Jeremiah — Chapter 1

Verba Ieremiae filii Helciae de sacerdotibus

Lapide opens by noting that Jeremiah ('Exaltatus a Domino' or 'Dominus iacit') was of priestly lineage from Anathoth in Benjamin's territory. He was not merely a priest but prophetically formed from the womb (v.5), making him the pre-eminent prophet of the Passion — cited in the NT more than any prophet after Isaiah. Lapide compares him typologically to Christ: both wept over Jerusalem, both were rejected by their own, both suffered from false accusers. The book opens with his genealogy to establish his priestly authority and prophetic credibility before the imminent Babylonian catastrophe.

Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet unto the nations. Lapide: God's eternal foreknowledge and predestination of Jeremiah to the prophetic vocation, from before conception — a type of the predestination of every Christian. The verse is used by defenders of original grace and against the Pelagians. Applied analogously to the Blessed Virgin's Immaculate Conception: she too was 'known and sanctified' before she was formed.

And I said: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. Jeremiah's triple 'ah' (='alas!') = profoundest humility before the divine calling. Lapide compares his excuse with Moses's fourfold excuse (Exod.3-4): Moses excused himself four times, Jeremiah once — hence Jeremiah is greater in prompt obedience than Moses, though Moses was greater in dignity as the giver of the Law.

Behold I have set thee this day over the nations, and over kingdoms, to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant. The six ministerial verbs of the prophetic mission: four destructive (rooting, pulling down, wasting, destroying) and two constructive (building, planting). Lapide: the order is significant — the preacher must first root out sin before building virtue; medicine must cut before it heals. Applied to the pastor's twofold duty of rebuke and consolation.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said: I see a rod watching. The almond rod (virga vigilans) = the almond-tree blooms earliest of all trees, in January — a symbol of God's vigilant promptness to execute His word. The Hebrew 'shaqed' (almond) plays on 'shoqed' (watching/hastening). Lapide: God watches over His prophetic word to execute it speedily (Jer.1:12).

And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying: What seest thou? And I said: I see a boiling caldron, and the face thereof from the face of the north. The boiling pot whose face looks north = the Chaldean army boiling up from Babylon (north of Judah), about to pour devastation over Judah. Lapide: the hot pot of divine wrath, directed by Providence, will be poured out on apostate Jerusalem.