Lamentations 2:17

All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it. For the transposition of Hebrew letters (Pe and `Ayin) in the order of verses, see Introduction. ALL THINE ENEMIES HAVE OPENED THEIR MOUTH AGAINST THEE - as ravening, roaring wild beasts (Job 16:9; ). Herein Jerusalem was a type of Messiah. THEY ... GNASH THE TEETH - in vindictive malice. WE HAVE SEEN IT - (, "Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha! our eye hath seen at"). [`Ayin (')] Verse 17. The Lord hath done th...

Had the Prophet related only the boastings of enemies, the people would have probably become more hardened in their sorrow. But now, on the other hand, he assumes a different character. After having represented how insolently the enemies conducted themselves, he now says, _Jehovah hath done what he had determined_; and thus from the taunts of enemies he calls the attention of the people to the judgment of God. For when enemies insult us, we: indeed feel hurt, but afterwards grief in a manner blunts our feelings. Our best remedy then is, not to have our thoughts fixed on the insolence of men, but to know what the Scripture often reminds us, that the wicked are the scourges of God by which he chastises us. This, then, is the subject which the Prophet now handles. He says that God had _done_, etc.; as though he had said, that however enemies might exceed moderation, yet if the people attend...

10-22 Causes for lamentation are described. Multitudes perished by famine. Even little children were slain by their mother's hands, and eaten, according to the threatening, Deuteronomy 28:53. Multitudes fell by the sword. Their false prophets deceived them. And their neighbours laughed at them. It is a great sin to jest at others' miseries, and adds much affliction to the afflicted. Their enemies triumphed over them. The enemies of the church are apt to take its shocks for its ruins; but they will find themselves deceived. Calls to lamentation are given; and comforts for the cure of these lamentations are sought. Prayer is a salve for every sore, even the sorest; a remedy for every malady, even the most grievous. Our business in prayer is to refer our case to the Lord, and leave it with him. His will be done. Let us fear God, and walk humbly before him, and take heed lest we fall....

Verse 17. _THE LORD HATH DONE_ THAT] This and the _sixteenth_ verse should be interchanged, to follow the order of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet; as the _sixteenth_ has פ _phe_ for its acrostic letter, and the _seventeenth_ has ע _ain_, which should precede the other in the order of the alphabet....

THAT WHICH HE HAD DEVISED - Or, what he purposed. Zion’s ruin was the fulfillment of God’s determination, of which they had been forwarned from the days of old (see the margin reference). FULFILLED - Or, finished....

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

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: HE HATH FULFILLED HIS WORD THAT HE HAD COMMANDED IN THE DAYS OF OLD; not only by the mouth of Jeremiah, years ago, or in the times of Isaiah, long before him; but even in the days of Moses; see Leviticus 26:17, c. Deuteronomy 28:20, c. So the Targum, "which he commanded to Moses the prophet from ancient days, that if the children of Israel would not keep the commands of the Lord, he would take vengeance on them:'' he hath thrown down, and hath not pit

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

For the transposition of the Hebrew alphabet here, see note on Lamentations 2:16, above. DEVISED. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 26:16; Leviticus 26:17; Deuteronomy 28:15)....