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Commentarii in Jeremiam ̓

93.628 CHAPTER ONE. "Who dwelt in Anathoth." Anathoth is five myriads from Jerusalem. 93.629 "I know you." According to the principles of foreknowledge. "To root out." To root out wickedness. "What do you see? And I said: An almond rod." These things [were said] at intervals, whenever he says: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying; for it was not in sequence, but he granted to understand the things being said. For this wood is firm, and heavy, and striking. For what reason did I see these things? Because the things and the visions were clearer, and struck the hearer more. For the rod is a symbol of a blow. There is a saying that the almond nut induces wakefulness; and that the wood is also easily broken, and signifies a more moderate wrath; as God is watchful over sinners, yet punishes more moderately. "From the face of the North." He says this because of the Babylonian. For Babylon is more to the north with respect to Jerusalem. But according to the spiritual sense, the devil is taken for the face of the harsh North. "A seething pot." According to the letter, Jerusalem and the rulers in it; but according to the spiritual contemplation, the conscience testing itself. "And you, gird up." Instead of, be a man, go with courage. But according to the spiritual sense, the temperate man girds his loins. For they say that the seeds are in the loins. For it has been said concerning Levi: For he was still in the loins of your father. "Do not be afraid, for I am with you." Having fortified with angelic powers. CHAP. 2. "I remembered the kindness of your youth." To the Savior Christ, Israel is holy to the Lord; the true Israel, the mind that sees God, which also sees with pleasure as a certain firstfruit of produce. Therefore Israel is sometimes said to be the people of the Jews, and at other times the more discerning, and the patriarch himself, and Christ according to the flesh from Israel. According to mercy, he says, and love I anointed you as a prophet; for the gifts are not from achievements. "And they went after vain things." Of the idols and of the ways of wickedness. Into Carmel." This is a mountain of Palestine. It is interpreted as the knowledge of circumcision; through which we cut off the good from the bad. "Pass over to the isles of Chittim." Some say they are Cypriots, but others the nations of the Indians. Kedar is a descendant of Ishmael; and through this the nations of the Saracens are signified. It is interpreted as darkness; and they say that earthenware is also denoted by Kedar. "Lions roared against him." Lions, according to the literal sense, are the Babylonians, but according to the spiritual sense, savage demons. "Because it is not inhabited;" Because it does not have good inhabitants. 93.632 "To drink the water of Gihon." Gihon is the Nile, and the water of 93.632 the Egyptians is their polytheistic error. "To drink the water of the rivers." The rivers of the Assyrians are the manifold ways of wickedness, and in the case of both, it is possible to understand both things. "For of old you have broken your yoke." For from the beginning you were stiff-necked, always resisting the Holy Spirit; and by yoke he means the legislation. "There I will be poured out in my fornication." For wickedness, once it has begun, is poured out to infinity. "How have you turned to bitterness?" For evils are not according to nature, but according to a turning aside; a strange vine, which by its own choice has estranged itself from God. "How can you say, I have not been defiled?" It is of the utmost folly for the sinner to deny it. "See your ways in the burial ground." The burial ground is the tomb; either, therefore, they were doing certain things in the tombs pleasing to demons, or because the tombs themselves were whitewashed. In hypocrisy of the truth pursuing falsehood. "Late her voice howled, she widened her ways to the waters of the desert." Female dogs howl, calling the males to mate; this, therefore, he says, it has suffered in the darkness of the soul, calling upon unclean demons. She widened her ways under the waters of the desert. Waters of the desert, the manifold, and fruitless of the

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Commentarii in Jeremiam ̓

93.628 ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΠΡΩΤΟΝ. "Ὃς κατῴκει ἐν Ἀναθώθ." Ἀπὸ πέντε μυρίωνἹερουσαλὴμ Ἀναθώθ. 93.629 "Ἐπίσταμαί σε." Κατὰ τοὺς τῆς προγνώσεως λόγους. "Ἐκριζοῦν." Ἐκριζοῦν τὴν κακίαν. "Τί σὺ ὁρᾷς; Καὶ εἶπα· Βακτηρίαν καρυΐνην." Ταῦτα ἐκ διαλείμματος, ὅταν εἴπῃ· Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με λέγων· οὐ γὰρ ἐφεξῆς, ἀλλ' ἐδίδου συνιδεῖν τὰ λεγόμενα. Τὸ γὰρ ξύλον τοῦτο στεῤῥὸν, καὶ βαρὺ, καὶ πληκτικόν. Τίνος ἕνεκεν ταῦτα ἔβλεπον; Ὅτι τὰ πράγματα καὶ αἱ ὄψεις ἐναργέστεραι ἦσαν, καὶ μᾶλλον ἔπληττον τὸν ἀκροατήν. Ἡ γὰρ ῥάβδος πληγῆς ἐστι σύμβολον. Λόγος, τὸ κάρυον ἀγρυπνίας εἶναι ποιητικόν· εἶναι δὲ καὶ εὔθραστον τὸ ξύλον, καὶ σημαίνει τὴν μετριωτέραν ὀργήν· ὡς ἀγρυπνοῦντος μὲν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν, κολάζοντος δὲ μετριώτερον. "Ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Βοῤῥᾶ." ∆ιὰ τὸν Βαβυλώνιόν φησι. Βορειοτέρα γὰρ ἡ Βαβυλὼν ὡς πρὸς τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ. Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιας, εἰς πρόσωπον τοῦ σκληροῦ Βορέου ὁ διάβολος λαμβάνεται. "Λέβητα ὑποκαιόμενον." Κατὰ μὲν τὸ γράμμα τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ ἄρχοντας· πρὸς δὲ θεωρίαν, τὴν συνείδησιν τὴν ἑαυτὴν δοκιμάζουσαν. "Καὶ σὺ περίζωσαι." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, ἄνδρισαι, θαῤῥῶν πορεύου. Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, περιζώννυται τὴν ὀσφὺν ὁ σώφρων. Ἐν γὰρ τῇ ὀσφύϊ λέγουσιν εἶναι τὰ σπέρματα. Εἴρηται γὰρ περὶ τοῦ Λευΐ· Ἔτι γὰρ ἐν τῇ ὀσφύϊ τοῦ πατρός σου ἦν. "Μὴ φοβηθῇς ὅτι μετὰ σοῦ εἰμί." Περιφράξας ταῖς ἀγγελικαῖς δυνάμεσιν. ΚΕΦ. Βʹ. "Ἐμνήσθην ἐλέους νεότητός σου." Τῷ Σωτῆρι Χριστῷ ἅγιος Ἰσραὴλ τῷ Κυρίῳ· ὁ ἀληθινὸς Ἰσραὴλ, ὁ νοῦς ὁ ὁρῶν Θεὸν, ὃν καὶ ἡδέως ὁρᾷ ὥσπερ ἀπαρχήν τινα γεννημάτων. Λέγεται οὖν Ἰσραὴλ ποτὲ μὲν ὁ Ἰουδαίων λαὸς, ποτὲ δὲ οἱ διορατικώτεροι, καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ πατριάρχης καὶ ὁ κατὰ σάρκα ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ Χριστός. Κατὰ ἔλεος, φησὶ, καὶ ἀγάπην ἔχρισά σε εἰς προφήτην· οὐ γὰρ ἐκ κατορθωμάτων τὰ χαρίσματα. "Καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν ὀπίσω τῶν ματαίων." Τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ τῶν τρόπων τῆς κακίας. Εἰς τὸν Κάρμηλον." Ὄρος τοῦτο τῆς Παλαιστίνης. Ἑρμηνεύεται δὲ ἐπίγνωσις περιτομῆς· δι' ἧς ἀποτέμνομεν τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἀπὸ τῶν φαύλων. "∆ιέλθετε εἰς νήσους Χεττιείμ." Τινὲς μὲν Κυπρίους φασὶ, τινὲς δὲ Ἰνδῶν ἕθνη. Ὁ Κηδὰρ τοῦ Ἰσμαὴλ ἀπόγονος· σημαίνονται δὲ διὰ τούτου τὰ Σαρακηνῶν ἔθνη. Ἑρμηνεύεται δὲ σκοτασμός· φασὶ δὲ καὶ ὀστρακίνην δηλοῦσθαι διὰ τοῦ Κηδάρ. "Ἐπ' αὐτὸν ὠρύοντο λέοντες." Λέοντες πρὸς μὲν τὸ ῥητὸν οἱ Βαβυλώνιοι, πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν ἀνήμεροι δαίμονες. "Παρὰ τὸ μὴ κατοικεῖσθαι·" ∆ιὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν οἰκήτορας ἀγαθούς. 93.632 "Πιεῖν ὕδωρ Γηών." Γηὼν ὁ Νεῖλος, ὕδωρ δὲ 93.632 τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, ἡ πολύθεος αὐτῶν πλάνη. "Πιεῖν ὕδωρ ποταμῶν." Ἀσσυρίων ποταμοὶ οἱ πολυειδεῖς τῆς κακίας τρόποι, καὶ ἐπὶ ἑκατέρων δὲ, ἀμφότερα ἔστι νοεῖν. "Ὅτι ἀπ' αἰῶνος συνέτριψας τὸν ζυγόν σου." Ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ σκληροτράχηλος, ἀεὶ ἀντιπίπτων τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι· ζυγὸν δὲ τὴν νομοθεσίαν λέγει. "Ἐκεῖ διαχυθήσομαι ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ μου." Ἡ γὰρ κακία ἀρχὴν λαβοῦσα εἰς ἄπειρον ἐκχεῖται. "Πῶς ἐστράφης εἰς πικρίαν;" Τὰ κακὰ γὰρ οὐ κατὰ φύσιν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ παρατροπήν· ἄμπελος ἡ ἀλλοτρία, ἡ προαιρετικῶς ἑαυτὴν τῷ Θεῷ ἀλλοτριώσασα. "Πῶς ἐρεῖς, Οὐκ ἐμιάνθην;" Ἐσχάτης ἀπονοίας τὸν ἁμαρτάνοντα ἀρνεῖσθαι. "Ἴδε τὰς ὁδούς σου ἐν τῷ πολυανδρίῳ." Πολυάνδριον ὁ τάφος· ἢ οὖν τινα ἔπραττον ἐν τοῖς τάφοις ἀρεστὰ δαίμοσιν, ἢ ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ τάφοι κεκονιαμένοι ἦσαν. Ἐν ὑποκρίσει τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ ψεῦδος καταδιώκοντες. "Ὀψὲ φωνὴ αὐτῆς ὠλόλυζε, τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτῆς ἐπλάτυνεν ἐφ' ὕδατα ἐρήμου." Ὀλολύζουσιν αἱ θήλειαι κύνες εἰς μίξιν τοὺς ἄῤῥενας προκαλούμεναι τοῦτο οὖν, φησὶ, πέπονθεν ἐν σκοτίᾳ ψυχῆς, τοὺς ἀκαθάρτους προκαλουμένη δαίμονας. Τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτῆς ἐπλάτυνεν ὑφ' ὕδατα ἐρήμου. Ὕδατα ἐρήμου, αἱ πολύτροποι, καὶ ἄκαρποι τῆς