1.
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!
1. How—The title of the
collection repeated here, and in .
covered . . . with a
cloud—that is, with the darkness of ignominy.
cast down from heaven unto .
. . earth— (Matthew 11:23);
dashed down from the highest prosperity to the lowest misery.
beauty of Israel—the
beautiful temple (Psalms 29:2;
Psalms 74:7; Psalms 96:9,
Margin; Isaiah 60:7; Isaiah 64:11).
his footstool—the ark
(compare 1 Chronicles 28:2; Psalms 99:5;
Psalms 132:7). They once had gloried
more in the ark than in the God whose symbol it was; they now feel it
was but His "footstool," yet that it had been a great glory
to them that God deigned to use it as such.
Beth.
2.
The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
2. polluted—by delivering it
into the hands of the profane foe. Compare , "profaned . . . crown."
Gimel.
3.
He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
3. horn—worn in the East as an
ornament on the forehead, and an emblem of power and majesty (1 Samuel 2:10;
Psalms 132:17; see on Psalms 132:17).
drawn back . . . fight hand—
(Psalms 74:11). God has withdrawn
the help which He before gave them. Not as HENDERSON,
"He has turned back his (Israel's) right hand" (Psalms 74:11).
Daleth.
4.
He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.
4. ().
stood with . . . right
hand—He took His stand so as to use His right hand as an
adversary. HENDERSON makes
the image to be that of an archer steadying his right hand to
take aim. Not only did He withdraw His help, but also took
arms against Israel.
all . . . pleasant to . . .
eye— (Ezekiel 24:25). All
that were conspicuous for youth, beauty, and rank.
in . . . tabernacle—the
dwellings of Jerusalem.
He.
5.
The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
5. an enemy— ().
mourning and
lamentation—There is a play of similar sounds in the original,
"sorrow and sadness," to heighten the effect (, Hebrew; Ezekiel 35:3,
Margin).
Vau.
6.
And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.
6. tabernacle—rather, "He
hath violently taken away His hedge (the hedge of the place
sacred to Him, Psalms 80:12; Psalms 89:40;
Isaiah 5:5), as that of a garden"
[MAURER]. CALVIN
supports English Version, "His tabernacle (that is,
temple) as (one would take away the temporary cottage or booth) of a
garden." Isaiah 1:8 accords
with this (Job 27:18).
places of . . . assembly—the
temple and synagogues (Psalms 74:7;
Psalms 74:8).
solemn feasts— (Psalms 74:8).
Zain.
7.
The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
7. they . . . made a noise in . . .
house of . . . Lord, as in . . . feast—The foe's shout of
triumph in the captured temple bore a resemblance (but oh, how sad a
contrast as to the occasion of it!) to the joyous
thanksgivings we used to offer in the same place at our "solemn
feasts" (compare Lamentations 2:22).
Cheth.
8.
The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.
8. stretched . . . a line—The
Easterns used a measuring-line not merely in building, but in
destroying edifices (2 Kings 21:13;
Isaiah 34:11); implying here the
unsparing rigidness with which He would exact punishment.
Teth.
9.
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
9. Her gates cannot oppose the
entrance of the foe into the city, for they are sunk under a mass of
rubbish and earth.
broken . . . bars— ().
her king . . . among . . .
Gentiles— (Deuteronomy 28:36).
law . . . no more— (Deuteronomy 28:36). The civil and religious laws were one under the theocracy.
"All the legal ordinances (prophetical as well as priestly) of
the theocracy, are no more" (Psalms 74:9;
Ezekiel 7:26).
Jod.
10.
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11.
Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
11. liver is poured, c.—that
is, as the liver was thought to be the seat of the passions, "all
my feelings are poured out and prostrated for," &c. The
"liver," is here put for the bile ("gall," "bowels," ) in a bladder on the surface of the liver, copiously
discharged when the passions are agitated.
swoon—through faintness
from the effects of hunger.
Lamed.
12.
They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.
12. as the wounded—famine
being as deadly as the sword ().
soul . . . poured . . . into
. . . mothers bosom—Instinctively turning to their mother's
bosom, but finding no milk there, they breathe out their life
as it were "into her bosom."
Mem.
13.
What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
13. What thing shall I take to
witness—What can I bring forward as a witness, or instance, to
prove that others have sustained as grievous ills as thou? I cannot
console thee as mourners are often consoled by showing that thy lot
is only what others, too, suffer. The "sea" affords the
only suitable emblem of thy woes, by its boundless extent and depth
(Lamentations 1:12; Daniel 9:12).
Nun.
14.
Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.
14. Thy prophets—not God's
(Jeremiah 23:26).
vain . . . for thee—to
gratify thy appetite, not for truth, but for false things.
not discovered thine
iniquity—in opposition to God's command to the true prophets
(Isaiah 58:1). Literally, "They
have not taken off (the veil) which was on thine iniquity,
so as to set it before thee."
burdens—Their
prophecies were soothing and flattering; but the result of them was
heavy calamities to the people, worse than even what the
prophecies of Jeremiah, which they in derision called "burdens,"
threatened. Hence he terms their pretended prophecies "false
burdens," which proved to the Jews "causes of their
banishment" [CALVIN].
Samech.
15.
All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
15. clap . . . hands—in
derision (Job 27:23; Job 34:37).
wag . . . head—
(2 Kings 19:21; Psalms 44:14).
perfection of beauty . . .
joy of . . . earth— (Psalms 48:2;
Psalms 50:2). The Jews' enemies
quote their very words in scorn.
Pe.
16.
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.
16, 17. For the transposition of
Hebrew letters (Pe and Ain, Lamentations 2:16;
Lamentations 2:17) in the order of verses,
see Lamentations 2:17.
opened . . . mouth—as
ravening, roaring wild beasts (Job 16:9;
Job 16:10; Psalms 22:13).
Herein Jerusalem was a type of Messiah.
gnash . . . teeth—in
vindictive malice.
we have seen it— (Psalms 22:13).
Ain.
17.
The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.
17. Lord—Let not the foe exult
as if it was their doing. It was "the Lord" who thus
fulfilled the threats uttered by His prophets for the guilt of Judea
(Leviticus 26:16-25; Deuteronomy 28:36-48;
Deuteronomy 28:53; Jeremiah 19:9).
Tzaddi.
18.
Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
18. wall— (). Personified. "Their heart," that is, the
Jews'; while their heart is lifted up to the Lord in prayer, their
speech is addressed to the "wall" (the part being put for
the whole city).
let tears, &c.—
(Jeremiah 14:17). The wall is
called on to weep for its own ruin and that of the city. Compare the
similar personification (Lamentations 1:4).
apple—the pupil of the
eye (Psalms 17:8).
Koph.
19.
Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
19. cry . . . in . . . night—
(Psalms 119:147).
beginning of . . .
watches—that is, the first of the three equal divisions
(four hours each) into which the ancient Jews divided the night;
namely, from sunset to ten o'clock. The second was called "the
middle watch" (Judges 7:19),
from ten till two o'clock. The third, "the morning watch,"
from two to sunrise (Exodus 14:24;
1 Samuel 11:11). Afterwards, under the
Romans, they had four watches (Matthew 14:25;
Luke 12:38).
for . . . thy . . .
children—that God, if He will not spare thee, may at least
preserve "thy young children."
top of . . . street—
(Isaiah 51:20; Nahum 3:10).
Resh.
20.
Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
20. women eat . . . fruit—as
threatened (Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53;
Deuteronomy 28:56; Deuteronomy 28:57;
Jeremiah 19:9).
children . . . span long—or
else, "children whom they carry in their arms" [MAURER].
Schin.
21.
The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
21. ().
Tau.
22.
Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.
22. Thou hast called as in . . .
solemn day . . . terrors—Thou hast summoned my enemies against
me from all quarters, just as multitudes used to be convened to
Jerusalem, on the solemn feast days. The objects, for which the
enemies and the festal multitude respectively met, formed a sad
contrast. Compare Lamentations 1:15:
"called an assembly against me."