1.
Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
1. (Psalms 89:50;
Psalms 89:51).
2.
Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
2. Our inheritance—"Thine
inheritance" (Psalms 79:1).
The land given of old to us by Thy gift.
3.
We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
3. fatherless—Our whole land
is full of orphans [CALVIN].
Or, "we are fatherless," being abandoned by Thee our
"Father" (Jeremiah 3:19),
[GROTIUS].
4.
We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
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.
Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.
5. Literally, "On our necks
we are persecuted"; that is, Men tread on our necks (Psalms 66:12;
Isaiah 51:23; compare 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, Margin; Nehemiah 9:29;
Isaiah 48:4).
6.
We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
6. given . . . hand to—in
token of submission (see on ).
to . . . Egyptians—at
the death of Josiah (2 Chronicles 36:3;
2 Chronicles 36:4).
Assyrians—that is, the
Chaldeans who occupied the empire which Assyria had held. So 2 Chronicles 36:4.
to be satisfied with bread—
(Deuteronomy 28:48).
7.
Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
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 have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
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).
The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being
descended from Ham (Genesis 9:26).
Now through the Jews' sin, their positions are reversed.
9.
We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
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.
Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
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; Psalms 119:83).
11.
They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
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.
Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
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.
They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
13. young men . . . grind—The
work of the lowest female slave was laid on young men (Judges 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.
The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.
15.
The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
16.
The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
16. The crown—all our glory,
the kingdom and the priesthood (Job 19:9;
Psalms 89:39; Psalms 89:44).
17.
For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
17. (Lamentations 1:22;
Lamentations 2:11).
18.
Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
18. foxes—They frequent
desolate places where they can freely and fearlessly roam.
19.
Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
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.
Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
20. for ever—that is, for "so
long a time."
21.
Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
21. (Psalms 80:3;
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.
But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
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].