Jeremiah — Chapter 9
Synopsis: Jeremiah's famous wish to flee to the desert from the deceitful people; lament over the coming destruction. God commands the mourning women to take up the lamentation. The wisdom of the world vs. true wisdom: 'He that glorieth, let him glory in this: that he understandeth and knoweth me.'
Verse 2
Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, and I will leave my people, and depart from them? Jeremiah's wish to flee to the desert — the desire for contemplative solitude away from the corrupt city. Lapide cites Athanasius and Benedict as having felt this same desire before their desert vocations. Applied to the legitimate call of the contemplative life as a response to worldly corruption.
Verse 23
Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. One of the most frequently cited verses in Lapide on the humility of all human wisdom before divine knowledge. Paul quotes it in 1 Cor.1:31 and 2 Cor.10:17. Lapide: the three glories of the world (wisdom, strength, riches) are all condemned as insufficient; the only true glory is the knowledge and understanding of God in relationship (fidelity, judgment, justice).