THEOSISJerome of Stridon
Why should I extend mercy to you? Your children have turned away from Me and sworn allegiance to false gods. I have nourished them, yet they have engaged in unfaithfulness, surrendering to desires within the brothels. The lovers have become like aggressive stallions toward women, each one roaring after his neighbor's wife. Will I not bring judgment upon them, says the Lord? Will I not demand recompense for these actions? God articulates the transgressions of Jerusalem, expressing His bewilderment at the possibility of showing mercy. He declares that your sons have forsaken Me—not My children, but yours; they invoke the names of entities that are not deities. I have provided for them, and they have fallen into adultery.
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Let those who indulge in the riches bestowed upon them by God and serve their own desires take heed of this warning. The lovers have become like wild stallions in their lust. The term used for stallions in Hebrew, mosechim, is acknowledged by all to mean "dragging," highlighting the magnitude of their lewdness, reminiscent of Ezekiel’s words: their flesh is as the flesh of donkeys. This is further echoed in another passage: they have given themselves to cattle, devoid of understanding, and have become like them. Thus, He illustrates a deep frenzy of lust, referring to it not merely as desire, but as a cacophony of passion, likening it to the ardor of stallions. Do you not think, He asks, that those who have committed such acts are deserving of judgment? It is worth noting that the term visitation is used here to signify not only punishment but also the act of executing justice, as stated: I will visit their iniquity with the rod. And will My soul not take vengeance on such a people? Those who sin have ceased to be called the people of God; rather, they are now referred to as the people from whom God's spirit has withdrawn, as it is written: Your new moons, your sabbaths, and your feasts, My soul despises. However, what is declared in the Old Testament with righteous indignation is addressed in the New Testament with love, when the Savior proclaims: I lay down My soul, and I take it back again.