Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah — Homily 3
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] At the beginning of what has been read, the Lord says concerning Israel that he did not become a "wilderness" to him, nor "a parched land." Who then, coming to this passage, would not inquire, examining the intention of what is written? Grant that God did not become a wilderness in Israel, that he did not become in Israel a parched land: has the Lord then become a wilderness to Israel today, or is he now to him a parched land? And what of this: when to Israel he was neither a wilderness nor a parched land, was he to the nations a wilderness and a parched land? For if to all he is always not a wilderness, and to all he is always not a parched land, what need was there for it to be said to Israel in particular and by way of exception, "Have I become a wilderness to the house of Israel, or a parched land?" But it is possible to come first to the universal benefactions of God, and then, after his universal benefactions, to the particular ones.
[§2] To no one is God a wilderness, "making his sun to rise upon the wicked and" — and to no one is he a parched land, "sending rain upon" the just "and the unjust." How is he a wilderness, who makes the day to rise and the night for rest? How is he a wilderness, who makes the earth to bear fruit? How is he a wilderness, who administers each person according to the soul, that it may be rational, that it may take up knowledge, that its faculty of understanding may be trained with respect to the body, that it may have "the organs of perception" in vigor? Therefore, as regards the universal account, God is a wilderness to no one. But as regards the particular account, I come to the affairs of Israel and say: he was neither a wilderness nor a parched land, when in Egypt he was working the signs and the wonders for the people. But if there was any time when they were forsaken, he became, as it were, a wilderness to them — though he himself was not a wilderness. When, however, to Israel he was not a wilderness nor a parched land, to the nations, according to the particular account, he was a wilderness and a parched land. But when he turned away from Israel and became to that Israel a wilderness and a parched land, then the grace was poured out upon the nations, and Christ Jesus has now become to us not a wilderness but full, and not a parched land but bearing fruit; for "many are the children of the desolate one, more than of her that has the husband." And he threatens those to whom he did not become a wilderness nor a parched land, saying: I indeed have not become to you "a wilderness" nor "a parched land," but you have said, "We will not be lorded over; we will not come to you any longer." Have the sons of Israel then said, in their reckless folly, according to the wording, "We will not be lorded over" […]