Lamentations 1:6

And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. FROM THE DAUGHTER OF ZION ALL HER BEAUTY IS DEPARTED - her temple, throne, and priesthood. HER PRINCES ARE BECOME LIKE HARTS THAT FIND NO PASTURE - an animal timid and fleet, especially when seeking, and not able to 'find, pasture.' [Zayin (z)]...

He continues the same subject. He says here that the daughter of Sion was denuded of all her ornaments. Now, we know what was the honor or dignity of that people; for Moses, in order to set forth the greatness of God’s grace, exclaims, “What nation so illustrious under heaven!” (Deuteronomy 4:7.) As, then, the singular gifts of God had been conferred on that people, it was a very sad spectacle to see that city, which once possessed the highest glory, robbed of all its honor and covered with disgrace, as we shall hereafter see. He then says that all her _glory _was taken away from the daughter of Sion. Now, there is no need to enumerate all the kinds of honor or glory which belonged to the city Jerusalem. But it may be said first, that God had chosen there a habitation for himself; and then a sacerdotal kingdom was there, — the people were holy to Go

1-11 The prophet sometimes speaks in his own person; at other times Jerusalem, as a distressed female, is the speaker, or some of the Jews. The description shows the miseries of the Jewish nation. Jerusalem became a captive and a slave, by reason of the greatness of her sins; and had no rest from suffering. If we allow sin, our greatest adversary, to have dominion over us, justly will other enemies also be suffered to have dominion. The people endured the extremities of famine and distress. In this sad condition Jerusalem acknowledged her sin, and entreated the Lord to look upon her case. This is the only way to make ourselves easy under our burdens; for it is the just anger of the Lord for man's transgressions, that has filled the earth with sorrows, lamentations, sickness, and death....

HER PRINCES ... - Jeremiah had before his mind the sad flight of Zedekiah and his men of war, and their capture within a few miles of Jerusalem Jeremiah 39:4....

EXPOSITION LAMENTATIONS 1:1 A WAIL OF DISTRESS FOR JERUSALEM. LAMENTATIONS 1:1, LAMENTATIONS 1:2 The fate of Jerusalem is described in language which resembles here and there that used in Isaiah of fallen Babylon (Isaiah 47:1, Isaiah 47:8). It is probably the finest passage in the whole bock, and has inspired some grand lines in Mr. Swinburne's picture of

AND FROM THE DAUGHTER OF ZION ALL HER BEAUTY IS DEPARTED,.... The kingdom removed; the priesthood ceased; the temple, their beautiful house, burnt; the palaces of their king and nobles demolished; and everything in church and state that was glorious were now no more: HER PRINCES ARE BECOME LIKE HARTS [THAT] FIND NO PASTURE; that are heartless and without courage, fearful and timorous, as harts are, especially when destitute of food. The Targum is "her princes run about for food, as harts run about in the wilderness, and find no place fit for pasture:'' AND THEY ARE GONE WITHOUT STRENGTH BEFORE THE PURSUER; having no spirit nor courage to oppose the enemy, nor strength to flee from him, they fell into his hands, and so were carried captive; see Jeremiah 52:8. Jarchi observes, that the word for "pursuer" has here all its letters, and nowher

CHAPTER 1 JERUSALEM'S GREAT DESOLATION AND THE SORROW OF HIS PEOPLE The chapter begins with an outburst of grief over Jerusalem's desolation. Once she was a populous city; now she is solitary. Once she was great among the nations, like a princess among provinces, and now she is widowed. Then in the next verse we hear her weeping; she weeps all night long; none is there to comfort her; her friends have turned against her, they have become her enemies. She was disobedient to her Lord, she rejected His Word, she gave up her holy place as His separated people and now “she findeth no rest.” The Lord's hand is upon her for the multitude of her transgressions. The hopeful note we find in Lamentations 1:8. Here is confession of her guilt and shame; here is humiliation and appeal to the Lord on account of the enemy. “See, O LORD, and behold; for I am become vile.” Such humiliation and

LAMENTATIONS 1. THE FIRST LAMENT. This is an alphabetical acrostic poem in twenty-two stanzas of three lines each, with five Heb. beats in each line. It has two equal parts: Lamentations 1:1 (Aleph to Kaph), the singer's account of Zion's sorrows, and Lamentations 1:12 (Lamedh to Tau), a soliloquy thereon by the city herself. In detail: Lamentations 1:1 tells of a Zion once populous, now widowed; her nights full of weeping, unconsoled by former lovers who are now all faithless. The people have migrated, to escape taxings (note that they are not exiled, as had been the case in 586 B.C.), but even abroad they are harried; no pilgrims are thronging the roads, as they had been wont to do in the day

LIKE HARTS. See note on Lamentations 1:3....

_majesty_ mg. less well, _beauty_. Exhaustion from hunger and fatigue has taken the place of dignity and wealth. _Her princes are become like harts_ The most natural reference is to the flight and capture of Zedekiah and his princes, Jeremiah 39:4 f. Cp. Jeremiah 52:10. The LXX and Vulg. for "harts" read (with different vowel punctuation) _rams_, a word used elsewhere (e.g. Exodus 15:15; see mg.) for leaders. But the figure needs an animal which is hunted. Budde therefore accepts the Targ. "stags....