The Shepherds' Folly and the Reproach of Jerusalem

…“My portion into a trackless wilderness. It has been made a ruin of destruction” (Jeremiah 12:10–11). And again: “For the shepherds have acted foolishly and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole flock has not understood, and they have been scattered” (Jeremiah 10:21). The shepherds truly acted foolishly, and became a cause of ruin for the peoples under their hand.

And yet should they not rather, as men thoroughly instructed in the mystery of Christ through the Law and the Prophets, have become a road for the others toward believing in Him? But, as the Savior says, they received glory from man and did not seek the glory that comes from the only God (John 5:44). “For if they had believed Moses, they would have believed Him, for he wrote about Him” (John 5:46). So they have become blind, and guides of the blind (Matthew 15:14). In this way, too, they have slipped and fallen into the pits of destruction.

What then? The prophet tries to reshape them with good admonitions, so that they would choose to think better things and make trial of the Savior's words. For this purpose he usefully mixes rebuke into his admonitions, healing the wounds of their bad counsel with what is almost a remedy of many ingredients. That is why he says: “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give heed to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10). You hear how he brings down on peoples and rulers alike the rod that comes from love and from a godly mind, and strikes those gravely sick with disobedience.

He likens Jerusalem to the most impious cities, as one filled with a very great deal of sin and as having in herself no one at all [The text is damaged here.]. For the God of all was planning to burn the cities of the Sodomites, and He shared the matter with Abraham. Abraham said to Him: “Will You destroy the righteous with the ungodly? And shall the righteous be as the ungodly?” (Genesis 18:23). God promised that if ten righteous men were found in Sodom, He would hold back His wrath against them (Genesis 18:32). But they were not found. Therefore they paid penalties equal in measure to their own impieties. Such was Jerusalem, the slayer of the Lord, with her great scarcity of the righteous.

Indeed, the prophet Jeremiah pleaded earnestly for her, and God said: “Run through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and know, and search in her squares, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justice and seeks faithfulness, and I will be merciful to her, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 5:1). Since, then, she is filthy, stained in many ways with the defilements of wickedness, and has a great scarcity of saints, he calls her Sodom and Gomorrah, and lays on peoples and leaders alike the reproach of the Sodomites' uncleanness. And what does he say? “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give heed to the law of God, you people of Go…” (Isaiah 1:10).