Thomas Aquinas Commentary Jeremiah 25

Here, he gives the universal threat against the princes of all the nations, and it is divided into two parts.

In the first part, he speaks of the threat. In the second, he speaks of the revelation of the threat, beginning at for thus says the LORD (Jeremiah 25:15).

Concerning the threat itself, there are two points.

First, he gives the title of the prophecy: the word which came to Jeremiah. From this, we gather that the prophecy precedes the previous vision in time.

Second is the prophecy of the threat, which begins at from the thirteenth year of Josiah (Jeremiah 25:3). This prophecy first gives the cause of the threat, and second, it delivers the threat of punishment, beginning at therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts (Jeremiah 25:8).

He attributes the cause to their disobedience, and for this reason, they are included with the other nations in punishment. Their disobedience is made worse in three ways:

1. From the perspective of the preaching prophet himself, because he was steadfast in his preaching. From that point until the end of Josiah’s life and reign is eighteen years, since he reigned for thirty-one years. To these are added the four years of Jehoiakim and the three months which Jehoahaz reigned. This makes it the twenty-third year of Jeremiah’s preaching at the time these things were done. The phrase rising at night is used in the manner of one who is eager to finish a task, as in, Run, make haste, rouse your friend (Proverbs 6:3).
2. From the perspective of the One who sends, whose concern is shown by the number of messengers sent: and the LORD sent. As it says above: I sent all my servants the prophets to you daily, rising early and sending them: but they did not listen to me (Jeremiah 7:25–26). To clearly signify the divine concern, he uses the word early and also the word night, for God shines in the darkness. This is the same darkness about which it is said in John 3 that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night.
3. From the perspective of the warning, which is honorable in itself and beneficial regarding the promised favor.

   Here, he first sets forth the punishment for their past evils when he gives the command: return each one from his evil way. As Isaiah says, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the LORD, and he shall have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he is bountiful to forgive (Isaiah 55:7). Then comes the promise: and you shall dwell in the land. As it is also written, If you are willing, and will listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land (Isaiah 1:19).

   Second, he cautions them against future evils when he gives the command: do not go after strange gods, which regards idolatry, and neither provoke me to anger, which regards sins of morality. As it is written, You shall not have other gods before me (Exodus 20:3).

   Finally, he notes their contempt for the command: and you did not listen. As Deuteronomy says, They provoked me by that which was no god, and they incited me with their vanities (Deuteronomy 32:16).

Here, the prophet threatens punishment:

1. First is the punishment the Babylonians inflicted. The prophet describes the enemy: behold, I shall send, and take . . . my servant, since he was carrying out a service for the divine will. As it says above: behold, a people are coming from the land of the north, and a great nation shall arise from the ends of the earth (Jeremiah 6:22).

   He describes the imminent punishment regarding the slaughter of men: and I shall slay them, and I shall make them an astonishment and a hissing, and eternal desolations. This is because they will never be restored but will be reduced, as it were, to the likeness of an eternal desolation. As it says above: I shall make this city an astonishment and a hissing; all who pass by her will be astonished, and will hiss because of all her plagues (Jeremiah 19:8).

   This punishment also concerns the end of joyful human activities: and I shall destroy; and the comforts of life: the sound of the millstone. As it says above: I will take from this place, in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride (Jeremiah 16:9).

   Then he describes an even harsher punishment: and all the nations shall serve for seventy years, for the kingdom of the Chaldeans lasted this long. I shall not be angry forever, because a spirit shall go forth from my face (Isaiah 57:16).

2. Second is the punishment that the Chaldeans themselves suffered: and when the seventy years shall be accomplished.

   1. First, he gives the threat: I shall visit. He that shall lead into captivity shall go into captivity; he that shall kill by the sword must be killed by the sword (Revelation 13:10).

   2. Second, he shows the certainty of the threat: and I shall bring upon that land all I have spoken against it. This refers to the prophecies in Isaiah 13, 21, 46, and 47, and those Jeremiah prophesied in chapters 50 and 51.

      Because they served; yet, in their pride, they abused the kindness of God.

   3. Third, he shows the justice of the punishment: and I shall repay them. Give them according to the work of their hands, render to them their reward, for they have not understood the works of the Lord; and with the works of their hands destroy them, and do not build them up (Psalms 27:4–5).

Here, the predicted threat is revealed through a symbolic vision. This revelation is presented in two parts:

1. The vision is given.
2. The vision is expounded on, which begins at the verse, and you shall prophesy to them all these words (Jeremiah 25:30).

Concerning the first point (the vision), there are two parts:

1. The prophet is sent to offer them the drink.
2. Those to whom he offered it are invited to drink, at the verse, and you shall say to them (Jeremiah 25:27).

Concerning the first of these parts (offering the drink), there are three points:

1. The Lord extends the cup, according to what appeared to the prophet in a symbolic vision: take the cup of wine. It seemed to him that the Lord offered him the cup with an outstretched hand. The wine signifies the divine indignation, and the cup signifies the power of the tyrants through whom this indignation was to be poured out upon the nations. You shall give it for them to drink, not as if inflicting a punishment, but as if denouncing them.

   As the Psalm says, In the hand of the LORD there is a cup of strong wine, and full of mixture (Psalms 74:9). And as it says below: Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk; all nations have drunk of her wine, therefore have they staggered (Jeremiah 51:7).

2. The effect of the drinking is described: and they shall drink, by enduring affliction; and be troubled, with an inner fear and suffering; and driven mad, outwardly, fighting with one another like drunk men. And bitter shall be the drink to those who drink it (Isaiah 24:9).

3. The prophet carries out the duty assigned to him: and I took. This is done in three stages:

   1. He gives the drink to the Jews: to Jerusalem. Begin from my sanctuary (Ezekiel 9:6). It is time that judgment should begin from the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).
   2. He gives it to foreign allies, beginning with the Egyptians, in whom they had placed their trust: to Pharaoh... of Ausitis (Jeremiah 25:19–20), which is also called the land of Uz, on the borders of Edom and Arabia. and the remnant (Jeremiah 25:20)—this refers to Gath, which is the fifth city of the Philistines. and to all the kingdoms (Jeremiah 25:26). This is the counsel which I have devised concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched forth upon all nations (Isaiah 14:26).

   3. He gives it to the Babylonians themselves: and king Sheshach, that is, of Babylonia, which in Hebrew is called Babel. To hide the name, the author substituted the letters according to a Hebrew custom. This system teaches children to pair the first letter of the alphabet with the last, the second with the second-to-last, and so on, in reverse order.

      Therefore, for the double beth (the second Hebrew letter), he substituted a shin (the second-to-last letter) twice. For the lamed, he substituted a kaf, its corresponding letter in this reverse system. The last enemy who will be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:26).The substitution procedure described here is called the Atbash cipher. Cf. Jeremiah 51:41, where Shishak and Babylon are equated. This cipher occurs here and in Jeremiah 51:4, where leb kamai is code for Chaldea.

1. Here, they are invited to drink, and there are three points concerning this.

1. The invitation is given: drink, by enduring punishments; be drunk, because of the abundance, as if losing the use of reason so that you do not know what you are doing; vomit, by losing your riches; and fall, into death and captivity. He is speaking metaphorically of a drunk man. The riches which he devoured he shall vomit out, and from his stomach God shall draw them (Job 20:15). Be astonished and wonder, waver and stagger, be drunk and not from wine, be moved and not from drunkenness (Isaiah 29:9).
2. The coercion is given: and when they will not . . . you shall surely drink, that is, whether willing or unwilling. If anyone worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed with pure wine in the cup of his wrath (Revelation 14:9–10).
3. The reason for this coercion is given:

   First, by an example: for behold, in the city, Jerusalem. And if at first with us, what shall be the end of them that believe not the Gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17). As it says below: behold, they, whose judgment was not to drink of the cup, shall certainly drink; and shall you be left as though innocent? You shall not be innocent, but you shall surely drink (Jeremiah 49:12).

   Second, from the decree of the Lord. The sword, which is the same as the drink. I shall draw my sword from its sheath, and shall slay in your midst the just and the wicked (Ezekiel 21:3).

1. Here, he gives the interpretation of the vision:

   • First, against the nations.
   • Second, against the princes of the nations, at wail, O shepherds (Jeremiah 25:34).

   Concerning the first point, there are two parts.

   1. First is the threat, when he speaks of God’s indignation: the LORD from on high—that is, from the height of His justice—he shall roar, terribly, like an angry lion. The lion shall roar; who shall not fear? (Amos 3:8). The punishment is universal: upon the place of his beauty, that is, the temple. It is as if he were saying, “His wrath will begin from the temple and will then proceed to the whole earth.”

      The phrase and the shout of those that tread grapes signifies the joy of the victors in pillaging the lands. The victors are symbolized by the grape-treaders because they shed the blood of men, just as the latter spill the blood of the grapes. For this reason, it is written in Isaiah 63:3, I have trampled the wine press alone, and from the nations, there was no man with me. I have trampled them in my fury, and tread upon them in my wrath; and their blood is sprinkled on my vesture, and I have soiled all my garments. As it says below: in vain will the treader of the grape sing his accustomed song (Jeremiah 48:33).

      He also sets forth the justice of the punishment when he speaks of the judgment: the LORD enters into judgment with the nations. The judgment of the LORD with his people and with Israel shall be determined (Micah 6:2). And the manner of judgment is: the wicked I have given over. Because if you should provoke me to anger, the sword shall devour you, because the mouth of the LORD has spoken it (Isaiah 1:20).

   2. Second, he outlines the progression of the punishment and its order: thus says the LORD.

      • First, he gives the progression: behold, affliction shall go forth, because one nation will attack another, and it will itself be attacked by another, and so on. The phrase from the heights refers to the most powerful nations, such as the Chaldeans, the Greeks, etc. The kingdom is transferred from nation to nation because of injustices and wrongs, injuries, and diverse deceits . As it says below: behold, the whirlwind of the LORD, his fury going forth, a rushing storm; it shall rest upon the head of the wicked (Jeremiah 30:23).

      • Second, he gives the effect of the tribulation, because they will be deprived of life: and there shall be slain of the LORD—that is, by the Lord. As it says above: the sword of the LORD shall devour from one end of the earth to the other (Jeremiah 12:12). And they will lack burial: and they shall not be mourned, and they shall not be gathered together, neither shall they be buried. The same is said above (Jeremiah 16:4).