Lecture 2

^3:4^ Beth. My skin and my flesh he has made old, he has broken my bones.

^3:5^ Beth. He has built round about me, and he has compassed me with gall and labor.

^3:6^ Beth. He has set me in dark places as those that are dead forever.

46. Here he presents the effect of the divine scourging, as a bruise is the effect of the rod; and concerning this, he does three things.

First, the wasting away of the men in the whole people: because the skin, in which the people are signified, standing as if toward the outside; and the flesh, in which are signified those who are delicate and frail; the bones, in which are signified the strong men and warriors of the people—that is, the whole people—dries up with age. How does it happen, O Israel, that you are in your enemies’ land? You are grown old in a strange country (Bar 3:10–11).

Second, the siege of an already debilitated people: he has built round about me, that is, an army of besiegers; gall, that is, an army which has brought me labor and bitterness. Am I a sea, or a whale, that you have enclosed me in a prison? (Job 7:12).

Third, the captivity of those already imprisoned: he has set me in dark places, to imprison; as those that are dead, those who have been sentenced to death. He has made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old (Ps 142:3).

These can also be understood of Jeremiah himself, who was wasted away in body and because of many difficulties, and who was locked up in prison.