certainly we believe they are to be fulfilled at the second coming, when the Lord will appear in his majesty and the fullness of the Gentiles will have come in, so that all Israel may be saved, and not in part through individuals, but God may be all in all. What he adds, "In those days they will no longer say: The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on edge," and the rest, we have discussed more fully in the explanations of Ezekiel, when we interpreted that place: "Son of man, what is this proverb of yours among the sons of Israel, who say: The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on edge? As I live, says the Lord, this proverb shall no longer be used in Israel! For all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine; the soul that sins, it shall die." By this we learn that it is not the Lord who causes death but sin; for "the soul that sins, it shall die." And in the present place it is said that Israel did not offend forever by the sins of the fathers, but will be saved by its own merits and by faith in Christ after a long time. And it is to be observed that vices and sins are called "sour grapes," so that the teeth of those who eat them are set on edge and they cannot taste the sweetness of him of whom it is said: "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet!" Whoever does not understand the Scriptures as the truth of the matter is, eats sour grapes; hence all the heretics, believing perversely, cannot eat the bread that comes down from heaven, but their teeth are set on edge, not by the harshness of the food, but by a fault of the teeth. [26] "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make (or: arrange) with the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant (or: testament), not according to the covenant (or: testament) that I made with your fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant (or: testament) which they broke; and I was their master (or: and I neglected them), says the Lord. And this will be the covenant (or: testament) that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law in their inward parts (or: in their mind) and write it on their heart, and I will be their God and they will be my people. And they will no longer teach each his neighbor and each his brother, saying: Know the Lord; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will be merciful to their iniquity and will remember their sin no more." This testimony the apostle Paul (or whoever else wrote the letter) used to the Hebrews, and all churchmen after him say that everything was fulfilled at the Savior's first coming, and that the New Testament, that is, the gospel, succeeded the Old Testament, by which the law, circumcision, and the sabbath are fulfilled spiritually. That we put "covenant" for "testament" belongs to the Hebrew truth, although a testament is also rightly called a covenant, because in it the will and testimony of those who enter the covenant is contained. When Israel was brought out of the land of Egypt, God's familiarity with that people was so great that he says he took them by the hand and gave them a covenant, which they broke; and therefore the Lord neglected them. But now in the gospel, after the cross, resurrection, and ascension, he promises to give a covenant not on tablets of stone but on fleshly tablets of the heart; and when the Lord's testament has been written in the mind of believers, that he himself will be their God and they his people, so that they no longer seek Jewish teachers and traditions and commandments of men, but are taught by the Holy Spirit, if only they deserve to hear: "You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you." And the Spirit breathes where he will and has diverse graces, and the knowledge of the one God is the possession of all virtues. "And this," he says, "will happen because I will be merciful to their iniquity and will remember their sin no more." From this it is plain that, according to the understanding of this section, what precedes is to be understood of the Savior's first coming, when both peoples, Israel and Judah, were joined to each other. And if it troubles anyone why he said, "I will arrange with the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant (or: testament), not according to the covenant that I made with your fathers," let him understand that the first church of Christ was from the Jews, and that the Lord and Savior came to them and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"; and that the apostles confirmed the same: "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles." For it was not right to give the children's bread to dogs; but because the sons would not receive the Father coming to his own, he gave power to all, that those who received him might become sons of God.

[27] "Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for the light of the day, the order of the moon and the stars for the light of the night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is his name. If these laws (or: these statutes) cease before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel too will cease from being a nation before me all the days." At the beginning of Genesis too we read that the sun was placed in heaven for the light of the day, and the moon and stars for the light of the night; and in the psalm: "Day to day utters speech, and night to night shows knowledge," because day and night succeed each other in turn. "As," he says, "the order of things, and especially of the heavenly stars, cannot be changed, and the waves of the roaring sea roll to the shores, and the terrible crash of the deeps and swelling waves is heard, and it cannot go further than has been commanded by God's order" (according to the verse, "You have set a boundary which they will not pass, nor turn back to cover the earth") "so," he says, "the seed and race of Israel will be perpetual by the Lord's will and will never fail." "Laws" here are to be understood not as those of Moses but as the constitution and order of nature. Let us ask the Jews: "If the heavens will perish, and all will grow old like a garment, and it is said to God, 'But you are the same, and your years will not fail,' how can the seed of Israel be perpetual?" For either, when the heavens perish, the seed of Israel too will perish; or, if it is perpetual, then the heavens will not perish either. But if Scripture cannot lie and the heavens are to perish, then the seed of Israel too will perish; especially since Jacob too says to his sons, "Come, and I will tell you what will be in the last days"; and when "in the last days" is said, then the world will cease to be and there will be another ordering of things. This is against them. As for our own people, the Gospel too shows that this world is not perpetual, saying, "Heaven and earth will pass away," and, "Behold, I am with you all days until the end of the age." Let us also say otherwise: that as long as this world lasts, the seed of Israel and the Jewish nation will remain, not in those who are now unbelieving, but in those who believed with the apostles and through the apostles, so that a remnant might be saved.

[28] "Thus says the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out, then I too will cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord." The Seventy: "Thus says the Lord: If the heaven is raised higher and the floor of the earth lowered beneath, then I too will not reject the race of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done." In this place the Hebrew differs much from the common edition. Let us speak first according to the Hebrew: "If the heavens above can be measured and their height known, or the foundations of the earth searched out and their limits grasped by reason, then I too," he says, "will cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. But as it is impossible for us to know the heights of the heavens and the foundations of the earth, so this too will be impossible, that I should cast off all the seed of Israel. But if I cast off all the seed of Israel, then the height of the heavens and the limits of the earth will be measured." This syllogism is woven in the Gospel too, when an impossible thing is compared to an impossible thing: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." For as the one cannot happen, so neither can the other; but if the one happens, then the other too, which was thought impossible, will happen. They err, then, who explain this place otherwise, bringing in the testimony that the Son could have asked the Father and brought twelve legions of angels to his help. The Seventy translated the contrary of this sense, saying: "If the heaven is exalted higher and the floor of the earth lowered beneath, then I," he says, "will not reject the seed of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done." If that is so, the race of Israel will be rejected; for as the heaven cannot be higher than it is, nor the earth lower than it is, so the race of Israel can by no means be approved. If we see the Jews glorying in this testimony according to the Hebrew, let us agree with them that not all the seed of Israel has been cast off; for not all have been cast off, but only those who were unbelieving.

[29] "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and the city will be built for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner. And the measuring line (or, according to Symmachus, the cord) will go out further, opposite it, over the hill of Gareb, and will go around Goatha (or, according to the Seventy, of choice stones), and the whole valley of corpses" (for which Theodotion put the Hebrew word itself, Phagarim) "and of ashes, and all Asaremoth" (which we better read Asademoth, for which Aquila interpreted "suburbs") "as far as the brook Kidron and to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, holy to the Lord; it will not be uprooted or destroyed forever." Those who accept a thousand-year reign of Christ in the land of Judea, namely the Jews and our judaizers, try to show the tower of Hananel and the gate of the corner and the hill of Gareb and Goatha and the valley of Phagarim and all Asademoth and the brook Kidron and the place of the corner of the horse gate toward the east, and there, they say, the Lord's sanctuary, that is, the temple, is to be founded and to remain forever. And because they cannot show that this was fulfilled after the captivity in the times of Zerubbabel and Ezra, they pass over to the times of Christ, who they say will come at the end of the world, so that a golden and jeweled Jerusalem may come down, according to John's Apocalypse, and be built around in this space of land, that is, from that place to that place. And they catch at this little breath of support for their suspicion: that the foundations of the city will be laid from the tower of Anathoth, which today is called Jeremiah's, three miles from Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron (which is mentioned in the Gospel and is in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where there was the garden in which Judas the traitor handed over the Savior). "We shall read," they say, "in what follows that Hanamel son of Shallum was Jeremiah's cousin, whose field he bought; and this is the tower of Hananel"; not knowing the Hebrew truth; for here, according to the Hebrew, is written "from the tower of Hananel," namely with the middle letter nun, but there, "Behold, Hanamel son of Shallum your cousin will come to you," with the middle letter m. Calling, then, on the Lord and Savior, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens, who opened the sealed book of Isaiah and of all the prophets, and whom the twenty-four elders holding harps worshiped because he alone could unlock the divine mysteries, let us approach the building of the city to which the prophetic word is addressed: "Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God," and, "The rush of the river gladdens the city of God." The church, then, is built from the tower of "obedience" or "grace" and "gifts of God" (for this is what Hananel means) to the gate of the corner; which, though it seems to have a lofty beginning, yet as long as we are in this flesh, we cannot possess the straight line of truth, but stand in the corner and on broken lines. And the measuring cord goes out further, opposite it, that is, the gate of the corner, over the hill of Gareb, which is translated into our language either "sojourning" or "scab," to teach us that we are strangers and pilgrims, and itching in the ears, and easily give consent to the novelty of the worst doctrines. "And it will go around," he says, "Goatha"; for which the Seventy interpreted, "around with choice stones," which roll over the face of the earth and are bound together by the cornerstone, as the apostle Peter says: "And you yourselves, like living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." "And the whole valley," he says, "of Phagarim," which means "of ruins," "and of ashes" ("it will go around" is understood), so that, though we seem to ourselves to be on the hills, yet we may always fear ruins and consider the ashes and say in repentance with David: "For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping." Hence it is said to those who lie fallen: "Does not he who falls rise again? says the Lord." "And all," he says, "Sademoth," which we translate "region of death," dividing one name into two words: sade, which means "region," and moth, which is interpreted "of death"; for which Aquila rendered "suburbs," or "fields" and "countryside." The "region of death" is the region of sinners, and the "suburbs" the region of pleasures, which extends as far as the brook Kidron, where the Lord was handed over, which is interpreted "darkness." See how many such places the church has, and that the apostle's word, "that she may be without spot or wrinkle," is reserved for the future and for heavenly things. You hear of corners, you hear of a scab, you hear of ruins and ashes and the region of death and darkness, and you glory in your own virtue and sinlessness! Then follows: "and to the corner of the gate": here too a corner, so that no true righteousness, no certain victory may be shown in this age. And the corner of the gate itself, though it is "toward the east," whence light comes forth, is yet called "of horses," to teach us that we need running and contest, and may at last deserve to hear with the Lord: "You mounted your horses, and your riding is salvation." In the east gate, in the gate of the chariots, is the Lord's sanctification, so that we may consider ourselves perfect only when we have said to the Lord: "The chariots of God are ten thousandfold, thousands of those who rejoice; the Lord is among them." A building of this kind, which is set on the foundation of Christ, of which the apostle too says, "As a wise master builder I laid the foundation," is never destroyed, but will remain forever. Obscure and difficult things are to be discussed at greater length, so that we may run through plain things briefly.

[30] "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah; that was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Judah. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying: Why do you prophesy, saying, Thus says the Lord?" Not only the words but also the deeds of the prophets are an example to us for virtue. Jeremiah could have announced prosperity and enjoyed King Zedekiah's friendship, but he preferred to obey God rather than men, and him who can destroy both soul and body in hell rather than one who could have power only over the body. And this too must be considered: that it was the tenth year of Zedekiah's reign, Jerusalem already besieged and consumed by sword, famine, and pestilence, and captivity near, and yet Zedekiah persists in his opinion; and in some measure his mildness is shown, in that he ordered him shut up not in the prison but in the court of the prison, that is, in free custody, so that he could not escape; as if the whole of Jerusalem, shut in by fortifications, were not a common prison for its inhabitants. That was the eighteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who took power in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim. And the whole cause of the king's anger is this: that he speaks in the Lord's name what he had been commanded.

[31] "Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it. And Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and his mouth will speak with his mouth, and his eyes will see his eyes. And he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him, says the Lord. But if you fight against the Chaldeans, you will have no success." This was the cause of the king's anger: that he preferred truth to falsehood and said that both the city of Jerusalem and King Zedekiah were to be captured; and, what is heavier, that he would see the face of the Babylonian king and speak, humbled and a captive, with the madness of a most violent king. For it is a heavier terror to see one whom you fear, and to endure the rebuke of words before the torment of punishments. "And he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon," he says, "and he will be there"; for which the Seventy translated, "and he will enter Babylon"; of which the one signifies being dragged unwilling, the other going by one's will. "And there he will be," he says: he puts an ambiguous word, so as not to seem to prophesy torments and miseries. What follows, "until I visit him, says the Lord; and if you fight against the Chaldeans, you will have no success," is not in the Seventy. And he prudently tempered the sentence, which can be referred to a good or a bad sense; for "visitation," as I have often said, means both "consolation" and "punishment."

[32] "And Jeremiah said: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Behold, Hanamel son of Shallum (or: Salom), your cousin" (which in Hebrew is called dodach), "is coming to you, saying: Buy for yourself my field which is in Anathoth; for the right of purchase belongs to you by kinship." No one could know that the word of God had come secretly to Jeremiah unless he to whom it came made it known. And it is foretold to him that his cousin Hanamel will come to him and offer him the possession of a field that had been his; and that the place itself is in Anathoth, among the suburban lands which by the law were given to the priests in each tribe and city. Nor was it lawful for a possession to pass from tribe to tribe or from family to another family (hence the daughters of Zelophehad receive a portion among their brothers), and especially the suburban lands of the priests could not be sold to anyone else until the year of release except to one whom kinship of blood claimed. So his cousin comes to him and offers the purchase that is due to him by kinship. Hilkiah and Shallum were full brothers; Jeremiah was Hilkiah's son, Hanamel Shallum's. Hilkiah is interpreted "portion of the Lord," Jeremiah "loftiness of the Lord"; and rightly the "height of the Lord" is born of the "portion of the Lord." Shallum is translated into our language "peace" or "peaceable," Hanamel "gift" or "grace of God"; nor shall we wonder that peace and grace are joined, since this is the beginning of the apostolic letters too: "Grace to you and peace." First, then, we deserve God's peace, and after peace grace is born for us, which is not in the will of the possessor but of the giver. And the "grace of God" offers the purchase to him who is set "on high," so that, though he seems exalted, he still needs the grace of God. What the bride often sings in the Song, "my cousin," that is, adelphidos mou, is called dodi in Hebrew; so not "brother's son" but patradelphos, that is, "father's brother's son," should be said. That Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, the beginning of this book also testifies.

[33] "And Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me according to the word of the Lord, to the vestibule (or: court) of the prison, and said to me: Take possession of (or: buy) my field which is in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, for the inheritance belongs to you, and you are the kinsman to possess it" (or: "to buy it"). What the word of the Lord had announced to the prophet as going to happen was at once fulfilled in deed. "Hanamel came to me," he says (the "grace of God"), "the son of my uncle" (that is, "son of peace"); "and he came into the vestibule of the prison and said to me what the Lord had foretold he would say." This priestly field, whose purchase and possession were offered to Jeremiah, is in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin; of which the first means "obedience," the second "son of the right hand"; and accordingly he desires the purchase of that in which the Lord's "obedience" and "power" were found. For "kinsman" the Seventy interpreted presbyteron, that is, "elder," which does not fit this place.