THEOSISJerome of Stridon
Thus declares the Lord regarding the royal house of Judah: Gilead, you stand as the foremost of Lebanon with Me unless I transform you into desolation, leaving behind unproductive towns. I will set apart the one who brings you to ruin along with his arms; your finest cedars will be felled and cast into the fire. Many nations will pass through this city, and every individual will ask their neighbor, Why has the Lord brought this calamity upon such a magnificent city? The response will be, Because they have abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God and have worshipped and served foreign deities. Gilead, assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh, is noted in Scripture as lying beyond the Jordan.
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It was on this mountain where Laban encountered Jacob during his flight, and according to Genesis, this mountain received the name “Heshbon,” meaning heap, as a testament to their covenant sealed with an oath, marked by gathered stones (Genesis 31). Gilead is the foremost or beginning of Lebanon—a lofty region filled with cedars, as exemplified by David’s words: ‘and the Lord shall uproot the cedars of Lebanon’ (Ps. 28:5), and at another time, “I observed the wicked elevated like the cedars of Lebanon” (Ps. 36:35). In Zechariah, we are told: ‘Open your gates, O Lebanon, so that fire may consume your cedars’ (Zechariah 11:1).
In this context, the prophet speaks to the royal household, metaphorically addressing the temple as the dwelling of the tribe of Judah, either because it is exalted or because it was the source from where atonement for sins was sought. Thus, the same prophet asks, Is there no balm in Gilead, or is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the daughter of my people (Jer. 8:22)? He warns the royal lineage, the city of Jerusalem, and the temple, which he refers to as the peak of Lebanon, that they shall be transformed into a wasteland with all their towns—not by the might of the Babylonian king, but by the decree of the Lord, who proclaims, I will prepare him who brings you harm (Jeremiah 22:7). Nebuchadnezzar and all his forces are deemed holy, as they carry out God's judgment. He will uproot your strongest cedars, meaning the noblemen and leaders of the city, casting them into the flames so that the consuming fire will annihilate everything. When destruction has taken its toll, many nations will traverse the city and temple, which were previously off-limits, and inquire among themselves, Why has the Lord caused such a sudden and immense ruin to this renowned city? They shall respond, as He has instructed, revealing the cause of this devastation: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and revered idols in place of Him.
Let the royal household of our city take heed of this, along with its leaders and the cedars that reach toward the heavens, who boast, Who will take notice? For they too shall swiftly meet with destruction by the Lord's fiery wrath if they refuse to anchor themselves in His commandments. The sanctification of the killer and his weapons is distinct from that of the priests and those who serve the Lord.