17:9–10: The heart of all is perverse and inscrutable; who can understand it? “I the Lord search
the mind and try the heart, to give to everyone according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his doings.” lxx:
“Deep
is the heart beyond all things, and it is man; who can understand him?” And the
rest similarly.
The Hebrew
word enos is written with four
letters, aleph, nun, vav and sin. If it is read enos, it means “man,” but if it is read anus, it means “inscrutable” or “incurable,” with the sense that no
one is able to comprehend the human heart—although Symmachus interpreted the
passage thus: “Inscrutable is the heart of all; what man is there who could
comprehend it?” We [Christians] are accustomed—with good intention, to be sure,
but not according to knowledge—to use this passage against the Jews, to the
effect that the Lord and Savior is a man according to his assumed flesh, and
that none can understand the mystery of his nativity (as it is written: “Who
will describe his generation?”) except God alone, who searches out hidden
things and renders to each one according to his works.
It is
better, however, that we simply understand that no one knows a person’s secret
thoughts except God alone; for earlier he said, “Cursed is the man who has hope
in man,” and its opposite, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” And so,
lest we think that human judgment is trustworthy, he adds that the hearts of
almost all people are corrupt, as the psalmist says: “Cleanse me from my hidden
(things), and spare your servant from the (things) of others”—no doubt he means
“thoughts.” And in Genesis it says, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of
humanity was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually.” And again, “for the mind and thought of
the human heart is evil from his youth.” From this we learn that only God knows
their thoughts.
But if it
is said concerning the Savior, “But Jesus, seeing their thoughts …” and if no
one can see someone’s thoughts except God alone, then Christ is God, who
searches the mind and tries the heart, and renders to every person according to
his works. (Jerome, Commentary
on Jeremiah [trans. Michael Graves; Ancient Christian Texts; Downers Grove,
Ill.: IVP Academic, 2011], 107)
