---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Lamentations 5"
description: "CHAPTER (ELEGY) 5   :-. EPIPHONEMA, OR A
CLOSING RECAPITULATION
OF THE CALAMITIES
TREATED IN THE PREVIOUS
ELEGIES. 1. (Psalms 89:50;
Psalms 89:51). 2. Our"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/lamentations/5"
---

CHAPTER (ELEGY) 5

. EPIPHONEMA, OR A
CLOSING RECAPITULATION
OF THE CALAMITIES
TREATED IN THE PREVIOUS
ELEGIES.

**1.** ([Psalms 89:50](../../../kjv/psalms/89/50);
[Psalms 89:51](../../../kjv/psalms/89/51)).

**2. Our inheritance**—"Thine
inheritance" ([Psalms 79:1](../../../kjv/psalms/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" ([Jeremiah 3:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/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 ([Psalms 66:12](../../../kjv/psalms/66/12);
[Isaiah 51:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/51/23); compare [Isaiah 51:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/51/23)). 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 ([Isaiah 51:23](../../../kjv/isaiah/51/23), *Margin;* [Nehemiah 9:29](../../../kjv/nehemiah/9/29);
[Isaiah 48:4](../../../kjv/isaiah/48/4)).

**6. given . . . hand to**—in
token of submission (see on ).
**to . . . Egyptians**—at
the death of Josiah ([2 Chronicles 36:3](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/3);
[2 Chronicles 36:4](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/4)).
**Assyrians**—that is, the
Chaldeans who occupied the empire which Assyria had held. So [2 Chronicles 36:4](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/4).
**to be satisfied with bread**—
([Deuteronomy 28:48](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/28/48)).

**7.** ().
**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 , &c.).

**8. Servants . . . ruled . . .
us**—Servants under the Chaldean governors ruled the Jews (). Israel, once a "kingdom of priests" (), is become like Canaan, "a servant of servants,"
according to the curse ([Genesis 9:25](../../../kjv/genesis/9/25)).
The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being
descended from Ham ([Genesis 9:26](../../../kjv/genesis/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 ).

**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](../../../kjv/job/30/30); [Psalms 119:83](../../../kjv/psalms/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 ().

**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 ().
**elders**—officials ().

**13. young men . . . grind**—The
work of the lowest *female* slave was laid on young men ([Judges 16:21](../../../kjv/judges/16/21);
[Job 31:10](../../../kjv/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](../../../kjv/job/29/7);
[Job 29:8](../../../kjv/job/29/8)).

**16. The crown**—all our glory,
the kingdom and the priesthood ([Job 19:9](../../../kjv/job/19/9);
[Psalms 89:39](../../../kjv/psalms/89/39); [Psalms 89:44](../../../kjv/psalms/89/44)).

**17.** ([Lamentations 1:22](../../../kjv/lamentations/1/22);
[Lamentations 2:11](../../../kjv/lamentations/2/11)).

**18. foxes**—They frequent
desolate places where they can freely and fearlessly roam.

**19.** (). 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.** ([Psalms 80:3](../../../kjv/psalms/80/3);
[Jeremiah 31:18](../../../kjv/jeremiah/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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