Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Jeremiah 14:1-9

It will serve us to remember that what is called the Word came to certain persons, as “the word of the Lord which came to Hosea, the son of Beeri,” and “the word which came to Isaiah, the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and concerning Jerusalem,” and “the word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.” We must inquire how this Word came to Hosea, and how it came also to Isaiah the son of Amoz, and again to Jeremiah concerning the drought. The comparison may enable us to find out how the Word was with God. We will generalize by simply looking at what the prophets said, as if that were the Word of the Lord or the Word that came to them. May it not be … that … the Son, the Word, of whom we are now theologizing, came to Hosea, sent to him by the Father, historically, that is to say, to the son of Beeri, the prophet Hosea.… Similarly the Word comes also to Isaiah, teaching the things that are coming on Judea and Jerusalem in the last days. So also it comes to Jeremiah lifted up by a divine elation.… Thus to find out what is meant by the phrase “the Word was with God,” we have adduced the words used about the prophets, how he came to Hosea, to Isaiah, to Jeremiah.… We have to add that in his coming to the prophets he illuminates the prophets with the light of knowledge, causing them to see things that had been before them but that they had not understood until then.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2:1

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Jeremiah 14:1-9

Again, the Scriptures speak of God as asleep when the psalmist says, “Arise! Why do you sleep, O Lord?” He does not say this to make us suspect that God sleeps. This would be the utmost madness. By the word sleep the psalm shows God’s patience and forbearance toward us. Another prophet has said, “You will not be like a person who sleeps, will you?” Do you not see that we need much help from our understanding and reason when we are searching into the treasure house of the divine Scriptures? If we listen to the words only, if we do not think but take the words as they come, not only will those absurdities follow, but many a conflict will be seen in what has been said.

Source: AGAINST THE ANOMOEANS 8:5

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:1

(Chapter XIV—Verse 1) The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah concerning the words of drought. The anger of God is evident in everything. Therefore, the sun sets on sinners at noon, and the moon, stars, and other celestial bodies do not give their light (Amos VIII). It can be assumed that there was no rain during the time of the siege, so that the besieged would suffer from a lack of water. Truly, the city only has one source, the fountain of Siloam, and it does not have a continuous supply. And to this day, the lack of rainfall not only causes a scarcity of crops but also a shortage of drinking water.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:1-9

After many and various thoughts, he returns to the prophecy’s title, in which it is written, “What the word of the Lord gave to Jeremiah concerning the drought.” This is why he says, in effect: “Because the idols of demons are unable to make it rain, and the heavens are unable to give showers in and of themselves, therefore give us rain, O Lord our God, on whom we always wait and toward whom we have turned our hope and devotion. For everything is yours, and whatever is good cannot be given without you, to whom it belongs.” Let us speak this word also against the heretics who are unable to grant rain showers of doctrine. Although they prefer themselves to be the heavens and thus glory in themselves, concerning what is written, “the heavens tell forth the glory of God,” they are nonetheless incapable of providing rain showers of doctrine. For it is God alone who instructs people and grants a diversity of graces to those who wait on him.

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 3:41.1-3

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:2-4

(Versedio 2 and the following verses.) Judah (or Judea) lamented and its gates collapsed (or became empty), and it was darkened (or obscured) over the land, and the cry of Jerusalem went up. Its elders sent their young ones (or younger ones) to the water: they came to draw (or to the wells) and found no water, they brought back their empty vessels, they were confused and distressed (or ashamed), and they covered their heads because of the desolation of the land (or the works of the land, for they failed), because there was no rain upon the land: the farmers were confused, they covered their heads. In times of drought, when the multitude suffers from hunger for hearing and learning the word of God, Judea mourns, boasting of having the worship of God first, and the confession of true faith, and its gates are either emptied or fall down, which we should attribute to the senses, through which discipline is conceived by souls. Then everything is obscured and wrapped in darkness; and reason and the teaching of doctrine do not reign in Jerusalem, but there is clamor and confusion. Moreover, those who should themselves go to fetch water send the younger ones, in whom there is no wisdom, and therefore they come to the wells and do not find water, which the history narrates that the patriarchs found (Genesis 26). They return with their vessels empty, namely the younger ones: not because there was no water, but because they could not find it. They are confused and afflicted, or they blush and cover their heads; because they could not say with the Apostle: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:18). Because of the desolation of the land, or rather, because the works of the land have failed, through which we come to know God. And the reason is clear: because, he says, rain has not come upon the earth. For it was commanded to the clouds not to rain down rain upon it. (Isai. V). Also, farmers, of whom one speaks, you are the agriculture of God, you are the building of God. (II Cor. III, 9). And in another place: we are the co-workers of God, they cover their heads, and they are confused, understanding that without the grace and assistance of God, they strive in vain.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:5-6

(Verse 5, 6.) For even the deer (or deer) in the field give birth (or gave birth) and abandon (or abandoned) because there is no grass. And the wild donkeys stood on the cliffs, they drew in the wind like dragons, their eyes failed, because there is no grass (or hay). Great sterility, when even the deer in the field give birth and abandon their offspring, because there is no grass or hay; just as serpents draw out venomous animals from caves with the smell of their nostrils and kill them, they do not use food as a means of gratitude. And also about the wild donkeys it is written in Job: Who has let the wild donkey go free into the wilderness? (Job 39:5) They wander about for food, seeking sustenance in the desert. They live among the rocks and make their home in the cliffs. They cannot run but drag themselves along like serpents. Their eyesight fails, and they cannot see. They survive on sparse vegetation. This drought often happens in the churches, when deer and wild donkeys are found among the people, and there is a scarcity of teachers: there are those who can learn, but there are not those who can teach.

If our iniquities answer (or resist) against us, O Lord, do it for your name's sake, because our turnings away (or sins) are many. We have sinned against you, O expectation of Israel: the Savior thereof in time of trouble. If we doubt why the rains do not descend upon the earth, why all things wither with dryness, let us hear. Our iniquities have resisted against us; therefore, O Lord, not according to our works, but according to your holy name, overcome our many turnings away (or sins). For we have sinned against you, whom the secrets of the heart do not deceive, and we wait for you, who are the true hope and expectation of Israel: and you save them in the time of tribulation, according to what is written: I cried to the Lord in my trouble, and he heard me (Psalm 119:1). Let us also say in the time of drought and shortage of water: We have sinned against you, and we have done evil before you (Psalm 50:5), we await your coming, who save Israel, not by their own merit, but by your mercy.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:9

(Verse 9) Why are you going to be like a tenant on the land, and like a traveler turning to stay? Why are you going to be like a wanderer, or like a strong man who cannot save? Septuagint: Why have you become like a stranger in the land, and like a foreigner turning to stay? Are you going to be like a sleeping man, and like a man who cannot save? The Jews understand this place thus: Why do you separate yourself from your people? And like a traveler seeking shelter for only one hour, you do not care about the quality of the lodging you use, but going on to other things, you do not save your people, and you abandon the once illustrious temple? But they believe that of the future dispensation of Christ it is said that he will be a stranger on earth, and, for a short time, will inhabit the earth as a guest, and, like a passing and robust man, having left Israel, will turn towards the multitude of nations; so that he may pass from place to place, from people to people, from Temple to Church. And what is said according to the Septuagint: Will you be like a sleeping man, and like a man who cannot save? He sets forth a likeness, not the truth of the thing, according to what is written: Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord (Psalm 43:23)? not that the Lord sleeps, of whom it is said: Neither will He sleep, nor slumber who keeps Israel (Psalm 121:4); but because it appears that He sleeps to those whom He forsakes. Moreover, it is not written in the following, a man sleeping who cannot save; but it is written as if it were a man, in both cases subject to human passions.

But you are in us, Lord, and your name is invoked upon us, do not forsake us (or do not forget us). You, who are about to become like a stranger and traveler among the Jews, and a wandering man, and who abandon the old dwelling, dwell in us; and your name is invoked upon us (Prov. 31), so that we may be called Christians, therefore do not forsake us, and do not forget us, to whom the mouths of all the Prophets have sung about your future coming.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 220] Tertullian on Jeremiah 14:10-12

Although God is by nature good, yet he is also just, and as the case requires. He knows how to heal but also how to strike. He brings peace, but he brings about evil. He desires repentance, yet he commands Jeremiah not to intercede for the sinful people, since, he says, even if they fast, I will not hear their prayer.

Source: ON PURITY 2

[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Jeremiah 14:10-12

Hence it is that they are always writing, and always altering their own previous statements, and thus they show an uncertain faith, or rather a manifest unbelief and perverseness. And this, it appears to me, must be the case with them. Since they have fallen away from the truth and desire to overthrow that sound confession of faith that was drawn up at Nicaea, they have, in the language of Scripture, “loved to wander and have not restrained their feet.” Therefore, like Jerusalem of old, they labor and toil in their changes, sometimes writing one thing and sometimes another, but only for the sake of gaining time, and that they may continue enemies of Christ and deceivers of humankind.

Source: LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF EGYPT 1:6

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:10-12

In the Gospel, the Savior commends the unjust steward because, although he defrauded his master, he acted wisely for his own interests. The heretics in this instance pursued the same course. When they saw how great a matter a little fire had kindled, and that the flames applied by them to the foundations had by this time reached the housetops and that the deception practiced on many could no longer be hid, they asked for and obtained letters of commendation from the church, so that it might appear that until the day of their departure they had continued in full communion with it. Shortly afterward6 the distinguished Anastasius succeeded to the pontificate. But he was soon taken away, for it was not fitting that the head of the world should be struck off during the episcopate of one so great. He was removed, no doubt, that he might not seek to turn away by his prayers the sentence of God passed once for all. For the words of the Lord to Jeremiah concerning Israel applied equally to Rome: “Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry. When they offer burnt offering and oblation, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence.”

Source: LETTER 127.10

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:10

(Verse 10.) Thus says the Lord to this people, because they loved (or loved to) move their feet and did not rest (or did not spare (Alternative reading: spared)) and did not please the Lord (or and God did not please (Alternative reading: was pleased)) in them; now their iniquities will be remembered, and their sins will be visited. When the people say: why have you become a stranger, a traveler, and a wanderer, to forsake your own dwelling? The Lord answers his former people: Do you want to know the reason? Listen to what is said: Because the people loved to move their feet, and did not take them off from the shackles of sin, they did not rest, and could not stand: therefore I have forsaken them, and there is no pleasure in them for me. Therefore, those who have delayed for a long time, and have not wanted to punish the sinners through patience, because they have remained in wickedness; He will remember their iniquities; and like those who are sick and do not perceive God, He will visit their sins, so that they may cease to sin any further. But it should be noted in the Holy Scriptures that the feet of sinners are always moved, and it is said to the Saints with Moses: But you stand here with me (Deut. 5:31). And elsewhere it is written: Praise the servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God (Psalm 134:1, 2).

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 435] John Cassian on Jeremiah 14:10-12

You see, then, that fasting is certainly not considered by the Lord as a thing that is good in its own nature, because it becomes good and well-pleasing to God not by itself but by other works. Again, from the surrounding circumstances it may be regarded as not merely empty but hateful, as the Lord says: “When they fast, I will not hear their prayers.”

Source: CONFERENCE 3:21.14

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:11-12

(Verse 11, 12.) And the Lord said to me: Do not pray for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not listen to their prayers, and if they offer burnt offerings and sacrifices, I will not accept them; for I will consume them by sword, famine, and pestilence. It is foolish to pray for one who has sinned unto death, as John says: There is a sin unto death, I do not say that anyone should pray for him (1 John 5:16). All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not unto death. Fasting, prayers, and offerings and burnt offerings are then effective when we turn away from vices and repent of our ancient sins. But if we remain in wickedness and think that we can redeem ourselves through vows and sacrifices, we are greatly mistaken, for we consider God unfair. For whoever has been appointed once to the sword, hunger, and disease cannot be saved by any prayers. Hence, it is said by the Prophets, let him not pray in vain for what he cannot obtain.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:13-14

(Verses 13, 14.) And I said, ah, ah, ah, Lord God, (or who you are, Lord God) The prophets tell them, you will not see the sword, and there will be no famine among you: but true peace will be given to you in this place. And the Lord said to me: The false prophets prophesy in my name: I have not sent them, nor commanded them, nor spoken to them. They prophesy a false vision, and a fraudulent divination, and the seduction of their own heart to you. Listen to these teachers who promise prosperity to those who persist in their sins and vices, who say to the rich: You will not see the sword of God's torments, and there will be no hunger among you. For you will be satisfied with the words of God; and the Lord will give you true peace in the place of the Church, or Jerusalem. But as he said, according to the Hebrew, three times ah, ah, ah, he responded to the previous (on his own) where the Lord had threatened, saying: I will consume them with the sword, and famine, and pestilence. Because the prophets, or rather the false prophets, had made false promises: therefore the Lord spoke through Jeremiah: Do not listen to the words of false prophets, who were not sent by me, but came of their own accord. The so-called prophets, but rather should be called deceivers, speak seduction to the people. For it is much better to correct sins through fear of punishment than to subject oneself to the hope of favorable divine judgment.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:15-16

(Verse 15, 16) Therefore, the Lord says these things about the prophets who prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, saying: 'Sword and famine will not be in this land; by sword and famine those prophets will be consumed.' And the people to whom they prophesied will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem, because of famine and sword. And there will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. And I will pour out their own evil upon them. Beware of false prophets, who by promising prosperity, deceive the people of God, so that they may perish and the deceived people may be destroyed in a similar way, and may lie in the streets of Jerusalem, trampling on the Lord's commandments, and may perish by hunger and sword, and there will be no one to bury them; nor may their disgrace be covered by the dust of repentance. For both the prophets themselves and the people, their wives and children, and all generations without any propagator will be in the dung heap. How many lie on the streets of Jerusalem! How many we see receiving their own misfortunes unburied, which, as the Lord pours out, they endure!

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:17

(Verse 17) And you shall say to them this word: Let my eyes shed tears (or let your eyes shed tears) day and night, and let them not be silent (or let them not cease), for the virgin daughter of my people has been greatly afflicted, a very severe wound. This place can be understood in two ways, either that God himself mourns for his people, and his eyes do not cease to weep, or certainly he commands that the eyes of the peoples flow with tears, and it is no small thing that there is something to mourn; since the virgin daughter of his people has been struck with great affliction and an intolerable wound. Others think that these things are said from the perspective of the Prophet.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:17-20

He is saying, We and our ancestors have also neglected the precepts of God by the same insanity. The measure of our ancestors, therefore, is filled up in us, in such a way that whatever was coming due to them would be added to our measure. This is why it was said, concerning Judah: “May the Lord remember his fathers and may the sin of his mother not be forgotten! May they always be opposed to the Lord, and may their memory be eradicated from the earth!”

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 3:39.1

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Jeremiah 14:17-20

And blessed Daniel the prophet, the divine Ezekiel (who was both prophet and priest) and many other priests in addition to them shared in these misfortunes. For God provided for those profane exiles and sent along also prophets that could be pedagogues and teachers so that the exiles might not incline entirely to godlessness.

Source: ON JEREMIAH 4:14

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:18

(Verse 18) If I go out to the fields, behold the slain with the sword: and if I enter the city, behold those who are weakened by hunger (or by the pain of hunger). The prophet and the priest have also gone to a land they do not know. It is a just cause for mourning, because a virgin has been broken, a daughter has been struck, and the people have been destroyed. For if, he says, I want to go out, I will see the killed; if I enter the city, I will see those who are weakened and barely clinging to their bones, visible due to the necessity of hunger. And what is surprising about saying this about the common people and the lowly crowd? When even the prophets and priests, who prophesied prosperity to others and who were supposed to unveil the commandments of the Law, themselves went to a land they did not know and endured the evil of captivity. Let our prophets and priests hear this, that there is no security either inside or outside because of their negligence: that those who are outside are scandalized and those who are inside perish from hunger; and those who were the authors of sin become associates in torment.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:19

(Verse 19) Have you rejected Judah completely? Has your soul despised Zion? Why have you struck us, so that there is no healing for us? We hoped for peace, but there is no good; for a time of healing, but behold, terror! The prophet is amazed that the Lord has suddenly cast away Judah and Jerusalem, the kingdom of the two tribes where the religion of God and the ceremonies of the Temple were. And He has struck them with such a great plague that no remedy can be applied. We have waited, he said, for peace and a time of healing, and there is no good; but instead, there is turmoil: so that where there was once worship of God and tranquility, there, now everything is filled with seditions and hostile uproar. So if ever our Zion, our Judah is rejected and the soul of God abhors it, let us not be surprised, but rather let us say what follows:

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:20

(Verse 20.) We have known, Lord, our impieties and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. And He says, both we and our fathers have neglected the precepts of God with the same folly, and the measure of our ancestors has been fulfilled; so that whatever was lacking to them, may be fulfilled by our accumulation. Therefore, concerning Judah, it is said: Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them always be against the Lord: and let their memory be eradicated from the earth (Psalm 108:14).

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:21

We should not think that the glorious throne of God is only the throne of the temple, which was repeatedly destroyed, but that it is also every saint who is cast down and destroyed when he offends God by his multitude of sins, according to what is written: “You have cast his throne to the ground.” Nevertheless, the one who perishes from his own guilt is sustained by the clemency of the Lord, whereby the severity of the sentence is altered, lest the Lord invalidate his covenant in which he promised to be our coming salvation.

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 3:40.1

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:21

(Verse 21.) Do not put us to shame because of your name, and do not bring disgrace upon us. Remember your glorious throne; do not invalidate your covenant with us. We consider not only the Temple of Judah, which has often been destroyed, as the seat of your glory, but also every holy place where, as it is written, you threw down his throne to the ground. It is thrown down and destroyed when it offends God with the multitude of its sins. But even one who perishes by his own fault is sustained by the mercy of the Lord, which changes the severity of the sentence if the Lord invalidates his covenant by which he promised that we would be saved.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Jeremiah 14:22

What a state the person is in who has deserted the easy yoke and the light burden of Christ to subject himself once again to the yoke of demons and to bear the burden of the heaviest sin! How can this be after we have known that the heart of those who worship idols is ashes20 and their life more worthless than clay, and after we have said, “Our ancestors possessed false idols, and none of them can bring rain”?

Source: EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 32

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 14:22

(Verse 22.) Are there any among the idols of the nations that can make it rain? Or can the heavens themselves give showers? Are you not the Lord our God, whom we have waited for? For you have made all these things. After many and various discourses, he returns to the title of the prophecy, in which it is written: that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah concerning the words of drought. Therefore, what he says is this: because the idols of demons cannot make it rain, nor can the heavens themselves give their own shower, you, Lord our God, whom we have always waited for, in whom we turn our hopes and desires, give us your rain. For all things are yours; and whatever good exists, without you, to whom it belongs, cannot be given. Let us say this also against the heretics, who cannot bestow the rain of doctrine; and although they promise themselves to be heavens and boast about themselves: The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1): yet they cannot give the downpour of doctrine. For God alone is the one who instructs his people and grants different graces to those who await him.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah