Jeremiah 5 · The Lantern

No One Is Just

Rove through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her squares whether you can find a man, whether there is one doing judgment, seeking faithfulness — and I will forgive her.

And though they say, As the LORD lives, surely they swear to falsehood.

LORD, are your eyes not on faithfulness? You struck them, and they did not writhe; you finished them, they refused to take discipline. They made their faces harder than rock; they refused to return.

And I said: Surely these are the lowly; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.

Truly, slander humiliates a person, and slander troubles the poor person. The evil of slander is so great that it brings down both the perfect person … from his height, and the poor person, that is, the one who lacks great learning, as it seems to the prophet, who says, "Perhaps they are poor … therefore they will not hear.

(Vers. 4, 5.) But I said: Perhaps they are poor and foolish (or they were unable) and ignorant of the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. Therefore, I will go to the noble ones, and I will speak to them: for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.

"Well-off" refers to the priests and the teachers of the law; "poor" refers to the rest, insofar as they did not possess the wealth of divine knowledge. Yet he accuses both of lawlessness, proceeding in this way, "They all alike broke the yoke, they snapped the bonds." It was not without purpose the prophet said this.

Let me go to the great ones and speak with them, for they know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God. But they together have broken the yoke, torn off the bonds.

Therefore a lion from the forest strikes them, a wolf of the deserts devastates them, a leopard is watching over their cities — everyone going out from them is torn — for their transgressions are many, their turnings are mighty.

How can I forgive you for this? Your sons have forsaken me and sworn by those that are no gods. And I fed them full, and they committed adultery and thronged to the house of a whore.

They were well-fed horses, roaming; each neighed for the wife of his neighbor.

Those who do indeed reject the Spirit's counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts, and lead lives contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge headlong into their own desires, having no longing after the Divine Spirit, do live after the manner of swine and of dogs; these men does the apostle very properly term "carnal," because they have no thought of anything else…

The neighing horse depicts the recklessness of young men.

Murder is rare among slaves because of their dread and terror of capital punishment, but it is common among the rich because of their hope and trust in impunity. Perhaps we are wrong in putting in the category of sins what the rich people do, because, when they kill their slaves, they think that it is legal and not a crime.

Shall I not attend to these? — the utterance of the LORD. And on a nation such as this shall my soul not take vengeance?

Go up on her rows and destroy, but a full end do not make. Remove her tendrils, for they are not the LORD’s.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me — the utterance of the LORD.

They have denied the LORD and said: He is not; and evil will not come upon us, and sword and famine we will not see.

And the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus will it be done to them.

Judgment Proclaimed

Therefore thus says the LORD, God of hosts: Because you speak this word, see, I am making my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.

See, I am bringing upon you a nation from far off, house of Israel — the utterance of the LORD — an enduring nation it is, an ancient nation it is, a nation whose tongue you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

Its quiver is like an open grave; all of them are mighty men.

And it will eat your harvest and your bread; they will eat your sons and your daughters; it will eat your flock and your herd; it will eat your vine and your fig tree. It will shatter with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

And even in those days — the utterance of the LORD — I will not make a full end with you.

And it will be, when you say, For what has the LORD our God done all these to us? — then you will say to them: As you forsook me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land not yours.

Declare this in the house of Jacob, and make it heard in Judah, saying:

Hear this now, foolish people, and without heart: eyes they have, and they do not see; ears they have, and they do not hear.

One who does not carefully weigh every word of the opinions uttered cannot rightly discover the value of the assertion. For someone like this, who only possesses skill in disputation and ornaments of speech, cannot penetrate to the very heart of Scripture and the mysteries of its spiritual meanings. True knowledge is acquired only by true worshipers of God.

Not understanding him who had been anointed and sent and who was the author of such wonderful works, they returned to their usual ways and talked about him in a foolish and vain way. For although they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded out of his mouth, yet their wish was to treat them as valueless.

That it is the height of folly not to fear, the Lord says in Jeremiah: "Hear, O foolish people, who have no heart: who having eyes, see not, and ears, and hear not. Will you then not fear me, and will you not be grieved at my presence? I who have set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an everlasting decree, which it shall not pass beyond." Do you not fear me?

Do you not fear me? — the utterance of the LORD. Will you not writhe before my face, who set the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting decree it cannot pass? They toss, but they cannot prevail; its waves roar, but they cannot pass it.

Through all the story of waters be mindful of that first word, "Let the waters be gathered." It was necessary for them to flow that they might reach their own place. Then, being in the places appointed, they were to remain by themselves and not to advance further.

The vessel was severely tossed by the violence of the tempest and the breaking of the waves. And along with the ship, the faith of the disciples also was tossed, so to speak, by similar agitations. But Christ, whose authority extends over all, immediately arose.

But this people has a heart stubborn and rebellious; they have turned aside and gone.

And they did not say in their heart: Let us fear now the LORD our God, who gives the rain, the early rain and the latter rain, in its season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.

Your iniquities have turned these aside, and your sins have withheld the good from you.

For among my people are found wicked men. He lies in wait, crouching like fowlers; they have set a destroyer, they catch men.

Like a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have grown great and grown rich.

They have grown fat, they are sleek; they have overflowed the words of evil. They do not judge the cause, the cause of the orphan, and they prosper; and the judgment of the needy they do not judge.

Shall I not attend to these? — the utterance of the LORD. On a nation such as this shall my soul not take vengeance?

A horror and a shocking thing has happened in the land:

the prophets prophesy in falsehood, and the priests rule at their hands, and my people love it so. And what will you do at the end of it?

Jeremiah5

No One Is Just

Judgment Proclaimed