Jeremias 16
Jerome · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Jeremias 16:2
(Chapter XVI—Verse 1 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Do not take a wife, and there shall not be sons and daughters for you in this place. If, in the time of impending captivity, the prophet is forbidden to take a wife, so as not to have the affliction of the flesh; and if he is also tormented by the sorrow of his own wife and the miseries of his children, how much more does the Apostle command (I Cor. VII) that, because the time is shortened and the consummation is at hand, even those who have wives should be as if they had none! Hence the superfluous reproach of the new heretics (Jovinians), by which we have taught that bigamy and trigamy do not come from the law, but from indulgence. For it is one thing to do what is good in itself, another to concede something so as not to do worse. For he himself gives the reasons why he wants young widows to marry, saying: For some of them have already gone astray after Satan (I Tim. 5:15). At the same time, as a teacher of self-control and perpetual chastity, he praises three or four marriages, which I will not so much call marriages as comforts for the wretched and the last hope for shipwrecked souls. Unless perhaps he grants indulgence to his Amazons, that they may experience the wars of desire until decrepit old age. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 16:2
Elijah lived a virgin life; so also did Elisha and many of the sons of the prophets. To Jeremiah the command came: "You will not take a wife." He had been sanctified in his mother's womb, and now he was forbidden to take a wife because the captivity was near. The apostle gives the same counsel in different words: "I think, therefore, that this is good by reason of the present distress, namely, that it is good for a person to be as he is." What is this distress that does away with the joys of wedlock? The apostle tells us, in a later verse: "The time is short. It remains that those who have wives be as though they had none." — LETTER 22.21
Jeremias 16:3-4
(Verses 3-4) For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers, from whose lineage they were born in this land, they shall die by the deaths of sickness: they shall not be mourned, nor shall they be buried; they shall be like dung on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. But why the Prophet is prevented from taking a wife is clear, because with the nearby siege, pestilence, sword, and famine, all perish, and such is the number of the dying that the duty of burial is surpassed, but the bodies lie like dung to be torn apart by birds and beasts. And it should be noted that to waste away with sickness and long infirmity is the wrath of God. Thus, Joram son of Josaphat is consumed by illness (2 Chronicles 21). And the Apostle teaches that those who violate holy things become sick, waste away, and die (I Cor. XI). — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 16:5-8
(Verse 5 onwards) For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of the feast, nor go to mourn, nor console them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, mercy and compassion. And the great and the small shall die in this land, they shall not be buried, nor mourned, nor shall they make a cut in themselves, nor shall there be baldness for them. And they shall not break bread among those who mourn, to console them regarding the dead, and they shall not give them the cup of consolation for their father and mother. And do not enter the house of the feast, so that you may sit with them and eat and drink. The Apostle commands that one should not even eat with those who turn away from God (I Cor. V). Furthermore, you should not even greet such people (II John X). And the Savior prohibits the Apostles from greeting anyone on the journey (Luke X). Therefore, Elisha forbids Gehazi from greeting someone while going to heal a boy (IV Kings IV). But it is customary for those in mourning to bear food and prepare a feast, which the Greeks call 'περίδειπνα' and are commonly known as 'parentalia' by us: because they are celebrated for the parents. Scripture also says elsewhere: 'Give wine to those who are in sorrow' (Prov. XXXI, 6); so that they may forget their sorrow. Therefore, the Prophet is commanded not to console anyone from the people, not to mix with the banquets of God's enemies, and not to celebrate the rites over the funerals of the deceased. For it is one thing to forget by the common law of nature, another thing to kill by the judgement of God. 'I have taken away my peace from that people,' he says, 'and they are unworthy of mercy. I will spare no age, but both the great and the small will perish equally, so that they will even lack a burial.' 'Neither shall they shave their heads,' he says, 'nor shall there be baldness (Al. They shall make no mourning) for them.' This was the custom among the Ancients, and it still persists among some of the Jews today, that they shave their arms and make themselves bald in mourning; and we also read that Job did this (Job. 1 and 22). And it is also said of the prophets, neither shall he break bread among them, nor enter in to mourn, nor give them the cup to drink, nor go into the house of feasting, nor mix with those who are prepared for the word of God. But if this is said of those who are mourning, what will be done with heretics, whose speech spreads like cancer, and who daily lay low in the Church the dead bodies of the deceived? — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 16:9-12
(Verse 9 onwards) For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will remove from this place in your sight and in your days the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?' You say to them: 'Because your fathers have forsaken me,' says the Lord, 'and have gone after foreign gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. But you have done worse than your fathers. When the Church sins, all joy and gladness are taken away from it, of which the Apostle says: Rejoice, again I say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4): The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, of which it is written: He who has the bride is the bridegroom (John 3:29).' But if, he says, the people question you, asking why these sufferings are allowed and seeking the reasons for their miseries, you shall reply to them: Because your fathers have forsaken me, says the Lord, who preside over you in the Churches, and have gone after foreign gods, whose god is their belly, and they serve them for the sake of greed and lust, and their glory is in their shame, and they have worshipped them. For whoever is overcome by someone, becomes their servant. And they worshipped them: For each one worships what they love. And they have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. It is the duty of the priests not only to teach, but also to follow the law: so that they may teach by example, not only by words, the people who are subject to them and the entrusted flock. And lest they should say that the judgment is unjust, it brings forward the saying: 'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge' (Jeremiah 31), and 'The teeth of the sons shall not be set on edge' (Ezekiel 18). But you have done worse than your fathers; so that just punishments should be inflicted on those who have sinned worse than their fathers. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 16:13
(Verse 13) Behold, everyone walks according to the wickedness of their evil heart, so that they may not hear me. And I will cast you out of this land into a land that you and your fathers do not know, and there you will serve foreign gods day and night, who will not give you rest. Once abandoned by the Lord, they do things that are not fitting, so that they may pursue the desires of their evil heart, from which come wicked thoughts (Matthew 15), and therefore they are separated from the Church, to go into a distant land, which neither they nor their fathers knew before they sinned, to serve foreign gods, who are not gods, but are thought to be by those who worship them in error. But what he introduced: Day and night, he shows the continuous perseverance of sinners in wickedness, while they serve both in days of shame and in nights of lust. 'They will not give you rest,' he says. There is no doubt that he signifies false gods, of whom he said: 'And you will serve foreign gods there.' Therefore, whatever we sin, whatever we do day and night, and whatever evil works we commit, is the dominion of demons, who never give us rest, but always impel us to increase sins with sins, and to make a accumulation of sins. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 16:14-15
(Vers. 14, 15.) Therefore, behold, days are coming," says the Lord, "and it will no longer be said, 'As the Lord lives, who brought the children of Israel up from the land of Egypt,' but 'As the Lord lives, who brought the children of Israel up from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.' For I will restore them to their land that I gave to their ancestors. Clearly, the future restoration of the people of Israel is predicted, and after their captivity comes mercy; which, according to the literal sense, was partially fulfilled under Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua and Ezra; but according to the spiritual understanding, it is more truly and perfectly fulfilled in Christ. The time will come, he says, when it will no longer be said that the people were brought out of Egypt by Moses and Aaron, but that they were brought out of the land of the North, with Cyrus, the king of the Persians, releasing the captives. And concerning all lands, he says, this will not be fulfilled in the time of Cyrus, but at the very end, as the Apostle says: After the fullness of the Gentiles has entered, then all Israel will be saved (Rom. XI, 25, 26). We can also say this about the persecutions that happen to our people, from the days of Nero, about whom the Apostle writes: And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion (I Tim. IV, 17), up until the times of Maximinus: how the Lord has had mercy on his people and brought them back to their land. Doubtless into the Church, which their fathers received, the Apostles and apostolic men. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 16:16
"He rains on the wicked snares." Without any doubt, it is the Lord who contrives snares for sinners, in order to entrap those who abuse their freedom and to compel them to tread the right path under his bridle, thereby making it possible for them to advance through him who says, "I am the way." Wherefore, in Jeremiah, the Lord sends fishers and hunters to spread nets for the lost fish tossed about in whirlpools and to hunt down and save the beasts that wander through mountains and hills. This and the following verses do not promise punishment to sinners, as many believe, but rather give them promise of healing. — HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 60 (PS 10)
Jeremias 16:16-18
(Verse 16 onwards) Behold, I will send many fishermen, says the Lord, and they will catch them. And after this, I will send them many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and from the clefts of the rocks, for my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hidden from my sight, and their iniquity was not hidden from my eyes. And I will first repay double their iniquities and sins, for they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations. There are different interpretations of this chapter. For the Jews, it is believed to refer to the Chaldeans, who are described under the name of fishermen, and later to the Romans, who are compared to hunters, and who hunted down the unfortunate people in the mountains, hills, and caves of the rocks. But the Lord says that He Himself has done this because He has looked upon their ways and has returned upon them the iniquities with which they have polluted the land by worshipping idols and defiling His inheritance with abominations. But our Prophet thinks more rightly and better that these things are prophesied about the future. For as he had said before: I will bring them back to their land, which I gave to their fathers, now he shows how they are to be brought back, that first he should send Apostles, to whom the Savior said: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). And afterwards hunters, whom we can understand as either ecclesiastical men or Angels, who, when the time of completion comes, will hunt down all the holy ones from the mountains of lofty doctrines, and from the hills of good works, and from the caves of rocks, to the Apostles and apostolic men. For not only did Christ give the name Rock to Peter the Apostle (I Cor. X, Matt. XVI). In the senses of which, resting rightly, they are said to be transferred from rock. And it shows either the Apostles or those who came after them, having sins, and receiving their double injustices. For the servant who knows his master's will and does not do it, will be beaten with many blows (Luke XII). And it should be known that in Hebrew it is placed first, and in the Septuagint edition it was omitted. But when he says, 'I will first repay them double for their iniquities and their sins,' he indicates that after they have received evil, they will also receive good. However, those who will be transferred later have defiled the land of the Lord with the corpses of their idols and with their abominations they have filled his inheritance, so that the whole world may be subject to God, and may be preserved not by their own merit, but by his mercy. This we have inserted from the Hebrew: 'They are not hidden from my face,' which is not found in the Septuagint. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 16:19
(Verse 19) Lord, you are my strength and my refuge in the day of trouble (or evil). All human strength, without the power of God, which is Christ, is considered weak and worthless. Therefore, we must turn to the Lord and say: Lord, you have become our refuge, from generation to generation (Psalm 89:1). And in another place: Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1). But this tribulation, or evil, is to be understood, of which the Apostle says: That he might deliver us from this present wicked world: And, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Gal. 1:4). — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 16:20
(Verse 20) To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: Truly, our fathers have possessed a lie, vanity that has not profited them. Septuagint: To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and say: How have our fathers possessed false idols, and there is no profit in them? After Israel was expelled and carried away by fishermen and hunters, a multitude of nations is subsequently called to faith and confesses that their fathers were involved in prior error. But those who say, 'How did our fathers possess false idols, in which there is no utility?' confess that the things they pass by are true, and supported by every defense. Does a man make gods for himself when they are not gods themselves? And this is what the nations, who came to the Savior from the ends of the earth, speak, or rather are called, as they expose both their own ignorance and that of their ancestors, because they thought that gods were made by man, when it is actually men who make gods. — Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremias 16:21
(Verse 21.) Therefore behold, I will show them in turn this: I will show them my hand and my power, and they will know that my name is the Lord. The hand of God by which he has accomplished all things, and the power, of which the Apostle said: Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), is revealed to the Gentiles, through the completion of the Son's passion. And beautifully he said: I will show them in turn this: but I will show them openly, and not as before, in shadow and in image, and in the prophecy of future things, so that after they have known, they may know my name, and hear from the Son: Father, I have manifested your name to men (John 17). — Commentary on Jeremiah