Jeremiah 5:6 - Exposition

This verse reminds us of a famous passage in the first canto of Dante's 'Commedia,' in which Dante the pilgrim is successively opposed by three wild beasts—a panther, a lion, and a she-wolf. That the poet had Jeremiah in his mind cannot be doubted. The deep knowledge of the Scriptures possessed by medieval theologians (and such was Dante) may put many Protestants to shame. Curiously enough, whereas the early commentators on Dante interpret these wild beasts of vices, the moderns find historical references to nations. On the other hand, while modern expositors explain Jeremiah's wild beasts as symbols of calamities, Rashi and St. Jerome understand them of the Chaldeans, Persians, and Greeks. A lion out of the forest. The first of a series of figures for the cruel invaders of Judah (comp. Jeremiah 4:7 ). The frequent references (see also Jeremiah 12:8 ; Jeremiah 25:38 ; Jeremiah 49:19 ; Jeremiah 50:4 ) show how common the lion was in the hills and valleys of the land of Israel. A wolf of the evenings ; i . e . a wolf which goes out to seek for prey in the evening. So the Peshito, Targum, Vulgate (comp. "wolves of the evening," Habakkuk 1:8 ; Zephaniah 3:3 ). But there is no evidence that ‛erebh , evening, has for its plural ‛arābhōth , which is, in fact, the regular plural of ‛arābāh , desert . Render, therefore, a wolf of the deserts , i . e . one which has its den in the deserts, and falls upon the cultivated parts when it is hungry. Luther, "the wolf out of the desert." A leopard; rather, a panther . The Chaldeans are compared to this animal, on account of its swiftness, in Habakkuk 1:8 .