Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:1-3

(Chapter XXX—Verse 1 and following) This word, which was made to Jeremiah by the Lord, saying: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: Write for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you, in a book. For behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will turn the conversion of my people Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will convert them (or I will cause them to sit) in the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it. For those who sent out false prophets to Babylon, to quickly bring back the people who had been captured with Jechoniah, and Ananiah son of Azur in Jerusalem preaching the same, Jeremiah the prophet affirmed that it would indeed happen, not within two years as they lied, but at the end of seventy years. And then he is commanded to write in a book and hand down to memory what the Lord predicts will come. From where it is clear that the time of the prophecy is not at hand, but many things must be fulfilled after these times, when Israel and Judah return to their land, and that which Ezekiel prophesied is fulfilled: two sticks to be joined together, and David reigning over them, as it is written: And my servant David shall be king over them, and there shall be one shepherd for all of them (Ezek. XXXVII, 24). Therefore, whatever we have said in that prophecy, it should also be understood in the present place, especially since Ezekiel in Babylon and Jeremiah in Jerusalem prophesied at the same time.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:4-6

(Verse 4 and following) And these are the words that the Lord spoke to Israel and Judah, for this is what the Lord says: We have heard the voice of terror (or fear), and there is no peace. Inquire and see if a male gives birth. Why then do I see every man with his hand on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces have turned pale? First, sadness is announced, so that after the magnitude of evils, joy may follow. Indeed, good health is more pleasant when illness has been driven away; and the magnitude of pain is turned into the magnitude of joys. But what he says is this, that such will be the fear and such the terror, that with peace driven away, everything will be filled with wars and blood, and even men (whose proper role is to fight against enemies) will be overcome by feminine fear: and their hands will not be directed to weapons, but to holding onto their kidneys, as if a woman in labor were holding onto her loins. And so the appearance of all will be turned into rust, the terror of the heart, the paleness of the countenance testifying. Some interpret this place according to tropology, so that they think that testimony: From fear of you, O Lord, we have conceived, and brought forth, and brought forth: we have made the spirit of your salvation upon the earth (Isaiah 26:17-18), and that Apostolic one in which it says: My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you (Galatians 4:19), is compared to this example: which is manifestly not to be pertained to terror, but to joy, since the present Scripture denotes the devastation of Israel, and the time of ruin.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:7

(Verse 7) Alas, for that great day, there is no other like it, and it is a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved from it. It predicts a time of misery, so that it may bring a time of joy. When, it says, such great evils have gone before, that the pain of all men may be compared to the pain of a woman in labor: yet the time of trouble for Jacob, that is, the people of God, will be changed into prosperity; and he too will be saved, with the understanding that it will happen in the time about which the prophecy was made. But understand Jacob as the twelve tribes, which by no means were under Zerubbabel, as some falsely think; but they were saved by the Gospel calling.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:8-9

This is the David of whom the Gospel speaks: “It will be granted to us, that, liberated from our enemies, we may serve him without fear in holiness and justice all of our days.” For, just as the first Adam and the second Adam are described according to the truth of the body, so also with David and the Lord and Savior. For, since everything that Mary gave to the Lord according to the flesh came from David, whatever was of the seed of David also took its origin and conception from the Holy Spirit. And that the Lord says, “I will break his yoke off of your neck, and I will destroy his hold,” is undoubtedly to be understood in reference to Nebuchadnezzar as a type of the devil.

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 6:5.2-3

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:8-9

(Verse 8, 9.) And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break the yoke from your neck and I will tear apart your chains; and they (or the foreigners) shall no longer have dominion over them (or you), but they (or you) shall serve (or work for) the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. This is the David of whom even the Gospel speaks (Luke 1), who will give himself to us, so that, liberated from the hand of our enemies without fear, we may serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives. For just as the first Adam and the second Adam are written according to the truth of the body, so too is the Lord and Savior David: because, according to the flesh from David, Mary, who conferred everything holy upon Him, contained whatever was from the seed of David, and He had His origin and conception from the Holy Spirit. And what He says, 'I will break his yoke from your neck, and I will tear apart his chains,' undoubtedly should be understood as a type of the devil from Nebuchadnezzar.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Jeremiah 30:8-9

“I shall raise up David their king for them.” Christ the Lord brought fulfillment to the prophecy. He sprang from David according to the flesh, and he no longer shepherds only Israel but all the nations. The prophecy had a kind of outcome by way of shadow and type in the time of Zerubbabel as well.

Source: ON JEREMIAH 7:30

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:10-11

(Verse 10, 11) Therefore do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, says the Lord; and do not be terrified, Israel. For behold, I will save you from a distant land, and your descendants from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return and be at rest, and shall enjoy abundant blessings, and there will be no one to fear: for I am with you, says the Lord, to save you. For I will make a complete destruction among all the nations where I have scattered you. But I will not make a complete end of you; I will discipline (or instruct) you in judgment, so that you may not appear innocent to yourself (or I will cleanse you and not leave you unpunished). This passage is not found in the Septuagint, and in many codices of the Vulgate edition it is added under asterisks from Theodotion. However, the divine word promises, and familiarly calls his servant Jacob, and Israel, just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are called servants of God (Moses also, and other prophets, and the apostle Paul glories in this title at the beginning of his Epistles); so that the twelve tribes may know that they are to be saved from a distant land, and their captivity will be freed, and peace will be restored, and they will be filled with every abundance, according to what is said in the psalm: Let there be peace within your walls, and abundance within your towers (Psalm 122:7). But this will happen when they enjoy the presence of the Lord, when the opposing nations that had captured them will perish, and they will be freed from the nations. And they will be taught not for punishment, but for instruction, so that they may be judged as if they were their own and not be lost as if they were strangers. For whoever does not believe has already been judged (John 3:18), that is, prejudged for destruction. And what he said: 'So that you may not appear innocent to yourself', according to Symmachus, 'and I will not cleanse you who are already clean', or according to Aquila, 'when I have instructed you through judgment, I will not make you innocent in any way', means that the entire world, even if it is impure, is in need of God's mercy, and no one, however holy, can approach the judge with confidence. This goes against the new heresy from the old belief, which believes that in this age and in this mortal flesh, before it puts on this corruptible state of incorruptibility and this mortal state of immortality, there can be perfection in anyone, and that all together can fulfill the virtues of righteousness.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 435] John Cassian on Jeremiah 30:11

Although we say that trial is twofold, that is, in prosperity and in adversity, yet you must know that all people are tried in three different ways. Often they are tried for their probation, sometimes for their improvement, and in some cases because their sins deserve it. For their probation indeed! We read that the blessed Abraham and Job and many of the saints endured countless tribulations.… For improvement, because God chastens his righteous ones for some small and venial sins or to raise them to a higher state of purity, and he delivers them over to various trials that he may purge away all their unclean thoughts, and, to use the prophet’s word, the “dross,” which he sees to have collected in their secret parts. Thus may he transmit them like pure gold to the judgment to come, as he allows nothing to remain in them for the fire of judgment to discover when hereafter it searches them with penal torments according to this saying: “Many are the tribulations of the righteous.” … To whom under the figure of Jerusalem the following words are spoken by Jeremiah, in the person of God: “I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.” … But as a punishment for sins, the blows of trial are inflicted, as where the Lord threatens that he will send plagues on the people of Israel: “I will send the teeth of beasts on them, with the fury of creatures that trail on the ground,” and “In vain have I struck your children. They have not received correction.” … We find, it is true, a fourth way also in which we know on the authority of Scripture that some sufferings are brought on us simply for the manifestation of the glory of God and his works, according to these words of the Gospel: “Neither did this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God might be manifested in him,” and again, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” … The perfect person will always remain steadfast in either kind of trial; now let us return to it once more.

Source: CONFERENCE 1:6.11

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:12-15

(Verse 12 onwards) For thus says the Lord, your fracture is incurable, your wound is grievous. There is no one to judge your judgment for binding, there is no usefulness in your healing. All your lovers have forgotten you, they will not seek you. For the enemy has struck you with a cruel (or strong) punishment because of the multitude of your iniquities, your sins have become severe (or multiplied). Why do you cry out about your contrition? Your pain is incurable, because of the multitude of your wickedness, and because of your stubborn sins I have done this to you. As if speaking to a beautiful woman, to whom he had said before: I will chastise you in judgment, so that you may not appear innocent to yourself, whether male or female; and by metaphor ((Alexander adds speaking)) to Jerusalem, which has been most grievously wounded by the judgment of God, and can be healed by no one else but the one who struck her. There is no one, says the Lord, who can judge your judgment: nor can the Highest heal the wound with the skin of a scar. Wherever you turn, there is no profit for you, because you have offended him who is true, and the only physician. All your lovers have forgotten you, be they priests, or rulers, or surely the protectors of the Angels, by whom you were fortified before you offended the Lord. They will not seek you, acting against the Apostle, who sought believers, and not those things which belonged to the believers (2 Corinthians 12). For the enemy strikes you with a cruel punishment. The friend strikes differently than the enemy: the father strikes differently than the enemy. The former strikes to correct, the latter strikes to kill (Psal. VI). Therefore, the Prophet mournfully says: Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chastise me in your wrath (Psal. XXXVII, 1). And this has happened because due to the multitude of your wickedness, your sins have become hardened. And what follows: Why do you cry out over your contrition? Your pain is incurable because of the multitude of your iniquities, it is not found in the Septuagint; namely because it is said further on, because of the multitude of your iniquities, and your harsh sins; and those who were writing from the beginning, thought it necessary to add it. And the meaning is: So that I may strike you as an enemy, and beat you with cruel discipline, your multitude of iniquities and your harsh sins, which could not be healed, except by the most biting powder, and burning cauterization, and the sharpest iron, with which I may cut away the rotten flesh and the incurable parts. And yet, because of the multitude of your iniquities and your harsh sins, I have done these things to you, not by my will, but forced by the reasoning of medicine.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:16-17

(Verse 16, 17.) Therefore, all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your enemies shall be carried into captivity; and those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all your plunderers I will give for prey. For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: 'It is Zion, for whom no one cares.' And under Zerubbabel we know that these things happened, when the Babylonians and Chaldeans devastated the Assyrians, and then the Babylonians and Chaldeans, along with the Medes and Persians, captured Babylon and destroyed it. Then Zion began to have the Lord seeking, and the scar of its wounds was covered, and it was healed from its ailments, which is more fully and perfectly accomplished in Christ.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:18

A type of these events previously occurred in Zerubbabel and Ezra, when the people returned and the city was begun to be built on its heights and religion observed in the temple, all of which are contained in Ezra’s own book. But this was more fully and more perfectly completed in the Lord and Savior and his apostles, when the city was built on its heights—about which it is written, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden”—and the temple was founded in accordance with its order and ceremony, so that whatever was done carnally by the people in the past would be completed spiritually in the church. Then praise went forth—or thanksgiving, for this is what thoda means—so that all of the apostles would be able to say “grace and peace to you.” The “voice of celebration” was not the kind of celebration in which people eat, drink, sleep and then get up to do it again for its own sake, but the kind of celebration that David enjoyed before the ark of the Lord. They were also multiplied and not diminished so that the entire world would believe in God the Savior. And they were glorified so that what was written would be fulfilled: “Glorious things are said of you, O city of God!” They were his children, that is, the apostles, as were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from the beginning, the rulers of the people of Israel. Then the Lord made a visit against all who opposed the people of God, clearly powerful adversaries. And “their leader came from them”—undoubtedly a reference to the Lord and Savior, who was from the Israelite race according to the flesh—and “their ruler was produced from their midst.” The Father united this ruler to himself and drew near to him, as the Son would say: “I in the Father and the Father in me,” for no one is able thus to unite his heart to the Lord or to be joined to the Father as the Son. That it also says, “You will be my people, and I will be your God,” we determine to have been completed partly in Israel and fully in the multitude of nations.

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 6:9.3-6

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:18-22

(Verse 18 and following) Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will turn the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and have compassion on their dwellings (or captivity). And the city shall be rebuilt on its mound, and the temple shall be founded according to its order. And praise shall come forth from them, and the voice of those who play. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. (And what follows: And I will glorify them, and they shall not be made small, is not found in the Septuagint). And they shall be, says the Lord, His sons as from the beginning, and His congregation shall remain before me, and I will visit all those who trouble him. And his leader shall come forth from him, and the ruler shall be produced from among them. And I will bring him near, and he shall approach me. For who is this who has applied his heart to draw near to me, says the Lord? (And this also is not found in the Septuagint.) And you shall be my people, and I will be your God. Whose image prefigured this in Zerubabel and Ezra, when the people returned and the city began to be built in its exalted state, and the religion of the Temple was observed, and the other things contained in the book of Ezra himself. But it was more fully and completely fulfilled in the Lord Savior and the Apostles, when the city was built on its highest point, of which it is written: A city set on a hill cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14); and the Temple was established according to its order and ceremonies, so that whatever was done in the former people carnally, would be spiritually fulfilled in the Church. Then praise and thanksgiving came forth. For this means Thoda, as all the Apostles said: Grace to you and peace (1 Corinthians 1:3). And the voice of those who play, not in that game where the people ate and drank and rose up to play (Exodus 32:6), but in that game where David played before the Ark of the Lord (2 Samuel 6). And they were multiplied and not diminished, so that the whole world would believe in the Lord and Savior: and they were glorified, so that what is written would be fulfilled: Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God (Psalm 87:3). And his sons were, that is, the Apostles, just as they were from the beginning, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, the leaders of the Israelite race. Then the Lord visited all those who troubled the people of God, namely, the opposing powers. And He was their leader from that time: without a doubt, the Lord and Savior according to the flesh came forth from the race of Israel, and the prince arose from their midst. The Father applied Him to Himself, and He approached Him, so that the Son might say: I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John XIV, 11): for no one can so apply his heart to God, nor be joined to the Father as the Son is. And what he says according to the Septuagint: 'And you shall be my people, and I will be your God', we see fulfilled in part in Israel, and entirely in the multitude of the nations.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah

[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Jeremiah 30:19-20

“I will multiply them, and they will not be diminished. Their congregation will be before my face,” as during the time of Moses, Aaron and Joshua. All this and what would follow in the prophecy below was fulfilled and was accomplished in the coming of our Lord, as we have already noted above. Like many other things in the Lord’s divine plan predicted by the prophet and fulfilled by the redemption and restoration of the people of God, this passage also should not be simply understood in the sense of Israel but of people that the divine Paul calls the Israel of God who consisted of, and were gathered from, Jews and people of other nations. This passage is not simply about biological children of Abraham but about children of promise, and Paul teaches the same. Only in this more mysterious sense was the word of Jeremiah fulfilled, “They would no longer serve foreigners, but they shall serve the Lord their God and king David, whom I will raise up for them.” The Jews did not have peace. After they were conquered by the Chaldeans, they never were free from fear and oppression from other foreign nations. Rather, at various times they were enslaved by Persians, Greeks and Romans. These words of the prophet, “Jacob shall return, have rest and should not be afraid,” were not fulfilled for Jews. All prophets who prophesied after the Babylonian captivity say that during their time Jews were not free from fear and wars with neighboring nations, and they did not have even a moment of rest but were instead in fear of other peoples. And even though they served the Lord their God and did not worship pagan gods, they were oppressed.

Source: COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH 30:19-20

[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 30:23-24

(Verse 23, 24) Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord's fury going forth, and the rushing storm. It will rest upon the head of the wicked. The Lord will not turn away the anger of His indignation until He has performed and accomplished the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days, you will understand this. The whirlwind of the Lord's fury and the rushing storm and tempest will rest upon their heads, whether they be demons or those who have blasphemed the Son of God. And He will not turn away His anger until He has performed and accomplished the thoughts of His heart. And Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies and utterly destroyed. However, just as an artisan cannot be understood unless their work is complete, and the industry of medicine cannot be understood unless health has been achieved, so when Jerusalem has been destroyed and the rejection of the former people has occurred, then believers will understand that the expulsion of the Jews is an opportunity for our salvation.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah