Lamentations 1

La 1:1-22.

Aleph.

1. how is she . . . widow! she that was great, &c.--English Version is according to the accents. But the members of each

sentence are better balanced in antithesis, thus, "how is she that was

great among the nations become as a widow! (how) she who was princess

among the provinces (that is, she who ruled over the surrounding

provinces from the Nile to the Euphrates,

Ge 15:18;

1Ki 4:21;

2Ch 9:26;

Ezr 4:20)

become tributary!" [MAURER].

sit--on the ground; the posture of mourners

(La 2:10;

Ezr 9:3).

The coin struck on the taking of Jerusalem by Titus, representing Judea

as a female sitting solitary under a palm tree, with the inscription,

Judæa Capta, singularly corresponds to the image here; the

language therefore must be prophetical of her state subsequent to

Titus, as well as referring retrospectively to her Babylonian

captivity.

Beth.

2. in the night--even in the night, the period of rest and oblivion

of griefs

(Job 7:3).

lovers . . . friends--the heathen states allied to Judah, and their

idols. The idols whom she "loved"

(Jer 2:20-25)

could not comfort her. Her former allies would not: nay,

some "treacherously" joined her enemies against her

(2Ki 24:2, 7;

Ps 137:7).

Gimel.

3.

(Jer 52:27).

because of great servitude--that is, in a state "of great servitude,"

endured from the Chaldeans. "Because" is made by

VATABLUS indicative of

the cause of her captivity; namely, her having "afflicted" and

unjustly brought into "servitude" the manumitted bond-servants

(Jer 34:8-22).

MAURER explains it, "Judah has left her

land (not literally 'gone into captivity') because of the yoke

imposed on it by Nebuchadnezzar."

no rest--

(De 28:64, 65).

overtook her between . . . straits--image from robbers, who in the

East intercept travellers at the narrow passes in hilly regions.

Daleth.

4. feasts--the passover, pentecost (or the feast of weeks), and the

feast of tabernacles.

gates--once the place of concourse.

He.

5. the chief--rule her

(De 28:43, 44).

adversaries . . . prosper; for the Lord--All the foes' attempts

would have failed, had not God delivered His people into their hands

(Jer 30:15).

Vau.

6. beauty . . . departed--her temple, throne, and priesthood.

harts that find no pasture--an animal timid and fleet, especially

when seeking and not able to "find pasture."

Zain.

7. remembered--rather, "remembers," now, in her afflicted state. In

the days of her prosperity she did not appreciate, as she ought, the

favors of God to her. Now, awakening out of her past lethargy, she feels

from what high privileges she has fallen.

when her people fell, &c.--that is, after which days of prosperity

"her people fell."

mock at her sabbaths--The heathen used to mock at the Jews' Sabbath,

as showing their idleness, and term them Sabbatarians

[MARTIAL, 4.4].

Now, said they ironically, ye may keep a continuous Sabbath. So God

appointed the length of the captivity (seventy years) to be exactly that

of the sum of the Sabbaths in the four hundred ninety years in which the

land was denied its Sabbaths

(Le 26:33-35).

MAURER translates it "ruin." But English

Version better expresses the point of their "mocking," namely,

their involuntary "Sabbaths," that is, the cessation of all

national movements. A fourth line is added in this stanza, whereas in

all the others there are but three. So in

La 2:19.

Cheth.

8.

(1Ki 8:46).

is removed--as a woman separated from the congregation of God for legal

impurity, which is a type of moral impurity. So

La 1:17;

Le 12:2; 15:19,

&c.

her nakedness--They have treated her as contumeliously as courtesans

from whom their clothes are stripped.

turneth backward--as modest women do from shame, that is, she is cast

down from all hope of restoration

[CALVIN].

Teth.

9. Continuation of the image in

La 1:8.

Her ignominy and misery cannot be concealed but are apparent to all, as

if a woman were suffering under such a flow as to reach the end of her

skirts.

remembereth not . . . last end--

(De 32:29;

Isa 47:7).

She forgot how fatal must be the end of her iniquity. Or, as the words

following imply: She, in despair, cannot lift herself up to lay hold of

God's promises as to her "latter end" [CALVIN].

wonderfully--Hebrew, "wonders," that is, with amazing dejection.

O Lord, behold--Judah here breaks in, speaking for herself.

for the enemy hath magnified himself--What might seem ground for

despair, the elated insulting of the enemy, is rather ground for good

hope.

Jod.

10. for--surely she hath seen, &c.

heathen . . . command . . . not enter . . . congregation--for instance,

the Ammonites and Moabites

(De 23:3;

Ne 13:1, 2).

If the heathen, as such, were not allowed to enter the sanctuary for

worship, much less were they allowed to enter in order to rob and

destroy.

Caph.

11.

(Jer 37:21; 38:9; 52:6).

given . . . pleasant things for meat--

(2Ki 6:25;

Job 2:4).

relieve . . . soul--literally, "to cause the soul or life to return."

for I am become vile--Her sins and consequent sorrows are made the

plea in craving God's mercy. Compare the like plea in

Ps 25:11.

Lamed.

12. The pathetic appeal of Jerusalem, not only to her neighbors, but

even to the strangers "passing by," as her sorrow is such as should

excite the compassion even of those unconnected with her. She here

prefigures Christ, whom the language is prophetically made to suit, more

than Jerusalem. Compare Israel, that is, Messiah,

Isa 49:3.

Compare with "pass by,"

Mt 27:39;

Mr 15:29.

As to Jerusalem,

Da 9:12.

M AURER, from the Arabic idiom, translates,

"do not go off on your way," that is, stop, whoever ye are that pass

Mem.

13. bones--a fire which not only consumes the skin and flesh, but

penetrates even to my "bones" (that is, my vital powers).

prevaileth against--not as ROSENMULLER, "He

(Jehovah) hath broken them"; a sense not in the Hebrew.

net--

(Eze 12:13);

image from hunting wild beasts. He has so entangled me in His judgments

that I cannot escape.

turned me back--so that I cannot go forward and get free from His

meshes.

Nun.

14. yoke . . . is bound by his hand--

(De 28:48).

Metaphor from husbandmen, who, after they have bound the yoke to the

neck of oxen, hold the rein firmly twisted round the hand. Thus

the translation will be, "in His hand." Or else, "the yoke of my

transgressions" (that is, of punishment for my transgressions) is held

so fast fixed on me "by" God, that there is no loosening of it;

thus English Version, "by His hand."

wreathed--My sins are like the withes entwined about the neck to

fasten the yoke to.

into their hands, from whom--into the hands of those, from whom, &c.

MAURER translates, "before whom I am not able

to stand."

Samech.

15. trodden, &c.--MAURER, from Syriac root, translates, "cast

away"; so

2Ki 23:27.

But Ps 119:118,

supports English Version.

in . . . midst of me--They fell not on the battlefield, but in the

heart of the city; a sign of the divine wrath.

assembly--the collected forces of Babylon; a very different "assembly"

from the solemn ones which once met at Jerusalem on the great feasts.

The Hebrew means, literally, such a solemn "assembly" or feast

(compare

La 2:22).

trodden . . . virgin . . . in a wine-press--hath forced her blood to

burst forth, as the red wine from the grapes trodden in the press

(Isa 63:3;

Re 14:19, 20; 19:15).

Ain.

16.

(Jer 13:17; 14:17).

Jerusalem is the speaker.

mine eye, mine eye--so

La 4:18,

"our end . . . our end"; repetition for emphasis.

Pe.

17. Like a woman in labor-throes

(Jer 4:31).

menstruous woman--held unclean, and shunned by all; separated from

her husband and from the temple (compare

La 1:8;

Le 14:19,

&c.).

Tzaddi.

18. The sure sign of repentance; justifying God, condemning herself

(Ne 9:33;

Ps 51:4;

Da 9:7-14).

his commandment--literally, "mouth"; His word in the mouth of the

prophets.

Koph.

19. lovers--

(La 1:2;

Jer 30:14).

elders--in dignity, not merely age.

sought . . . meat--Their dignity did not exempt them from having to

go and seek bread

(La 1:11).

Resh.

20. bowels . . . troubled--

(Job 30:27;

Isa 16:11;

Jer 4:19; 31:20).

Extreme mental distress affects the bowels and the whole internal

frame.

heart . . . turned--

(Ho 11:8);

is agitated or fluttered.

abroad . . . sword . . . at home . . . as death--

(De 32:25;

Eze 7:15).

The "as" does not modify, but intensifies. "Abroad the sword

bereaveth, at home as it were death itself" (personified), in

the form of famine and pestilence

(2Ki 25:3;

Jer 14:18; 52:6).

So

Hab 2:5,

"as death" [MICHAELIS].

Schin.

21. they are glad that thou hast done it--because they thought that

therefore Judah is irretrievably ruined

(Jer 40:3).

the day . . . called--(but) thou wilt bring on them the day of

calamity which thou hast announced, namely, by the prophets

(Jer 50:1-46; 48:27).

like . . . me--in calamities

(Ps 137:8, 9;

Jer 51:25,

&c.).

Tau.

22. Such prayers against foes are lawful, if the foe be an enemy of

God, and if our concern be not for our own personal feeling, but for the

glory of God and the welfare of His people.

come before thee--so

Re 16:19,

"Babylon came in remembrance before God" (compare

Ps 109:15).