Lamentations 1:7

Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths. JERUSALEM REMEMBERED ... HER PLEASANT THINGS - rather, remembers now in her afflicted state. In the days of her prosperity she did not appreciate, as she ought, the favours of God to her. Now, awaking of her past lethargy, she feels from what high privileges she has fallen. THAT SHE HAD IN THE DAYS OF OLD, WHEN HER PEOPLE FELL INTO THE HAND OF THE ENEMY - i:e., after which days of prosperity "her people fell." THE ADVERSARIES ... DID MOCK AT HER SABBATHS - the pagan used to mock at the Jews' Sabbath, as showing their idleness, and termed them Sabbatarians (Martial, 4:4). Now, said they ironically, ye may keep a continuous Sa...

He confirms the former verse when he says, that _Jerusalem remembered her desirable things _when she was afflicted by God’s hand, and reduced to extreme want. And he in-intimates by these words, that when Jerusalem was in its splendor, it did not sufficiently consider the blessings of God; for the despisers of God cram themselves with whatever flows from his bounty, and yet do not acknowledge him; for ingratitude is like an abyss which absorbs all the fullness of God’s blessings. Then the Prophet intimates that when Jerusalem flourished in wealth and in abundance of all things, when it was adorned with singular gifts, she became as it were inebriated, and never considered as she ought to have done, the benefits which God had bestowed on her. And now, when she was reduced to want and surrounded with extreme miseries, _she remembered her desirable things, _even the glory before mentioned;...

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....

Verse 7. _DID MOCK AT HER SABBATHS._] משבתה _mishbatteha_. Some contend that _Sabbaths_ are not intended here. The _Septuagint_ has κατοικεσια αυτης, "her habitation;" the _Chaldee_, על טובהא al _tubaha_, "her good things;" the _Syriac_, [Syriac] _al toboroh_, "her breach." The _Vulgate_ and _Arabic_ agree with the Hebrew. Some of my oldest MSS. have the word in the plural number, משבתיה _mishbatteyha_, "her Sabbaths." A multitude of _Kennicott's_ MSS. have the same reading. The Jews were despised by the heathen for _keeping the Sabbath_. _Juvenal_ mocks them on that account: - _____cui septima quaeque fuit lux Ignava et partem vitae non attigit ullam. _Sat_. v. "To whom every seventh day was a blank, and

Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction, And of her homelessness, All her pleasant things which have been from the days of old: Now that her people fall by the hand of the adversary, And she hath no helper; Her adversaries have seen her, They have mocked at her sabbath-keepings. The word rendered “homelessless” means wanderings, and describes the state of the Jews, cast forth from their homes and about to be dragged into exile. SABBATHS - Or, sabbath-keepings, and the cessation from labor every seventh

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

JERUSALEM REMEMBERED IN THE DAYS OF HER AFFLICTION AND OF HER MISERIES,.... When carried captive, and in exile in a foreign land; when surrounded with distresses and calamities of various kinds; which are a means sometimes of rubbing up and refreshing the memories of persons with those good things they take little notice of in the times of prosperity; the worth of such things being best known and prized by the want of them: even ALL HER PLEASANT THINGS THAT SHE HAD IN THE DAYS OF OLD; her civil and religious liberties; the word, worship, and ordinances of God; the temple, altars, and courts of the Lord; the ark of the testimony, the symbol of the divine Presence; and the revelation of the will of God by the prophets; their peace, prosperity, and enjoyment of all good things: these were remembered WHEN HER PEOPLE FELL INTO THE HAND OF THE ENEMY; the Chaldeans. The Targum is, "into the...

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

PLEASANT THINGS. Hebrew. things of desire. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct), for the things she used to enjoy. SABBATHS: or, sabbath-keepings; which she had herself profaned. See Jeremiah 17:21.Ezekiel 22:8; Ezekiel 22:26; Ezekiel 23:38,...