Lamentations 2:1

How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger! ['Aleph (')] HOW - ['eekaah, "How"] the title of the collection repeated here, and Elegy 4: 1. HATH THE LORD COVERED THE DAUGHTER OF ZION WITH A CLOUD - i:e., with the darkness of ignominy. CAST DOWN FROM HEAVEN UNTO THE EARTH - (, "Thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell") i:e., dashed down from the highest prosperity to the lowest misery. THE BEAUTY OF ISRAEL - the beautiful temple ...

The Prophet again exclaims in wonder, that an incredible thing had happened, which was like a prodigy; for at the first sight it seemed very unreasonable, that a people whom God had not only received into favor, but with whom he had made a perpetual covenant, should thus be forsaken by him. For though men were a hundred times perfidious, yet God never changes, but remains unchangeable in his faithfulness; and we know that his covenant was not made to depend on the merits of men. Whatsoever, then, the people might be, yet it behooved God to continue in his purpose, and not to annul the promise made to Abraham. Now, when Jerusalem was reduced to desolation, there was as it were all abolition of God’s covenant. There is, then, no wonder that the Prophet here exclaims, as on account of some prodigy, _How can it be that God hath clouded _or _darkened_, etc. We must, however, observe at the sa...

1-9 A sad representation is here made of the state of God's church, of Jacob and Israel; but the notice seems mostly to refer to the hand of the Lord in their calamities. Yet God is not an enemy to his people, when he is angry with them and corrects them. And gates and bars stand in no stead when God withdraws his protection. It is just with God to cast down those by judgments, who debase themselves by sin; and to deprive those of the benefit and comfort of sabbaths and ordinances, who have not duly valued nor observed them. What should they do with Bibles, who make no improvement of them? Those who misuse God's prophets, justly lose them. It becomes necessary, though painful, to turn the thoughts of the afflicted to the hand of God lifted up against them, and to their sins as the source of their miseries....

CHAPTER II _The prophet shows the dire effects of the Divine anger in the_ _miseries brought on his country; the unparalleled calamities of_ _which he charges, on a great measure, on the false prophets_, 1-14. _In thus desperate condition, the astonishment and by-word of_ _all who see her, Jerusalem is directed to sue earnestly for_ _mercy and pardon_, 15-22. NOTES ON CHAP. II Verse Lamentations 2:1. _HOW HATH THE LORD COVERED THE DAUGHTER OF ZION WITH A_ _CLOUD_] The women in the eastern co

HOW ... - Or, “How” doth “אדני _'ădonāy_ cover.” He hath east down etc. By God’s footstool seems to be meant the ark. See Psalms 99:5 note....

ZION'S JUDGMENT IS OF GOD. LAMENTATIONS AND SUPPLICATIONS. EXPOSITION LAMENTATIONS 2:1 HATH THE LORD COVERED; rather, _doth _… _cover_. THE DAUGHTER OF ZION; _i.e._ Jerusalem. CAST DOWN FROM HEAVEN. Here and in Matthew 11:28 we have a parallel to Isaiah 14:12, where the King of Babylon is compared to a bright star. "Cast down" whither? Into the "pit" or dungeon of Hades (Isaiah 14:15

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 dedicated; for this was "in his anger", in the day of his anger, against Jerusalem; but with the thick and black clouds of calamity and distress; he "beclouded" r her, as it may be rendered, and is by Broughton; he drew a veil, or caused a cloud to come over all her brightness and glory, and surrounded her with darkness, that her light and splendour might not be seen. Aben Ezra interprets it, "he lifted her up to the clouds": that is, in order to cast her down with the greater force, as follows: [AND] CAST DOWN FROM HEAVEN UNTO THE EARTH THE BEAUTY OF ISRAEL; all its glory, both in church and s...

CHAPTER 2 WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE The great catastrophe continues in vivid description throughout this chapter also. Not an enemy has done it, not Nebuchadrezzar and his Chaldean hordes, but the Lord is the executor of all. The beauty of Israel He cast down; He swallowed up the habitations of Jacob; He burned against Jacob like a flame; He bent His bow like an enemy; He poured out His fury like fire; He was as an enemy. These are a few of the many expressions with which the righteousness of the Lord in judging His people is acknowledged. And what a great description of Jerusalem and her inhabitants we read in Lamentations 2:8. Gates broken down; king and princes among the Gentiles; law abandoned; no more visions! Elders on the ground in sackcloth and ashes; virgins hanging their heads; children and sucklings swooning in the streets--and all that pass by clap their hands,

LAMENTATIONS 2. THE SECOND LAMENT. This differs from the first in its contents, and in its literary form. The metrical matters are the same, _i.e._ there are twenty-two verses, wherein the first word of the verse, or stanza, begins with the Heb. A, B, C, etc., and each stanza has three lines, of five accents each. We saw that in Lamentations 1 the singer's wail for Zion filled half the song, and her own cries the second half; but this second Lament is all taken up with God. In Lamentations 2:1 the woes are bemoaned as being of His doing and His alone, and Lamentations 2:13 forms a short ré sumé of this; then, next, Lamentations 2:18 f. urges the city to cry to Him for help; and in the clo

THE LORD*. One of the 134 places where the _Sopherim_ say they altered "Jehovah" of the primitive text to "Adonai". See App-32. THE BEAUTY OF ISRAEL. Probably referring to the Temple (Isaiah 64:11), or the heroic defenders of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 1:19). ISRAEL. Referring to the spiritual seed. See note on Lamentations 1:17. HIS FOOTSTOOL. Probably referring to the ark of the covenant (1 Chronicles 28:2), or the sanctuary (Psalms 99:5;...