Lamentations 5

La 5:1-22.

EPIPHONEMA, OR A

CLOSING

RECAPITULATION OF THE

CALAMITIES

TREATED IN THE

ELEGIES.

1.

(Ps 89:50, 51).

2. Our inheritance--"Thine inheritance"

(Ps 79:1).

The land given of old to us by Thy gift.

3. fatherless--Our whole land is full of orphans [CALVIN]. Or, "we are fatherless," being abandoned by Thee

our "Father"

(Jer 3:19),

[GROTIUS].

4. water for money--The Jews were compelled to pay the enemy for the

water of their own cisterns after the overthrow of Jerusalem; or rather,

it refers to their sojourn in Babylon; they had to pay tax for access to

the rivers and fountains. Thus, "our" means the water which we need, the

commonest necessary of life.

our wood--In Judea each one could get wood without pay; in Babylon,

"our wood," the wood we need, must be paid for.

5. Literally, "On our necks we are persecuted"; that is, Men tread

on our necks

(Ps 66:12;

Isa 51:23;

compare

Jos 10:24).

The extremest oppression. The foe not merely galled the Jews face,

back, and sides, but their neck. A just retribution, as they had been

stiff in neck against the yoke of God

(2Ch 30:8,

Margin;

Ne 9:29;

Isa 48:4).

6. given . . . hand to--in token of submission

(see on

Jer 50:15).

to . . . Egyptians--at the death of Josiah

(2Ch 36:3, 4).

Assyrians--that is, the Chaldeans who occupied the empire which

Assyria had held. So

Jer 2:18.

to be satisfied with bread--

(De 28:48).

7.

(Jer 31:29).

borne their iniquities--that is, the punishment of them. The

accumulated sins of our fathers from age to age, as well as our own, are

visited on us. They say this as a plea why God should pity them (compare

Eze 18:2,

&c.).

8. Servants . . . ruled . . . us--Servants under the Chaldean governors

ruled the Jews

(Ne 5:15).

Israel, once a "kingdom of priests"

(Ex 19:6),

is become like Canaan, "a servant of servants," according to the curse

(Ge 9:25).

The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being descended

from Ham

(Ge 9:26).

Now through the Jews' sin, their positions are reversed.

9. We gat our bread with . . . peril--that is, those of us left in

the city after its capture by the Chaldeans.

because of . . . sword of . . . wilderness--because of the liability

to attack by the robber Arabs of the wilderness, through which the Jews

had to pass to get "bread" from Egypt (compare

La 5:6).

10. As an oven is scorched with too much fire, so our skin with the

hot blast of famine (Margin, rightly, "storms," like the hot

simoom). Hunger dries up the pores so that the skin becomes like as if

it were scorched by the sun

(Job 30:30;

Ps 119:83).

11. So in just retribution Babylon itself should fare in the end.

Jerusalem shall for the last time suffer these woes before her final

restoration

(Zec 14:2).

12. hanged . . . by their hand--a piece of wanton cruelty invented by

the Chaldeans. GROTIUS translates, "Princes were hung by the hand

of the enemy"; hanging was a usual mode of execution

(Ge 40:19).

elders--officials

(La 4:16).

13. young men . . . grind--The work of the lowest female slave

was laid on young men

(Jud 16:21;

Job 31:10).

children fell under . . . wood--Mere children had to bear burdens of

wood so heavy that they sank beneath them.

14. Aged men in the East meet in the open space round the gate to

decide judicial trials and to hold social converse

(Job 29:7, 8).

16. The crown--all our glory, the kingdom and the priesthood

(Job 19:9;

Ps 89:39, 44).

17.

(La 1:22; 2:11).

18. foxes--They frequent desolate places where they can freely and

fearlessly roam.

19.

(Ps 102:12).

The perpetuity of God's rule over human affairs, however He may seem to

let His people be oppressed for a time, is their ground of hope of

restoration.

20. for ever--that is, for "so long a time."

21.

(Ps 80:3;

Jer 31:18).

"Restore us to favor with Thee, and so we shall be restored to our old

position" [GROTIUS]. Jeremiah is not speaking of

spiritual conversion, but of that outward turning whereby God receives

men into His fatherly favor, manifested in bestowing prosperity [CALVIN]. Still, as Israel is a type of the Church,

temporal goods typify spiritual blessings; and so the sinner may use

this prayer for God to convert him.

22. Rather, "Unless haply Thou hast utterly rejected us, and art

beyond measure wroth against us," that is, Unless Thou art implacable,

which is impossible, hear our prayer [CALVIN].

Or, as Margin, "For wouldest Thou utterly reject us?" &c.--No;

that cannot be. The Jews, in this book, and in Isaiah and Malachi, to

avoid the ill-omen of a mournful closing sentence, repeat the verse

immediately preceding the last [CALVIN].

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