Jeremiah 11

(Chapter 11, verse 1) The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying. It is not indeed stated in the title under which time, or under which king, and in which year of his, this prophecy was made: but we understand that either this is to be connected with the previous prophecy and time, or certainly after some interval of time the word of the Lord was made to the Prophet in this message.

According to the recorded coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, His sojourn came about bodily in a certain universal way, shining upon the whole world, when "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." For "there was the true Light which enlightens every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Yet one must know that even earlier He sojourned, though not bodily, in each of the saints, and that after this His visible coming He sojourns among us again. And if you wish to receive a demonstration of these things, attend to the passage: "The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: Hear," and what follows. For what is "the word which came from the Lord," whether to Jeremiah or to Isaiah or to Ezekiel or to whomever, other than He who was in the beginning with God? I know of no other word of the Lord than this, concerning which the evangelist has said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

And this too we must know, that it is above all when it is possible to profit from them that the coming of the Word is to each one. For what benefit is it to me if the Word has sojourned in the world, but I do not have Him? On the contrary, even if He has not yet sojourned in the whole world, grant that I have come to be among the prophets—I have the Word. And I would say that Christ came to Moses, to Jeremiah, to Isaiah, to each of the righteous, and that what was said by Him to the disciples, "Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age," was in fact fulfilled and came to pass even before His coming; for He was with Moses and He was with Isaiah and with each of the saints. How could those men have spoken the word of God if the Word of God had not sojourned in them? These things are especially necessary to be known by us who belong to the Church, who wish the God of the Law and of the Gospel to be the same, and Christ to be the same both then and now unto all ages. But there will be those who sever the Godhead older than the coming of the Savior—so far as their own supposition goes—from the Godhead proclaimed by Jesus Christ. But we know one God both then and now, one Christ both then and now. These things because of "the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying."

(Verse 2) Hear the words of this covenant (or testament), and speak to the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. However, it should be noted that the word Berith, in Aquila and Symmachus, is always translated as pact, while in the Septuagint and Theodotion it is translated as testament. Specifically, it now refers to Jerusalem and the men of the tribe of Judah.

What then are we also to hear? "Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." We are men of Judah because of Christ; for it is plain that our Lord "has arisen out of Judah," and if I establish, according to Scripture, that the name of Judah refers to Christ, then the men of Judah will not be the Jews who disbelieve in Christ, but ourselves, as many as believe in Christ. "Judah, may your brothers praise you. Your hands are upon the back of your enemies"—"may they praise you." His brothers did not praise that Judah, the son of Jacob. But this Judah his brothers will praise, since this Judah says, "I will declare your name to my brothers, in the midst of the church I will hymn you." It is not said with reference to that Judah. "Your hands are upon the back of your enemies": where is that Judah found laying his hands upon the back of his enemies? The narrative has recorded nothing of the sort concerning him. But if you understand the coming of the Lord Jesus abolishing the devil, stripping off "the principalities and powers" and making a show of them and triumphing over them in the wood, you see how upon this Judah the prophecy that says this has been fulfilled: "Your hands are upon the back of your enemies." If this is so, and the word now speaks "to the men of Judah," to whom would it be speaking except to those who believe in Christ, called in a certain manner Judah too because of the tribe of Judah?

"To the men of Judah" the word is spoken, and "to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." This is the church. For the city of God is the church, the Vision of peace; in her is the peace which He brought us, if indeed we are children of peace, and it is multiplied and seen.

"Hear," then, "the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed is the man who will not hear the words of the covenant which I commanded your fathers." Who most of all hears "the words of the covenant which God commanded the fathers"? Is it those who believe in Him, or those who are shown not even to believe Moses by the very fact that they have not believed in the Lord? For the Savior says to those men: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote concerning me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" Therefore those men have not believed in Moses, but we who believe in Christ believe the covenant given through Moses, and it is spoken to us, that we may not become accursed: "Cursed is the man who will not hear the words of the covenant which I commanded the fathers." Those men, then, have this—to be accursed. For they did not hear "the covenant which God commanded the fathers."

(Ver. 4.) Cursed is the man who does not listen to the words of this covenant that I commanded your fathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying: Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you, and you shall be my people, and I will be your Lord (or God). Not because of the privileges of lineage, not because of the injury of circumcision, and the rest of the Sabbath, but because of obedience, God becomes the people of Israel, and Israel becomes his people. And here indeed He speaks as if to slaves, so that they may please God. But in the Gospel, the Lord says to His disciples: 'You are my friends,' He says, 'if you do what I command you. I will no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father.' (John 15:14-15). And when they have become My friends, they pass on to being children: For as many as received Him, He gave them the power to become children of God. (John 1:12). Where he instructs his friends and disciples: Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48); he is commanding likeness, not equality. And there is obedience to the commandments, here is the likeness of God. And when he says: On the day when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, he gives us understanding that the furnace and the iron furnace, and the kindling of tribulation and punishment signify magnitude, not a specific place of punishment, prepared with iron material.

"In the day," He says, "when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace." Us too God has led out "of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace," especially according to him who has understood what is written in the Revelation of John, that the place "where their Lord was crucified is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt." For if it "is called spiritually Egypt," and this Egypt is not that Egypt which is spiritually called Egypt, for this one is perceptible to the senses, it is clear that if you understand the Egypt which is spiritually so called and go out from it, you are the one who has gone out "of the land of Egypt and out of the iron furnace," and it is said to you: "Hear my voice and do according to all" these things.

Then there is a promise of God to those who hear, if they do what He has commanded, saying: "And you shall be to me a people, and I will be to you a God." Not everyone who says he is the people of God is the people of God; that people, then, which had promised to be the people of God, heard "you are not my people" in the words "for you are not my people," and it was said to that people "not my people," and again this people was called a people. For "they moved me to jealousy with what is no god"—and He speaks concerning those men—"they provoked me to anger with their idols; and I will move them to jealousy with what is no nation, with a nation without understanding I will provoke them to anger."

We, then, have become a people to God, and "the righteousness of God is to the people," to the people from the nations. For this people is born all at once, as it is also said in the prophet: "Has a nation been born at once?" And a nation was born at once, when the Savior had come and in one day five thousand believed, and on another day three thousand were added. And it is possible to see a whole people being born by the word of God, and the barren woman, who formerly did not bear, bearing all at once, to whom it is said: "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear, break forth and cry out, you who are not in travail, for many are the children of the desolate one, more than of her who has the husband." The church is desolate—desolate of the law, this one was desolate of God. But that synagogue was said to have a husband, the law.

(Verse 5.) In order to fulfill the oath that I swore to your fathers, I will give them a land flowing with milk and honey, just as it is on this day. The fathers seem to receive, as the sons receive; and the promise to Abraham is fulfilled in his descendants. However, we must understand the land flowing with milk and honey metaphorically as representing the abundance of all things, as Virgil says in Eclogue III.

Let honey flow for them, let the rough bramble bear cinnamon. And again:

And everywhere he restrained the wines flowing in the rivers. Or certainly, tropologically, let us perceive the Church of Christ as the land flowing with milk and honey, in which we are nurtured as infants and sucklings through faith, so that we may be able to receive solid food.

And I answered and said, Amen, Lord. For which reason the Seventy translated 'Fiat, Domine' as 'Amen' (for this is what 'amen' signifies). The Lord had said, 'I have sworn to give to your fathers a land flowing with milk and honey,' as is confirmed today by the very things themselves (Exod. III). The diligent prophet takes up the voice of the Lord for his people and desires to be true and to endure forever what has been given. Therefore he says, 'Truly, Lord, you have fulfilled what you promised; whether it be done, Lord, or whether it endure forever, this is what you have given.'

This was the reason why He sent not Jeremiah only into Egypt, but also Ezekiel into Babylon, and they did not refuse to go. For when they found their Master love the people exceedingly, they continued themselves to do so likewise. Much as if a right-minded servant were to take compassion upon an intractable son when he saw his father grieving and lamenting about him. And what was there that they did not suffer for them? They were sawn asunder, they were driven out, they were reproached, they were stoned, they underwent numberless grievances. And after all this they would run back to them.… And for the people of the Jews, Jeremiah has composed Lamentations in writing. And when the general of the Persians had given him liberty to dwell securely, and with perfect freedom, wherever he pleased, he preferred above dwelling at home the affliction of the people, and their hard durance in a strange land.

What then does God promise me? "You shall be to me a people, and I will be to you a God." He is not the God of all, but only of those to whom He grants Himself, just as He granted Himself to that patriarch to whom He said, "I am your God," and again to another, "I will be your God," and concerning others, "I will be their God." When, then, do we attain—I speak of each individual—to God being our God? But if you wish to learn whose God He is and to whom He grants the invocation of Himself, "I," He says, "am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." And the Savior, expounding this very thing, says: "God is not the God of the dead but of the living." Who is the dead? The sinner, who does not have the One who said, "I am the Life," the one who has dead works, the one who has not yet repented from dead works, concerning which the apostle says: "Not again laying a foundation of repentance from dead works." If, then, "God is not the God of the dead but of the living," and we know who is the living one—that it is he who lives his life according to Christ and abides with Him—then, if we wish that God may be ours, let us renounce the works of deadness, that He may fulfill His promise which says: "And I will be to you a God, that I may establish my oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey." For observe that He says: "I will establish my oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey," as though He had not yet given them "the land flowing with milk and honey." For this is not the land which God promised "flowing with milk and honey," but it is that one concerning which the Savior taught, saying: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

Then to what was said beforehand by the Lord the prophet answers—to the words "Cursed is the man who will not hear the words of this covenant"—and he says: "And I answered and said, So be it, Lord." What is "So be it, Lord"? Cursed is he who will not abide in the words of this covenant.

(Version 6.) And the Lord said to me, proclaim (or read) all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Listen to the words of this covenant and do them. The most merciful God often predicts the future, so that the hard heart may be softened to believe. He predicts both in the city of Jerusalem and in the field outside, so that the same repentance may apply to both, which is the common distinction of those places.

"And the Lord said to me: Read these words in the cities of Judah and outside Jerusalem." And to those outside we read the words of God, calling them to salvation. "Hear the words of this covenant and do them."

When he was giving the law, he added this to the law, for he said, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them," and he also promises there and again here how he will deem worthy of all care those who keep the divine commandments. And he reminds them also of the things spoken to their ancestors and of their ancestors' disobedience. For they turned their ear away, he says, and every one went in the direction of his own evil heart. And he says here "direction" not as meaning "uprightness" but rather the evil that arises immediately in their malice. For they have not turned from this evil but have journeyed constantly in it. "And I brought on them all the words of this covenant that I commanded them to do, and yet they did not do." He gave them over to noteworthy punishments; sometimes they served the Ammonites, other times the Moabites and still other times other foreigners.…The phrase "a band has been found" means "they have banded themselves together and joined themselves with their ancestors and they travel down the road of their ancestors' wickedness." He indicates as much also through the things that are brought against them. "And behold, they go after foreign gods, in order to serve them." They do these things in transgression of the covenant that was given to them. For this reason I will surround them with misfortunes of all kinds, and those who weep I will not deem worthy to be spared. They will not even enjoy any help from the gods who are revered by them.

(Vers. 9, 10) And the Lord said to me: A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have turned back to the iniquities of their former fathers, who refused to listen to my words. And so they went after foreign gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers. As for the conspiracy, which we have interpreted according to Symmachus, Aquila, and the Septuagint, Theodotion has translated it as 'connection,' which we can also call 'binding.' And so Athalia, when she discovered that an ambush was being prepared for her in the Temple, spoke the same word: Conspiracy, conspiracy (2 Kings 11:14). The Scripture properly uses this word when it refers not to a sudden and accidental sin, but to a deliberate plot and conspiracy aimed at committing a crime, and when they all have the same mind and intention and work together to despise God's commandments. And it is said that both the fathers and the sons, with one mind and one judgment, neglected God and worshipped idols, both in Israel and in the house of Judah, that is, in the ten tribes as well as in the two tribes whose authority was in Jerusalem, so that, in their contempt for God, the punishment they suffered in captivity was equal.

"And they did not do them. And the Lord said to me: A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem." Are we going to repent over the sins spoken of concerning the men of Judah, knowing that we are men of Judah because of Christ who was prophesied and spoken of? For perhaps, since there are among us certain sinners who act contrary to right reason, for this reason the prophet says: "A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem." For when there is found, in certain persons who bear the name of the church, a bond of injustice and a bond of sins, so that to them may be applied what is said of the sinner, "and each one is bound tight by the cords of his own sins," God would say: "A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah." But let no conspiracy be found among us. And how is a conspiracy not found among us, even if until now there is a conspiracy in certain persons? "Loose every bond of injustice, undo the knots of forced dealings, tear apart every unjust contract. Break your bread for the hungry."

"A conspiracy," then, "has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the injustices of their fathers of former times." "They have turned back to the injustices"—of whom? He does not say simply "of the fathers." What is the addition? "They have turned back to the injustices of their fathers of former times." We were saying that these things are spoken to us and to those among us who sin. How then have those among us who sin turned back not "to the injustices of the fathers," but "of their fathers of former times"? Perhaps, then, our fathers are twofold, and there is among us the worse kind of fathers; for before we believed we were sons, so to speak, of the devil, as the evangelic word shows, saying: "You are of your father the devil," but when we believed, we became sons of God. When, therefore, we sin, we turn back to the injustices not simply of the fathers, but of the former fathers. And to establish that our fathers are twofold, I will make use of statements from the forty-fourth Psalm which run thus: "Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father." He calls Him father, "forget the house of your father"; for as a father He says, "Hear, O daughter." Therefore our fathers are twofold. But "forget the house of your father," the former one. If, having forgotten your former house, you again turn back to the sins, you have done the sins here spoken of.

"They have turned back to the injustices of their fathers of former times." I was saying that the devil too was formerly our father, before God became our father, if indeed even now the devil is not our father; which we will also establish from the catholic epistle of John, in which it is written: "Everyone who commits sin has been begotten of the devil." If "everyone who commits sin has been begotten of the devil," then, as it were, we have been begotten of the devil as many times as we sin. Wretched, then, is this one who is always being begotten of the devil, just as, on the other hand, blessed is he who is always being begotten by God. For I will not say that the righteous man has been begotten by God once, but that he is always being begotten at each good deed, in which God begets the righteous man. If, then, I direct you to the Savior—that the Father did not beget the Son and then release Him from His begetting, but always begets Him—I will establish something similar also in the case of the righteous man. Let us see who our Savior is. "The radiance of glory." The radiance of the glory has not been begotten once and is not being begotten; but insofar as the light is productive of the radiance, to that extent the radiance of the glory of God is begotten. Our Savior is the wisdom of God. And wisdom is "the radiance of eternal light." If, then, the Savior is always begotten, and for this reason He says, "Before all the hills He begets me"—not "before all the hills He has begotten me," but "before all the hills He begets me"—and the Savior is always begotten by the Father, so also you, if you have the spirit of adoption, God always begets you in Him at each deed, at each thought, and being thus begotten you become ever a son of God being begotten in Christ Jesus; to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages of ages. Amen.

(Verse 11, 12.) Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I am bringing upon them evil from which they cannot escape. They will cry out to me, but I will not listen to them. And the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer libations, but they will not save them in their time of distress. God does not listen in the time of necessity and distress because they also refused to listen to the voice of the Lord, just as Saul did. For when he was terrified by the Philistine armies and could not receive the word of the Lord, he turned to the Pythoness in order to learn from idols what he should have obtained through instant prayer and tears from the Lord (1 Kings 21). From this we learn that even if the Lord does not hear, we must by no means give up or turn to demons, who cannot help their worshipers, but to the Lord's help, who is quickly moved to anger and changes his mind if those who angered him are changed. But all that is now said pertains to the tribe of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, against which captivity threatens.

Though God justly does not hear those who do not hear him, the demons will be unable to save the just in those who burn incense to them, whenever the time of troubles arrives. Thus, whenever God does not listen, it is dangerous to seek help from demons. But one must depend on God, who has turned away from us due to sins, yet who does not disregard the great and lasting refuge in himself.

(Verse 13) For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah, and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars of confusion to burn incense to Baal. Let us read the books of Kings and Chronicles (2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33), and we will find that Judah and Jerusalem have done far worse than Israel, so that as many cities as they had, they had just as many idols. And as many squares and street corners as there were in the city of Jerusalem, they had just as many altars of confusion, on which they would sacrifice to the idols of Baal.

(Verse 14.) So you, do not pray for this people, and do not take on praise and prayer for them: for I will not listen to their cry to me, in the time of their affliction. It is commanded to Jeremiah, not to intercede for them to the Lord, for their sentence is already accomplished: lest his prayer appear weak, and not be heard because of their own wickedness. Do not, he says, pray for them, nor take on praise, so that by recalling the kindness of the old story, by which I have always had mercy on them, and by praising, you try to change my judgment. For if you do this, I will not hear those who are forced to ask me in their time of need. From them we learn that it is in vain to ask for someone else when he does not deserve to receive, for whom God is asked.

Or having sins unrepented they ask mercy, which thing it is impossible to receive, not only if themselves ask it, but although others having much confidence towards God entreat for them, like as even Jeremiah praying for the Jews did hear, "Pray not thou for this people, because I will not hear thee." But if all things are there, and thou ask things expedient, and contribute all thine own part, and exhibit an apostolical life, and have concord and love towards thy neighbor, thou wilt obtain on thy entreaty; for the Lord is loving towards man.

"How then do they not obtain all things?" Because many are causes of their failing. For either they often ask things inexpedient. And why marvellest thou, if this is the case with some others, whereas it was so even with Paul, when he heard, "My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is perfected in weakness." Or they are unworthy to be reckoned with them that heard these words, and contribute not their own part, but He seeks for such as are like them; therefore He saith "of you," of the virtuous, of them that show forth an angelic rule of life. Or they pray against them that have aggrieved them, seeking for redress and vengeance; and this kind of thing is forbidden, for, "Pray," saith He, "for your enemies." Or having sins unrepented they ask mercy, which thing it is impossible to receive, not only if themselves ask it, but although others having much confidence towards God entreat for them, like as even Jeremiah praying for the Jews did hear, "Pray not thou for this people, because I will not hear thee."

(Vers. 15, 16.) What is it that my beloved has done many wicked deeds in my house? Will the holy flesh take away your malice, in which you have boasted? The Lord called your name a fruitful, beautiful, and pleasant olive tree, but when the great fire of his voice blazed in it, its branches were consumed. He called the people of Judah his beloved and most beloved, who placed idols in his temple and worshiped them, thinking that by offering many sacrifices he could appease God's anger and boasting in the multitude of offerings, which cannot take away the wickedness of sins. But Jerusalem, or rather the whole people of the Jews, is compared to fair and fruitful olive trees, which, exalted by pride, did not act humbly, nor did they understand their Creator and Lord; but, elevated by pride and speaking arrogantly, they were consumed by the fire of the Lord; so that their branches, or rather their orchards, were burned and reduced to nothing, and the entire people of their adversaries were destroyed by the sword. This sense is also found in another place (Chapter II), where it is said to Jerusalem: I planted you as a productive vine, the true vine: how have you turned into a bitter foreign vine? When its walls are destroyed, and a wild boar from the forest devastates it, and all the animals devour its fruits (Psalm 78), let us say this chapter to the princes of the churches: What is it that my beloved has done many crimes in my house? Or surely to the rich, who plunder another's goods and do not take away the malice of their heart, they think they deserve God's mercy: Will holy meats take away your malice from you, in which you have boasted? But now the names of those offering are being publicly recited, and the redemption of sins is turned into praise: they did not remember the widow in the Gospel, who by putting in two small coins surpassed the offerings of all the rich people (Mark 12).

It is probable, therefore, that Jesus compares the synagogue of the Jews with a fig tree, for the sacred Scripture also compares them with various plants: the vine, for instance, and the olive, and even a forest. … Jeremiah says, "The Lord called you a beautiful olive tree, well shaded in appearance. At its pruning time, a fire was kindled in it. Great tribulation came to it. Its branches were destroyed." And another of the holy prophets, comparing it with Mount Lebanon, thus speaks: "Open your doors, O Lebanon, and the fire shall devour your cedars." For the forest that was in Jerusalem, even the people there, many as they were and innumerable, were destroyed as by fire.

(Verse 17.) And the Lord of hosts, who planted you, spoke evil against you, for the evils of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, who have made themselves a provocation to me by pouring out offerings to the Baals. The Lord your God called you a fruitful and beautiful olive tree, and planted you. But because at the sound of his speaking, a great flame of God descended upon you and consumed all your branches, therefore the one who planted you has now spoken evil against you: not by the injustice of his judgment, nor by a sudden perversity of his speech, but because of the evils that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done to themselves, and they have diligently made offerings to the Baals in order to provoke me to anger. And since God can do whatever He wants, He gives reasons so that He does not appear to act unjustly, according to what is written: That you may be justified in your words, and win when you are judged (Psalm 50:6).

That the Jews would fasten Christ to the cross.… Also in Jeremiah: "Come, let us cast the tree into his bread, and let us blot out his life from the earth."

Listen to Jeremiah and be convinced: "I was as a meek lamb that is carried to be a victim. Did I not know it?" (Read it thus as a question, as I have put it. For he who said, "You know that after two days the Passover shall be here, and the Son of man will be delivered up to be crucified," did he not know?) "I was a meek lamb that is carried to be a victim. Did I not know it?" (What sort of lamb? Let John the Baptist interpret, when he says, "Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!") "They devised a wicked counsel against me, saying (Was it that he who knew the counsels did not know their result? And what did they say?): "Come, and let us put wood on his bread." (If the Lord shall count you worthy, hereafter you shall learn that his body, according to the Gospel, bore the figure of bread.) "Come, and let us put wood on his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living (Life is not cut off. Why do you toil to no purpose?) And let his name be remembered no more."

(Verse 18) But you, Lord, have shown me and I have known: you have revealed to me their desires. This is the consensus of all the churches, that under the person of Jeremiah, these things may be understood to be said by Christ, that the Father has shown him how he ought to speak, and has revealed to him the intentions of the Jews.

It is the consensus of all the church that these words are spoken by Christ through the person of Jeremiah. For the Father made it known to him how he should speak and revealed to him the zealotry of the Jews—he who was led like a lamb to the slaughter, not opening his mouth and not knowing. But the word sin is implicitly added to this last phrase, in agreement with what was said by the apostle: "When he did not know sin, he was made to be sin on our account." And they said, "Let us put wood on his bread," clearly referring to the cross on the body of the Savior, for he is the one who said, "I am the bread that descended from heaven."They also said "let us destroy (or eradicate) him from the land of the living." And they conceived the evil in their soul that they would delete his name forever. In response to this, from the sacrament of the assumed body, the Son speaks to the Father and invokes his judgment while praising his justice and acknowledging him as the God who inspects the interior and the heart. He asks that the Father would return to the people what they deserve, saying, "Let me see your vengeance on them," obviously referring only to those who continue in sin, not to those who repent. Concerning the latter, he said on the cross: "Father forgive them, for they do not realize what they are doing." He also "disclosed his cause" to the Father, that he was crucified not because he deserved it but for the sins of the people, as he declared: "Behold, the prince of the world came and found nothing against me." The Jews and our Judaizers believe that all of this was said only by Jeremiah, arguing from prophecy that the people have sustained these evils in their captivity. But I fail to see how they hope to prove that Jeremiah was the one crucified, since such an event is nowhere recorded in Scripture. Perhaps it is just a figment of their imagination.

Jeremiah, too, said, "Show me, O Lord, and I shall know. Then I saw their plots. And I was carried as a meek lamb to be the victim. They devised counsels against me, saying, 'Let us put wood on his bread and cut him off from the land of the living, and his name shall be remembered no more.' " Now the wood signifies the cross and the bread his body, because he is himself the food and life of all who believe in the flesh that he put on and by which he hung on the cross.

If there are oracles of God in the Law and the Prophets, in the Gospels and the Apostles, then whoever is being made a disciple by the oracles of God will need to inscribe God as his teacher; for "he who teaches man knowledge" is God, as it is also written in the Psalms. And the Savior too testifies that no one should be inscribed as a teacher upon the earth, saying, "And do not call anyone teacher upon the earth; for one is your teacher, the Father who is in the heavens." But "the Father who is in the heavens" teaches either by himself, or through Christ, or in the Holy Spirit, or through Paul, let us say, or through Peter, or through some other of the saints — only let the Spirit of God and the Word of God be present and teach. And for what purpose have I said these things? Because the prophet says, "Make it known to me, Lord, and I will know"; for I will not know unless you make it known to me; but if, when you make it known to me, I know, "then I will see their practices" and I will understand what each one does and of what disposition he is.

He was led to the cross, and the life of the whole world hung suspended from its wood. Would you care to have this, too, confirmed by the testimony of prophets? Listen to what Jeremiah has to say about it: "Come, and let us put wood on his bread, and let us cut him off from the land of the living." Moses again, lamenting over them, remarked, "And your life shall be hanging suspended before your eyes, and you shall fear by day and by night, neither shall you trust your life."

(Verse 19) I, like a gentle lamb being led to the sacrifice, did not know that they were plotting against me. Let us cast wood into his bread, and let us wipe him from the land of the living, so that his name may be remembered no more. He himself, like a lamb led to the slaughter, has not opened his mouth and has not known, sin being implied; according to what is said by the apostle: He who knew no sin, was made sin for us: and they have said: Let us place wood in his bread, namely the cross in the body of the Savior. For it is he who says: I am the bread that came down from heaven; and we will uproot or crush him from the land of the living (John 6:51). For they have conceived this wickedness in their hearts, that they may erase his name forever.

The careful student of the sacred books, moreover, may gather not a few similar passages from the prophets, as where He calls Himself a chosen shaft, and a servant of God, and a light of the Gentiles. Isaiah also says, "From my mother's womb hath He called me by my name, and He made my mouth as a sharp sword, and under the shadow of His hand did He hide me, and He said to me, Thou art My servant, O Israel, and in thee will I be glorified." And a little farther on: "And my God shall be my strength, and He said to me, This is a great thing for thee to be called My servant, to set up the tribes of Jacob and to turn again the diaspora of Israel. Behold I have set thee for a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the end of the earth." And in Jeremiah too He likens Himself to a lamb, as thus: "I was as a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter." These and other similar sayings He applies to Himself. In addition to these one might collect in the Gospels and the Apostles and in the prophets a countless number of titles which are applied to the Son of God, as the writers of the Gospels set forth their own views of what He is, or the Apostles extol Him out of what they had learned, or the prophets proclaim in advance His coming advent and announce the things concerning Him under various names. Thus John calls Him the Lamb of God, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world."

If we examine the declaration about Jesus who is pointed out by John in the words, "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," from the standpoint of the dispensation itself of the bodily sojourn of the Son of God in the life of people, we will assume that the lamb is none other than his humanity. For he was "led as a sheep to the slaughter and was dumb as a lamb before its shearer," saying, "I was as an innocent lamb being led to be sacrificed."

These are the prophet's words. Then let us see what the Savior says in the prophet: "I, like an innocent lamb led to be sacrificed, did not know. Against me they devised a device, saying, Come and let us cast wood into his bread, and let us wipe him out from the land of the living, and his name shall no more be remembered." As the prophet Isaiah also says, Christ "was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth." There, then, Isaiah speaks about him, but here Christ says about himself, "I, like an innocent lamb led to slaughter to be sacrificed, did not know." He did not say what he did not know. For he has not said, "I did not know evils"; he has not said, "I did not know good things"; nor has he said, "I did not know sin"; but simply, "I did not know." To you, then, he has left it to examine what he did not know. And learn what he did not know from this: "the one who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf"; for to know sin is to sin, just as to know righteousness is to act righteously. Therefore the one who proclaims the things concerning righteousness and does not act righteously has not known righteousness.

"Against me they devised a device, saying, Come and let us cast wood into his bread." That the Jews crucified him is clear, and we proclaim this with boldness. But how you are to fit this to "they devised a device against me, saying, Come and let us cast wood into his bread" is a work to understand. The bread of Jesus is the word by which we are nourished. Since, therefore, while he was teaching among the people, they wished to add the stumbling-block to his teaching by crucifying him, they said, "Let us cast wood into his bread." For whenever the crucifixion of the teacher is attached to the word of Jesus' teaching, wood has been cast into his bread. Let those men, then, having plotted out of conspiracy, say, "Come and let us cast wood into his bread." But I will say something more paradoxical: the wood cast into his bread has made the bread better. I take an example from the Law of Moses: the wood cast into the bitter water made it sweet. Thus the wood of the passion of Jesus Christ, coming into the word, has made his bread sweeter. Indeed, before the wood came into his bread, when it was only bread and there was no wood in his teaching, "his voice did not go out into all the earth." But since the bread took on power through the wood cast into it, on account of this the word of his teaching has been distributed throughout the whole inhabited world. And then the wood was the symbol of the passion of Jesus, through which the bitter water becomes sweet; for I say that the Law, when it is not understood, is bitter water, but if the wood of Jesus comes and the teaching of my Savior arrives, the Law of Moses, when it is read and understood, is sweetened and becomes most delightful.

They said, then, "Come and let us cast wood into his bread."

And they also say, "Let us wipe him out from the land of the living, and his name shall no more be remembered." Thus they killed him, as though obliterating his name. But Jesus knows how he dies and for what reason. Therefore he says, "Unless the grain of wheat, falling into the earth, dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit"; so that the death of Jesus becomes an ear of wheat, making what was sown many times multiplied and abundant. So that, if by hypothesis he had not been crucified nor died, the grain of wheat would have remained alone, and many would not have come from it. Attend, then, to his wording, whether he did not mean to say this: "The grain of wheat, unless it falls into the earth and dies, remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." The death of Jesus bore all these as fruit; and if his death bore so many as fruit, how many will the resurrection bear as fruit?

And hearken unto the prophet who also proclaimed our Lord with his simple teaching, and who likened Him unto a lamb and a sheep, the most innocent of all animals: "Like a lamb was He led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before the shearer He was silent." The lion and the wolf and bear are crafty, together with the other wild beasts, because craftiness was mingled with their evil nature when they were made; but sheep and lambs and ewes are simple and innocent in their ways and movements, and to them was our Lord likened, and by their name are believers called. Our Lord did not liken Himself unto a lion, which bringeth suffering and death, and He did not call His flocks by the names of wild animals, which by the nature in which they were created are cunning in respect of evil things, but He was called "lamb" and "sheep", and being meek like unto them He was led to suffering and to death, for "like a sheep before his shearer He was silent", and thus He in His humility opened not His mouth.

Hence they rightly believed and confessed that as God he knew all things and that as the Son of God He had come from God. It is a clear indication of divinity to know the secret things of another's thoughts, as Solomon affirmed when he said in supplication to God, "For you alone know the hearts of all the children of human beings." Hence, Jeremiah too said, "You, O Lord of Sabaoth, are the one who judges righteously and probes the loins and hearts of human beings."

(Verse 20) But you, Lord of hosts, who judge justly and test the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for I have revealed my cause to you. But on the contrary, in accordance with the sacrament of the assumed body, the Son speaks to the Father, and he calls for his judgment, while praising his justice, and invokes God, the observer of the kidneys and the heart, that he may give to the people what they deserve. And he says: Let me see your vengeance upon them, namely, those who persist in wickedness, and not upon those who turn to repentance. He said about them on the cross: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). And he reveals to the Father and opens his cause: because he was crucified not by any merit of his own, but by the crime of the people, saying: Behold, the prince of this world is coming, and he finds nothing in me (John 14:30). The Jews and our Judaizers understand these things to be said in the person of Jeremiah: they confirm that he endured these things from the people on account of his prophecy of future events and the coming evils of captivity. But I do not know how they can approve that Jeremiah was crucified, since the Scripture does not mention it, unless perhaps they have thought about it and not acted upon it.

"Lord of the powers, who judge righteous things, who test the reins and hearts, may I see the vengeance from you upon them." Prophetically he prays these things, to see the vengeance from God upon them; for "Jerusalem is encircled by armies, and its desolation has drawn near," and it has been said to her, "Behold, your house is left to you." "May I see," then, "the vengeance from you upon them, because to you I have revealed my case."

There was a reason that God allowed the prophet to be tested by troubles. Since Jeremiah had often tried to offer intercession for the transgressors—in his desire to convince Jeremiah that God was not compassionate but the harsh treasury of goodness—he allowed the rebellion to occur. In his deep grief, however, Jeremiah implores God to judge justly and exact penalties from the unholy. The Lord accepts his petition, gives a reply, threatens punishment and notes that some will be slaughtered in war and others destroyed by famine.

For Anathoth did not receive Jeremiah, or the Tishbites Elijah, or Abelmeholah Elisha, or Ramah Samuel, or the synagogue Moses, or Israel our Lord Jesus in Nazareth.

(v. 21 onward) Therefore, thus says the Lord to the men of Anathoth who seek your life and say: Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will visit them. The young men shall die by the sword; their sons and daughters shall die by famine, and there shall be no remnant of them. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth in the year of their visitation. It seems that this contradicts the previous opinions, in which we wanted to approve what was said from the person of Christ, and not from Jeremiah, who resided in the village of Anathoth, which is three miles from Jerusalem. But if we understand the etymology of the town of Anathoth (which means obedience), it will clearly show that the men of Anathoth, who once obeyed the Lord's commands, were all called Jews, and especially the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem, upon whom the final judgment came, that they would perish in the evils of the siege, by sword, famine, and disease. In order to free ourselves from all the annoyance of interpretation, let us follow this rule: Whatever the prophets have done in the manner of the Lord and Savior, and whatever has been fulfilled in the present time in Jeremiah, let it be prophesied in the future about the Lord.

"Therefore thus says the Lord against the men of Anathoth who seek my life, who say: You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord, and if you do, you shall die in our hands. Behold, I will visit upon them: their young men shall die by the sword, and their sons and their daughters shall perish by famine. And there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring evils upon the inhabitants of Anathoth in the year of their visitation." For the sake of a figure the name of Anathoth is here taken up. And the whole Jewish mystery is spoken in it figuratively; for Anathoth is interpreted "Hearkening." Since, then, a hearkening of God was in that people, as also the kingdom of God, and it came to pass concerning the kingdom that "the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits," according to this it also came to pass that "the men of Anathoth," those who are in the Hearkening, "seek the life" — not of Jeremiah (for neither does the history say that men of Anathoth sought the life of Jeremiah. We have the books of Kingdoms; Scripture makes mention there of Jeremiah, yet nothing of the sort is said in them, nor in the books of Chronicles; for we have the very book of the prophet, and the men of Anathoth have said nothing) — but these things are said concerning Christ.

"Those who seek my life, those who say: You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord." The Jews hindered Jesus from teaching. "And if you do, you shall die in our hands. Behold, I will visit upon them: their young men shall die by the sword, and their sons and their daughters shall perish by famine." They did not then perish by the sword, but after the coming a famine has now come upon them — "not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord"; for no longer is "thus says the Lord Almighty" spoken among them. This is the famine, that prophecy should be no more — and why do I say prophecy? not even teaching. Even if ten thousand times over there are those among them who pass for wise men, there is no longer a word of the Lord among them, since there was fulfilled the saying, "The Lord will take away from Judea and from Jerusalem a mighty man and a mighty woman, a giant and a strong one and a man of war and a judge and a prophet and a diviner and an elder and a captain of fifty and a wonderful counselor and a wise architect and an intelligent hearer." No longer is there among them one able to say, "As a wise architect I have laid a foundation"; the architects have gone over, they have come to the Church, they have laid the foundation, Jesus Christ. Upon this both those after them build.

"In famine," then, that people have been left abandoned; for "I will bring" upon them "evils, upon the inhabitants of Anathoth in the year of their visitation."