Jeremiah laments captivity; the soul under hostile powers; release to captives

Jeremiah, after his people had been taken captive and were dwelling in Babylon, laments the city, the land, and the people in light of the events that have befallen them. He mourns particular sections and divisions, tracing them in writing, beginning with the elementary elements as known among the Hebrews, and proceeding sequentially. After composing a lament for each of these elements individually, and then a lament over all things beginning with the letter Tau—which is the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet—he returns to Aleph and laments again. He repeats this process four times, going through the twenty-two elements of the Hebrew alphabet.

If we observe the soul becoming subject to the devil, or even to his angels, and simply yielding to the hostile powers, thereby losing the capacity for intellectual contemplation and the ability to perceive and understand being, we shall in some way comprehend the nature of captivity and the one who has taken captive. Yet, by fleeing to Christ, who proclaimed, according to the prophet Isaiah, “Release to the captives,” we shall be set free from captivity, even if the captor manages to bind us before liberation arrives. For Jesus came “to bring out those bound in chains, and those sitting in darkness in the house of prison.”

Therefore, the Hebrews say that the books of the ancient Scripture correspond in number to the elements, so as to constitute a complete introduction to the knowledge of God, just as the elements serve as an introduction to wisdom for all who learn. And for this reason, the number is quadrupled, perhaps because the elements of the body are four in number. Shortly thereafter: the edition of Aquila and Theodotion is absent among the Lamentations; only that of Symmachus and the Seventy is present. Again: One might inquire how, given that the superscription of the book is plural—“Lamentations”—the singular “Lamentation” appears in the prologue. But some manuscripts have multiple readings, divided according to the elements, while all are ultimately brought back to one, toward a single hypothesis: Israel, as they are recalled.

Blessed is the tear shed from love, for the holy one says, “Weep with those who weep.” As the Lord drew near to Jerusalem, he wept and said: “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace.”

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you—how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Now if “blessed are those who weep, for they shall laugh,” then it was fitting that Jeremiah, this mystic one, should weep a weeping of mourning and, according to “blessed are those who mourn,” should mourn those worthy of mourning. It seems, however, that the multitude of the people, insofar as it is spoken of, denotes the Israelites dwelling there, while the multitude of the nations, as we have said before, denotes the proselytes. For the purpose of uplift, since the theoretical things are more akin to the soul and more constant than the practical, the multitude of the people might signify the wealth of the doctrines of the blessed Jerusalem, and the multitude of the nations the great number of good works. And shortly after: The people, filled alone, sits; the bride, having cast away the bridegroom’s word, becomes like a widow who once multiplied among the aforesaid nations. As far as the words go, it is fitting to understand Jerusalem as being spoken of with wonder, due to her change toward the more grim, having sat down remembering the people who once were numerous, so that her solitude and desolation might be hers—having once had a husband, the vivifying preserver, when she followed him present and helping, and now being deserted and forsaken by him on account of her sins. And furthermore: These things, then, pertain to the literal sense; but for the intellectual sense, Jerusalem, enriching herself and multiplying among peoples and nations and ruling over regions, is the divine soul. And it is not marvelous, if not only a house, nor even a homestead, nor even this village, if it were called such, nor even the city that possesses such things, but rather Jerusalem, surpassing all cities and honored by God, is named the perfect soul—of a magnitude worthy of a great city, by the greatest surrounding that envelops it from