Jeremiah 2 · The Lantern

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Go and say in the ears of Jerusalem, The Lord says, I still keep the memory of your kind heart when you were young, and your love when you became my bride; how you went after me in the waste of sand, in an unplanted land.

Israel was holy to the Lord, the first-fruits of his increase: all who made attacks on him were judged as wrongdoers, evil came on them, says the Lord.

Give ear to the words of the Lord, O sons of Jacob and all the families of Israel:

These are the words of the Lord: What evil have your fathers seen in me that they have gone far from me, and, walking after what is false, have become false?

And they never said, Where is the Lord, who took us up out of the land of Egypt; who was our guide through the waste of sand, through an unplanted land full of deep holes, through a dry land of deep shade, which no one went through and where no man was living?

And I took you into a fertile land, where you were living on its fruit and its wealth; but when you came in, you made my land unclean, and made my heritage a disgusting thing.

The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? and those who were expert in the law had no knowledge of me: and the rulers did evil against me, and the prophets became prophets of the Baal, going after things without value.

God has also entrusted a deposit to us: the brothers' way of life. While laboring on their behalf, we look forward to future rewards, lest this be said of us as well, "Let this people go," and lest, if we forsake the traditions of our ancestors, this be hurled at us: "Those who have my law do not know me; the shepherds have rebelled against me."

Jeremiah was known before he was formed, and sanctified from the womb. … He longs for water over his head and a fountain of tears for his eyes that he may adequately weep for Israel. No less does he lament the depravity of its rulers.

(Verse 8.) The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' and those who held my Law did not know me, and the shepherds transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied in Baal and followed idols.

For this reason, I will again put forward my cause against you, says the Lord, even against you and against your children's children.

For go over to the sea-lands of Kittim and see; send to Kedar and give deep thought to it; and see if there has ever been such a thing.

Has any nation ever made a change in their gods, though they are no gods? but my people have given up their glory in exchange for what is of no profit.

Those who are not saved always are taking care of those things that do not profit or benefit them in any way. So what kind of excuse is there for a Christian who withdraws from the assembly of the church? Such a person does not even imitate the Gentiles but by reason of his absence grows indifferent and careless. He stands aloof and does evil.

And what wonder? for He permitted opinions erroneous, and unworthy of Himself, to prevail, as that He was a body formerly, and that He was visible. In opposition to which He says, "God is a Spirit." Again, that He delighted in sacrifices, which is far from His nature. And He utters words at variance with His declarations of Himself, and many such things.

The same erroneous notion by which they used to worship devils formed in the figure of people they use even now in thinking that the incomprehensible and ineffable glory of the true Deity should be worshiped under the limitations of some figure.

Be full of wonder, O heavens, at this; be overcome with fear, be completely waste, says the Lord.

Let us further inquire whether the Lord took any care to foreshadow the water [of baptism] and the cross. Concerning the water, indeed, it is written, in reference to the Israelites, that they should not receive that baptism which leads to the remission of sins, but should procure another for themselves.

Who that witnessed these things, or that has merely heard of them, will not be greatly amazed, and cry aloud unto the Lord, saying, 'Wilt Thou make a full end of Israel?' Who that is acquainted with these proceedings, will not with good reason cry out and say, 'A wonderful and horrible thing is done in the land;' and, 'The heavens are astonished at this, and the earth is even m…

Here too let the prophet Jeremiah say of the race of Israel, "Who will grant for my head to be waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I may weep for this people day and night?" "For what lamentation can suffice for those who fell into the pit of destruction because of their wicked conduct to Christ, and for guilt so great, that not with words only did they grieve him, an…

For my people have done two evils; they have given up me, the fountain of living waters, and have made for themselves water-holes, cut out from the rock, broken water-holes, of no use for storing water.

And our hearts are thus circumcised from evil, so that we are happy to die for the name of the good Rock, which causes living water to burst forth for the hearts of those who by Him have loved the Father of all, and which gives those who are willing to drink of the water of life.

Yea, rather with us is the living water, the very water which springeth from Christ; but thou, separated from the everlasting Fountain, whence receivest thou thy birth? Nor hath the Holy Spirit departed from the chief mother; whence then came He to thee?

Now, here he clearly reveals to us the mystery of the holy Trinity: he called the only-begotten Word of God a fountain of life. This is the name, too, remember, God personally gave himself through the prophet Jeremiah: "They have forsaken me, a fountain of living water, taken their leave and dug for themselves cracked cisterns incapable of holding water."

Is Israel a servant? has he been a house-servant from birth? why has he been made waste?

The young lions have made an outcry against him with a loud voice: they have made his land waste; his towns are burned up, with no one living in them.

Even the children of Noph and Tahpanhes have put shame on you.

Has not this come on you because you have given up the Lord your God, who was your guide by the way?

And now, what have you to do on the way to Egypt, to get your drink from the waters of the Nile? or what have you to do on the way to Assyria, to get your drink from the waters of the River?

Truly, I fear that our parents according to the flesh will be found to condemn us and to quote the words of Scripture, "How have you become wretched, greatly put to shame? Great is your affliction; a fire is kindled on you; your branches have become useless." For this cause they have become a prey. The lions have roared at it and have given out their voice against it.

If we are not false servants of God, if there is in us a spark of that fire whereby "charity seeks not its own," we certainly should make our good works appear, not only before God but even before people, for fear that, while drinking of quiet waters in our own conscience, we should be constrained by careless feet to drive the sheep of the Lord to drink the troubled waters.

It is fitting first to take in Scripture, then to chew it, and finally to assimilate it. What does it serve a man to drink dirty water? "And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the troubled water?" Drink instead healthy water, that is, wisdom.

The evil you yourselves have done will be your punishment, your errors will be your judge: be certain then, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing to give up the Lord your God, and no longer to be moved by fear of me, says the Lord, the Lord of armies.

The Lord has therefore endured all these things on our behalf, in order that we, having been instructed by means of them all, may be in all respects circumspect for the time to come, and that, having been rationally taught to love God, we may continue in His perfect love: for God has displayed long-suffering in the case of man's apostasy; while man has been instructed by means…

(Verse 19.) Your wickedness will reprove you, and your apostasy will rebuke you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to have forsaken the Lord your God, and that you have no fear of me, says the Lord of hosts.

"Know and see that it is evil and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and that the fear of me is not in you." If you do not fear God, you have lost grace, you have lost justice, and you have lost true wisdom. "See" therefore "how evil and bitter it is that you have forsaken the Lord your God." Where there is no fear, there is neither wisdom nor justice nor grace.

For in the past, your yoke was broken by your hands and your cords parted; and you said, I will not be your servant; for on every high hill and under every branching tree, your behaviour was like that of a loose woman

But when you were planted by me, you were a noble vine, in every way a true seed: how then have you been changed into the branching plant of a strange vine?

The God who "brings forth the sun on the evil and the good" is a desert to no one. To no one is he who "rains on the just and unjust" ever a land made dry. How is he a desert, when he brings forth the day and causes the night to rest? How is he a desert, when he causes the land to bear fruit?

Hence God gave the gift of prayer. But this He doth, not as Himself standing in need of entreaty, but that we might not, from being saved without effort, grow indifferent. ...

God through Jeremiah reproaches the evil of the human will in such a way that he teaches that it is foreign to him. He says, "Yet I planted you as a choice vine.… How then did you turn degenerate and become a wild vine?" He says that the vine is foreign to him not because of some defect in the divine creation but by the avoidance of his own will, which is justly blamed because…

For even if you are washed with soda and take much soap, still your evil-doing is marked before me, says the Lord God.

How are you able to say, I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals? see your way in the valley, be clear about what you have done: you are a quick-footed camel twisting her way in and out;

An untrained ass, used to the waste land, breathing up the wind in her desire; at her time, who is able to send her away? all those who are looking for her will have no need to make themselves tired; in her month they will get her.

Do not let your foot be without shoes, or your throat dry from need of water: but you said, There is no hope: no, for I have been a lover of strange gods, and after them I will go.

As the thief is shamed when he is taken, so is Israel shamed; they, their kings and their rulers, their priests and their prophets;

Who say to a tree, You are my father; and to a stone, You have given me life: for their backs have been turned to me, not their faces: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Up! and be our saviour.

It is adultery, if you abandon the ecclesiastical and true knowledge and the opinion about God, and consent to false and incompatible opinion, either by deifying any created object or by making an idol of anything that does not exist, so as to overstep, or rather step away from, knowledge.… For this reason, the noble apostle calls one of the kinds of fornication, idolatry.

With unspeakable mercy, God deigned to be called the Father of humankind. He is in heaven, they on earth. He is the eternal Maker. They are made in time. He holds the earth in the hollow of his hand. They are like grasshoppers on the earth.

How is a person wise who looks not for his Maker but says to a stone, "You are my father"? Who says to the devil as the Manichaean does, "You are the author of my being"? How is Arius wise, who prefers an imperfect and inferior creator to one who is a true and perfect one? How can Marcion or Eunomius be wise, who prefer to have an evil rather than a good God?

But where are the gods you have made for yourselves? let them come, if they are able to give you salvation in the time of your trouble: for the number of your gods is as the number of your towns, O Judah.

Why will you put forward your cause against me? You have all done evil against me, says the Lord.

I gave your children blows to no purpose; they got no good from training: your sword has been the destruction of your prophets, like a death-giving lion.

Behold, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree. This refers to the three captivities in which the Israelites were taken away as captives, so that they might be chastened, but they were not chastened. In vain have I smitten your children, but they have not taken correction.

(Verse 30) Without cause, I struck your sons: they did not receive discipline. For this reason, you did not receive the 70. And the sense in Hebrew is: Those who were struck did not want to receive discipline. But in the Septuagint: Therefore, I struck your sons so that you may be taught by their death.

"Some of those measures do not succeed," you say. Is a remedy, then, to be discontinued because the illness of some patients is incurable? You are looking at those who are so hardened that they are not affected by such correction. Concerning these it has been written: "In vain have I struck your children. They have not received correction."

O generation, see the word of the Lord. Have I been a waste land to Israel? or a land of dark night? why do my people say, We have got loose, we will not come to you again?

Is it possible for a virgin to put out of her memory her ornaments, or a bride her robes? but my people have put me out of their memories for unnumbered days.

With what care are your ways ordered when you are looking for love! so... your ways.

And in the skirts of your robe may be seen the life-blood of those who have done no wrong:...

And still you said, I have done no wrong; truly, his wrath is turned away from me. See, I will take up the cause against you, because you say, I have done no wrong.

Why do you go about so much for the purpose of changing your way? you will be shamed on account of Egypt, as you were shamed on account of Assyria.

Truly, you will go out from him with your hands on your head: for the Lord has given up those in whom you have put your faith, and they will be of no help to you.

Jeremiah2