Thomas Aquinas Commentary Jeremiah 16

1. Here, the Lord forbids the prophet from associating with the condemned people.

First, He gives the sentence, and second, He gives the cause for it, which begins in Jeremiah 16:10 with the words, and when you tell them…

Regarding the sentence, there are two points.

1. He forbids association by marriage, issuing the command: you shall not take a wife. As the apostle writes, Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife (1 Corinthians 7:27).

   He gives the reason for this command: the punishment will be universal, sparing no age or gender. For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters… Later, He says, I will break in pieces the man and the woman among you; I will break in pieces the old man and the boy among you; I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin among you (Jeremiah 51:22).

   The punishments will also be diverse. He threatens death from an internal cause—by the death of diseases, meaning plague and long-term illnesses—and assigns a fitting burial: they shall not be mourned. Paul speaks of a similar judgment: For this reason, many among you are sick and weak, and many have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 11:30). Jeremiah says elsewhere: they shall not be mourned or gathered, nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the earth (Jeremiah 25:33).

   He also threatens death from an external cause: by the sword, at the hands of a mocking enemy, and by famine, from a lack of necessities. To this, He assigns another fitting burial: and their bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky. As stated previously: They will be cast out in the streets because of the famine and the sword, and there will be no one to bury them—they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters (Jeremiah 14:16).

2. He forbids association through social gatherings.

   1. He forbids gatherings for mourning, which are held to provide comfort after a death. The prohibition is given: you shall not enter the house of mourning, whether as a mourner or as one who consoles.

      He gives several reasons for this. First is the removal of peace: because I have taken away my peace from this people. This refers to the peace I used to maintain with them, for I have now become angry; or it could mean the peace they had with one another, which had Me as its source. As Isaiah says, There is no peace for the wicked, says the LORD (Isaiah 48:22).

      Another reason is the threat of universal death: they shall die. As Job says, The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master (Job 3:19). Consequently, proper funeral rites will cease, as they will be denied even the mercy of burial: they shall not be buried. As stated previously, they shall not be gathered up or buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the earth (Jeremiah 8:2).

      Even the customary mourning of the family will end: neither shall they be mourned, nor shall they cut themselves. This refers to causing self-injury, which was forbidden to the Jews: You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead (Deuteronomy 14:1). Job, however, who shaved his head and fell on the ground (Job 1:20), did not sin, because he was a Gentile.

      They will even lack the gathering of relatives that usually takes place among the grieving, for the text says, men shall not break bread for them in mourning, a reference to the custom of providing food for mourners. This is supported by the proverb (Proverbs 31:6–7):

      Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,
      and wine to those with a bitter soul.
      Let them drink and forget their poverty
      and remember their misery no more.

   2. He forbids gatherings for joy.

      1. The prohibition is given: and you shall not enter the house of feasting, neither for fellowship nor for eating. This aligns with the apostle's command: If anyone who is called a brother is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one (1 Corinthians 5:11).

      2. The reason is given: For thus says the LORD… I will take away from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness… As Lamentations says, The joy of our heart has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning (Lamentations 5:15). The same is said later in Jeremiah 25:10.

Here, he gives the cause of the previously mentioned punishment.

First, he poses the question: why has the LORD spoken all this great evil concerning us? As it is written, Such is the way of the adulterous woman, who eats, and wipes her mouth and says: I have done no wrong (Proverbs 30:20).

Second, the Lord’s response is given: you shall say to them.

He first places the fault in the transgression of their fathers: because they have abandoned. As it says above: they have abandoned me, the source of living water, and they have dug for them cisterns, even broken cisterns, which are not able to hold water (Jeremiah 2:13). This is also seen in the imitation of the children, so that they could not excuse themselves by what is said: the fathers have eaten the bitter grape, and the teeth of the children were set on edge (Ezekiel 18:2). But you have done worse. Fulfill the measure of your fathers (Matthew 23:32).

Next, he threatens punishment. First, he gives the threat of punishment regarding captivity: I also shall drive you out; and regarding slavery: you will serve strange gods, by serving their worshipers. Judah has gone away because of affliction and abundance of harsh labor; he has dwelt among the nations, and has not found rest (Lamentations 1:3). In those nations also, you shall not rest, neither will there be any rest for the sole of your foot (Deuteronomy 28:65).

Second, he promises consolation, giving an oath as the sign: therefore, behold, the days are coming. It is as if he were saying, “You will think of this as a greater kindness than when you were freed from Egypt; and forgetting the former, so to speak, you will always remember the latter.” You shall not remember what came before, and shall not consider former things (Isaiah 43:18). The same is said below (Jeremiah 23:8). And explaining the kindness: and I will lead them back. I shall surely take you from the nations, and I will gather you from all lands; and I will lead you back to your own land (Ezekiel 36:24).

Third, he speaks of the nature of the captivity: behold, I. First, he describes the captivity of the Babylonians as fishers, namely, the Chaldeans, who caught them as if they were living in a sea of prosperity and pleasure. You shall make men like the fish of the sea, and like the creeping things which have no leader (Habakkuk 1:3). He describes the captivity of the Romans as hunters: and after these things, I will send hunters, namely, the Romans, who hunted them like beasts because of their cruel murders. My enemies have taken me in the chase, like a bird without cause (Lamentations 3:52).

Second, he gives the reason for the captivity and speaks of his awareness of their guilt: because my eyes are upon all their ways. All the ways of men lie open to his eyes; the LORD is a weigher of spirits (Proverbs 16:2). He also gives the threat of punishment: and I will first pay them back, that is, before the previously mentioned consolation, double. This is certainly with regard to their worship of idols, because of what follows: because they have polluted; and with regard to their perversion of morals: and have filled my inheritance with their abominations. The earth is stained with blood, and polluted with their works (Psalms 105:38).

Fourth, he speaks of the usefulness of the captivity, namely, the conversion of the nations—either those who came back to Jerusalem with the Jews under Zerubbabel, or those who were converted to the faith of Christ. This is because a blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations should enter, and so all Israel should be saved (Romans 11:25).

He makes three points about this.

First, the exultation of the prophet is presented, signified in the confession of divine praise: O LORD, my fortitude, to conquer others, my strength, to persevere, my refuge, if I should fail. I will love you, O LORD my strength, the LORD is my support and my refuge (Psalms 17:18).

Second, the conversion of the nations is presented: to you shall the nations come. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth (Isaiah 42:10). He also presents the shame of sin: truly a lie, that is, idolatry, which deceitfully claims divinity and falsely offers help. As it says above: surely the hills were deceitful, the multitude of the mountains (Jeremiah 3:23). And the refutation of their original error: shall man make gods for himself? And they are not gods. For how shall man make God like himself? .

Third, he speaks of the resulting good of their conversion: therefore, that is, so that the nations may be converted, to them, to the Jews, this once. It is as if he were saying, “I will not delay any longer” my hand of correction. Alternatively, to them, the nations, my hand, Christ. The LORD who carries out judgment will be known, the sinner is taken in the works of his own hands (Psalms 9:17). Also: send forth your hand from on high and rescue me, free me from the mighty waters, from the hand of strange children (Psalms 143:7).Heb. בְּנֵי נֵכָר: lit., the sons of strangeness, i.e., foreigners.

Collations

It should be noted that the word hand (Jeremiah 16:21) is used in various ways:

• Of divine providence: in his hand are both we, and our words, and all wisdom, and the skill of the knowledge of works .
• Of divine generosity: when you open your hand, all things are filled with goodness (Psalms 103:28).
• Of divine protection: he protected me under the shelter of his hand (Isaiah 49:2).
• Of divine liberation: he strikes, and his hands will heal (Job 5:18).
• Of divine action: glorify your hand and right arm .
• Of divine condemnation: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).