Origen's third homily on Jeremiah, a close reading of God's question 'Have I become a wilderness to Israel?' worked through general and particular providence, then applied to Israel and the nations.
Homily on Jeremiah 3 is a short exegetical sermon by Origen built entirely around one scriptural question, drawn from the opening of the passage he is preaching on: has God ever been "a wilderness" or "a land made desolate" to Israel? Origen treats this rhetorical question from the text as an invitation to close reading rather than a settled fact, and spends the homily testing it from multiple angles before he lets any answer stand.
He first distinguishes two levels of God's action: the general benefactions given to all people alike -- sun rising on wicked and good, rain on just and unjust, day and night, fertile earth, a rational soul and sound senses given to everyone -- and the particular benefactions given specifically to Israel, such as the signs and wonders worked for the people in Egypt. On the general level God is a wilderness to no one. On the particular level, Origen argues, there was a moment when Israel was abandoned and God did become, in effect, a wilderness to them, even though he himself had not changed. He extends the argument outward: while God was not a wilderness to Israel, by that same particular reckoning he was a wilderness to the nations who had not yet received his benefits.
The homily then turns to the Christian frame Origen wants his hearers to draw from the text: when God turned away from Israel and Israel experienced him as desolation, grace was poured out on the nations, so that Christ has now become, for "us," not a wilderness but a fullness, not a desolate land but a fruitful one -- a shift Origen backs with the citation about the children of "the desolate woman" being more numerous than the children of the married woman. He closes by turning the accusation back on Israel's own words, citing their reported defiance -- "we shall not be ruled, we shall no longer come to you" -- as the real answer to why God, who was no wilderness to them, was nonetheless experienced as one. The homily breaks off mid-argument, with a lacuna in the surviving text.
“The Lord says, at the beginning of the passage read concerning Israel, that a "wilderness" did not become to him, nor "a land made desolate."”
— Homily on Jeremiah 3 · read this chapter →
“God is a wilderness to no one, making his sun rise on the wicked and the good; he is a land made desolate to no one, sending rain on the just and the unjust.”
— Homily on Jeremiah 3 · read this chapter →
“he was, by the particular reckoning, a wilderness and a land made desolate to the nations”
— Homily on Jeremiah 3 · read this chapter →
“now for us Christ Jesus has become not a wilderness but full, and not a land made desolate but fruitful”
— Homily on Jeremiah 3 · read this chapter →
“but you have said: "We shall not be ruled, we shall no longer come to you."”
— Homily on Jeremiah 3 · read this chapter →
It is a short sermon working through a single question from Jeremiah -- whether God has ever been 'a wilderness' or 'a land made desolate' to Israel. Origen distinguishes God's universal benefits to all humanity from his particular benefits to Israel, and argues that although God himself never changes, Israel experienced him as desolation once they were abandoned, while the nations received the fullness Israel had lost.
It is Origen's key image, taken directly from the verse he is expounding: God asking rhetorically whether he has become a wilderness or desolate land to his people. Origen reads it as a figure for the withdrawal of God's particular favor, distinct from the universal gifts -- sun, rain, reason -- that never fail anyone.
He argues the relationship is reciprocal: while God was giving Israel signs and wonders and was therefore not a wilderness to them, he was, by that same particular measure, a wilderness to the nations. When Israel later turned away and became desolate to God, grace passed to the nations, who then became fruitful in Christ.
Not fully as preserved -- the text breaks off with a lacuna right after Origen quotes Israel's defiant words, 'We shall not be ruled, we shall no longer come to you,' which he offers as the explanation for Israel's desolation.
He cites the figure of the childless or 'desolate woman' whose children turn out to be more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband, applying it to argue that the once-desolate nations now flourish more than Israel did.
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