Jeremiah refers to these angels as a fortification, although Symmachus interprets this [word] as a message, but one could also consider it in the sense of a siege. Taking it this way, God calls together many nations for war as a sign against Idumea and the angels are set in motion by him. And, having been set in motion by God for war, they incite others to fight [with them], as Obadiah says. For the surrounding nations were allied with Israel against Idumea. Therefore, turning to the Idumeans, he says, See I have made you small among the nations and utterly contemptible. You will fall into calamities, ignorant of what is happening to you because you exalted yourself high above your station. Thus it is true that Idumea will be deserted and also what follows, which is said in a similar way by Obadiah: And the house of Esau will be stubble and [Israel] shall descend on him, and there will be no torch bearer in the house of Esau.^[1] This is similar to the adage we find in the profane books, No torch bearer was spared by them referring to those who were cut down and utterly destroyed. For the one who held the torch would go out in front of the fighting army to lead them into battle—and there was no one to carry the law against the hand of this enemy [i.e., the angels].

He used the phrase he sent messengers to the nations to mean command. It is also likely that by divine command ministering angels stirred up the enemy. Remember that the divine David also says, He sent forth on them the wrath of his anger; anger, wrath and distress, a dispatch by means of wicked angels.^[1] He calls them wicked, not as such by nature but as communicating punishment as a benefit. We, too, are in the habit of calling the calamities that befall us evil. Likewise an angel wiped out the firstborn of the Egyptians.^[2] In the same way, other calamities were sent against Israel when David took a census of the people.^[3] There are many other such examples you could find in the divine Scripture.

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,^[1] the eagle is the devil. The high mountains are for the stags.^[2] 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.^[3]

It shall come to pass in later days that I will bring back the captives of Elam, which refers to the time after seventy years of Jewish exile, when Cyrus, after destroying the Chaldean kingdom, would return all captured and enslaved people to their native lands. The divine Paul says, Whatever was written of old was written for our instruction.^[1] Thus, the Holy Spirit ordered Jeremiah and other prophets to record events of the captivity and of the return of magnificent and great nations in their own time, so that we would have a clear and vivid depiction of our slavery under the burden of Satan, as well as providing us with a picture of the divine household of our Lord who, through his death, bestowed on us life and redemption.

Moreover, the Holy Spirit instructs us that a human being should not complain about the truth of God when wicked people experience great calamities. But we always must think about the severe judgment that happened to great nations and listen to the prophet who exhorts us, saying, Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling, so that he will not be angry and you will not perish from his way. For his wrath may soon be kindled.^[2]