Jerome

(Verse 5, 6.) For you are not being sent to the people of deep and difficult (unknown in the Vulgate) language, to the house of Israel, nor to many people of unknown language, whose language you cannot understand. And if I were to send you to them, they would listen to you. Because they do not want to come to you, you go to them. For they do not have a need for a healthy doctor, but for ones who are sick (Luke 5:31 ). Nor can you say: I cannot speak to them, because they speak a different language, and we are barbarians to each other, and we cannot understand each other's speech. What shall I speak of one people? If I were to send you to different nations, nevertheless my authority and power would conquer all difficulty. And if only the time were approaching, when I am going to send my apostles to all nations, to give thanks for the languages, so that they may preach and bring the whole world under my yoke with one faith and that the diversity of languages may be subordinate to me; it would be easier for those who are deep and high in speech to hear, and they would have nothing of the levity of the Jews, but they enter with a slow and steady step, and although the languages are unknown, the faith is familiar. And it is followed by: And if I were to send you to them, they would listen to you. Finally, he sent and all believed at the same time. Hence Paul and Barnabas speak to the Jews: It was necessary for the word of God to be preached to you, but since you did not want to receive the message, behold, we turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). And concerning the centurion, it is said: I have not found such great faith in Israel (Matthew 8:10).

(Verse 12). And the spirit took me, and I heard behind me a voice of a great commotion: Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. The God of whom it is written: The Lord lifts up the meek (Psalm 146:6), he Himself lifted up the prophet, who was not in the flesh but in the spirit, and walking in the spirit, he did not fulfill the works of the flesh; for the Spirit of God was in him. Therefore, despising earthly things, he is caught up by the spirit and hears behind him the voice of a great commotion, forgetting the past and extending himself into the future, leaving the snares of his enemies behind him. We read about this in Exodus (Exod. XXIV) when Pharaoh and all his army pursued Israel, and the angel in the pillar of cloud left the front of the camp; and he came behind them, and stood all night between Israel and the Egyptians: so as to frighten the enemies, and the Israelites might hear: Blessed be the glory of the Lord who came from his place. But the place of the Lord is wherever he finds hospitality. Or rather, the Son is the place of the Father, just as the Father is the place of the Son, as the Lord and Savior says: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me (Joan. XIV, 11). This same thing also signifies Michael: Behold, the Lord shall come forth out of his place, and will come down upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be melted under him, and the valleys shall be as wax melting before the fire, and as waters that run down into a steep place (Mich. I, 3, 4). For when the Lord, the Savior, came down and set forth from the Father, the high places of the earth and the mountains were moved, and the lower parts of the valleys were melted. The place can be the glory of the Lord and the inaccessible light, of which the Apostle speaks: Who alone has immortality and inhabits unapproachable light (I Tim. VI, 16). When we recall the past judgments of the Lord, we hear the voice of a great upheaval from behind. When we ponder the future in our hearts, a voice is heard from what came before, and from what is to come.

(Verse 15) For the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me. And I came to the exile at the heap of new fruits, to those who lived by the river Chebar. And I sat where they sat, and I stayed there for seven days mourning among them. LXX: And the hand of the Lord became strong upon me, and I entered into captivity exalted. And I went around the inhabitants of the river Chebar who were there, and I sat there for seven days dwelling among them. For the sense in which we translate, the translators Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion used the Hebrew words Thel Abib (): which the Seventy translated as sublime and I went around; believing it better to say something than to impose something that would cause the reader to question. However, we have learned from the Hebrews that Thel abib means, when new grains or barley are gathered, and after hunger and scarcity, before they are ground in the barn, they promise some hope of food. So too is Israel small and humble, who dwelt on the banks of the river Chobar, like one revived and rising from the earth, promising the seed of the Jewish people. But the hand of the Lord is upon the prophet, strengthening him, so that he may receive the name of a watchman, and teach what he has learned. And for seven days he moves among them, seeing all that they do, so that afterwards he may know what he should reprove. Yet he mourns, or dwells among them, seeing their wickedness, and the just judgment of God for the iniquity of their sins. For because we have said, grieving, and it is written in Hebrew Masmim (), Theodotion translated, marveling, in order to express the astonishment of the Prophets who saw their iniquities. But the second edition of Aquila, which the Hebrews call 'according to accuracy,' translated: being calm, that is, quiet, and being separate, to show that he was indeed among the captives, but separated from them in mind.