Your fierceness has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, O you that dwell in the clefts of the rock, that hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,
says the LORD.
All Commentaries on Jeremiah 49:16 Go To Jeremiah 49
Jerome
AD 420
“Fir trees are the home of the heron.” The heron is a mighty bird; they say, too, that it overpowers the eagle and feeds on it. It is not like other birds that build their nests and fly to them in the evening; wherever darkness overtakes the heron, there it sleeps. Allegorically, the monk does not have a cell, but wherever he finds one, there, too, he stays. His battle is with the devil, who reigns in this world; like the heron, he prevails over the eagle, the king of the birds, just as it is written: “Though you go as high as the eagle, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord,” for, according to Ezekiel, the eagle is the devil. “The high mountains are for the stags.” This animal kills serpents and eats them; therefore, the mountains are the right habitat for the slayer of the wise serpent, the serpent that, in the garden or paradise, was wiser than all the beasts, the serpent that deceived Eve. “The cliffs are a refuge for rock badgers.” One who is fearful has a rock fastness for his refuge; the rock, moreover, is Christ.
