Lamentations 3

Bishop Heber has entered so deeply into the spirit of the weeping prophet, as it appears in this and the preceding chapter, that we cannot forbear to ornament our pages with a few lines from him. Addressing Jerusalem, he cries—
“Where’s now thy pomp, which kings with envy view’d?
Where now thy power, which all those kings subdued?
No martial myriads muster in thy gates;
No suppliant nation at thy temple waits;
No prophet bard, thy glittering courts among,

which begins with the same Hebrew letter; the first three verses with Aleph, the three next with Beth, &c. and in one instance the order of the letters varies from that which is elsewhere observed.—It also forms a distinct elegy, or lamentation, arranged differently from those which precede.

The prophet speaks throughout the whole,—lamenting his afflictions, seeking consolatory topics, and giving counsel and encouragement to his fellow-mourners. Some indeed understand it to be the language of a chorus of Jews, speaking as one person: shared largely in those of his nation, and sympathized with them in those from which he was most exempted. He spake of himself as a public character, for the common benefit; being one of many, who thus shared and mourned over the calamities of Israel.—We have before met with some passages in the writings of Jeremiah, like the bitter complaints of Job: here we find various expressions similar to those used by that afflicted and tempted servant of God; and this favours the supposition, that he related the more gloomy and discouraging part of his own experience, and the way in which he found support and relief, as the best method of instructing and comforting his fellow-sufferers.—In this view of the chapter, we consider the prophet addressing the afflicted Jews, in order to counsel and encourage them; and speaking as one who knew the heart of mourners, and could sympathize with them.

He was ‘the man,’ who had been peculiarly conversant with affliction, having experienced the effects of God’s anger, both for his own sins, and as sharing the punishment inflicted on endeavouring to promote resignation in his countrymen, represents his own deportment under afflictions, in terms which have a prophetic cast; so strikingly are they descriptive of the patience and conduct of our Saviour under his sufferings. The prophet indeed, in the meek endurance of unmerited persecution, was an illustrious type of Christ.’?””— 7". Sco/t.

Notes on the verses

Chap. III. Ver. 1—66. Calamities bewailed, mercies acknowledged, and deliverance implored.—‘‘The construction of this chapter differs from that of those which have been considered. It consists of the same number of stanzas, according to the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet: but every stanza is divided into three parts, or verses, each. of Ver. 7. Made a noise —By their profane songs, instead of the songs of Zion. Ver. 10. Zion sit upon the ground.—[Sitting on the ground was a posture of mourning and deep distress. Hence the coin struck by Vespasian on the capture of Jerusalem, has, on the obverse side, a palm tree, the emblem of Judea, and under it a woman, the emblem of Jerusalem, sitting down, with her elbow on her knee, and her head supported by her hand, with the legend Judea capta.

See Addison on Medals.]—Bagster. Ver. 11. My liver is poured.—Grief of mind often occasions redundancy of bile, which produces the effect here intended. Compare (Job 16:13). Ver. 13. Thy breach is like the sea.—Judah’s wound is compared to an inundation of the sea, when it bursts its natural boundaries. Ver. 14. False burdens.—See (Jeremiah 23:33-33). Ver. 15. All that pass.—(The combination of scorn, enmity, rage, and exultation, which the conquerors and spectators manifested at the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, are here described with peculiar pathos and energy. but so many passages evidently refer to Jeremiah’s own personal trials, that this interpretation seems inadmissible. ‘The subject of the chapter is penitential meditations upon the prophet’s own calamities, as well as those of the public; together with pious reflections upon the end which God proposes in sending afflictions, and the good use which men ought to make of such chastisements.’ JLowth.—‘I am the man that has seen this great affliction, which the Lord hath in just anger brought upon his people.’ Bishop Hall.—Probably, he spake in his own person, as one who, besides his peculiar afflictions, The whole scene is presented to view as in an exquisitely finished historical painting.

|—Bagster. The perfection of beauty.—(Psalms 48:2). Ver. 18. O 2vull.—Compare ver. 8. By a figure, the wall may be called upon to weep, as well as stones to cry out, (Luke 19:40). This expects to be a beautiful prosopopœia, alluding to walls running down with the breath of a large congregation.— Apple of thine eye.—| Bath ayin, which sometimes means the pupil of the eye, seems here to denote tears, the produce of the eye; and therefore elegantly termed the daughter of the eye.|—Bagster; Ver. 20. Children of a span long.—Blayney, * Little ones dandled in the hands.” See (Leviticus 26:29). (Deuteronomy 28:53). Z Chap. III. Ver. 2. Darkness.—| Darkness denotes calamity; and light signifies prosperity.

|— Bagster. e, Ver. 4. My flesh and my skin hath he made old.—{Strong metaphorical expressions denoting the severest afflictions. }|—Bagster. Wasted and decayed affliction. “Be Ver. 5. He hath builded against.—Boothroyd, “ 2” this agree with the following clause. i bal Ma LI aa Sd em L park ae sepulchral caverns. Ver. 7. ir po ing.—Blayney, ‘ Their veining;” i wenn ot bee ry, ng;” referring to the blue Ver. 10, Asa bear, &c.—See (Job 10:16). (Isaiah 38:13). Ver. 13 Arrows.—(The issue or effect # the subject, adjunct, accident, or produce of a thing, is frequently in Hebrew denominated the son. So arrows that issue from a quiver are termed beney ashpatho, or, “ the sons of the Ver. 14. A derision.—See (Jeremiah 20:7). Ps. xix, 12. Ver. 29. His mouth in the dust.—See (Job 42:6). § J Ver. 47. Fear and a snare.—Blayney, “Terror and the pit.” Pits were used as snares for wild beasts. ¢ Ver. 53. Cast a stone upon me.—See (Daniel 6:17). Ver. 54. Over my head.—(Psalms 69:2). Ver. 56. Thou heardest my voice.—Here Blayney and others supply, “ which said,’ or ‘‘ saying.”. Ver. 64. Kender unto them.—Blayney and Boothroyd render these last three verses in the future, as the original warrants. CuHap. IV. Ver. 3. Sea monsters.—’’ Sea-calves,” or seals.—The ostriches.—[The ostrich is a distinct genus of birds, of the order galling. It measures seven or eight feet in height when erect, and in length, with the neck stretched out, six feet from the head to the rump, and the tail about a foot more.

Its legs are very long and naked; and it has only two toes, both placed forward, on each foot. When full grown, the neck, which before was almost naked, particularly that of the male, is beautifully covered with red feathers; and the plumage upon the shoulders, back, and some parts of the wings, from being of a darkish gray, becomes jet black, whilst the rest of the feathers are white. The ostrich is so devoid of natural affection, that on the least trivial noise, she forsakes her eggs or her young ones, and perhaps never returns.]—B. See (Job 39:14-16). and note. Ver. 6. No hands stayed on her.— Boothroyd, ‘* Without the hands of men.” Ver. 7. Her Nazarites.—Blayney, ‘‘ Nobles.”? The term Nazir is applied to Joseph, (Genesis 49:26), from whence Dr. Durell infers, that it does not always imply a vow, but is sometimes used for any distinguished persons, as in this verse. ——Polishing.—[Gizrathom, rendered by Dr. Blayney, ‘‘ their veining,” from gazar, to divide, intersect, as the blue veins do the surface of the body. ‘This is approved by Dr. A. Clarke, who remarks, ‘‘ Milk will most certainly well apply to the whiteness of the skin; the beautiful ruby to the ruddiness of the flesh; and the sapphire, in its clear transcendent purple, to the veins in a fine complexion.”’]|—Bagster.. Ver. 8. Blacker than a coal.—See margin. _[Or, as Dr. Blayney renders, “ duskier than the dawn,” shachar, signifying “the dawn of the day, when it is neither light nor dark, but between both, at which time objects are not easily distinguished.”|—Bagster.

Which is more literal and accurate. Ver. 10. The pitiful.—Blayney, “ Tender-hearted.” Compare ch. ii. 20. Ver. 14. So that men could not touch their garments.— Boothroyd, ‘So that their garments could not be touched.”? The meaning appears to be, that they ran frantic through the streets, slaying, or beating, all they met; and when they were overpowered by any, they touched them, which made them i Ver. 15. It is unclean—Or, ‘‘ Ye are unclean.” The sense seems to be, that they behaved so wicked, and so frantic, that the very heathen would not suffer them to “sojourn” with them. This regards the false prophets and Ver. 17. Our eyes as yet failed, &c.—Blayney, “‘ Our eyes failed (with looking) for our help; in vain on our watch-tower have we watched for a nation that cannot save;”

namely, Egypt—[Who were their pretended allies; but who were neither able nor willing to help them.]—Bagster. Ver. 18. They hunt our steps.—See (2 Kings 25:4-6). Ver. 19. Eagles of heaven.—(The eagle, whose wings are of an extraordinary length, darts with amazing rapidity through the voids of heaven:—‘* He rushes,” says Apuleius, upon the devoted victim, like a flash of lightning.” Homer, describing the career of the amiable but ill-fated Hector, says, ‘* Turning, he rushed upon him like a high-soaring eagle, which descends into the plain through the obscure clouds.” &c.]—Bagster. _: Ver. 20. The breath of our nostrils.—That is, their only hope, Zedekiah, under whom they expected still to subsist as a nation.

— Ver. 21. Rejoice.—An ironical address, like (Ecclesiastes 10:9).— Make thyself naked.—It was a natural consequence of drunkenness in a hot country, where they wore loose garments, to strip themselves when La with wine. sins,” which is agreed to be the sense.