*H Woe to the pastors, that destroy and tear the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.
Ver. 1. Pastors. Successors of Josias (C.) and false prophets. M.
* Footnote * Ezechiel 13 : 3
Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit, and see nothing.* Footnote * Ezechiel 34 : 2
Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to the shepherds: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves: should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds?*H And I will gather together the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands into which I have cast them out: and I will make them return to their own fields, and they shall increase and be multiplied.
Ver. 3. Multiplied. The prophets subjoin tidings of peace to such as might cause affliction. Theodoret.
*H And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them: they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed: and none shall be wanting of their number, saith the Lord.
Ver. 4-5. Pastors; Zorobabel, &c. as figures of Christ, and of the pastors of his Church. — No more, as much as formerly. So many expressions must be understood. — Branch. Sept. "orient." — Reign. Zorobabel was not chief governor, (C.) though at the head of his tribe. H. — The kingdom of Christ was not of this world. Jo. xviii. 36. C. — He alone imparts justice to others. W.
* Footnote * Isaias 4 : 2
In that day the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that shall have escaped of Israel.* Footnote * Isaias 40 : 11
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.* Footnote * Isaias 45 : 8
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him.* Footnote * Ezechiel 34 : 23
And I WILL SET UP ONE SHEPHERD OVER THEM, and he shall feed them, even my servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.* Footnote * Daniel 9 : 24
Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the Saint of saints may be anointed.* Footnote * John 1 : 45
Philip findeth Nathanael and saith to him: We have found him of whom Moses, in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.*H In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: The Lord our just one.
Ver. 6. Saved: less disturbed. The world shall be redeemed. Lu. ii. 14. Eph. ii. 14. — Just. Heb. "Justice," by whom we are made just. He is the true God. Col. ii. 9. 14. No man could bear this title: and Grotius insidiously attempts to apply it to the Jews, though the Chal. &c. clearly speak of the Messias. He must be read with great caution. C. — Sept. "This is his name, which the Lord will call him, Josedech. In the prophets. 9. My," &c. H. — Josedech means "the Lord justice." C. — Sym. "Lord, justify us."
* Footnote * Deuteronomy 33 : 28
Israel shall dwell in safety, and alone. The eye of Jacob in a land of corn and wine, and the heavens shall be misty with dew.*H But, The Lord liveth, who hath brought out, and brought hither the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and out of all the lands, to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in their own land.
Ver. 8. Land. The deliverance from Egypt and Babylon were emblems of man's redemption, which was accomplished by far greater miracles.
*H To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his holy words.
Ver. 9. Prophets of falsehood. He directs his discourse to them, and afterwards to the priests, being filled with amazement at their impending ruin.
*H Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath mourned by reason of cursing, the fields of the desert are dried up: and their course is become evil, and their strength unlike.
Ver. 10. Adulterers; impostors or idolaters. — Cursing of the Lord, or the abuse of his sacred name. C. — Unlike. Heb. "not right." H.
*H For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I have found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
Ver. 11. Defiled. Heb. "hypocrites." My priests retain the appearance of religion, to join with impostors in deluding the people.
*H And I have seen the likeness of adulterers, and the way of lying in the prophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthened the hands of the wicked, that no man should return from his evil doings, they are all become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha.
Ver. 14. Jerusalem. These were far worse, as they pretended to be inspired by God, whereas those of Samaria publicly adhered to Baal; so that the people must have been foolish to have been deceived by them. C.
*H Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold I will feed them with wormwood, and will give them gall to drink: for from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption is gone forth into all the land.
Ver. 15. Gall, or something mortally bitter. C. ix. 15. H.
*H Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
Ver. 16. Own. To rely on private judgment, and not on the Church, is a mark of falsehood. W.
*H They say to them that blaspheme me: The Lord hath said: You shall have peace: and to every one that walketh in the perverseness of his own heart, they have said: No evil shall come upon you.
Ver. 17. Blaspheme. Heb. "despise;" or Sept. "reject disdainfully the word of the Lord, you," &c. C. vi. 14. and viii. 11.
*H For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath seen and heard his word? Who hath considered his word and heard it?
Ver. 18. Counsel. Heb. "secret." Which of you is acquainted with his designs? I will inform you, that your perdition is at hand. v. 20. C.
*H I did not send prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
Ver. 21. Not send. The want of mission proves a prophet or preacher to be false. W.
*H If they had stood in my counsel, and had made my words known to my people, I should have turned them from their evil way, and from their wicked doings.
Ver. 22. I should. Some copies read avertissent, "they would have turned," conformably with the Heb. &c. and we should suspect that this was a mistake of the transcriber, if S. Jerom did not agree with the Vulg. in his commentary, (C.) though not in express terms: (H.) "I also should not have abandoned them to impurity...Let us behold how heretics, having once given way to despair,...seek the gratification of their sensual appetite." S. Jer.
*H Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
Ver. 23. Off? Can you so easily penetrate my designs, or escape my fury? Am I like your idols of yesterday? Sept. and Theodot. "I am a God at hand," &c. which agrees with the sequel. C.
*H Who seek to make my people forget my name through their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbour: as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.
Ver. 27. Dreams, as if God had favoured them with his revelations. H. — Fathers; the false prophets of Baal, whom these imitate.
*H The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream: and he that hath my word, let him speak my word with truth: what hath the chaff to do with the wheat, saith the Lord?
Ver. 28. Dream, to those who are really sent by God, (C.) and recognized. 1 Cor. xiv. 29. H.
*H Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: and as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Ver. 29. Pieces? True prophets will have a zeal fo the conversion of souls. C. xx. 9. Heb. iv. 12.
*H Therefore behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who steal my words every one from his neighbour.
Ver. 30. Neighbour, causing those whom I have sent to be disregarded.
*H Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their tongues, and say: The Lord saith it.
Ver. 31. Use. Heb. also, "sharpen, or render smooth," and insinuating. Ps. xlix. 16. C.
*H Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have not profited this people at all, saith the Lord.
Ver. 32. Wonders. Prot. "lightness." Sept. "frauds," or pretended miracles. H. — False prophets cannot work true miracles: but it is more difficult to distinguish these than the former mark of being lawfully sent. v. 21. W.
*H If therefore this people, or the prophet, or the priest shall ask thee, saying: What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to them: You are the burden: for I will cast you away, saith the Lord.
Ver. 33. Burden, Massa, (H.) denotes a weight, or sometimes a prediction. C.
*H And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people that shall say: The burden of the Lord: I will visit upon that man, and upon his house.
Ver. 34. Burden of the Lord. This expression is here rejected and disallowed, at least for those times: because it was then used in mockery and contempt by the false prophets, and unbelieving people, who ridiculed the repeated threats of Jeremias under the name of his burdens. Ch.
*H Thus shall you say every one to his neighbour, and to his brother, What hath the Lord answered? and what hath the Lord spoken?
Ver. 35. Answered. I will make you alter your language by chastisements.
*H Therefore behold I will take you away carrying you, and will forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, out of my presence.
Ver. 39. Take. Heb. of the Masorets, (C.) "I, even I, will utterly forget (Prot. H.) or abandon you." Chal. But the sense of the Sept. and Vulg. seems preferable. C.