Lamentations 2
PATThey are glad that thou hast done it. They please themselves with the thought, that our God, of whose favour and protection we used to boast, should forsake us, and give us up as a prey to our enemies. (See ii. 15, 16.) TIiou zvilt bring the day that thou hast called, &c] The day when thou wit execute thy judgments upon the Babylonians, will certainly come at the time thou hast determined for that purpose. people a just sense of their iniquities, in order to avert God’s judgments: but rather flatter them in their sins, and in hopes of impunity. (See Jer. v. 31. xiv. 14.) [False burdens.’] The Hebrew word massa is usually translated burden, and generally signifies a burdensome prophecy. (See the note on Jer. xxiii. 33.) But it likewise imports prophecy, in general, (see Prov. xxx. 1. xxxi. 1.) and so it is used here; for Jeremy complains of those impostors who prophesied peace, and soothed men up in their sins, to their final destruction.] This chapter is writ in a different metre from the two former, and that which follows, as St. Jerome hath observed in his preface to the Lamentations: and whereas* in those the first letter of every verse follows the order of the alphabet, here the same initial letter is continued for three verses together. 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 men ought to make of such chastisements. G8G A COMMENTARY UPON [chap. hi. mind is as painful to mo as if all my bones were broken. (Compare Psal. li. 8. Isa. xxxviii. 13.)
Lamentations 2:1
*jCm.ND hath cast down from heaven to earth the beauty of Israel. The temple, and all its glory. (Sec i. 6.) And remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger.] And even spared not the ark itself, the footstool to the Shechinah, or Divine glory, which sat between or upon the cherubims, as in a throne. (See 1 Chron. xxviii. 2. Psal. xcix. 5. exxxiii. 7.). JL AM the man that have seen afflictions.] The prophet speaks with a particular regard to the ill treatment he met with in the discharge of his prophetical office. (Compare Jer. xv. 10. 17, 18. xx. 8, &c. xxvi. 8, &c. xxxvi. 26. xxxvii. 15. xxxviii. 6.)
Lamentations 2:2
The Lord hath swallowed up the habitations of Jacob, and hath not. pitied. Without shewing any pity or concern for them. (Sec ver. 17. and iii. 43.) He hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof] He hath shewed no regard to the kingdom, which himself hath settled upon the family of David, but involved the royal family in one common destruction with the rest of the people. The expression is much the same with that of Psal. Ixxxix. 39. “Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.” He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.] Light is often used in Scripture for happiness or comfort, and darkness for affliction and misery. (See Isa. lix. 9. Jer. xiii. 1G. Amos v. 20.) The words probably allude to the prophet’s being cast into the dungeon. (See ver. 53. 55.)
Lamentations 2:3
He hath cut off in his anger all the horn of Israel. By the horn of Israel, is meant his strength and glory, Job xvi. 15. Psal. lxxv. 5. especially his kingly dignity. (See Psal. Ixxxix. 24. xcii. 10. exxxii. 18.) He hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy.] He hath withdrawn his wonted assistance, and given us up into the hands of our enemies. (Compare Psal. lxxiv. 11.) He turneth his hand against me all the day.] God, that was formerly kind and gracious, now exercises continual acts of severity. He turneth his hand against me, is a phrase equivalent to that we read, Isa. i. 25. I will turn my hand upon thee. (See the note there.)
Lamentations 2:4
And shew all that was j)leasant to the eye. The chicfest in worth and dignity: those who were in the ilower of their age, the joy and delight of their parents. (See LIS. Ezck. xxiv. 25.) My flesh and my skin hath he made old.’] Compare Job xvi. 8. Psal. xxxi. 10. xxxii. 3..He hath broken my bones,] The anguish I feel in my
Lamentations 2:5
He hath swallowed up Israel. As a lion devoureth his prey. The verb rendered to swallow up, signifies in a general sense, to destroy. (See Isa. iii. 12.) He hath bnilded against me on every side.] Ho hath enclosed me on every side, that there is no escaping the miseries that surround me. (Compare ver. 7. 9.) He hath compassed me with gall and travail.] See ver. 19.
Lamentations 2:6
He hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden, &c. He hath destroyed the temple, the place of his residence, and of our religious assemblies, as if it had been no better than a tabernacle or cottage, set up in a garden or vineyard, just while the fruit is gathering, and then to be taken down again. (Compare Isa.i.8.) The margin reads, He hath taken away his hedge, as of a garden; that is, he hath withdrawn his protection, and left us exposed to the fury of our enemies. (Compare Isa. v. 5.) The Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.] Sec L 1. And hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.] And shewed no regard for either of those honourable offices, but hath suffered the kingdom to bo destroyed, and the temple laid waste. He hath set me in dark places, &c] He hath confined me to a dungeon, where no light enters; and I am sequestered from human society, as if I were out of the world. (Compare ver. 63, 64. Psal. lxxxviii. 5, C.)
Lamentations 2:7
They have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast. Instead of the joyful sound of praises and thanksgivings to God, such as used to be solemnly performed in the temple at the public festivals; there was nothing to be heard there but the noise of soldiers, and rudeness of infidels, profaning that sacred place, and insulting over the God that was worshipped there. (Compare Psal. lxxiv. 4.) [Ver. 8. TJie Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion.] Dr. Lightfoot explains this of the wall which encompassed the temple and its outw r ard courts.* See his Description of the Temple, chap. 17.] He hath stretched out a line.] The instruments designed for building, are in some places applied to destroying, because sometimes men mark out those buildings they intend to pull down. So 2 Kings xxi. 13. God saith, I tvill stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria; and the line of confusion, is mentioned Isa. xxxiv. 11. (See likewise Amos vii. 7, 8.) [Ver. 9. Her king and her princes are among the gentiles.] The king of Babylon’s officers carried away captive all the royal family, and likewise all the men of note for valour or quality, and left none behind but the poorest people of the land. Sec 2 Kings xxiv. 14—16. xxv. 7. 11, 12.] [The law is no more.] The priests and Levites, whose office it is to instruct the people in the law, are dispersed’ among the heathen: and that part of the law which regards the public worship of God, is rendered impracticable by the temple’s being destroyed.] The prophets also find no vision from the Lord.] The prophets are either dead, or those that arc alive in captivity, as Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jeremiah himself; these are not favoured with Divine revelations as they w T erc wont* to be, and so cannot resolve the doubts of those that come to them for advice. (Compare Ezck. vii. 26.) He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out.] See ver. 5. and compare Job iii. 23. xix. 8. Tho words may allude to the siego of Jerusalem. He hath made my chain heavy.] Ho hath made my bondage, or my imprisonment, grievous.
Lamentations 2:8
Also when I cry and shout [or call aloud. , he shutteth out my prayer.] Itefuseth to hearken to it, or give me any case or relief. God’s answering men’s requests, is commonly expressed by hearkening to their prayers. (Compare Job xxx. 20.)
Lamentations 2:9
He hath enclosed my way with hewn stone. See ver. 5. 7. He hath made my patlis crooked.] So that I know not which way to turn myself. (See ver. 11.)
Lamentations 2:10
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast dust upon their heads. Expressions of the deepest mourning and sorrow. (See iii. 28. Job ii. 12, 13. Isa. iii. 26. xlvii. 15.) He was to me as a bear lying in wait, &c] He falls upon me with the fierceness of his anger, as a bear or lion seizes upon his prey. (Compare Job x. 16. Hos. v. 14. xiii. 7, 8.)
Lamentations 2:11
Mine eyes do fail with tears. I have lost my sight with weeping. (Compare v. 17. Psal. vi. 7. xxxi. 2.) My liver is poured upon the earth.] My vitals seem to be dissolved, and have lost all their strength. (Compare Job xvi. 13. Psal. xxii. 14.) Because the children and sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.] For want of sustenance. (Sec ver. 19. and iv. 4.) He hath turned aside my ways, &c] He disappoints all my undertakings, he layeth my country desolate, and makes it to cease from being a nation, or body politic.
Lamentations 2:12
When they swooned as the wounded. Who are not presently despatched, but die of a lingering death. (See iv. 9.) lie hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow, &c] He hath made me the mark and object of his indignation. (Compare Job xvi. 12, 13. Psal. xxxviii.2.)
Lamentations 2:13
What thing shall I take to witness for thee? &c. What instance can I bring of any calamity like thine,.that such an example may be some mitigation of thy complaints? For thy breach is as great as the sea, &c] It is like the breaking in of the sea, that overflows a whole country, where no stop can be put to the inundation. The arrows of his quiver.] Called here in the Hebrew, the sons of his quiver, by an elegant metaphor, as they are called the sons of the bow, Job xli. 28. By the same metaphor, sparks are called the sons of coal, Job v. 7.
Lamentations 2:14
The prophets have not discovered thine iniqidty, to turn away thy captivity. They have not the I was a derision of all my people.] This may be understood of Jeremiah himself; (see Jer. xx. 7.) but some critics suppose the word ammi, rendered my people, to stand for ammin, the people, as tho word is used in some places; (see 2 Sam. xxii. 44. Micah vi. 2G. compared with Psal. xviii. 44.) and then this sentence is to be understood of the Jewish nation, and imports, that their’miseries exposed them to the scorn and reproach of all the neighbouring, countries. (See ii. 15.) And their song all the day.] See ver. 63. Job xxx. 9. Psal. lxix.2.
Lamentations 2:15
All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their heads. Gestures of derision, whereby the enemies of the Jews expressed a satisfaction in their calamities. (See Jer.xviii.G. lKingsix.8. Ezek.xxv. G.) Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?] Or, the whole land? (See Psal. xlviii. 2.) Jerusalem was the metropolis of the Jewish nation, and highly valued by them for the magnificence of their temple, and the presence of the true God there: whither the whole nation resorted to celebrate their solemn festivals, which were observed with all the magnificence of a religious joy. Their being deprived of those ornaments, gave occasion to their enemies to insult over them. (See Psal. lxxix. 4.). Ver. 1G. All thine enemies have opened their mouths against thee.] As if they were ready to swallow thee up. (Compare iii. 4G. Job xvi. 9, 10. Psal. xxii. 13.) He hath made me drunk with wormwood.] See ver. 19.
Lamentations 2:16
He hath broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. In this and the foregoing verse, the prophet aggravates the calamities of his people by such expressions as imply, that instead of any support or comfort, they find nothing but miseries and afflictions. (See the note on Jer. ix. 15.) The Septuagint render the latter part of the verse, He hath fed me with ashes; i. e. We fare as hard as those who feed upon bread baked in ashes, whose teeth are in danger of being broke with grits and stones. (Compare Job vi. 7. Psal. cii. 9.) This translation Noldius defends in his Concordance, p. 1G8.
Lamentations 2:17
He hathfulfdled his ivord which he had commanded in the days of old. He hath fulfilled those threatenings which he denounced against our disobedience to the law of Moses. (See Lev. xxvi. 31, &c. Deut. xxvii. 25, 26. 49, &c.) The word command is sometimes used for any part of the covenant, which God had engaged himself to perform. (See Psal. cv. 8. cxi. 9.) lie hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.] Advanced their power and glory. (See ver. 3.) • I forgat prosperity.] I have been a stranger to prosperity long enough to wear the remembrance of it out of my mind: so Joseph, speaking of the seven years of famine, saith, That plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt, (Gen. xli. 30.) By the same figure, tho prophet Isaiah describing happy times, saith, Tlie former troubles are forgotten, (lxv. 16.)
Lamentations 2:18
Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion,&c. As the wall and rampart are said to lament, (ver. 8.) because their ruins are objects of lamentation: so here devout persons, upon the destruction of the city, direct their prayers to God, as if the ruins themselves did entreat him to take compassion on the miseries of that place which he had chosen for his peculiar residence. (See the like prosopopoeia, Habak. ii.ll.) To this purpose the Vulgar Latin expresses the sense, " Clamavit cor meum super muris filice Zion;" My heart cried unto the Lord concerning the walls of the daughter of Zion. And I said, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord.] I began to despair of God’s mercy. (See Psal. xxxi.22.)
Lamentations 2:19
Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches, &c. Devout persons shewed their earnestness in prayer, by attending upon it late at night, and early in the morning, when others give themselves up to sloth and drowsiness. (See Psal. Ixiii. 6. cxix. 55.147, 148. Isa. xxvi. 9. 1 Pet. iv. 7.) The Jews divided the night into three watches; (see Judg. vii. 19.) and in aftertimes into four. (See Matt. xiv. 2C>. Mark xiii. 35. Luke xii. 38.) The first watch was reckoned from the time of going to bed. Pour out thine heart like water.] Offer up thy earnest prayers with tears to the throne of grace: and send up thy very soul, and thy devoutest affections, along with them. (Compare 1 Sam. vii. G. Psal. lxii. 8.) Lift up thy hands unto him for the life of thy young children, &c] Sec ver. 11. At the top of every street.] See the same phrase, iv. 1. Isa. li. 20. Nahum iii. 10., Noldius thinks the expression means the same, as in every street. (Sec his Concordance, p. 214.)- Remembering my affliction and my misery, [or banishment, see i. 7.] the wormwood and the gall.] Wormwood and gall are put for the most severe and rigorous treatment. (See the notes on Jer. ix. 15.)
Lamentations 2:20
Behold, O Lord, and consider to whofii thou hast done this. To thy people, for whom thou hast formerly expressed so much tenderness and affection. Shall the women eat their frtdt, and children of a span long?] The margin reads, Swaddled with their hands: in which sense the word is used, ver. 22. AVe find, by comparing this verse with iv. 10. that God brought upon them that terrible judgment which he had denounced against them, if they # continued to provoke him; viz. That they should eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters, (Lev. xxvi. 29. Deut. xxviii. 53. Jer. xix. 13.) My soul hath them still in remembrance.] I have still new occasions to remember them.
Lamentations 2:21
The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets. Either they lie slain without any regard to age or condition: or else they lie prostrate there, in a desponding manner, and just ready to give up the ghost. (See ver. 10.) This I recall to mind.] The reflections set down in the following verses, are a sufficient ground for our trust in God under the severest trials.
Lamentations 2:22
Let all their wickedness come before thee.~\ Let it appear, that though thou chastenest us, thou pnnishest our enemies a thousand times more: as the author of the book of Wisdom speaks, Wisd. xii. 22. (Compare Jer. x. 25.) Do unto them as thou hast done unto me.] Some render the words, Glean them as thou hast gleaned me; that is, make an entire riddance or destruction of them. (Compare Jer. vi. 9.) Thou hast called, as in a solemn day, my terrors round about.] Terrors come upon me on every side by thy appointment; just as multitudes use to flock to Jerusalem at the times of the solemn feasts. The phrase mayor missabib,fear or terror on every side, is elsewhere used, by Jeremiah, to express great desolation and misery. (See. Jer. vi. 25. xx. 3. xlvi. 5. xlix. 19.) - CHAP. III. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.] The Septuagint and Chaldee paraphrase render the sentence, Because the Lord’s mercies are not at an end.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Thy mercies arc renewed to us every day; and thy faithfulness in performing them is as great as thy goodness in promising them. God’s mercy and truth, or fidelity, are usually joined together. (SeeGen.xxxii.10. Psal. lvii. 10. c. 4.)
The Lord is my portion. An interest in the favour and promises of God is the best inheritance. (See Jer. x. 1G.)'
Hie Lord is good to them that wait for him, &c. To them that patiently wait his time, when he thinks it a proper season to afford them comfort and deliverance: and in the meanwhile apply themselves to him by prayers and humiliation. (See the following verse.)
It is good for a man that he bear tlie yoke in his youth. It is good to bo inured betimes, to bear those useful restraints which arise from a sense of the duty wo owe to God, and the obedience we ought to pay to his laws.
He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence. The discipline of afflictions makes a man serious and thoughtful, it disposes him to reflect upon himself and his ways, and instructs him to acquiesce in the disposals of Providence.
He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. He prostrates himself even to the ground before Almighty God, in token of the deepest humiliation of his soul, (see Psal. cxix. 25.) if by that means he may recover the Divine favour.
He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him. He not only humbles himself in the sight of God; but likewise patiently bears the ill treatment of men. (Compare Isa. 1.6.)
For he doth not afflict willingly, &c. God doth not take pleasure in the misery of men, or in exercising his authority over them, but designs all his chastisements for our good. (See Heb. xii. 9, 10.)
To crush under his feet all the priso?iers of the earth, &c.—the Lord approveth not. As God takes no pleasure in oppressing tho poor and helpless, so neither