he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS
15. Qui fecit terram in virtute sua, qui statuit (alii vertunt, paravit) orbem in sapientia sua, et in sua intelligentia; extendit coelos;
16. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
16. Ad vocem dando copiam aquarum in coelis, qui attollit (et attollit, ad verbum) elevationes a fine (vel, extremitate) terrae; fulgura in pluviam facit, educit ventum de thesauris suis.
The Prophet commends here, as I have already said, in high terms, the power of
God; but we must bear in mind his purpose, for abrupt sentences would be otherwise uninteresting. His object was to encourage the Jews to entertain hope; for they were not to judge of Babylon according to its splendor, which dazzled the eyes of all; nor were they to measure by their own notions what God had testified, he bids the faithful to raise all their thoughts above the world, and to behold with admiration the incomprehensible power of God, that they might not doubt but that Babylon would at length be trodden under foot; for had they fixed their eyes on that monarchy, they could have hardly believed the words of prophecy; for the Prophet spoke of things which could not be comprehended by the human mind.
We now then understand why the Prophet set forth the power of God, even that.
the faithful might learn to think of something sublimer than the whole world, while contemplating the destruction of Babylon, for that would not be effected in a way usual or natural, but through the incredible power of God. The same words are also found in the tenth chapter; and the five verses we meet with here were there explained. But Jeremiah had then a different object in view, for he addressed the
Jewish exiles, and bade them firmly to persevere in the worship of God: though religion was oppressed, and though the victorious Chaldeans proudly derided God, he yet bade them to stand firm in their religion, and then said,
ye come to Babylon, say, Cursed are all the gods who made not the heaven and the earth.'' (Jeremiah 10:11)
And there, indeed, he used a foreign language, and taught them to speak in the
Chaldee, that they might more plainly profess that they would persevere in the worship of the only true God. He afterwards added what he now repeats, even that the power of God was not diminished, though he had chastised for a time his own people.
But now, as we have said, he speaks in sublime terms of the power of God, in order that the faithful might know that what the judgment of the flesh held as impossible, could easily be done by that God who can do all things.
He says first, He who made the earth He does not mention God's name; but the expression is more emphatical, when he says, the Maker of the earth; as though he had said, ``Who can be found to be the creator of the heaven and the earth except the only true God?'' We hence see more force in the sentence than if God's name had been expressed; for he thus excluded all the fictitious gods, who had been devised by the heathens; as though he had said, ``The only true God is He who made the earth.'' Then he says, by his power He speaks of God's power in connection with the earth, as it is probable, on account of its stability.