Lamentations 1

are unfrequented, because there are none that come up. thither at the solemn feasts of the year, the. temple and altar being destroyed. Her virghis are afflicted^. Her calamities afflict the young as well as the old, and spoil all their mirth and gaiety. (See ver. 18. ii. 21. v. 14.)

Lamentations 1:5

Her adversaries are the chief. They have got the advantage over her, and she is become their vassal; and thus the judgment that Moses threatened the Jews upoa their disobedience is fulfilled, (Deut. xxviii. 43, 44.) Tliat their enemies should be the head, and they should be the tail. Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy*’] Her inhabitants (see the note upon ver. 1.) are forced into captivity by the enemies, as cattle are driven in herds by them that sell them.

Lamentations 1:6

And from the daughter of Zion all beauty. is departed. All the glory of God’s sanctuary, and comely, order of his worship, called the beauty of holiness, Exod. xxviii. 2. Psal. vi. 9. ex. 3. Tlie princes are become like harts that find no pasture, &c] They are become dispirited, they have lost their courage, and tamely submitted to the conqueror. (See the note on Jer. xiv. 5.)

Lamentations 1:7

Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and misery all her pleasant things which she had in the days of old. The benefits she enjoyed from God’s favour and protection, the honour of his peculiar presence in the temple, and the manifestation he gave of his will by the prophets. (Compare ver. 10.) The Hebrew word merudim, translated misery, signifies banishment and captivity: to which sense the LXX. translate it. The adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.] The heathen writers commonly ridicule the Jewish sabbaths, as a mark of their sloth and idleness; without considering the excellent uses that day was designed for, viz. to give men leisure to attend upon the service of God, and learn the duties of religion.

Lamentations 1:8

Because they liave seen her nakedness. She is stripped of all her ornaments, and carried naked and bare into captivity. As she has defiled herself with idolatry, (called spiritual adultery in Scripture), so God has ordered her to be exposed to shame, like a common harlot. (See the note upon Jer. xiii. 22.)

Lamentations 1:9

Her filthiness is in her skirts. She carries the marks of her sins in the greatness of her punishments. The phrase alludes to a woman in the state of her separation. (Compare ver. 17.) She remembereth not her last end.] Or rather, She hath not remembered Iter latter end; that is, what would be the effect and consequence of her sins. (Compare Isa. xlvii. 7.)

Lamentations 1:10

The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things. See ver. 7.

Lamentations 1:11

All her people sigh, they seek bread. See ii. 12. iv. 4. 10. Jer. lii. 6.

Lamentations 1:12

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?. The words may be rendered, O all ye that pass by, or, Oh, I appeal to all ye that pass by. The word lo, or lu, is sometimes used for entreating or conjuring: as if the prophet had said, Let any indifferent person judge, whether any calamity is like to mine.

Lamentations 1:13

From above he hath sent fire into my bones, &c. He hath consumed my, habitations by fire, as if he struck me with a. blast of lightning, which immediately pierces into the vitals; and he has prevented my making any escape from my enemies, as if he had spread a net under my feet to hinder my flight.

Lamentations 1:14

The yoke, of my transgression is bound by his liand, &c. He has laid upon me the burden of my iniquities, and inflicted such heavy punishments on me, that I must sink under them. The Septuagint and the Vulgar Latin, with very little variation, read, He watchethover my transgressions. To the same sense Daniel saith, the Lord hath watched over the evil, Dan. ix. 14. and Job, xiv. 16. Thou watchest over my sin: that is, thou diligently markest every sin I commit, that thou mayestin due time requite it with a proper punishment.

Lamentations 1:15

The Lord hath trodden underfoot all my mighty men in the midst of me. The destruction that is made by war is elsewhere expressed by treading under foot. (See the note on Jer. i. 26.) He hath called an assembly against me, &c] The army of the Chaldeans. TJieLord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter ofJudah, as in a wine-press.] That people that was formerly betrothed to him as a chaste spouse, and secured from all violent attempts by his immediate protection, (see the notes on Jer. xiv. 13. xviii. 17.) God has now given up to the fury of their enemies, who have made such an effusion of their blood, as may be fitly represented by the squeezing out of the red juice of grapes. by a wine-press: to which God’s vengeance is often compared in the prophetical writings. (See Isa. Ixiii. 3. Rev. xiv. 19, 20. xix. 15.)

Lamentations 1:16

Because the corrtforter that should relieve my soul is far from me. See ver. 2. 9.

Lamentations 1:17

Zion spreadeth forth her hands. A gesture of entreating and importunity. (See Jer. iv. 31.) The Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, &c] It is the Divine decree and pleasure. Jerusalem is a menstruous woman among them.] Whom every body loathes or disdains: she is looked upon as abominable in the sight of God, and therefore men think they have a right to use her with despite and scorn. (See Jer. 1. 7.)

Lamentations 1:18

Hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow. See ver. 12.

Lamentations 1:19

I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. See ver. 2. My priests and my elders gave up the ghost in Hie city, &c] The famine hath consumed the most honourable, as well as the meaner part, of the people. (See ver. 11.) My bowels are troubled, my heart is turned within me.] Compare Jer. iv. 19. xlviii. 36. Job xxx. 27.

Lamentations 1:20

Abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death. Compare Deut. xxxii. 25. The latter part of the sentence may better be rendered, At home there is certain death; for the particle of similitude doth sometimes strongly affirm, as commentators have observed upon those words of St. John, i. 14. “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father:” such a glory as could belong to none but the Son of God,

Lamentations 1:21

They have heard that I sigh. That is, mine enemies, as it follows.