Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah — Homily 1
Greek source: Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah (Ὁμιλίαι εἰς τὸν Ἰερεμίαν), from the public-domain critical text of Erich Klostermann, GCS 6 = Origenes Werke III (Leipzig, 1901); digital text accessed via the First1KGreek project. This English translation is released into the public domain.
[§1] God is ready at hand to do good, but slow to punish those who deserve punishment. Indeed, though He is able to bring punishment upon those condemned by Him in silence, without giving warning beforehand, He by no means does this; but even when He condemns, He speaks, since His purpose in speaking is that the one about to be condemned may turn back from the condemnation. Of these things one can take many examples from the Scriptures, but a few of those that fall to hand in the present suffice, so that we may also come to the aim of the passages set before us. For the Ninevites had become sinners and were condemned by God: "Yet three days, and Nineveh was about to be overthrown." God did not wish to condemn her in silence, but, giving them a place for repentance and conversion, He sent a Hebrew prophet, so that, when he had said, "Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," those who had been condemned might not be condemned, but, having repented, might obtain the mercy of God. Those in Sodom and Gomorrah had been condemned, as is clear from the words of God to Abraham; but nevertheless the angels did their own part, wishing to save those who did not wish to be saved, saying to Lot: "Are there for you here any sons-in-law, or sons, or daughters?"—not being ignorant that those men would not follow Lot, but doing what belonged to their own kindness and love for humanity, and at the same time to that of Him who sent them.
[§2] You will find the like also in the matters concerning Jeremiah. The time of his prophecy is recorded, when it began and until when he prophesied. Then the one who reads, if he does not attend to the reading nor examine the intent of the passages written, will say that it is a mere narrative, and that it has been recorded when Jeremiah began to prophesy and after how long a time of prophesying he ceased prophesying. What, then, is this narrative to me? I have read it, I have learned that he began to prophesy "in the days of Josiah the son of Amos, king of Judah, until the thirteenth year of his reign"; then "it came to pass in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah," that he prophesied "until the completion of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah." And I have learned that his prophecy extended through three kings "until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month." What, then, are we taught through these things, if we attend to the reading?
[§3] God condemned Jerusalem because of her sins, and they had been judged to be abandoned into captivity. Nevertheless the God who loves humanity, when the appointed time had drawn near, sends also this prophet before the third reign, the one under which the captivity fell, so that those who were willing, having understood, might repent through the prophetic words. He sent forth a prophet to prophesy also under the second king after the first, and under the third, up to the very times of the captivity. For the long-suffering God gave a reprieve even, as one might say, up to a single day before the captivity, urging those who heard to repent, so that the sorrows of the captivity might cease; whence it is written that "until the captivity of Jerusalem Jeremiah prophesied, until the fifth month." The captivity began, and still he prophesied, as if to say: You have become captives; even so, repent; for if you repent, the affairs of the captivity will not go forward, but the mercy of God will be established over you. We have, then, something useful from the record that contains the times of the prophecy, namely, that God, according to His love for humanity, urges those who hear not to suffer the things of the captivity.
Such things concern us too. If we sin, we also are going to become captives. For the "handing over of such a one to Satan" differs in no way from handing over those from Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar; for as they were handed over to him because of their sins, so we are handed over because of our sins to Satan, who is a Nebuchadnezzar. And "those whom I handed over to Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme," says the apostle concerning other sinners.
[§4] See, then, how great an evil it is to sin, so that men are handed over to Satan, who takes captive the souls of those abandoned by God—God abandoning not without cause nor without judgment those whom He abandoned. For when He sends rain upon the vineyard, and the vineyard bears thorns instead of grapes, what will God do but "command the clouds not to rain rain" upon the vineyard? Because of our sins, captivity lies upon us also, and we are going to be handed over, unless we repent, to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, so that the intelligible Babylonians may tear us apart. While these things lie upon us, the words of the prophets, the words of the law, the words of the apostles, the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ speak to us about repentance, they exhort us to conversion; if we will hear, let us believe Him who said: "I also will repent concerning all the evils which I said I would do to them." So much for the prologue.
[§5] Now after the prologue it is written that "the word of the Lord came to him," clearly to Jeremiah. And what does the word of the Lord say to him? Something exceptional beyond what was said to the rest of the prophets. For this we have found said to none of the prophets. Abraham was declared a prophet in the words, "he is a prophet and will pray for you," and yet God did not say to him: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you." But Abraham was sanctified at some later point, when he came forth from his land and from his kindred and from his father's house; from the promise Isaac was born, and we have not found even to him this saying spoken. And what need have I to enumerate what follows? Jeremiah obtained an exceptional gift, that of "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you."
[§6] We are not ignorant that some refer these things, as being too great for Jeremiah, to our Savior and Lord; and one must know that most of them are in accord with Him and can be referred to the Savior, which I will set forth; but a few of the things said to Jeremiah press hard upon the argument, being unable, as they can with respect to the many, to be fitted to the Savior. What, then, are the things that fit the Savior? "To all to whom I shall send you, you shall go, and according to all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid before their face, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." These would not yet seem to be referred to the Savior; but what follows—"and the Lord stretched out His hand to me and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: Behold, I have given my words into your mouth. Behold, I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms, to root out and to pull down"—presses hard upon the interpretation concerning Jeremiah. What nations did Jeremiah root out, what kingdoms did he overthrow? For it is written: "Behold, I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms, to root out and to pull down." And what authority did Jeremiah have "to destroy," which is said as if to Jeremiah in the phrase "and to destroy"? And how many so great did Jeremiah build up, that it should be said "and to build"? Jeremiah says: "I have not benefited, nor has anyone benefited me." How then has "to build and to plant" been given to him? How will "to plant" fit Jeremiah? These things, referred to the Savior, do not press hard upon the interpreter, since Jeremiah in these matters is a symbol of the Savior. But the things that are to be set forth press hard, even upon the very most intelligent man who wishes to show how these too can fit the Savior: "And I said: O You who are, Master, Lord, behold, I do not know how to speak." He who is wisdom, who is the power of God, who has brought to us "the fullness of the Godhead, which dwelt in Him bodily"—how, then, can "I do not know how to speak" fit the Savior? But also "I am young" is forbidden with respect to the Savior, as though He spoke it not rightly. For if the Lord says to him, "Do not say this," it is clear that He forbids it as being not rightly said.
These things, then, do not fit the Savior. But those others do not seem to abash us when referred to the Savior. Now to say that these things are referred to Jeremiah, while those others are referred to the Savior, is not difficult. Yet the fair-minded man will be very much pressed at this point, seeing that to cut, within a sequence of words, the words spoken whether to Jeremiah or to the Savior, and to say that these, since they are lesser, fit not Christ but Jeremiah, and those, since they are greater than Jeremiah, fit not Jeremiah but Christ—this is the mark of the ill-disposed. Let the whole, then, be referred to Jeremiah; and let these things that seem to be too great for Jeremiah also be interpreted.
[§7] Everyone who has received words from God and has the grace of the heavenly words has received them for the purpose of "rooting out and pulling down nations and kingdoms." But if it is said that everyone who has received words from God "roots out" "nations and kingdoms," do not understand the nations and the kingdoms in a bodily sense for me, but, having observed that human souls are ruled over by sin according to what is said by the apostle—"Let not sin therefore reign in our mortal body"—and seeing also the many kinds of sins, interpret figuratively the nations and the kingdoms as well, that is, the evil things that are in the souls of human beings, which are rooted out and pulled down by the words of God given whether to Jeremiah or to anyone whatever. And one can fit both the first things, those that press hard as regards the Savior, to Jeremiah, and the second things to Jeremiah, who knew how to interpret figuratively.
Someone of those who hear will say to me: Exercise the other argument as well, and try to present all the things written as fitting the Savior. Concerning the second matters, do not be anxious; for it is evident that the Savior rooted out the kingdoms of the devil and pulled down the nations, having destroyed the heathen life. Here, in what seems ill-omened as regards the Savior, exercise the argument somehow, how the Savior can say: "I do not know how to speak, for I am young," and what follows. Do you see that the argument is hard pressed? We know the Savior as Lord. We seek, according to the worth of the passage and according to the truth, to refer these things to the Savior. We must take the Scriptures as witnesses; for our undertakings are without witnesses, and expositions without witnesses are untrustworthy. And "By the mouth of two and three witnesses shall every word stand" fits the case of expositions rather than of human beings, so that I may establish the words of the interpretation by taking two witnesses from the New and Old Testament, and by taking three witnesses from the gospel, from a prophet, from an apostle; for thus shall every word stand. How, then, are we able to refer these things to the Savior? Bring the Old Testament as a witness: "For before the child knows good or evil, he refuses wickedness so as to choose the good." And these things are said outright concerning the Savior in Isaiah: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel." And there it is added: "Before the child knows." But if we must also take an example from the gospel—Jesus, not having become a man, but while still being a child, since He "emptied Himself," was advancing (for no one who has been perfected advances, but he advances who is in need of advancement); therefore "He advanced in wisdom and stature and grace before God and men," coming down here, and having emptied Himself, He received again those things from which "He emptied Himself," having willingly emptied Himself. What is strange in His having also advanced "in wisdom and stature and grace before God and men," and in that being truly said of Him: "Before he knows good or evil he shall choose the good and refuses wickedness," and the things I set forth from Isaiah?
[§8] But someone will say: Even if you can refer "he does not know" to the Savior, and can say such a thing of the Savior and take Him to be a child, does it not offend you to say these things concerning the Only-begotten, concerning the firstborn of all creation, concerning Him who before conception was announced by good tidings according to the words, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you"—and do you say: He does not know how to speak? See whether you can behold anything worthy of note and great concerning the Savior in this passage: that, not knowing certain things, He is greater in not knowing them than in knowing them. And I make use of His own voice testifying that He does not know certain things. He says, at any rate, to those who assert to Him: "Did we not eat in your name, and drink in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works?"—"Depart from me, I never knew you." Does, then, the saying "I never knew you," said there by the Savior, present His power as lesser, or as greater and more wonderful, in that He did not know the worse and those who are perishing? For He knew the superior and better things, and "the Lord knew those who are His," and "if anyone is ignorant, he is not known." Therefore the sinner is not known by God. Someone of the hearers will say to me: You have shown that He does not know the sinners, you have shown that He does not know those who work lawlessness; for they are not worthy of His knowledge. How [then] will you present as great and glorious the saying "I do not know how to speak," said by the Savior? To speak is a human thing; to speak is to make use of a language, so as to utter, let us say, the tongue of the Hebrews, or of the Greeks, or of some others. If you ascend to the Savior and know Him as the Word "in the beginning with God," you will see that He does not know how to speak, since speaking is a human thing, but He does not know it because that which He knows is greater than speaking. And if you compare the tongues of angels with the tongues of men, and know that He is greater even than the angels, as the apostle testified in the Epistle to the Hebrews, you will say that He was greater even than the tongue of angels, when God the Word was with the Father. He learns, then, and as it were takes up knowledge, not of great things, but of things inferior and smaller. And just as I learn, forcing myself to lisp, when I converse with little children (for, not knowing how to speak in a childish way, so to speak, I force myself, being full-grown, to converse with children), in the same manner the Savior also, being "in the Father" and existing in the majesty of the glory of God, does not speak human things, does not know how to utter to those below. But when He comes into a human body, He says, at the beginning: "I do not know how to speak, for I am young"—young because of the bodily birth, but elder according to "the firstborn of all creation," young because "at the consummation of the ages" and later in time He came to dwell in this life. He says, then, "I do not know how to speak"—I know something greater than speaking, I know something greater than this human utterance. Do you wish me to speak to men? I have not yet taken up a human language; I have Your language, that of God; I am Your Word, the Word of God; I know how to converse with You, with men I do not know how to speak; "I am young."
[§9] "Do not say that I am young, for to all to whom I shall send you, you shall go." Thus He stretches out His hand, He touches his mouth, He gives him words, and He gives him words for the sake of the kingdoms, so that he may root them out. But did He have need of words that root out when He was "in the Father"? He had no need of words that pull down and demolish the worse things; for there was nothing worthy of demolition there, there was nothing worthy of rooting out. Great, then, is the "I do not know you, for you are workers of lawlessness," said thus by the Savior because of the surpassing greatness of His glory, being equivalent to "I do not know how to speak human things," the saying "I do not know how to speak."
[§10] Now whether it is said to Jeremiah or to the Savior: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you"—when you have read Genesis and observed the things said concerning the creation of the world, you will find that Scripture, most precisely in its terms, did not say "Before I made you in the womb I knew you." For when the one "according to the image" was created, "God said: Let us make man according to our image and likeness," He did not say: Let us form. But when He took "dust from the earth," He did not make the man, but "He formed the man," and "He set in paradise the man whom He had formed, to work it and to guard it." See the difference between making and forming, that the Lord, whether to Jeremiah or to the Savior, did not say: "Before I made you in the womb I knew you"; for that which is made does not come to be in a womb, but that which is formed from the dust of the earth, this is created in a womb.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." If the Lord knew all men [†with respect to "I do not know how to speak," since all men the Lord... for it must be said], He would not have said to Jeremiah, as something exceptional, "and I knew you." Therefore God knows those who are superior, God knows those who are worthy of His knowledge, and "the Lord knew those who are His," but the unworthy God does not know, just as also the Savior says: "I never knew you." We human beings, insofar as we advance, judge certain things to be worthy of our knowing them; and certain things we do not even wish to hear, so that we may not know them nor perceive them, but certain things we wish to know. But what of the God of all? He wishes to know Pharaoh, He wishes to know the Egyptians, but they are not worthy of the knowledge of God; but Moses is worthy, and each of the prophets is of such great worth. Much must you accomplish rightly, so that God may begin to know you. For Jeremiah He knew "before He formed him in the womb"; but another He begins to know when he has become thirty years old, another when he has become forty years old.
There are ineffable words, not sought after concerning the Savior, but concerning Jeremiah requiring attention from those who have ears.
[§11] How does He say: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you"? God sanctifies certain ones for Himself. This one He did not wait for, so as to sanctify him after he had come into birth, but before he came forth from the womb He had already sanctified him. If you refer it to the Savior, it is not difficult to say that before He came forth from the womb He was sanctified. If you refer it to the Savior, not only before He came forth was He sanctified, but even still earlier was He sanctified. But this Jeremiah was sanctified before he came forth from the womb.
[§12] "I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." In the case of Jeremiah, if you inquire into "I have appointed you a prophet to the nations," observe in what follows that he is commanded to prophesy "against all the nations," and there is a heading: "The things which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations," to "Elam," to "Damascus," to "Moab." And we have it that "he prophesied against all the nations," as regards the literal statement that "I have appointed you a prophet to the nations" with respect to that one. But if with respect to the higher sense—if in the case of Jeremiah, we have spoken already; but if in the case of the Savior, what need is there even to say it? He truly prophesied against all the nations; for He is, just as He is countless other things, so also a prophet. As He is high priest, as He is Savior, as He is physician, so also a prophet. Moses, at any rate, prophesying concerning Him, called Him not only a prophet, but also exceptionally so, saying: "A prophet from among your brethren the Lord God will raise up for you like me; Him you shall hear, and it shall be that whoever does not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among his people." This one, then, is He who has both been appointed a prophet "to the nations" and has received grace from God poured out upon His lips, so that not only when He was present in the body, but also now, when He is present in power and in the Spirit, He may prophesy "against all the nations," so that from all the nations His prophecy may accomplish its work and may draw human beings to salvation.
[§13] "And I said: O You who are, Master, Lord, behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am young. And the Lord said to me: Do not say that I am young, for to all to whom I shall send you, you shall go." We have often said that it is possible to be a child according to the inner man, even though one be in the aged stage of the body; and it is possible sometimes to be a child according to the outer man, but according to the inner a man. Such was Jeremiah, already having the grace from God while still being in the childhood stage as regards the body. Therefore the Lord says to him: "Do not say that I am young." And a sign that he is not young, but "a perfect man," is the "to all to whom I shall send you, you shall go, and according to all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid before their face." The Word of God knows that those who serve as ambassadors of the Word are in danger among their hearers; for, being convicted, men hate them, being rebuked, they persecute them. The prophets suffer anything whatsoever: "A prophet is not without honor except in his own homeland and in his own house," which we also mentioned recently. God knows, then, when He sends the prophet, how many dangers he will take upon himself, and He says to him: "Do not be afraid before their face, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." The things Jeremiah suffered are recorded: he was cast into a pit of mire, he remained there "eating one loaf a day" and drinking only water, and countless other things which his prophecy has made clear that he suffered. "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?" is said to the Jews. And it is necessary that "those who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus be, in every case, persecuted by the opposing powers through the vessels which they find." Therefore let those who are persecuted, not being astonished, do all things, only praying that they may be persecuted unjustly and not justly, not for injustice, not for sin, not for greed. But if anyone is ever persecuted for righteousness' sake, let him also hear the "Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say every evil word against you, lying, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for your reward is great in the heavens; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
[§14] "For I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. And the Lord stretched out his hand toward me, and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me." Observe the differences between Jeremiah and Isaiah. Isaiah says, "Having unclean lips, in the midst of a people having unclean lips I dwell, and I saw with my eyes the King, the Lord of Sabaoth." And since he confessed that he had no unclean deeds, but only trifling words (for up to that point he was a sinner), the Lord did not "stretch out his hand," but "one of the Seraphim touched his lips with his hand, and said: Behold, I have taken away your iniquities." But since this man was sanctified "from the womb," neither are tongs sent to him, nor a coal "from the altar" (he had nothing worthy of the fire), but the very hand of the Lord touched him. Therefore he says: "The Lord stretched out his hand toward me and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms, to root up."
Who is so blessed as to root up, by the words given by God, the kingdoms which are many, which "the devil displays," being kingdoms of adverse powers, kingdoms corresponding to the sins? For it is written: "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms, to root up." And just as there are kingdoms, so also there are nations; nor can anything be called a kingdom unless it be one having nations under it. For example, there is a kingdom of fornication, and the nations of fornication are each individual fornication†. One kingdom is the generic sin itself of covetousness and defrauding, and there are many kingdoms among those who have many species of sins. Then, in the case of each of the sinners, understand for me the nations under the kingdom, so as to say that so-and-so has many nations of the kingdom according to fornication, so-and-so has many nations of the kingdom according to defrauding, according to slander, according to anger. It is the work of the words of God, sent out over "nations and kingdoms," "to root up and to pull down." To root up what? The Savior taught, saying: "Every plant which my heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up." There are certain things within, in the souls, which "the heavenly Father did not plant"; for all the "evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies" are plantings planted not by the heavenly Father. And if you wish to see whose plantings such thoughts are, hear that "an enemy, a man, has done this," the one who sowed over them "the tares in the midst of the wheat." God, then, stands ready having his seeds, and so does the devil. If we give "place to the devil," "the enemy" sows over us a planting "which the heavenly Father did not plant," which will assuredly be rooted up; but if we do not give "place to the devil," but give place to God, God rejoicing sows his seeds upon our ruling faculty. Do not, therefore, suppose that Jeremiah received some gloomy gift from God, because he is set "over nations and over kingdoms, to root up." God is good in rooting up, through the words, the evil things, the kingdoms hostile to the kingdom of the heavens, the warring nations hostile to the nation of God.
"To root up and to pull down."
[§15] There is a certain building of the devil, and there is a certain building of God. The building "upon the sand" is the devil's, for it has been established upon nothing firm and stable and unified; but the building "upon the rock" is God's. See what is said to those who belong to God: "You are God's tilled field, God's building." The words of God, then, are over "nations and kingdoms," "to root up and to pull down and to destroy." If a thing be rooted up, but what is rooted up be not destroyed, the rooted-up thing still exists. If a thing be pulled down, but the stones of the demolition be not destroyed, the demolished thing still exists. It is therefore a work of the goodness of God, after the rooting up, to destroy what has been rooted up, and after the tearing down, to destroy what has been torn down. Read carefully, in the case of the things destroyed and rooted up, how such things are destroyed: "But the chaff burn with unquenchable fire," and "bind the tares in bundles and deliver them to the fire"; thus, after being rooted up, it is destroyed. If you wish to see also, after the demolition, the things of the building of evil matter being destroyed—that house which has been torn down on account of the leprosy becomes dust, and, having become dust, is cast out "outside the city," so that not even a stone may remain, in like manner to "I will grind them fine as the mud of the streets"; for the worse things must in no way hold together. If something is pulled down, let not the stones be useful for [the] other building which the evil one is able to build; if it is rooted up, let him not again find seeds from the rooted-up things, so as to sow over them again the tares—for surely, having the seeds of the tares, he sowed them over. For this reason, "bind the tares and burn them with fire," so that after being rooted up it may be destroyed, and after being pulled down the building of the devil may be destroyed.
[§16] But the words of God do not stand still in these things, in the "rooting up and pulling down and destroying." For let the evil things be rooted up from me, the worse things pulled down—what benefit is it to me, if in place of the things rooted up the better things be not planted? What benefit is it to me, if in place of these the more excellent things be not built up again? For this reason the words of God do first, of necessity, the "rooting up and pulling down and destroying," after which the "building and planting." And always in Scripture we have observed the gloomy-appearing things, so to name them, being named first, then the things that seem to be cheerful being spoken of second. "I will kill and I will make alive." He did not say, "I will make alive," and after this, "I will kill"; for it is impossible that what God has made alive should be killed by him or by any other. But "I will kill and I will make alive." Whom shall I kill? Paul the traitor, Paul the persecutor; "and I will make alive," so that there may come to be "Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ." If the wretches who come from the heresies had understood these things, they would not continually have brought them forward to us, saying: Do you see how the God of the Law is savage and inhuman and says: "I will kill, and I will make alive"? Do you not behold in the Scriptures the promise of the resurrection of the dead? Or do you not see the resurrection of the dead already being prefigured in each one? "We were buried together" with Christ "through baptism" and we rose together with him.