For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
Ver. 18. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city,] i.e., Impregnable, inexpugnable, the bulwark of truth, a as one said of Basil, such as could not be battered. And of Ambrose Stilico the earl said, that he was the walls of Italy. Peter and John are called pillars; Gal 2:9 Athanasius the Church's champion,
“ Ille velut pelagi rupes immota resistis. ” - Virg.
Against the kings of Judah, against the princes, &c.] There was a general defection of all sorts; and Jeremiah was to declaim against them all, and proclaim their utter destruction in case they repented not. Well might Luther say, for he had the sad experience of it, Praedicare nihil aliud est quam totius mundi furorem in se derivare, To preach is nothing else but to derive upon a man's self the rage of all the world. He met with some even at Wittenberg, where he lived, who were so wicked and uncounsellable, that the four elements could not endure them. b So did good Jeremiah, &c.
a της αληθειας προβολον .
b Ut iam quatuor elementa ferre nequeant.