And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in its peace shall you have peace.
All Commentaries on Jeremiah 29:7 Go To Jeremiah 29
Jerome
AD 420
He also adds, “Seek the peace of the city or the land,” “for in its peace will be your peace.” This is confirmed by the apostolic exhortation: “I urge, first of all, that intercessions, prayers, requests and thanksgivings be made for all persons, for kings and all who are in high office, that we might live a quiet and tranquil life in all reverence and chastity.” Furthermore, according to the mystical understanding, after we are expelled on account of our sins from Jerusalem, that is, the church, and delivered to Nebuchadnezzar, about whom the same apostle said “delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord,” and again, “they are those whom I delivered to Satan, that they would learn not to blaspheme,” we must not be careless or idle, so as to despair inwardly of salvation, but first we must build homes—on rock, not on sand—the kind of homes that the midwives built in Exodus because they feared the Lord. Second, we must plant gardens or orchards, the kind that the Lord also planted in paradise in Eden, placing within it the tree of life, about which it is written, “The tree of life is for those who will receive it, and blessed is the one who lays hold of it.” Third, we must take wives, one of whom is wisdom, about whom Solomon wrote, “Love her, and she will keep you. Embrace her, and she will exalt you,” and, in another passage, “I sought to make her my bride, and I became enamored of her beauty.” Nor is the one spouse, wisdom, sufficient for us, unless we have the others as well: fortitude, temperance and justice, that we might generate many children with them. We also must give our daughters away to men, that the truth of the faith, which is translated into sons, might espouse good works, which refers to daughters, and good works be united to those healed by faith. And we must multiply the number of such fruitful sons and daughters, so that, destroying what is childish and growing into perfection, we may deserve to hear, “I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning,” and may say to our children, along with the apostle, “I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Let us furthermore seek the peace of the city and land in which our church is located, that we might deserve to return to it from whom we were transferred by the judgment of the Lord, to live in the error of “confusion.” For if the church will receive us, we will have peace. The mercy of the Lord must also be taken into account, who commanded us to pray for our enemies and to do good to those who persecute us, that we would not be content with our salvation alone but would also seek the salvation of our enemies.
