7 Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers.
[Daniel 7:1] "In the first year of Belshazzar, King of Babylon, Daniel beheld a dream. And a vision of his head upon his bed. And when he wrote the dream down, he comprehended it in a few words and gave a brief summary of it, saying..." This section which we now undertake to explain, and also the subsequent section which we are going to discuss, is historically prior to the two previous sections. For this present section and that which follows it are recorded to have taken place in the first and third years of the reign of King Belshazzar (Jeremiah 39) [Jerome's citation of Jeremiah 39 seems quite pointless in this connection]. But the section which we read previously to the one just preceding this, is recorded to have taken place in the last year, indeed on the final day, of Belshaz-zar's reign. And we meet this phenomenon not only in Daniel but also in Jeremiah [cf. Jeremiah 35 and Jeremiah 34] and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 17), as we shall be able to show, if life spares us that long. But in the earlier portion of the book, the historical order has been followed, namely the events which occurred in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar, and Darius or Cyrus. But in the passages now before us an account is given of various visions which were beheld on particular occasions and of which only the prophet himself was aware, and which therefore lacked any importance as signs or revelations so far as the barbarian nations were concerned. But they were written down only that a record of the things beheld might be preserved for posterity.
The sons of Jonadab, we are told, drank neither wine nor strong drink and dwelled in tents pitched wherever night overtook them. According to the Psalter, they were the first to undergo captivity; for, when the Chaldaeans began to ravage Judah, they were compelled to take refuge in cities.Others may think what they like and follow each his own bent. But to me a town is a prison and solitude paradise. Why do we long for the bustle of cities, we whose very name speaks of loneliness? To fit him for the leadership of the Jewish people, Moses was trained for forty years in the wilderness. And it was not until after these that the shepherd of sheep became a shepherd of people. The apostles were fishers on Gennesaret before they became “fishers of people.” But at the Lord’s call they forsook all that they had, father, net and ship, and bore their cross daily without so much as a rod in their hands.
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 35:1-19