Глава 23

“Woe to the shepherds, who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture” (Jer. 23:1). This chapter contains, as it were, two parts: the first refers to kings, the second to the princes of the people and priests. “And I will gather the remains of My flock from all the lands that have cast them out” (Jer. 23:3). After seventy years I will gather the remnant of My flock. “And I will set up shepherds over them” (Jer. 23:4), that is, Zerubbabel and Jesus, the son of Jozedek. “Behold, the days are coming... and I will build up a righteous East for David. ...and this is His name, by which they will call Him: our Lord is righteous” (Jer. 23:5-6). This mystery was ordained in Zerubbabel, but was fulfilled in our Lord; Zerubbabel was not and could not be called: “Our Lord is righteous,” but such is and is called Christ our Lord. The prophets, apostles, the Archangel Gabriel, who preached His conception, and the Angels co-serving with Gabriel, who announced to the shepherds about His Nativity, testified about Him. And yet, neither Zerubbabel, nor anyone else like him, gave the people of the Lord those great gifts about which Jeremiah, both here and a little further, proclaims that these gifts will be given with the coming of the great King who has risen among them. The first of these gifts, already clearly predicted by Isaiah, is the deliverance and conversion of all nations and their unification into a single people. The second gift is the eternal reign of the seed of David, and such a complete abundance of all kinds of benefits that even all the bounties that the Lord showed to the ancient generations will be erased from memory. This is what Isaiah, in his prophecy about the coming and Kingdom of our Lord, had previously predicted: “Do not remember the first, and do not think about the old, behold, I am creating a new thing that will now shine, and I will tell you that I will make a way in the desert and a waterless river” (Is. 43:18-19). Such a word, without a doubt, cannot be attributed either to Zerubbabel or to any other of the leaders of the people of Judah. “O prophet, my heart is cut off within me” (Jer. 23:9). This is the second part of the chapter, in which the prophet denounces the sins of the priests and false prophets, and shows what a heavy judgment is pronounced on them. “Their course is evil” (Jer. 23:10), that is, the Jews strive for evil. “The prophet and the priest have become defiled... And in the prophets of Samaria I saw I lie: I prophesied through Baal and my people deceived. And the prophets of Jerusalem saw foolishness, those who commit adultery and walk in lies,” that is, they all commit adultery, they all constitute one company of liars... “fastening their hands” ( Jer. 23:11, 13-14 ) for their friends during their poverty. “For this reason the Lord Almighty spoke to the prophet: Behold, I will feed them with ashes and make them drink gall... Behold, a storm from the Lord... comes” (Jer. 23:15, 19). The Lord will impose decisive punishment on sinners, according to strict judgment, as if in fiery wrath, “Why are you mixing chaff with the wheat?” (Jer. 23:28), that is, their false dreams to the broadcasts of the Holy Spirit. The prophet presents three images to show the power and superiority of God's word, namely: wheat, which is actually human and the best food for man; fire that destroys everything; and iron, which overcomes everything. “For this reason, behold, I am a prophet, says the Lord, who steal my words” (Jer. 23:30). This is how the prophet speaks about those false prophets who stole their true prophecies from true prophets and, like a secret, communicated them to one person, forbidding them to announce it to others. And at the same time they meant, if the prophecy is fulfilled, to say: “Behold, we have a witness that we said this in advance,” and if it is not fulfilled, to accuse Jeremiah and other true prophets, as if they deceived everyone. But there is another kind of lying prophets who say both, just to say something pleasant to those who listen, and assure: “No evil will come against you” (Jer. 23:17), and, according to the custom of lying prophets, they confirm their word in the name of the Lord. And they are similar to those about whom Jeremiah said earlier, that they mix their false dreams with the messages of the Spirit, and deceive the people... “in their lies and in their deceptions” (Jer. 23:32). Such under Jeremiah were Hananiah, Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shelamite the Elamite. You might be interested in: