Jerome, Commentary on Joel 2.970C-D
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/372
Context
Among the many learned exegeses on biblical scripture that Jerome
wrote in the latter part of his career is his commentary on the minor prophets. The
Book of Joel, perhaps composed around the end of the 5th century
B.C.E., interpreted a current plague of locusts and severe drought as a terrible sign of
the coming judgement of God and a provocation to repentance by the unfaithful of Judah
and Jerusalem. Here Jerome explains the passage in which God promises to send food to
his people and disperse the locusts to a stinking death in the seas (Joel
2:18-20). Jerome understands the locust plague as an allegory for the Babylonian
invasion (impetus Chaldaeorum), noting similar plagues in his own
time. He then explains the divine destruction of the locusts in Joel in terms of
historical geography, identifying the Mediterranean seaboard according to the major
ports of Palestine from south to north, including Caesarea.
Text
Saepe commonui sub translatione locustarum describi impetum
Chaldaeorum, quo Iudaea vastata est. Itaque servat metaphorum in reliquis, et iuxta
situm provinciae sic loquitur, quasi non de hostibus, sed de locustis referre videatur.
Etiam nostris temporibus vidimus agmina locustarum terram texisse Iudaeam, quae postea
misericordia Domini inter vestibulum et altare, hoc est, inter crucis et resurrectionis
locum, sacerdotibus et populis Dominum deprecantibus atque dicentibus “Parce populo
tuo,” vento surgente in mare primum et novissimum praecipitatae sunt. Mare primum quod
iuxta solitudinem est, et vergit ad Orientem, illud intellige, in quo fuit quondam
Sodoma et Gomorrha, Adama et Seboim, quod nunc Mortuum nominatur, eo quod nulla ibi
vivant animantia. Mare autem novissimum, hoc quod ad Occidentem est, et quod ducit in
Aegyptum, in cuius littore Gaza, et Ascalon, Azotusque et Ioppe, et
Caesarea, et ceterae urbes maritimae sitae sunt. Cumque
littora utriusque maris acervis mortuarum locustarum, quas aquae evomuerant,
implerentur, putredo earum et foetor intantum noxius fuit, ut aerem quoque corrumperet,
et pestilentia tam iumentorum quam hominum gigneretur.Ed. Migne 1884 and Adriaen 1969
1
Translation
Often I have recalled that the Babylonian invasion which laid waste
to Judaea is described using the figure of locusts. And so he preserves the metaphor in
the remaining text, and, as fits the location of the province, he speaks as though he
seems not to refer to the enemy but to locusts. Even in our times we have seen that
hordes of locusts have covered the land of Judaea—hordes which, later on, by the mercy
of the Lord between the vestibule and the altar, i.e., between the place of the cross
and the place of resurrection, when the priests and the people prayed to the Lord and
said, “Spare your people,” were cast headlong by a rising wind into the “first and last
sea.” Understand that the “first sea,” which is near the wilderness and looks to the
east, is that place where once were located Sodom and Gomorrah, Adama and Seboim, the
place now called the Dead [Sea], because no living thing dwells in it. But the “last
sea” is the one to the west leading to Egypt, on whose shore are located Gaza, Ascalon,
Azotus, Joppa, Caesarea, and all the other maritime cities. And
when the shores of both seas were filled with masses of dead locusts which the waters
vomited forth, their rottenness and stench was so noxious that it poisoned the air, and
a pestilence afflicting not only cattle but also people was born.2
Translation Note
Adapted from Madden and Schenk 2017Works Cited
- 1 Jerome, S. Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis presbyteri commentariorum in Joelem prophetam liber, in Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis presbyteri opera omnia, tomus quintus, ed. J.-P. Migne, Patrologiae completus cursus, series Latinae 25 (Paris: Garnier, 1884), 947–88, ch: 2, col: 970C-D.
- 2 Jerome, One Book of Commentary on the Prophet Joel to Pammachius, in Commentaries on the Twelve Prophets: Jerome 2, trans. Joshua Madden and Thomas P. Schenk, Ancient Christian Texts (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2017), 262–99, p: 283.
Additional Bibliography
- Jerome, S. Hieronymi presbyteri opera exegetica 1.6: Commentarii in prophetas minores 1. Commentarii in prophetas Osee, Ioelem, Amos, Abdiam, Ionam, Michaeam, ed. Marc Adriaen and Domenico Vallarsi, Corpus Christianorum, series Latina 76 (Turnout: Brepols, 1969)
How to Cite This Entry
Joseph L. Rife, “Jerome, Commentary on Joel 2.970C-D,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published April 28, 2023, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/372.
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Bibliography:
Joseph L. Rife, “Jerome, Commentary on Joel 2.970C-D.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2023. Entry published April 28, 2023. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/372.About this Entry
Entry Title: Jerome, Commentary on Joel 2.970C-D
Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:
- Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
- Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
- David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editor, “Jerome, Commentary on Joel 2.970C-D”
- Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “Jerome, Commentary on Joel 2.970C-D”
Additional Credit:
- TEI record created by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonium translated by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonium transcribed by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonium identified by Joseph L. Rife