Lamentations 1 - Introduction
_THE MISERABLE ESTATE OF JERUSALEM BY REASON OF HER SIN: SHE COMPLAINETH OF HER GRIEF, AND CONFESSETH GOD'S JUDGMENT TO BE RIGHTEOUS._ _Before Christ 588._... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE MISERABLE ESTATE OF JERUSALEM BY REASON OF HER SIN: SHE COMPLAINETH OF HER GRIEF, AND CONFESSETH GOD'S JUDGMENT TO BE RIGHTEOUS._ _Before Christ 588._... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW DOTH THE CITY SIT, &C.— Houbigant renders the first part of this verse thus, _How doth the city sit solitary! How is she become a widow, that was full of people!_ Cities are commonly described as the mothers of their inhabitants, and the kings and princes as their husbands and children. When the... [ Continue Reading ]
AMONG ALL HER LOVERS, &C.— "All her allies, whose friendship she courted by sinful compliances, have forsaken her in the _night_ of her afflictions, and even joined with her enemies in insulting over her.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE OF AFFLICTION, AND—SERVITUDE— _She sitteth in affliction and in great service among the heathen, and findeth no rest._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WAYS OF ZION DO MOURN— This verse seems evidently and beyond dispute to fix the subject of this poem to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple; the prophet lamenting in it the total desolation of the holy city, and the cessation of all religious services and ceremonies there.... [ Continue Reading ]
HER ADVERSARIES ARE THE CHIEF— Literally, _are at,_ or _for the head._ They rule over, or are superior to her. See Isaiah 9:15.Deuteronomy 28:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE HARTS— _Like rams,—And they go without strength before him who driveth them._... [ Continue Reading ]
JERUSALEM REMEMBERED, &C.— _Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction, and of her exile, all the pleasant things which she had in the days of old. Her people fall into the hand of the enemy, and no one helpeth her; her enemies behold this, and rejoice in her wound,_ or _distress._ Houbigant;... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THEY HAVE SEEN HER NAKEDNESS— That is to say, _her disgrace._ For, according to the idea of those times, nothing could be inflicted more ignominious or disgraceful than to strip them of their garments. There are others who give the passage a different turn.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE REMEMBERETH NOT HER LAST END— _She hath not remembered her latter end._ Houbigant. The apostrophe at the close of the verse, wherein the city is represented as addressing herself to God, is very nervous and animated.... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON ALL HER PLEASANT THINGS— The latter part of the verse explains what is meant by this phrase; namely, the offerings and presents made to the sanctuary.... [ Continue Reading ]
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU— _Come unto me all ye that pass by._ Houbigant. Michaelis would render it, _Not unto you that pass by,_ [namely, do I call]. The preceding verse ended thus, _See, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile;_ and then immediately follows, "Not unto you who pass by do I cry, Behol... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH TRODDEN THE VIRGIN, THE DAUGHTER OF JUDAH, AS IN A WINE-PRESS— _As in a wine-vat._ This metaphor is easily to be understood of causing such an effusion of blood in Jerusalem, as to resemble the treading of the juice out of the ripe grapes in vintage-time. See Isaiah 63:2.Revelation 14:... [ Continue Reading ]
ZION SPREADETH FORTH HER HANDS— She extendeth her hands as a suppliant, praying for relief, and consolation: so Virgil says of Turnus: _Ille, humilis supplexque, oculos dextramque precantem Protendens._ AEN. xii. l. 930. Now low on earth the lofty chief is laid, With eyes cast upwards, and with ar... [ Continue Reading ]
I CALLED FOR MY LOVERS— That is, "My allies, the Egyptians, and others, who had promised me assistance, but in the day of necessity cast me off." See on Lamentations 1:2. _WHILE THEY SOUGHT THEIR MEAT TO RELIEVE THEIR SOULS_— The LXX and the Syriac add, "and found none." But no such words appear in... [ Continue Reading ]
ABROAD THE SWORD, &C.— _Without, the sword bereaveth; within, the mortality._ Virgil has an expression remarkably similar to this: _Crudelis ubique Luctus, ubique pavor, et plurima mortis imago._ AEN. ii. l. 368. Death in a thousand forms destructive frown'd, And woe, despair, and horror rag'd aro... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS NONE TO COMFORT ME— Grief is timorous and suspicious, fertile in inventing torments for itself, scarcely brooking the least neglect, but entirely impatient of the least mockery or contempt. The prophet has beautifully expressed this circumstance in the passage before us. See Lamentations 1:... [ Continue Reading ]