In this poem Lamentations 4 the distinctive idea is, that the miseries Lamentations 4:1 which have befallen Judah are the punishment of her sin Lamentations 4:12, and will therefore end - when chastisement has had its proper effect - in her restoration Lamentations 4:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STONES OF THE SANCTUARY - Or, the hallowed stones, literally stones of holiness, a metaphor for the people themselves. The actual stones of the temple would not be thus widely thrown about as to be seen everywhere, but the prophet has already affirmed this of the young children dying of hunger ... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRECIOUS SONS OF ZION - The whole nation was consecrated to God, and formed “a kingdom of priests” Exodus 19:6 : in this respect, a type of the Christian Church 1 Peter 2:5. COMPARABLE TO FINE GOLD - literally, “weighed with” solid gold, and so equal to their weight in it. With this is contrast... [ Continue Reading ]
SEA MONSTERS - Rather, jackals. THEIR YOUNG ONES - “Their” whelps. The term is applied only to the young of dogs, lions, and the like.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT WERE BROUGHT UP IN SCARLET - literally, “those that were carried upon scarlet;” young children in arms and of the highest birth now lie on the dirt-heaps of the city.... [ Continue Reading ]
Rather, “For” the iniquity “of the daughter of my people was greater than” the sin “of Sodom.” The prophet deduces this conclusion from the greatness of Judah’s misery (compare Jeremiah 30:11; see also Luke 13:1). NO HANDS STAYED ON HER - Or, “no hands were round about her.” Sodom’s sufferings in d... [ Continue Reading ]
The Nazarites from their temperance were remarkable for health and personal beauty, besides being held in religious veneration. RUBIES - Or, corals. THEIR POLISHING WAS OF SAPPHIRE - Or, their shape was “a sapphire.” The allusion is no longer to color, but to form. Their shape was exact and faultl... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR VISAGE ... - Their form (their whole person, see 1 Samuel 28:14)... as in the margin. See Job 30:30. IT IS WITHERED, IT IS BECOME LIKE A STICK - Or, It has become dry like a piece of wood.... [ Continue Reading ]
PITIFUL - i. e. tender-hearted, compassionate. meat is used for food Psalms 69:21. What is here stated actually occurred during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus.... [ Continue Reading ]
Though Jerusalem had been several times captured 1 Kings 14:26; 2 Kings 14:13; 2 Kings 23:33, yet it had been so strongly fortified by Uzziah and his successors as to have been made virtually impregnable. Its present capture by Nebuchadnezzar had cost him a year and a half’s siege.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BLOOD OF THE JUST - Jeremiah 26:7 exhibits priests and prophets as the prime movers in an attempt to silence the word of God by putting Jeremiah to death. Compare the margin reference to Matthew.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE WANDERED - God’s ministers, consecrated to His service, wandered through the city blinded by the insatiable lust of slaughter. It was a pollution to touch their garments.... [ Continue Reading ]
Men cried to these priests, “Away! Unclean! Away! Away! Touch not.” “Unclean” was the cry of the leper whenever he appeared in public: here it is the warning shout of those who meet the murderers. WHEN THEY FLED AWAY AND WANDERED - These priests fled away from the city, but with uncertain steps, no... [ Continue Reading ]
Literally, The countenance of Yahweh hath scattered them, has driven these outlawed priests here and there, “and He will no more regard them” with favor.... [ Continue Reading ]
A rapid sketch of the last days of the siege and the capture of the king. Lamentations 4:17 Rather, “Still do our eyes waste away looking for our vain help.” IN OUR WATCHING - Or, “on our watchtower.” Lamentations 4:18 Or, They hunted “our steps that we could not go out into the streets. To hun... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet ends his elegy with the language of Messianic hope. The earthly king had fallen Lamentations 4:20; but Israel cannot really perish. First then Edom, the representative of the Church’s foes, is ironically told to rejoice. Rejoice she did at the capture of Jerusalem Jeremiah 49:7; but her... [ Continue Reading ]