Commentary on Jeremiah 1 part 4/5

'And they let him down into the pit.' The prophet becomes a type of the mystery concerning Christ, who was delivered into the hands of the Jews by Pilate, and descended to ill-named and most loathsome Hades, and rose from the dead:

just as, indeed, the prophet also came up again out of the pit:

and Scripture in many places calls Hades 'the pit'

'You have done evil, the things which you did.' Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, wishing to save Jeremiah, rebukes the king, saying:

'You have not counseled well, to kill the man in the pit.'

'For he ought, together with us, to have endured that most pitiable death by famine.'

'As the Lord lives.' A sign also from this, that the soul is created.

'I have a matter [to speak].' Some of the Jews, having deserted to the Chaldeans, promised Zedekiah that they would not allow the enemies to seize him:

and he was persuaded by these rather than by God, who was saying that it was necessary to submit to the Babylonian

And God said this, wishing them to be saved:

For if they had lived by following the enemy, recognizing that it was God who had handed them over, they would have repented and gained their own souls.

'Your peaceable men.' That is, instead of [saying] your friends.

'And they will prevail against you.' That is: they had the power to turn you aside from the straight way.

'And in the tenth year of Zedekiah.' The Babylonians, having besieged Jerusalem for a time, took it, and having brought Jeremiah out of the prison, handed him over to Gedaliah, and set him in the midst of the people.

'And they brought [him] out.' Perhaps the Chaldeans, having heard from those who had deserted to them that Jeremiah had been telling the Jews beforehand not to resist them, honored him.

'And to Jeremiah.' Having told of the taking of the city, since it was necessary to mention how God honored Abdemelech, and promised him through the prophet that he would not be handed over into the hands of enemies—since he too had preserved the prophet—[the narrative] runs back to the events before the capture.

'Go.' God does not command the prophet to move from one place to another;

understand, then, apostolic ministry.

'Because you had trusted.' For the honor [shown] to the prophet is referred to God; and [Abdemelech], trusting in God, honored the man of God.

Nebuzaradan. He was the commander-in-chief, apart from whom no one was put to death;

wherefore he is also called 'chief cook,' as one set over the killings.

'All the good things.' That is: do whatever is pleasing to you.

'And they obeyed.' 'I,' he says, 'restrain them from wronging any of you.'

'And you, gather wine.' Enjoy the good things of peace, and offer the firstfruits to God, the giver of these things.

'Eighty men, with shaven beards.' Mourning over the destruction of the temple.

'For we have treasures in the field.' That is: 'Take whatever we have, and do not destroy us.'

'For I have rested from the evils.' That is: 'My wrath against you has been fulfilled.'

'For we shall go into the land of Egypt.' Those who run after sin suppose that they are escaping the hardships of life, being unwilling to hear of wars.

But they are ignorant of the wrath that will overtake them afterward.

'And the famine.' Which you make much of, fearing it.

'As it dripped.' That is: it was let loose/released.

'Do not go in.' Jeremiah, foreseeing by the prophetic spirit what was in the hearts of the Jews, before they answered, says to them: 'You will not listen to God.'

'For you have dealt wickedly in your souls.' Having already resolved other things in your minds, you sent me to inquire of God, [merely] testing him.

'That you may give us into the hands of the Chaldeans.' Perhaps they suspected Baruch, since he had previously been sent by the king of the Jews to bring gifts to the Babylonian, and had become his friend.

For they allege this pretext in order to disobey God.

For wickedness never lacks a pretext.

'Saying, in Tahpanhes.' This too happened to be a royal city of the Egyptians.

'Those [destined] for death.' 'By his authority,' he says, 'he will do whatever he wishes.'

'As one delouses [his garment].' In the shrines of the demons.

'And he will break the pillars of Heliopolis.' There is a Heliopolis in which the temple was renowned, a haunt of all the demons.

'I set my face against you for evil.' The Jews, having gone down into Egypt, again sacrificed to idols.

God therefore again foretells them through the prophet, saying: 'Remind yourselves of the evils that were brought upon Jerusalem and Judea.'

'And that you may become a curse.' For the pagans, when reproaching and cursing someone, would say: 'May it happen to you thus, as to the Israelites.'

'They shall by no means return.' Those in Babylon, and those who were saved scattered throughout whatever places.

'To burn incense to the queen of heaven.' This they perhaps supposed to be the one called Aphrodite, whom the abominable ones also called Selene and Hecate.

'And we were filled with bread.' These are the words of the women;

even while being amid the evils themselves, they do not perceive the evils.

'And we became prosperous.' By 'prosperous' he means certain ones who are well-nourished, thriving, and cheerful.

'And Jeremiah said.' They all speak with one accord;

'We have chosen to sacrifice to idols.'

'If my name shall still be in [anyone's] mouth.' Here he clearly rejected them all at once, together with the pagans.

'And they shall know.' The poor and the aged, whom the enemies do not think worth killing, are left behind so that they may become witnesses of the calamities.

'Those who settled [there].' Those who chose to dwell in Egypt.

'Thus said the Lord.' To Baruch, who was despondent (variant: greatly anxious) and groaning, God says through Jeremiah: 'I will preserve your life in every place.'

But do not seek, since you are but a man, to be freed from toils.

'The men learned in the law,' he says, 'he graciously favored unto all things honorable.'

Those around Zedekiah, fleeing toward Arabia, [came] to the place now called Daphne.

'And will you seek [great things for yourself]?' Do not seek [them];

for the great and admirable things are not here, but in the age to come.

'In Charmis.' Charmis is a city in Mesopotamia.

'For this reason they themselves are terrified.' The prophet says that those of Egypt preparing for war [i.e., the Egyptians], they themselves are terrified.

the Egyptians], they themselves are terrified.

'Who is this, like a river?' The Babylonian.

'And the day.' After the historical [sense], understand the coming of Christ, when the enemies of God, the demons, were completely exposed.

'Go up to Gilead.' Gilead has resin, which is medicinal for wounds.

What he means is this:

Gilead used to promise to come to the aid of the Egyptian;

'You, then,' he says, 'who promise to help others—help yourself.'

He calls Egypt a virgin, since she was then for the first time shamefully defeated by enemies, and, as one might say, deflowered of her virginity;

and by 'daughter of Egypt' he means the surrounding region.

'They fell together.' Pharaoh Necho along with his subjects;

or else Gilead together with Egypt.

'What the Lord spoke.' God is said to speak 'by the hand' of the prophets, since the prophets did everything they heard [they were commanded] to do.

Or also because everything signified by God came to pass in deed through the prophets.

'Announce to Migdol.' Memphis, Tahpanhes, and Migdol were renowned, royal cities of the Egyptians.

'And give notice to Memphis.' 'Prepare yourself for slaughter; take heed'—that is: you shall know that the sword of the Babylonian will cut off your king just as one cuts a bindweed shoot.

'And each one.' The Jews in Egypt, saying, 'Let us return to our own people.'

'From before the Greek sword.' The Greeks, being from Ionia, were of old tributary to the Babylonians, and fought as their allies in wars.

'From the Greek sword,' then, [stands] instead of [saying]: [the sword] of the Babylonian's allies.

'For as Tabor.' This, being a mountain of Galilee, was desolate before the coming of Christ.

But Carmel too was itself desolate; it lies upon the sea, and receives the waves of the sea.

'Memphis, then,' he says, 'will be full of tumult, and desolate from the onslaught of the Babylonians.'

'Egypt is a beautifully adorned heifer.' Because the Babylonian, having sent only a portion of his forces, captured her.

'Soldiers' — that is, the food-ration [maintained for them];

or also the foreigners whom they hired for alliance.

'Their voice is like that of a serpent.' Either, he says, [the voice] of those groaning and fleeing;

since the serpent hisses as it flees.

'Because in the sand.' They crawl, lying on the ground, dragged along as captives.

'They shall cut down her forest.' [This signifies] her incomparable [host], her multitude surpassing that of the locust.

The Egyptians honored Ammon as Zeus; and so this idol of theirs too, he says, I will punish;

and this is what Satan suffered at the coming of Christ.

'And I will discipline you.' As to the literal sense: even after going up from Egypt to Jerusalem, they were disciplined again;

but as to the [spiritual] sense, he says to Jacob who is saved in Christ: 'I will redeem you from the slavery of the demons, and I will discipline you [with] judgments' — that is, evangelical precepts; 'but if you sin, I will punish you.'

'Behold, waters.' As to the literal sense, [these signify] the multitudes of the Babylonians;

but as to the [spiritual] sense, the coming of the Antichrist is signified.

'How long, O sword of the Lord?' The prophet foresees God's vengeance at the end against the demons and all the unbelieving.

'Return into your sheath.' He prays, then, that the wrath may be stilled, so that creation may be at peace.

He receives the assurance that the sword of the Lord will not rest until it has utterly destroyed the deceit, and death, the last enemy, is abolished;

so, along with the literal sense, understand also the matters of the spiritual interpretation.

'Woe upon Nabau.' Nabau is a city of the Moabites, in which Deuteronomy was written.

'Alaoth.' Alaoth is a city of the Moabites, like the rest [mentioned].

'And Chemosh shall go forth.' Chemosh is the idol of the Moabites.

'And the valley shall perish.' The valley is the land lying alongside the river.

'Give signs to Moab.' That is [to say]: give her advance warning.

'He who withholds his sword from blood.' Moabites and Ammonites are forbidden by the Law to enter the house of God.

So, as to the literal sense, he curses those who do not put them to death;

but from this occasion he set forth a general statement, saying:

'Cursed is he who withholds his sword from destroying wicked things.'

For the sword of the Spirit ought always to slay evils.

'trusting.' The Moabite, who has no standing to enter the house of God, trusts in the glory of this age.

After the literal sense, understand that he neglected to check the impulses of youth.

'He has not been poured out from vessel to vessel.' As to the literal sense: 'Never,' he says, 'was he carried into exile, nor did he lose anything of his own.'

But as to the [spiritual] sense, he here calls the 'vessel' the cup.

There is a cup of wrath, and a cup of salvation;

he did not, then, he says, pour the cup of wrath into that of salvation — that is, he did not propitiate the divine wrath.

'And therefore his taste remained [in him].' [This is] the bitter taste of sin;

and he calls its scent death-bearing.

'And therefore, behold, the days [are coming].' He continues in the same figure, and speaks of those who will take [him] captive.

'His horns.' [That is,] his glory.

'From Bethel.' [The city] in which Jeroboam set up the [golden] calves.

The saying also has a bearing against the wickedness of the devil.

'Are we strong?' Because he boasted greatly against God, and makes war upon the Israelites — that is, us — who have done him no wrong.

'Staff.' [That is,] the glorious kingdom.

'Rod of majesty.' [That is,] the strength of majesty.

'Sitting in decay.' [That is,] in rottenness, in putridity.

'And upon the house.' He means their royal city.

This is said to be the place now called Daphne.

'The horn of Moab is broken.' That is [to say]: both his glory and his strength [are broken];

'Make him drunk.' He shall be shattered in his strength.

'And indeed he was a laughingstock.' Because you too mocked Israel, as though he were being punished not on account of sin, but on account of the powerlessness of their God.

'And in your thefts.' He says: you found your own [gain] through theft, because you made war on Israel.

For this will also apply to the demons, who, having suffered no prior wrong, wage war against us without cause.

'With the mouth of a pit.' [That is,] in the shape of a ravine.

He still threatens against the land of Moab, as having insulted God himself by saying:

'God is not able to save Israel.'

'Was it not enough?' Not as one expecting recompense did he act thus — or, understood thus: did he not bring the whole of his own power to bear in insolence against me? 'Cry out over the men trimmed amid drought.' [This means] over the beautified men of the land of Moab;

or, understood thus: concerning those who ought to be squalid, and to mourn because of their sins;

but who instead are groomed and live luxuriously out of contempt.

'I will weep as with the weeping of Jazer.' As I did to Jazer, he says, so also will I do to Sebamah.

And he mentioned vineyards, because the enemies were ravaging the crops.

'Your branches passed over the sea.' They were hemmed in by the multitude of the enemies.

'City of Jazer.' The same fate that befell Jazer has befallen you also.

'It was boiled away.' The joy of the land of Moab, he says, was cut short together [with it].

For no sooner did they happen to begin rejoicing than the wrath fell upon them.

'And there was wine.' But not even the wine, he says, dripping from the grape-cluster laid in the winepress, got as far as being trodden;

for no sooner did they come to tread it than the report of the enemies checked them.

'In the morning they did not tread.' That is [to say]: they shall be dried up;

'Therefore the heart of Moab shall be like flutes.' The flute cries out under the force of another's breath blowing into it.

Being forced, then, by the enemies, they will cry out; and I too, driven on by their own insolence, will cry out against them.

'How has he been transformed?' That is: how has he been overturned? 'Behold, like an eagle.' Ezekiel too likened Nebuchadnezzar to an eagle, because of the vehemence of his onset and the inescapability of the danger, no fortification availing anything against it, and every [resistance] dissolving amid the utmost terror, like a woman about to give birth. [Chapter...]

To the sons of Ammon: [that is] the Ammonites, who take their name from Amman.

"Or he who will take possession." "He who will take possession" stands for "heir," he says.

There is no one among the sons of Israel who ought to inherit the cities of the tribe of Gilead, because the Ammonites have taken these.

Why has he taken possession of Melchol? Melchol is both an idol, and a king of the Ammonites called by this name.

"Gird yourselves with sackcloth." He enjoins the cities of the Ammonites to lament one another's calamities.

Beat your breasts madly and piteously.

"Daughter of insolence." The Anakim originally inhabited that land.

"For a little while, then," he says, "you are about to rejoice in that land, but not long after you will be led into captivity."

Instead of [meaning]: harsh and inhuman.

And the word is directed to the land of the Ammonites.

"And you shall be scattered." Instead of [meaning]: wherever each one is able [to flee].

"Thus says the Lord" — [concerning that] by which it is possible to be saved;

but as to the meaning: "I will destroy," he says, "the wisdom of the wise."

"He was deceived." That in which they had trusted as secure will be found useless.

"Go down deep to dwell." "Sit in the depths," instead of [saying]...

Wait, and learn the things that will happen.

And Dedan is a city of Idumea.

"For he has wrought hard things." [Meaning] the one who is about to make war on her.

"For I have stripped Esau bare." The enemies [did this].

But as to the [spiritual] meaning: the apostles, and those who at various times presided over the churches, against idolatry.

"I have uncovered their hidden things." [Meaning] Satan.

The things by which the demons used to deceive human beings.

"And the widows." [Meaning] the souls that have separated themselves from the pagans.

"And he sent messengers to the nations." [Meaning] those who stirred up war against Idumea.

But according to the spiritual interpretation, [it means] the holy apostles.

"Your frivolity." Your wantonness, your unworthiness.

"It has seized strength." And the hills are strongholds in times of necessity;

for standing upon them, they hurl stones against the enemies.

"And it shall surely not be inhabited." All these things thus accord with the historical [literal sense].

But [the war] against demonic error began to take place from the coming of Christ, and it will have its end at the consummation [of the age].

"Behold, like a lion he shall come up." The Lord, having come up out of baptism.

"And set the young men against her." Concerning whom it has been said:

"I have written to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one."

"Unless it be made impassable." So that the demons may no longer have anywhere to lodge, since human beings are being set free, and the idol-shrines are being overthrown.

"Behold, like an eagle." [Meaning] the one who is about to destroy her.

"Concerning Damascus." He foretells the capture of Damascus.

Hamath and Arpad — what is now called Antioch was then so called.

And those regions were at that time ruled by Damascus;

for this was then the royal territory of the Syrians.

"How has she not abandoned the city?" At the [mere] report of enemies, [people] would abandon their cities and flee to the villages.

"How then," he says, "at such reports were they not going to abandon the city, and depart to the villages?" But he calls it "my city," he says, since all cities belong to God.

"Streets." Just as the kings of the Syrians were called "Hadad," so also the Egyptians [called their kings] "Pharaoh."

"Go down very deep to dwell." You thought you were dwelling securely, that is, residing [safely].

"Arise and go up." [Addressed to a people] sitting at ease, at rest, in security.

"Who have no doors." Bolts — the pins/bars [of a lock] — because they dwell in the open air.

"They lodge alone." Instead of [meaning]: scattered [about].

"Those shorn." Instead of [meaning]: those stripped of their comeliness;

but other manuscripts have "mixed," instead of [meaning]: "thrown into confusion."

"From every side." From every way I will bring about his rout.

"The things that Jeremiah prophesied." Which also came to pass when Cyrus the Persian overthrew the kingdom of the Chaldeans, and sent the Jews back to their own [land].

Elam — either [meaning] Babylon, or indeed the whole territory over which Cyrus ruled.

One should know that the holy John, in his commentary on Jeremiah, commented consecutively up to this point.

But leaving aside what follows, he begins his commentary again from the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim;

where also the mark set below is placed, and thus he commented on the rest.

"And I will bring upon Elam four winds." He signifies an onslaught from every side, or also the nations from every quarter who joined together with Alexander for the war against Darius.

"And I will send my sword after them." [Meaning] severity.

"And I will set my throne." Instead of [meaning]: I will come upon them with authority; or he foretells beforehand concerning a church that was going to be among them.

"Declare among the nations." After the historical [sense], the word is addressed to the apostles.

"Merodach has been delivered up." The whole region, in relation to Jerusalem, is called "the North."

Babylon, as regards the position of its places, lies more to the south than [the land of] the Medes.

He says, then, that Merodach, going up together with the Medes, will take Babylon.

"For here they shall set their face." Instead of [meaning]: Here, in Zion, where the prophet prophesied.

"For [it is] an everlasting covenant." [Meaning] the promise made to Abraham, which was fulfilled through Christ.

"Their shepherds have driven them out." [Meaning] the priests and kings, the teachers of the law, the false prophets;

and they also offered sacrifices to the demons upon such [high places].

"All who found them consumed them." [Deprived them] of understanding, and of the divine teachings in which they used to find their rest.

After the historical [sense], the word is addressed to the faithful.

"But they," he says, "are the flock of God, chosen by God unto righteousness."

For since God, having chosen their fathers, led them out of Egypt, they are fittingly called sheep also, and the flock of God, as of its owner.

"And go out." Be at variance with the Babylonians, and fearsome to the demons.

"For behold, I raise up." The nations that had grown cold through sin — these, through faith in Christ, wage war against idolatry.

"And Chaldea shall become plunder." The land of the Chaldeans, that is, Babylon.

"It has been overturned." Babylon, which begot you in glory and wealth.

"All who bend the bow." The word is addressed to the apostles, against the spiritual Babylon.

"Her battlements have fallen." The accursed demons.

"And her wall was razed." Satan himself, the author of evil.

"Before the face of the Greek sword." Greeks fought in alliance with Cyrus;

so when the Greek sword had prevailed, the captives, released by Cyrus, would return to their own land.

"The king of Assyria first devoured him." Sennacherib, being an Assyrian, was first to devour the ten tribes, which were the flesh — that is, he took them captive.

"And this one afterward [gnawed] his bones." Nebuchadnezzar.

He calls Judah "bones," since it was the support of the whole body.

"They shall seek." Because Christ granted the remission of sins to all who believed.

"Go up bitterly against her." According to the historical sense, against Babylon; according to the deeper meaning, against idolatry.

"How has it been broken." The hammer of all the earth, that shattered the inhabited world — Babylon, or equally idolatry.

"They shall come upon you." According to the historical sense, on account of the suddenness of wars;

but according to the deeper meaning, because of the hidden depth of the mystery concerning Christ.

"The Lord has opened." Because of the mystery hidden from the ages.

"Search her out." From your very thoughts, pry out and uproot idolatry.

"Dry up all her fruits." According to the historical sense, the tyrants of Babylon;

but according to the deeper meaning, the fruits of sin — fornication, and uncleanness, and so forth.

"The voice of those fleeing." Of those who take refuge in our Lord.

"Behold, I am against you, O insolent one." This may also be understood as directed against the synagogue of the Jews.

"And I will kindle a fire in her forest." By "forest" [he means] the multitude.

But one must know that the divine fire, too, when it falls upon souls, like a flame in a forest of trees, consumes every form of evil.

"Thus says the Lord." He speaks concerning the physical captivity of the sons of Israel, and the spiritual captivity of souls, and their redemption through the Lord.

"He shall render judgment." Therefore the Savior said:

"Now is the judgment of this world;

now the ruler of this world is cast out."

"Upon her water." According to the historical sense, upon the multitude;

but according to the deeper meaning, upon the dissolute, slack, and sinful life.

"And in the islands." Since the Babylonians held dominion over these too;

but according to the deeper meaning, in the idols.

"Therefore they shall dwell there." Likenesses of men, not men — so as to indicate the weakness of those allied with the kingdoms.

For Cyrus also overcame those of the islanders who had opposed him.

And he signifies their desolation by the Sirens — beings that are, in effect, man-shaped demons, or else singing birds, that inhabit the places because of their desolation.

"And many kings." For they are "a holy nation, a royal priesthood";

and these things he joins together, after treating the historical sense.

"The people baptized in the Jordan."

"He who makes war against the spiritual Babylon."

"Into Gaetham." Gaetham is a place by the Jordan, in which there are many lions.

"For I will quickly drive them out." The Chaldeans, out of Babylon.

"And who is this shepherd?" For when the good shepherd is delivering us, the enemy can do nothing to us.

"Unless the pasture be swept clean away from them." That is, [by "pasture" he means] "most cherished children";

and this is a token of bitter captivity.

"A destroying scorching wind." Beyond the historical sense, understand this of those aided by the Holy Spirit, who dry up and destroy the streams of evil.

"And you shall not spare." That is, do not be terrified by the threat of the demons.

"For their land." For, he says, it was the full measure of the Chaldeans' injustice to carry off both the holy vessels and holy men into Babylon.

"Flee from the midst of Babylon." The prophet commands those who are being saved to flee from the midst of Babylon — whether the physical Babylon, or also the confusion of the world.

"Babylon is a golden cup." In many places in the divine Scripture, what is called the wrath of God is named a "cup."

Since, then, God punished those who worshiped him through the agency of the Babylonians, he has called her [Babylon] an intoxicating cup;

and "golden," because of the wealth within her.

"The Lord stirred up the spirit of the king of the Medes." This is the voice of the prophets giving thanks, because the people was redeemed both from the historical captivity and from the confusion of the world, through our Savior Jesus Christ.

"Dwelling by many waters." Of Cyrus;

according to the historical sense, [it signifies] the vast multitude of men; but according to the deeper meaning, the currents of the heart.

"For the Lord has sworn by his arm." By his own power.

"And they shall cry out against you." That is, reproaching you.

"The Lord, who made the earth." He teaches that God is to be contemplated by analogy from the creation.

"In heaven, so as to bring forth thunders."

"Every man has become foolish in his knowledge." Because he failed to perceive, from the beauty of the creatures, their Creator — or indeed [perceived] nothing at all;

"for now we know in part."

"You scatter for me the weapons of war." In the physical sense, the word is addressed to Babylon;

but more truly, everything that follows in order is spoken against Satan;

"You," he says, "attempt to scatter the godly men who are able to make war against you;"

"but I scatter your whole demonic multitude, and those among them most potent in evil."

[signifying] the frenzied lust for women, and the demon that produces it.

"And I will scatter in you the horse." The love of glory, the love of money, and the demons that produce them.

"And I will scatter in you the young man." Those who are barren of virtue.

"And I will scatter in you man and woman." Love of pleasure.

"And I will scatter in you the shepherd." The teachers of "knowledge falsely so called," together with those who follow them.

"And I will scatter in you the husbandman." The priests of the idols, together with their rites, and the idols themselves.

"And I will scatter the rulers." The rulers [means]: the demons in wickedness.

"Behold, I am against you, O destroyed mountain." In the sense-perceptible reading, [this refers to] Nebuchadnezzar, but according to the [spiritual] sense, to Satan, "destroyed," because he too, having been one of the archangels, fell by his own choice from his proper virtue.

"And I will stretch out my hand against you." I will drive [him] out from among those who have believed—the holy stones that roll upon the ground; or else [understood] as sharing the name of the Rock, that is, Christ, for the faithful too have been called "rocks" on account of their faith in him, and the unshakenness of [their] faith.

"And I will make you like a mountain burnt with fire." Instead of [meaning]: unfruitful, useless.

"And they shall by no means take a stone from you." The solid and strong stones are laid down for foundations, and for corners.

"You shall therefore be weak," he says, "and useless, and unprofitable."

"Lift up a sign upon the earth." He calls the trumpet a "sign."

"...to wage war on Babylon." He also commands the apostles to gather the faithful, those who were about to wage war on idolatry.

"Sanctify nations against her." Set apart those who are about to make war against her.

"Take up [a summons] from me." Ararat, [that is] the mountains of Armenia.

"They shall sit there." Instead of [meaning]: they shall besiege her.

"One pursuer running to meet another pursuer." Each one bringing good news to his neighbor—

—and this the holy apostles did, driving out demonic error, while announcing to one another the good news of the salvation of the faithful.

"And one who announces running to meet another who announces." The first one meeting [him], and reporting to the second who is being sent.

"For thus says the Lord." He signified the utter shattering of the dwellings—

—and the words "He has devoured me," and what follows it, are spoken as from Jerusalem.

Because of his beast-like [savagery] he "devoured," but because of the spoils and the booty he "divided."

"Fine darkness" signifies the exceeding despondency—

—for thin air penetrates our bodies more [than thick air does].

"He has devoured me." Jerusalem, coming before God, says these things against the Babylonian; but more truly the Church [says them] to her own bridegroom against Satan.

And "he divided": one demon leading into fornication, another into love of money, and another into some other forbidden deed.

And "he devoured," since they [the demons] also persuaded those who had apostatized from God to worship themselves.

"Darkness has overtaken me." The betrayal [that arises] from sins.

"at dawn"—it is a lightless, fine [darkness].

"He has filled his belly." "You have dragged me away from my delight"—that is, from the divine teachings.

Or also thus: "Delighting himself in me, he filled his belly."