INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 2 This chapter contains another alphabet, in which the Prophet Jeremiah, or those he represents, lament the sad condition of Jerusalem; the destruction of the city and temple, and of all persons and things relative to them, and to its civil or church state; and that as... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW HATH THE LORD COVERED THE DAUGHTER OF ZION WITH A CLOUD IN HIS ANGER,.... Not their persons for protection, as he did the Israelites at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; nor their sins, which he blots out as a thick cloud; or with such an one as he filled the tabernacle and temple with when de... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH SWALLOWED UP ALL THE HABITATIONS OF JACOB, AND HATH NOT PITIED,.... As he regarded not his own habitation the temple, nor the ark his footstool, it is no wonder he should be unconcerned about the habitations of others; as of the inhabitants of the land of Judea and of Jerusalem, partic... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH CUT OFF IN [HIS] FIERCE ANGER ALL THE HORN OF ISRAEL,.... All its power and strength, especially its kingly power, which is often signified by a horn in Scripture; see Daniel 7:24; this the Lord took away in his fierce anger, and left the land destitute of all relief, help, defence and prote... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH BENT HIS BOW LIKE AN ENEMY,.... God sometimes appears as if he was an enemy to his people, when he is not, by his conduct and behaviour; by the dispensations of his providence they take him to be so, as Job did, Job 16:9; he bends his bow, or treads it, for the bending or stretching the bow... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD WAS AS AN ENEMY,.... Who formerly was on their side, their God and guardian, their protector and deliverer, but now against them; and a terrible thing it is to have God for an enemy, or even to be as one; this is repeated, as being exceeding distressing, and even intolerable. Mr. Broughton... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE HATH VIOLENTLY TAKEN AWAY HIS TABERNACLE, AS [IF IT WERE] OF A GARDEN,.... The house of the sanctuary or temple, as the Targum; which was demolished at once with great force and violence, and as easily done as a tent or tabernacle is taken down; and no more account made of it than of a cottag... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH CAST OFF HIS ALTAR,.... Whether of incense, or of burnt offerings; the sacrifices of which used to be acceptable to him; but now the altar being cast down and demolished, there were no more offerings; nor did he show any desire of them, but the reverse: HE HATH ABHORRED HIS SANCTUARY;... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH PURPOSED TO DESTROY THE WALL OF THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,.... Either the wall of the city, as Aben Ezra; or the wall that encompassed the temple, and all the outward courts of it, as Dr. Lightfoot s thinks; this the Lord had determined to destroy, and according to his purposes did destroy... [ Continue Reading ]
HER GATES ARE SUNK INTO THE GROUND,.... Either the gates of the city or temple, or both; being broke and demolished, and laid level with the ground, and covered with rubbish; for as for the Midrash, or exposition, that Jarchi mentions, that the gates sunk into the earth upon the approach of the enem... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ELDERS OF THE DAUGHTER OF ZION SIT ON THE GROUND, [AND] KEEP SILENCE,.... Who used to sit in the gate on thrones of judgment, and passed sentence in causes tried before them; or were wont to give advice and counsel, and were regarded as oracles, now sit on the ground, and dumb, as mourners; see... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE EYES DO FAIL WITH TEARS,.... According to Aben Ezra, everyone of the elders before mentioned said this; but rather they are the words of the Prophet Jeremiah, who had wept his eyes dry, or rather blind, on account of the calamities of his people; though he himself obtained liberty and enlargeme... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SAY TO THEIR MOTHERS, WHERE [IS] CORN AND WINE?.... Not the sucklings who could not speak, nor were used to corn and wine, but the children more grown; both are before spoken of, but these are meant, even the young men of Israel, as the Targum; and such as had been brought up in the best manner... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT THING SHALL I TAKE TO WITNESS FOR THEE?.... What argument can be made use of? what proof or evidence can be given? what witnesses can be called to convince thee, and make it a clear case to time, that ever any people or nation was in such distress and calamity, what with sword, famine, pestilen... [ Continue Reading ]
THY PROPHETS HAVE SEEN VAIN AND FOOLISH THINGS FOR THEE,.... Not the prophets of the Lord; but false prophets, as the Targum; which were of the people's choosing, and were acceptable to them; prophets after their own hearts, because they prophesied smooth things, such as they liked; though in the is... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THAT PASS BY CLAP [THEIR] HANDS AT THEE,.... Travellers that passed by, and saw Jerusalem in ruins, clapped their hands at it, by way of rejoicing, as well pleased at the sight. This must be understood, not of the inhabitants of the land, but of strangers, who had no good will to it; though they... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THINE ENEMIES HAVE OPENED THEIR MOUTH AGAINST THEE,.... Or "widened" x them; stretched them out as far as they could, to reproach, blaspheme, and insult; or, like gaping beasts, to swallow up and devour: THEY HISS AND GNASH THEIR TEETH; hiss like serpents, and gnash their teeth in wrath and fur... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH DONE [THAT] WHICH HE HAD DEVISED,.... It was not so much the Chaldeans that did it, though they ascribed it to themselves; but it was the Lord's doing, and what he had deliberately thought of, purposed and designed within himself; all whose purposes and devices certainly come to pass:... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR HEART CRIED UNTO THE LORD,.... Either the heart of their enemies, as Aben Ezra; which cried against the Lord, and blasphemed him; or rather the heart of the Jews in their distress, when they saw the walls of the city breaking down, they cried unto the Lord for help and protection, whether sinc... [ Continue Reading ]
ARISE, CRY OUT IN THE NIGHT,.... That is, O daughter of Zion, or congregation of Israel, as the Targum; who are addressed and called upon by the prophet to arise from their beds, and shake off their sleep, and sloth, and stupidity, and cry to God in the night season; and be earnest and importunate w... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, O LORD, AND CONSIDER TO WHOM THOU HAST DONE THIS,.... On whom thou hast brought these calamities of famine and sword; not upon thine enemies, but upon thine own people, that are called by thy name, and upon theirs, their young ones, who had not sinned as their fathers had: here the church do... [ Continue Reading ]
THE YOUNG AND THE OLD LIE ON THE GROUND IN THE STREETS,.... Young men and old men, virgins and aged women; these promiscuously lay on the ground in the public streets, fainting and dying for want of food; or lay killed there by the sword of the enemy; the Chaldeans sparing neither age nor sex. The T... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST CALLED, AS IN A SOLEMN DAY, MY TERRORS ROUND ABOUT,.... Terrible enemies, as the Chaldeans; these came at the call of God, as soldiers at the command of their general; and in as great numbers as men from all parts of Judea flocked to Jerusalem on any of the three solemn feasts of passover,... [ Continue Reading ]