Thomas Aquinas Commentary Jeremiah 25:15-26

"For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at Jehovah`s hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom Jehovah had sent me: [to wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon; and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that have the corners [of their hair] cut off; and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the wilderness; and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them." — Jeremiah 25:15-26 (ASV)

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.