THEOSISJerome of Stridon
O mountains of Israel! When the slain have fallen among your idols and altars upon every high hill and the summits of the mountains, when I have filled your groves with the bodies of the dead, which once offered fragrant incense to their idols, then I shall extend my hand for retribution, which until now has been withheld. I will convert the entire land of Israel into a desolation, from the wilderness of Deulathah in the land of Emath, known today as Epiphany of Syria, in all their habitations, so it may be evident to all that between the wilderness and the great sea, there is nothing that the sword of the enemy will not devastate.
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Many believe this refers to the location spoken of by Jeremiah: ‘And they caught up Zedekiah in the wilderness which is near Jericho, and all his companions fled from him. And when they had taken the king, they brought him to the king of Babylon at Rebhlath, which is in the land of Emath’ (Jeremiah 39:5). Due to the close similarity between the Hebrew letters dalet (ד) and resh (ר), differing merely by a small mark, it may be referred to as either Deulatha or Reulatha. In accordance with divine wisdom, the Lord extends His hand against all who are led astray by false teachings, so that their land, representing the Church, may become desolate through Deulatha, which in our language signifies a thickened mass of dried figs. Those who seek sweetness where there is only bitterness, not found in cultivated fields but in the wilderness, will come to know that He is the Lord. For honey flows from the lips of the seductive woman, which momentarily delights the palate of those who taste it; but in the end, it is more bitter than gall (Proverbs 5:3-4). This is also illustrated by the two baskets of figs placed before the temple as recorded by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 24); one containing very good figs and the other very bad ones, with the former belonging to the Church of Christ and the latter to the assembly of evildoers.