Книга пророка Иеремии, Глава 10, стих 25. Толкования стиха

Накажи меня, Господи, но в правде, а не во гневе Твоем,чтобы не уничтожить меня. Излей ярость Твою на народы, не познавшие Тебя, и на области (или племена), не призвавшие имени Тво­его, ибо они съели Иакова и место его пожрали и красоту его (или пастбища) расточили, (или обратили в пустыню). Это место читаем и в псалме: Господи, да не яростию твоею обличиши мене, ниже гневом твоим накажеши мене (Пс. 37:1). И смысл такой: хотя мы заслуживаем того, что терпим и заслуживаем гораздо большего, чем терпим; тем не менее молю, наказывай меня как отец, а не как враг, вразумляй как сына, а не поражай как врага; ибо ты наказываешь всякого сына которого приемлешь, и всякою скорбию и нака­занием исправляешь Иерусалим. А враги не познавшие Тебя и области или страны не призвавшие имени Твоего должны чувствовать не суд, а гнев Твой. Ибо Ты пре­дал нас для вразумления нашего, а они утягчили иго свое: не пощадили старости и поразили младенцев, съели, в конец истребили нас и обратили Иерусалим в такую пустыню, что разрушили все и общественные и частные здания и умертвили народ Твой.

ONLY GOD CAN BESTOW HIS GIFTS. JEROME: “All are governed by their own free choice.” What Christian can bear to hear this? For if not one, or a few or many, but all of us are governed by our own free choice, what becomes of the help of God? How do you explain the proverb that “A person’s goings are ordered by the Lord?” Or “A person’s way is not in himself”? Or “No one can receive anything, unless it be given him from above”? And elsewhere, “What do you have that you did not receive?” AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 1.27.

THE LORD GUIDES OUR LIVES. JOHN CASSIAN: The saints have never claimed that their own efforts would have enabled them to find their way along the road they were traveling to perfect virtue. Rather, they sought it from the Lord, praying, “Direct me in your truth” and “direct the road I take in your sight.” And someone else asserts that he grasped this not only through faith but also through direct experience of how things are: “I learned, Lord, that a person is no master of the road he takes, nor is it in man’s power as he goes his way to control his steps.” The Lord had this to say to Israel: “I will lead him on, like a greening fir tree, and the fruit you bear comes from me.” CONFERENCE 1.3.13.

ALL GOOD COMES FROM GOD. PROSPER OF AQUITAINE: Unless God works in us, we cannot be partakers of any virtue. For indeed, without this Good, nothing is good. Without this Light, nothing is bright. Without this Wisdom, nothing is wise. Without this Justice, nothing is right. For the Lord says through the mouth of Isaiah, “I am, I am the Lord, and there is no one besides me who saves,” and through Jeremiah, “I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not in him. Neither is it in a person to direct his way.” THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 1.8.

GOD BESTOWS TRUE KNOWLEDGE AND VIRTUE. PROSPER OF AQUITAINE: Jeremiah, explaining that humankind receives wisdom from God, states, “I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not his. Neither is it of a person . . . to direct his way.” Again the Lord proclaims through the same prophet that God effects the conversion of a heart to him and says, “I will bring them again into this land. And I will build them up again and not pull them down. And I will plant them and pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. And they shall be my people and I will be their God, because they shall return to me with whole heart.” THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 1.24.

THE USEFULNESS OF GOD’S DISCIPLINE. THEODORET OF CYR: The inspired author knows the usefulness of discipline and understands that the Lord is exercising loving-kindness in applying it to human beings. This is the reason he asks to have a share in it. God exercises goodness in applying correction, and correction produces knowledge. Likewise the prophet Jeremiah begs, “Correct us, O Lord, but in just measure, not in anger, lest you make us few.” Thus, a sick person who longs for health goes in search of a cure through cutting by steel and burning. COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 119.34.