Lamentations 5 commentary

Is any afflicted? Let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God. The people of God do so here; they complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt. If penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of our fathers, we may expect that He who punishes, will return in mercy to us. They acknowledge, Woe unto us that we have sinned! All our woes are owing to our own sin and folly. Though our sins and God's just displeasure cause our sufferings, we may hope in his pardoning mercy, his sanctifying grace, and his kind providence. But the sins of a man's whole life will be punished with vengeance at last, unless he obtains an interest in Him who bare our sins in his own body on the tree.

The people of God express deep concern for the ruins of the temple, more than for any other of their calamities. But whatever changes there are on earth, God is still the same, and remains for ever wise and holy, just and good; with Him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. They earnestly pray to God for mercy and grace; Turn us to thee, O Lord. God never leaves any till they first leave him; if he turns them to him in a way of duty, no doubt he will quickly return to them in a way of mercy. If God by his grace renew our hearts, he will by his favour renew our days. Troubles may cause our hearts to be faint, and our eyes to be dim, but the way to the mercy-seat of our reconciled God is open. Let us, in all our trials, put our whole trust and confidence in his mercy; let us confess our sins, and pour out our hearts before him. Let us watch against repinings and despondency; for we surely know, that it shall be well in the end with all that trust in, fear, love, and serve the Lord. Are not the Lord's judgments in the earth the same as in Jeremiah's days? Let Zion then be remembered by us in our prayers, and her welfare be sought above every earthly joy. Spare, Lord, spare thy people, and give not thine heritage to reproach, for the heathen to rule over them.

This prayer ought to be read as unconnected with the Lamentations, for the initial letters of the verses are not written according to the order of the Alphabet; yet it is a complaint rather than a prayer; for Jeremiah mentions those things which had happened to the people in their extreme calamity in order to turn God to compassion and mercy.

He says first, Remember what has happened to us; and then in the second part he explains himself, Look and see our reproach Now the words, though brief and concise, yet contain a useful doctrine — that God is pleased to bring help to the miserable when their evils come to an account before him, especially when they are unjustly oppressed. It is, indeed, certain that nothing is unknown to God, but this mode of speaking is according to the perceptions of men; for we think that God disregards our miseries, or we imagine that his back is turned to us when he does not immediately succor us. But as I have said, he is simply to be asked to look on our evils, for we know what he testifies of himself; so that as he claims to himself the office of helping the miserable and the unjustly oppressed, we ought to acquiesce in this consolation, that as soon as he is pleased to look on the evils we suffer, aid is at the same time prepared for us.

There is mention especially made of reproach, that the indignity might move God the more: for it was for this end that he took the people under his protection, that they might be for his glory and honor, as Moses says. As, then, it was God’s will that the riches of his glory should appear in that people, nothing could have been more inconsistent that that instead of glory they should have nothing but disgrace and reproach. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet makes a special mention of the reproach of the people. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:2

2. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

2. Haereditas nostra devoluta est ad exteros, domus nostrae ad alienos.

A catalogue of many calamities is now given by the Prophet, and as I have reminded you, for this end, that he may obtain God’s favor for himself and for the whole people. It was by no means a reasonable thing, that the inheritance of the elect people should be given to aliens; for we know that the land had been promised to Abraham four hundred years before his children possessed it; we know that this promise had been often repeated, “This land shall be to you for an inheritance.” For though God sustained all nations, yet he was pleased to take a peculiar care of his people. In short, no land has ever been given to men in so singular a way as the land of Canaan to the posterity of Abraham. As, then, this inheritance had been for so many ages possessed by the chosen people, Jeremiah does not without reason complain that it was turned over to aliens.

In the second clause he repeats the same thing; but he shews that the Jews had not only been robbed of their fields, but had been cast out of their houses, a more grievous and disgraceful thing. For it sometimes happens, that when one loses his farm, his fields, and vineyards, his house remains to him untouched; but the Prophet here amplifies the misery of his own nation, that they were not only deprived of their fields and possessions, but that they were also ejected from their own houses, and others had possession of them. For it is a sight deemed affecting even among heathens, when one unworthy of any honor succeeds in the place of another eminent in wealth and dignity. Well known are these words, —

O house of Aucus! How ruled by an unequal master! O domus Anci! Quam dispari domino dominaris!

As Tarquinius had succeeded and taken possession of the kingdom, the heathen poet upbraidingly said that the house of Ancus had passed over to those who were at first exiles and fugitives, but afterwards became proud and cruel tyrants. So also in this place Jeremiah says that aliens dwelt in the houses of the people. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:3

3. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

3. Pupilli fuimus patre (non patre,) matres nostrae tanquam viduae.

Here the Prophet not only speaks in the person of the whole people, but utters also the groans and complaints of each; for this could not have been suitable to the whole Church, as he speaks of fathers and mothers. We hence see that this verse does not apply to the whole body, but to individual members, though every one of the people might have said that widows and orphans were everywhere seen.

Now, this usually happens when a nation is consumed either by pestilence or by war; for in one battle all do not so fall that a whole country becomes full of orphans. But the Prophet sets forth here the orphanage and widowhood occasioned through the continued vengeance of God, for he had not ceased to afflict the people until by degrees they were exhausted. It was, indeed, a sad spectacle to see among the chosen people so many widows, and also so many children deprived of their fathers. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:4

4. We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

4. Aquas nostras pecunia bibimus, ligna nostra pretio veniunt (non veneunt, nam intelligit ligna afferri, aut venire in illorum manus non sine pretio.)

The Prophet here relates, that the people were denuded, that they labored under the want of water and of wood. He does not say that they were only deprived of corn and wine, he does not complain that any of their luxuries were lessened; but he mentions water and wood, the common things of life; for the use of water, as it is said, is common to all; no one is so poor, if he dwells not in a land wholly dry, but that he has water enough to drink. For if there be no fountains, there are at least rivers, there are wells; nor do men perish through thirst, except in deserts and in places uninhabitable. As, then, water might be had everywhere, the Prophet here sets forth the extreme misery of the people, for water was even sold to them. In stony and high places water is sold; but this is a very rare thing. The Prophet here means that the people were not only deprived of their wealth, but reduced to such a state of want that they had no water without buying it.

At the same time he seems to express something worse when he says, Our water we drink for money, and our wood is brought to us for a price. It is not strange that wood should be bought; but the Prophet means that water was sold to the Jews which had been their own, and that they were also compelled to buy wood which had been their own. Thus the possessive pronouns are to be considered as emphatical. Then he says, “Our own waters we drink,” etc. To express this meaning, which is probably the true one, the words ought to be thus rendered, —

4. Our own water, for money have we drunk it; Our own wood, for a price it comes to us.

Grotius says that in the land of Canaan the forests were free to all to get wood from. When in exile the Jews had to buy wood. — Ed. He calls them the waters of the people, which by right they might have claimed as their own; and he also calls the wood The same; it was that to which the people had a legitimate right. He then says that all things had been so taken away by their enemies, that they were forced to buy, not only the wine which had been taken from their cellars, and the corn which had been taken from their granaries, but also the water and the wood.

But were any one disposed to take the words more simply, the complaint would not be unsuitable, — that the people, who before had abundance of wine and all other things, were constrained to buy everything, even water and wood. For it is a grievous change when any one, who could once cut wood of his own, and gather his own wine and corn, is not able to get even a drop of water without buying it. This is a sad change. So this passage may be understood. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:5

5. Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

5. Super colla nostra (vel, cervicibus nostris) persecutionem passi sumus; laboravimus non requies nobis.

Here he says that the people were oppressed with a grievous bondage. It is, indeed, a metaphorical expression when he says, that people suffered persecution on their necks. Enemies may sometimes be troublesome to us, either before our face, or behind our backs, or by our sides; but when they so domineer as to ride on our necks, in this kind of insult there is extreme degradation. Hence the Prophet here complains of the servile and even disgraceful oppression of the people when he says, that the Jews suffered persecution on their necks.

The meaning is, that the enemies so domineered at the, it pleasure, that the Jews dared not to raise up their heads. They were, indeed, worthy of this reward — for we know that they had an iron neck; for when God would have them to bear his yoke, they were wholly unbending; nay, they were like untameable wild beasts. As, then, their hardness had been so great, God rendered to them a just reward for their pride and obstinacy, when their enemies laid such a burden on their necks. Not one of the versions or the Targ., though they all differ, gives a satisfactory rendering of this clause. Some take, “on our neck we have been pursued,” as meaning, We have been closely pursued. So Gataker. Others, as Lowth and Henderson, regarding על a noun, signifying a yoke, give a construction of this kind, “With the yoke on our neck we have been pursued” or persecuted, according to the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 28:48. The former seems the best, —

On our neck (closely) have we been pursued, We labored and had no rest.

Then comes in what they did when thus pursued by their enemies, —

To Egypt gave we the hand, To Assyria, to be satisfied with bread.

To give the hand, in this case, was to put it forth as suppliants to ask help. This seems to refer to a, time previous to their exile. — Ed.

But the Prophet sets forth here this indignity, that he might turn God to mercy; that is, that the Chaldeans thus oppressed as they pleased the chosen people.

He adds, that they labored and had no rest. He intimates by these words that there were no limits nor end to their miseries and troubles; for the phrase in Hebrew is, We have labored and there was no rest. It often happens that when one is pressed down with evils for a short time, a relaxation comes. But the Prophet. says that there was no end to the miseries of the people. Then to labor without rest is the same as to be pressed down with incessant afflictions, from which there is no outlet. Their obstinacy was worthy also of this reward, for they had fought against God, not for a few months or years only, but for many years. We know how long the Prophet called them without any success. Here, however, he seeks favor with God, by saying that the people were miserable without limits or end.

Lamentations 5:6

6. We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

6. AEgyptiis dedimus manum Assyriis, ut saturemur panibus.

He speaks here of the mendicity of the people, that they sought bread from every quarter. To give the hand, is explained in three ways: some say that it means humbly to ask; others, to make an agreement; and others, to extend it in token of misery, as he who cannot ask for help, intimates his wants by extending his hand. But the Prophet seems simply to mean that the people were so distressed by want, that they begged bread. I then take the expression, to give the hand, as meaning that they asked bread, as beggars usually do.

He now says that they gave or extended the hand both to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, which was a most unworthy and disgraceful thing; for the Egyptians had been their most troublesome enemies, and the Assyrians afterwards followed their example. At that time, indeed, the Egyptians pretended to be the friends of the chosen people, and made a treaty with them; but the Jews were held in contempt by them as they deserved, for they had prostituted as it were themselves like harlots. As, then, they had been despised by the Egyptians, it was a disgrace and reproach the most bitter, when they were compelled to beg bread in Egypt, and then in Assyria; for this might have been turned to the bitterest taunts.

We now, then, perceive the meaning of the Prophet; even this reward also God justly rendered to them. He had promised them a fruitful land, in which he was ready to support them to the full. How often is mention made by Moses of corn, wine, and oil; and why? in order that God might shew that that land exceeded every other in fertility. It was, then, an evidence of an extreme curse when the people were compelled to beg bread here and there, while yet the abundance of all things ought to have been sufficient to supply even aliens,

“Thou shalt lend to others, but thou shalt not borrow.” (Deuteronomy 15:6.)

They then who ought to have fed others by their plenty, were so reduced that their want forced them to undergo this disgrace, to beg bread of the Egyptians and Assyrians. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:7

7. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

7. Patres nostri peccarunt, non sunt (non ipsi, ad verbum,) nos vero iniquitatem eorum portavimus.

The Prophet seems here to contend with God, and to utter that blasphemy mentioned by Ezekiel. For when God severely chastised the people, that proverb was commonly used by them,

“Our fathers did eat a sour grape, and our teeth are blunted.” (Ezekiel 18:2.)

Thus they intimated that they were unjustly and cruelly treated, because they suffered the punishment of others, when they themselves were innocent. So the Prophet seems to quarrel with God when he says that the fathers who sinned were no more; but as we shall presently see, the Prophet confesses also the sins of those who were yet alive. As, then, an ingenuous confession is made by the Prophet, he no doubt abstained here from that blasphemy which is so severely reproved by Ezekiel. Jeremiah had nothing farther from his purpose than to free the people from all blame, as though God had dealt cruelly with them, according to what is said by a heathen poet, —

“For the sins of the fathers thou undeservedly sufferest, O Roman!” Horace, Od. 6:1, —

“Delicta majorum immeritus lues, Romane.”

Another says, —

“Enough already by our blood Have we suffered for the perjuries of Laomedonian Troy.” Virgil, Georg., lib. 1, —

“Satis jampridem sanguine nostro Laomedonteae luimus perjuria Troiae.”

They mean that the people of their age were wholly innocent, and seek in Asia and beyond the sea the cause of evils, as though they never had a sin at Rome. But the meaning of Jeremiah was not this, but he simply intended to say that the people who had been long rebellious against God were already dead, and that it was therefore a suitable time for God to regard the miseries of their posterity. The faithful, then, do not allege here their own innocency before God, as though they were blameless; but only mention that their fathers underwent a just punishment, for that whole generation had perished. Daniel speaks more fully when he says,

“We have sinned, and our fathers, and our kings.” (Daniel 9:8.)

He involved in the same condemnation both the fathers and their children.

But our Prophet’s object was different, even to turn God to mercy, as it has been stated; and to attain this object he says, “O Lord, thou indeed hast hitherto executed just punishment, because our fathers had very long abused thy goodness and forbearance; but now the time is come for thee to try and prove whether we are like our fathers: as, then, they have perished as they deserved, receive us now into favor.” We hence see that thus no quarrel or contention is carried on with God, but only that the miserable exiles ask God to look on them, since their fathers who had provoked God and had experienced his dreadful vengeance, were already dead. The words may be thus rendered, —

Our fathers, they sinned and are not; We, their iniquities have we borne.

To bear iniquities, is here evidently to bear their penalty. So when Christ is said to bear our sins, the same thing is meant. — Ed.

And when he says that the sons bore the iniquity of the fathers, though it be a strong expression, yet its meaning is not as though God had without reason punished their children and not their fathers; for unalterable is that declaration,

“The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor the father the iniquity of the son; but the soul that sinneth it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:20.)

It may yet be said that children are loaded with the sins of their fathers, because God, as he declares by Moses, extends his vengeance to the third and fourth generation. (Exodus 20:5.) And he says also in another place,

“I will return into the bosom of children the iniquity of their fathers.” (Jeremiah 32:18.)

God then continued his vengeance to their posterity. But yet there is no doubt but that the children who had been so severely punished, bore also the punishment of their own iniquity, for they deserved a hundred deaths. But these two things well agree together, that God returns the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children, and yet that the children are chastised for their own sins.

Lamentations 5:8

8. Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

8. Servi dominati sunt nobis; eripiens nemo ex manibus ipsorum (hoc est, nemo est qui nos eripiat e manibus ipsorum.)

Another circumstance aggravated the calamity of the people, that they came under the power of servants, which is more degrading than when the rich and the eminent in wealth and power make us their servants. For it is no shame to serve a king, or at, least a man who possesses some eminence; for that servitude which is not apparently degrading is deemed tolerable. But when we become the servants of servants, it is a most afflicting degradation, and most grievously wounds our minds.

It is, then, for this indignity that Jeremiah now expostulates, and says that servants ruled over them. There is, indeed, no doubt but that they were driven into exile by some of the lowest; for the Chaldeans thought it right to exercise towards them every kind of cruelty. But it was yet a very mournful thing for God’s children to be the slaves of servants; for they were before a sacerdotal kingdom, and God had so taken them under his protection, that their condition was better and more desirable than that of any other kingdom. As, then, they had been robbed of their liberty, and not only so, but also made subject to servants, the change was sad in the extreme. See Nehemiah 5:15. — Ed. Therefore the Prophet sought another occasion to plead for mercy, when he said that they were ruled by servants. It now follows, —

Lamentations 5:9

9. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

9. In anima nostra (alii vertunt, in periculo vitae nostrae, vel, cum periculo) adduximus ad panem nostrum ob siccitatem deserti (alii vertunt, a facie gladii, in deserto.)

The word חרב, chereb, means drought as well as sword. As the Prophet is speaking of famine and the desert,, I have no doubt but that dryness or drought is sword the word means here; and I wonder that the word sword had occurred to any; they could not have regarded the context.

He then says that the people sought bread with the soul, that is, at the hazard of their own life. If danger be preferred, I do not object. But as he simply says, with the soul, he seems to express this, that for food they hazarded their own life. Food, indeed, is the support of life, for why is bread sought but for sustaining life? But the hungry so rush headlong to procure food, that they expose themselves to thousand dangers, and they also weary themselves with many labors; and this is to seek bread with their soul, that is, when men not only anxiously labor to procure food, but pour forth as it were their own blood, as when one undertakes a long journey to get some support, lie is almost lifeless when he reaches the distant hospital. As, then, the Jews nowhere found food, the Prophet says that they sought bread with their life, that is, at the hazard of life. This is the view I prefer.

He then adds, For the dryness of the wilderness. What has the sword to do with wilderness? We see that this is wholly unsuitable; there was then no reason why interpreters should pervert this word. But what he calls the dryness of the wilderness was the want by which the people were distressed, as though they were in the wilderness. This is said by way of comparison, — that on account of the dryness of the desert, that is, on account of sterility, they were under the necessity of exposing their life to death, only that they might anywhere find bread. The versions and the Targ. render the word, “sword;” and so do Gataker, Blayney, and Henderson. And by “the sword of the desert” are to be understood freebooters who carried swords and made incursions from desert places.

At the risk of our life we got our bread, On account of the sword of the desert

— Ed.

It may also be, that the Prophet meant, that they were fugitives, and thus went in hunger through woods and forest, when they dared not to go forth into the open country lest the enemy should meet them. But what I have said is most suitable, that is, that they were so famished as though they were in a vast desert, and far away from every hospital, so that bread could nowhere be found. We now, then, perceive the meaning of the Prophet. He adds, —

Lamentations 5:10

10. Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

10. Pelles nostrae quasi clibanus nigredinem contraxerunt ob exustiones famis.

Some read, “for tremors;” literally, “from the face of tremors.” Jerome renders it, “tempests,” but the word “burnings” is the most suitable; for he says that their skins were darkened, and he compares them to an oven. This metaphor often occurs in Scripture,

“Though ye have been as among pots in the smoke, and deformed by blackness, yet your wings shall shine.” (Psalm 68:14.)

God says that his people had contracted blackness, as though they had touched smoky pots, because they had been burnt as it were by many afflictions; for when we pine away in our evils, filthiness itself deforms us. But here he compares to an oven (which is the same thing) their skins or skin. He then says that the skin of every one was so wrinkled and darkened by blackness, that it was like an oven which is black through constant fire and smoke. The Prophet or whoever was the author of the 119th Psalm, uses another comparison, that he was like a bottle or a bladder, contracted by the smoke, and had wrinkles together with blackness. The word זלעפות, occurs in Psalm 11:6, and in the singular number in Psalm 119: 53. The versions and the Targ. render it differently in the three places, for it is not found anywhere else. In Psalm 119:53, it is rendered “horror” in our version, and this meaning suits the passage in Psalm 11:6, and also this passage, —

Our skins, like an oven they became black, Because of the horrors of famine (or, horrible famine.)

The word for “skins” is in the plural number according to several copies, and the verb requires it to be so. — Ed.

The meaning is, that there was a degrading deformity in the people, for they were so famished that no moisture remained in them; and when moisture fails, then paleness and decay follow; and then from paleness a greater deformity and blackness, of which the Prophet now speaks. Hence I have said, that the word “burnings” is the most proper. For, if we say tempests or storms, a tempest does not certainly darken the skin; and if we render it tremors or tremblings, this would be far remote; but if we adopt the word burnings, the whole passage will appear consistent; and we know, that as food as it were irrigates the life of man, so famine burns it up, as Scripture speaks also elsewhere. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:11

11. They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

11. Mulieres in Sion afflictae fuerunt virgines in urbibus Juhudah

He mentions here another kind of reproach, that women had been ravished in Jerusalem, and in other cities. There is here a delicate word for a disgraceful act. The words literally are, —

Women in Sion they humbled (or, were humbled,) And virgins in the cities of Judah.

It is humbled by the Sept. and Vulg. “And” before “virgins” is supplied by the Vulg. and Syr. — Ed. God had commanded chastity to be observed among his people. When, therefore, virgins and women were thus defiled, it was a thing extremely disgraceful. But the Prophet mentioned this also, in order that God might at length show himself propitious to his people after having been entreated. (Deuteronomy 22:21-24.)

And he mentioned Sion rather than Jerusalem, — it was indeed to state a part for the whole; but that place, we know, had been chosen by God that his name might be there worshipped. Sion, then, was a holy place above any other; it was, in a word, the earthly dwelling of God. As, then, God had there his palace, that he might dwell in the midst of his people, it was a disgraceful sight in the extreme to see women ravished there, for the temple of God was thus violated. It was not only a thing disgraceful to the people, that women were thus ravished, but it was a filthy profanation of God’s worship, and therefore sacrilegious. We now see the design of the Prophet. He mentions also the cities of Judah, but with reference to the same thing. It follows —

Lamentations 5:12

12. Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured

12. Principes manu sua fuerunt suspensi, facies senum non fuerunt in honore (non fuerunt honoratae, ad verbum)

The beginning of the verse may be explained in two ways. All render thus, “The princes have been slain by their hand,” that is, of their enemies. But I wonder how it never occurred to them, that it was far more grievous, that they were slain by their own hand. I certainly do not doubt but that the Prophet says here, that some of the princes had laid violent hands on themselves. For it would be a frigid expression, that the princes were hung by the hand of enemies; but if we read, that the princes were hung by their own hand, this would be far more atrocious, as we have before seen that even women, excelling in humanity, devoured their own offspring. So he says now that princes were hung, not by enemies, for it was a common thing for the conquered to be slain by their enemies, and be also hung by way of reproach; but the Prophet, as it appears to me, meant to express something more atrocious, even that the miserable princes were constrained to lay violent hands on themselves. The most obvious meaning of the words is, that princes were hung or suspended by the hand, and not by the neck. Such a punishment is not recorded as having been then practiced; but it may have been a barbarity resorted to by the Chaldeans. This seems to be the meaning conveyed by the versions and the Targ., —

Princes were by their hand hung up, The persons of the aged were not honored.

— Ed.

He adds, that the faces of the aged were not honored; which is also a thing not natural; for we know that some honor is always rendered to old age, and that time of life is commonly regarded with reverence. When, therefore, no respect is shown to the aged, the greatest barbarity must necessarily prevail. It is the same, then, as though the Prophet had said that the people had been so disgracefully treated, that their enemies had not even spared the aged. We also now understand why he adds this, for it would have otherwise appeared incredible, that the princes hung themselves by their own hand. But he here intimates that there was no escape for them, except they in despair sought death for themselves, because all humanity had disappeared. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:13

13. They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

13. Adolescentes ad molam sumpserunt, et pueri in ligno ceciderunt (vel, impegerunt)

I cannot proceed farther now.

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that since thou hast once stretched forth thy hand to consecrate us a people to thyself, — O grant, that thy paternal favor may perpetually shine on us, and that we may, on the other hand, strive always to glorify thy name, so that having once embraced us thou mayest continue thy goodness, until we shall at length enjoy the fullness of all blessings in thy celestial kingdom, which has been obtained for us by the blood of thine only-begotten Son. — Amen.

Lecture Eighteenth

The Prophet now says, that young men, had been delivered to the mill, or to the grinding-house; and we know that of all servile works this was the lowest; for as they used asses to grind, so also they used slaves. The meaning is, that the Jews were shamefully treated, and were reduced to the most abject condition. I know not how came Jerome to give this version, that they were basely used for lust; for טחן, thechen, means to grind or to tear. He thought that it means here something base, which could not be named, as though the enemies had shamefully abused the young men; but we may gather from the second clause of the verse that such an idea does not accord with the passage.

He then says, that young men were compelled to grind, and that boys stumbled under the wood. He means that boys were loaded with wood, as drudges were wont to be; and it was a vile work. As, then, he said previously, that the young men were employed in grinding, so now he says that boys succumbed under the wood, because they carried burdens on their shoulders too heavy for them, which they were not able to bear. We now, then, apprehend what the Prophet means. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:14

14. The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

14. Senes cessarunt e porta adolescentes a pulsatione sua (vel, canticis musicis.)

Here the Prophet briefly shews that the city was reduced to ruins, so that nothing but desolation could be seen there. For when cities are inhabited, judges sit at the gate and young men exercise themselves in lawful pursuits; but he says that there were no judgments; for at that time, as it is well known, they were wont to administer justice and to hold assemblies at the gates of cities. It was then the same as though all civil order had been abolished.

Then he adds, the young men had ceased from their own beating or musical songs. The meaning is, that there was so great a desolation in the city, that, it was no more a city. For men cannot dwell together without laws and without courts of justice. Where courts of justice are closed up, where laws are mute, where no equity is administered, there barbarity prevails, which is worse than solitude; and where there are no assemblies for legitimate amusements, life becomes brutal, for we know that man is a sociable being. By these words, then, the Prophet shews that a dreadful desolation appeared in the city after the people had gone into exile. And among the Chaldeans, and in Assyria, they had not their own judges nor any form of government, for they were dispersed and scattered, and that designedly, that they might not unite together any more; for it was the purpose of the Chaldeans to obliterate by degrees the very name of the people; and hence they were not there formed into a community. So justly does the Prophet deplore their desolation even in exile. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:15

15. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

15. Cessavit gandium cordis nortri, versus est luctum chorus noster (sic enium vertunt לאבל מחלנו

He pursues the same subject, but he seems more clearly to explain what he had briefly stated in the preceding verse, when he says that all joy of the heart had ceased, and that all the dances were turned into mourning The words ought rather to be thus rendered, —

Turned into mourning was our piping.

The word does not mean dancing, but playing on some fistular instrument. — Ed. We know that life is more bitter than death when men are in constant mourning; and truly where there is no hilarity, that state of life is worse than death. And this is what the Prophet now means by saying that all joy had ceased, and that all dances were converted into mourning.

Lamentations 5:16

16. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

16. Cecidit corona capitis nostri; vae nunc nobis, quia peccavimus.

By the crown of the head he no doubt understands all those ornaments by which that people had been adorned. They had a kingdom and a priesthood, which were like two luminaries or two precious jewels; they had also other things by which the Lord had adorned them. As, then, they were endued with such excellent things, they are said to have borne a crown on their head But a crown was not only taken for a diadem, — it was also a symbol of joy and of honor; for not only kings then wore crowns, but men were crowned at weddings and feasts, at games also, and theatres. The Prophet, in a word, complains, that though many ornaments did belong to the people, yet now they were denuded of them all: The crown, he says, has fallen from our head The words are, —

Fallen has the crown of our head.

Then the “woe” in the next line is only declarative, —

Woe is now to us, because we have sinned.

The particle “now” is omitted in our version. — Ed.

He then exclaims, Woe to us now, for we have sinned! Here he sets forth an extreme misery, and at the same time shews that all hope of restoration was taken away. He, however, mentions the cause, because they had done wickedly By saying this he did not intend to exasperate their sorrow, so that they who were thus afflicted might murmur against God; but, on the contrary, his object was to humble the afflicted, so that they might perceive that they were justly punished. It is the same as though he had summoned them as guilty before the tribunal of God, and pronounced in one word that they justly suffered or sustained so grievous a punishment; for a just God is an avenger of wickedness.

We hence conclude, that when he said yesterday that the fathers who had sinned were dead, and their iniquity was borne by their children, he did not so speak as to exempt the living from all blame; for here he condemns them and includes himself in the number. But I explained yesterday the meaning of that verse; and here the Prophet ingenuously confesses that the people were justly punished, because they had by their sins provoked the wrath of God. And this doctrine ought to be carefully observed; because when we are pressed down by adversities, Satan will excite us to sorrow, and at the same time hurry us on to rage, except this doctrine comes to our minds, that we have to do with God, who is a righteous Judge. For the knowledge of our sins will tame our pride and also check all those clamorous complaints, which the unbelieving are wont to utter when they rise up against God. Our evils, then, ought to lead us to consider God’s judgment and to confess our sins; and this was the end which our Prophet had in view. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:17

17. For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.

17. Propterea debile est cor nostrum; super hoc (id est, propter hane causem) obtenebrati sunt oculi nostri.

He connects sorrow here with the acknowledgment of sin, that the people under the pressure and agony of sorrow might apply their minds so as to consider their own sins. At the same time the Prophet, no doubt, includes here all that we have already observed, as though he had said that the people were not without reason wearied with sorrow, for they had ample and manifold reasons for their grief.

For this reason, he says, that is, we do not exceed a due measure in our sorrow, for our afflictions are not ordinary, so that our grief cannot be moderate; but as we are come to an extremity, it cannot then be but our minds should be overwhelmed with sorrow. As, then, the curse of God appeared everywhere, he says that this was the cause of the fainting heart; and he says also, Therefore were our eyes darkened. This is a common metaphor, that the eyes become dim through sorrow; for the senses through sorrow are blunted. Hence it is that the sight of the eyes is injured; and David especially makes use of this mode of speaking. Our Prophet then says that the eyes were darkened, because their grief was, as it were, deadly. It follows —

Lamentations 5:18

18. Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

18. Propter montem Sion qui in vastitatem redactus est, vulpes incedunt in eo.

Though he had in general included all kinds of evils, he yet mentions now the principal cause of sorrow, that mount Sion had lost its beauty and its excellency. For that place had been chosen by God, as though he had descended there from heaven, that he might dwell there; and we know also that its beauty is spoken of in high terms. For there the face of God shone forth, as Moses and the Prophets often speak. It was then an extremely sad change, that as God had dwelt in mount Sion, foxes should lodge there as in a deserted cave. For on mount Sion was the tabernacle or the sanctuary; and God says that it was the tabernacle of meeting, מועד, moud, because there he wished to hold intercourse with his people. As, then, that place included God and his Church, it was, as I have said, a dreadful and monstrous thing, that it had become so desolate, that foxes succeeded in the place of God and the faithful. It was not, then, without reason that Jeremiah, after having spoken of so many and so bitter calamities, mentioned this as the chief, that mount Sion was reduced to desolation, so that foxes ran there hither and thither Some connect this verse with the foregoing, as a special reason why their eyes were darkened, —

17. For this become faint did our heart; For these things darkened were our eyes,

18. Yea, for mount Sion, which is desolate; Foxes have walked through it.

“This” was the “woe” which sin had brought; and “these things” were the various things which he had previously stated, but the desolation of mount Sion was the chief cause of sorrow.

Others take this verse by itself, as it is done by the Sept., where על is rendered “on,” and ש for אשר, is translated “because,” —

On mount Sion, because it has become desolate, Foxes have walked in (or through) it.

If על be rendered concerning, or, as to, or, with regard to, the best construction would be the following, —

As to mount Sion, which has become desolate, Foxes have walked in it (or, traversed it.)

— Ed

For as it is the principal thing, and as it were the chief of all blessings, to be counted God’s people, and to have a familiar access to him, so in adversities nothing is so sad as to be deprived of God’s presence. When David testified his gratitude to God, because he had been enriched by every kind of blessing, he added this,

“I shall dwell in the house of God.” (Psalm 23:6.)

For though he had spoken of wealth and riches and of the abundance of all things, yet he saw that his chief happiness was to call on God together with the faithful, and to be deemed one of his people. So, also, on the other hand, the Prophet here shews that nothing can be sadder to the godly than when God leaves his dwelling and makes it desolate, in order to terrify all who may see it.

This had been predicted to them by Jeremiah himself, as we have seen in the seventh chapter of his prophecies, “Go ye to Shiloh,” he said, where the ark of the covenant had long been; though that place had been a long time the habitation of God, yet it was afterwards rejected with great disdain. Jeremiah then declared to the Jews, while they were yet in safety, that such would be the condition of Jerusalem; but his prophecy was not believed. He now, then, confirms, by the event, what he had predicted by God’s command, when he says that mount Sion was become the den of foxes. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:19

19. Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

19. Tu Jehova perpetuo sedebis, solium tuum in aetatem et aetatem (id est, omnibus seculis.)

The Prophet here raises up his eyes to God, and, by his example, he encourages all the godly, that they might not cease, notwithstanding their extreme calamities, to look to God, as we find in the hundred and second Psalm, where the Psalmist speaks of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. Indeed the subject of that psalm is similar to that of this chapter; nor is there a doubt but that it was composed when the people, as it clearly appears, were in exile in Babylon. There the Psalmist, after having spoken of the ruin of the city, and calamities of the people, says, that the heavens were growing old and wasting as it were with rottenness, together with the whole world; but he afterwards adds,

“But thou, O Lord, remainest perpetually.” (Psalm 102:26-28.)

At the same time he speaks more clearly than Jeremiah, for he applies his doctrine to the consolation of the Church, “Children’s children,” he says, “shall inhabit it.” Hence, from the perpetuity and immutability of God, he infers the perpetuity of the Church. This is not done by Jeremiah, though it is implied; and for this reason, no doubt, he exclaims, that God dwells for ever, and that his throne remains fixed in all ages, or through all ages.

For when we fix our eyes on present things, we must necessarily vacillate, as there is nothing permanent hi the world; and when adversities bring a cloud over our eyes, then faith in a manner vanishes, at least we are troubled and stand amazed. Now the remedy is, to raise up our eyes to God, for however confounded things may be in the world, yet he remains always the same. His truth may indeed be hidden from us, yet it remains in him. In short, were the world to change and perish a hundred times, nothing could ever affect the immutability of God. There is, then, no doubt but that the Prophet wished to take courage and to raise himself up to a firm hope, when he exclaimed, “Thou, O God, remainest for ever.” By the word sitting or remaining, he doubtless meant that the world is governed by God. We know that God has no body, but the word sitting is to be taken metaphorically, for He is no God except he be the judge of the world.

This, also, he expresses more clearly, when he says, that God’s throne remains through all ages. The throne of God designates the government of the world. But if God be the judge of the world, then he doeth nothing,, or suffereth nothing to be done, but according to his supreme wisdom and justice. The words literally are, —

Thou Jehovah for ever sittest, Thy throne is from generation to generation.

Sitting is the posture of a judge, and the reference here is to Jehovah, not as to his essence or existence, but as to his judicial office. — Ed. We hence see, that inasmuch as the state of present things, as thick darkness, took away all distinction, the Prophet raises up his eyes to God and acknowledges him as remaining the same perpetually, though things in the world continually change. Then the throne of God is set in opposition to chance or uncertain changes which ungodly men dream of; for when they see things in great confusion in the world, they say that it is the wheel of fortune, they say that all things happen through blind fate. Then the Prophet, that he might not be cast down with the unbelieving, refers to the throne of God, and strengthens himself in this doctrine of true religion, — that God nevertheless sits on this throne, though things are thus confounded, though all things fluctuate; yea, even though storms and tempests mingle as it were heaven and earth together, yet God sits on his throne amidst all such disturbances. However turbulent, then, all the elements may be, this derogates nothing from the righteous and perpetual judgment of God. This is the meaning of the words; and hence fruit and benefit may be easily gathered. It. follows, —

Lamentations 5:20

20. Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?

20. Ut quid in perpetuum oblivisceris nostri, deseres nos in protractionem (vel, longitudinem) dierum?

He seems, indeed, here to expostulate with God; but the faithful, even when they patiently bear their evils, and submit to God’s scourges, do yet familiarly deposit their complaints in his bosom, and thus unburden themselves. We see that David prayed, and no doubt by the real impulse of the Spirit, and at the same time expostulated,

“Why dost thou forget me perpetually?” (Psalm 13:1.)

Nor is there a doubt but that the Prophet took this complaint from David. Let us, then, know, that though the faithful sometimes take this liberty of expostulating with God, they yet do not put off reverence, modesty, submission, or humility. For when the Prophet thus inquired why God should for ever forget his people and forsake them, he no doubt relied on his own prophecies, which he knew had proceeded from God, and thus he deferred his hope until the end of the seventy years, for that time had been prefixed by God. But it was according to human judgment that he complained in his own person, and in that of the faithful, that the affliction was long; nor is there a doubt but that he dictated this form of prayer to the faithful, that k might be retained after his death. He, then, formed this prayer, not only according to his own feeling, and for the direction to those of his own age; but his purpose was to supply the faithful with a prayer after his own death, so that they might flee to the mercy of God.

We now, then, perceive how complaints of this kind ought to be understood, when the prophets asked, “How long?” as though they stimulated God to hasten the time; for it cannot be, when we are pressed down by many evils, but that we wish help to be accelerated; for faith does not wholly strip us of all cares and anxieties. But when we thus pray, let us remember that our times are at the will and in the hand of God, and that we ought not to hasten too much. It is, then, lawful for us on the one hand to ask God to hasten; but, on the other hand, we ought to check our impatience and wait until the suitable time comes. Both these things the Prophet no doubt joined together when he said, Why shouldest thou, perpetually forget us and forsake us?

Why shouldest thou to the end forget us — Forsake us for the length of our days?

“To the end,” or perpetually, and “the length of our days,” are the same. The length of days, as it appears from Psalm 23:6, means the extent of the present life; the phrase is there used as synonymous with all the days of one’s life. Might not the Prophet here refer to the life of those then living? As to restoration after seventy years, he could have had no doubt. He seems to have pleaded for the restoration of the generation then living. — Ed.

We yet see that he judged according to the evils then endured; and doubtless he believed that God had not forsaken his own people nor forgotten them, as no oblivion can happen to him. But, as I have already said, the Prophet mentioned these complaints through human infirmity, not that men might indulge themselves in their own thoughts, but that they might ascend by degrees to God and overcome all these temptations. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:21

21. Turn thou us unto tee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

21. Converte nos, Jehova ad te et convertimur: innova (vel, instaura) dies nostros sicuti olim (vel, ab initio.)

The Prophet shews, in this verse, that the remedy is in God’s hand whenever he is pleased to succor his people. He, then, exalts here the power of God, as though he had said, that God is not without power, but that he can, whenever he pleases, help his people. This is not, indeed, a sufficient ground for confidence, yet it is the beginning of hope; for whence is it that despair weakens us, so that we cannot call on God? because we think that it is all over with us; and whence is this? because we impiously confine the power of God; nay, we in a manner, through our unbelief, repel his power, which would otherwise be exerted in our behalf. As, then, we thus close the door against God, when we extenuate his power, and think that our evils will prevail; it is, therefore, as I have said, the beginning of hope to believe that all the issues of death are in God’s hand, and that were we a hundred times swallowed up, yet he, by stretching forth his hand to us, can become the author of salvation to us at any moment.

This is now the argument which the Prophet handles, when he says, Turn us, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned; that is, “If thou, O Jehovah, be pleased to gather us, salvation is already certain to us.” And he does not speak here of repentance. There is, indeed, a twofold turning or conversion of men to God, and a twofold turning of God to men. There is all inward turning when God regenerates us by his own Spirit; and turning with respect to us is said to be the feeling of true religion, when, after having been alienated from him, we return to the right way and to a fight mind. There is also all exterior turning as to God, that is, when he so receives men into favor, that his paternal favor becomes apparent; but the interior turning of men to God takes place when they recover life and joy.

Of this second turning, then, does the Prophet now speak, Turn us, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned; that is, If thou, Jehovah, lookest on us, our condition will immediately become prosperous, for in thy hand there is a sure salvation for us.” As, then, the Jews were at that time like the dead, the Prophet says, that if it pleased God to gather them, they could in a moment, as they say, have been restored, as it is said also in the Psalms,

“Thou takest away life, and all things change; send forth thy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104:29, 30.)

As, then, God renews the face of the earth and restores it by only looking at it, hence now the Prophet says, that the Jews, though they had been destroyed, could yet be immediately restored, if it were the will of God to receive them into favor. The meaning of this sentence is,” says Grotius, “Restore us to thy favor, that we may be restored to our ancient state.” This being evidently the meaning, the rendering ought to be this, —

Restore us, O Jehovah, to thyself, that we may be restored.

And as Calvin, as well as Grotius, says, the following line is a confirmation, —

Renew our days as of old.

— Ed.

He adds, Renew our days as of old. This is an explanation of the former clause — the renewing of days was restoration to their former state. God had been for many ages the deliverer of his people; under David had been their greatest happiness; under Solomon also they had greatly flourished; but from the time when God had redeemed his people, he had given, as we know, many and constant proofs of his favor and mercy. As, then, God’s goodness had, by so many evidences been made conspicuous, the Prophet now says, Renew our days as formerly, that is, “Restore us to that happiness, which was formerly a testimony of thy paternal favor towards thy people.” We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet.

But it ought to be noticed, that he grounds his hope on the ancient benefits of God; for as God had formerly redeemed his people, had often helped the miserable, had poured forth on them, posterity fullness of blessings, hence the Prophet encourages himself to entertain good hope, and suggests also to others the same ground of confidence. We see that this was done often by David; for whenever he mentions ancient testimonies of God’s favor towards his people, he hence gathered, that God would extend the same goodness and kindness to posterity. It follows, —

Lamentations 5:22

22. But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

22. Nisi (vel, sed, vel, quod si) rejiciendo rejecisti nos excanduisti contra nos valde.

The two words כי אם, ki am, are differently explained: some render them, “but if,” or “certainly if,” and thus separate the verse into two parts, “Surely if thou hast rejected us, thou art very angry;” but this is a forced meaning, not intended, as I think, by the Prophet. And these seem to have been compelled by necessity to pervert the Prophet’s words; because it appears hard simply to declare that the people had been wholly rejected by God. As, then, this harshness offended them, they contrived this comment, “If thou hast rejected us, thou art very angry.” But as I have said, this exposition I do not approve of, because it is a very forced one; and the greater part of interpreters follow what I stated in the first place, for they take כי אם, ki am, adversatively. The two particles are often connected to

CHAPTER (ELEGY) 5

La 5:1-22. Epiphonema, or a Closing Recapitulation of the Calamities Treated in the Previous Elegies.

1. (Psa 89:50, 51).

2. Our inheritance--"Thine inheritance" (Psa 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" (Jr 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 (Psa 66:12; Is 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; Is 48:4).

6. given ... hand to--in token of submission (see on Jr 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 Jr 2:18.

to be satisfied with bread--(De 28:48).

7. (Jr 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; Psa 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; Psa 89:39, 44).

17. (La 1:22; 2:11).

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

19. (Psa 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. (Psa 80:3; Jr 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].

Remember, O Lord - In the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, this is headed, "The prayer of Jeremiah." In my old MS. Bible: Here bigynneth the orison of Jeremye the prophete.

Though this chapter consists of exactly twenty-two verses, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, yet the acrostic form is no longer observed. Perhaps any thing so technical was not thought proper when in agony and distress (under a sense of God's displeasure on account of sin) they prostrated themselves before him to ask for mercy. Be this as it may, no attempt appears to have been made to throw these verses into the form of the preceding chapters. It is properly a solemn prayer of all the people, stating their past and present sufferings, and praying for God's mercy.

Behold our reproach - הביט hebita. But many MSS. of Kennicott's, and the oldest of my own, add the ה he paragogic, הביטה hebitah, "Look down earnestly with commiseration;" for paragogic letters always increase the sense.

Our inheritance is turned to strangers - The greater part of the Jews were either slain or carried away captive; and even those who were left under Gedaliah were not free, for they were vassals to the Chaldeans.

We have drunken our water for money - I suppose the meaning of this is, that every thing was taxed by the Chaldeans, and that they kept the management in their own hands, so that wood and water were both sold, the people not being permitted to help themselves. They were now so lowly reduced by servitude, that they were obliged to pay dearly for those things which formerly were common and of no price. A poor Hindoo in the country never buys fire-wood, but when he comes to the city he is obliged to purchase his fuel, and considers it as a matter of great hardship.

Our necks are under persecution - We feel the yoke of our bondage; we are driven to our work like the bullock, which has a yoke upon his neck.

We have given the hand to the Egyptians - We have sought alliances both with the Egyptians and Assyrians, and made covenants with them in order to get the necessaries of life. Or, wherever we are now driven, we are obliged to submit to the people of the countries in order to the preservation of our lives.

Our fathers have sinned, and are not - Nations, as such, cannot be punished in the other world; therefore national judgments are to be looked for only in this life. The punishment which the Jewish nation had been meriting for a series of years came now upon them, because they copied and increased the sins of their fathers, and the cup of their iniquity was full. Thus the children might be said to bear the sins of the fathers, that is, in temporal punishment, for in no other way does God visit these upon the children. See Eze 18:1, etc.

Servants have ruled over us - To be subject to such is the most painful and dishonorable bondage: -

Quio domini faciant, audent cum talia fures?

Virg. Ecl. 3:16. "Since slaves so insolent are grown,

What may not masters do?"

Perhaps he here alludes to the Chaldean soldiers, whose will the wretched Jews were obliged to obey.

We gat our bread with the peril of our lives - They could not go into the wilderness to feed their cattle, or to get the necessaries of life, without being harassed and plundered by marauding parties, and by these were often exposed to the peril of their lives. This was predicted by Moses, Deu 28:31.

Our skin was black - because of the terrible famine - Because of the searching winds that burnt up every green thing, destroying vegetation, and in consequence producing a famine.

They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah - The evil mentioned here was predicted by Moses, Deu 28:30, Deu 28:32, and by Jeremiah, Jer 6:12.

Princes are hanged up by their hand - It is very probable that this was a species of punishment. They were suspended from hooks in the wall by their hands till they died through torture and exhaustion. The body of Saul was fastened to the wall of Bethshan, probably in the same way; but his head had already been taken off. They were hung in this way that they might be devoured by the fowls of the air. It was a custom with the Persians after they had slain, strangled, or beheaded their enemies, to hang their bodies upon poles, or empale them. In this way they treated Histiaeus of Miletum, and Leonidas of Lacedaemon. See Herodot. lib. 6 c. 30, lib. 7 c. 238.

They took the young men to grind - This was the work of female slaves. See the note on Isa 47:2.

The elders have ceased from the gate - There is now no more justice administered to the people; they are under military law, or disposed of in every sense according to the caprice of their masters.

The crown is fallen from our head - At feasts, marriages, etc., they used to crown themselves with garlands of flowers; all festivity of this kind was now at an end. Or it may refer to their having lost all sovereignty, being made slaves.

The foxes walk upon it - Foxes are very numerous in Palestine, see on Jdg 15:4 (note). It was usual among the Hebrews to consider all desolated land to be the resort of wild beasts; which is, in fact, the case every where when the inhabitants are removed from a country.

Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever - Thou sufferest no change. Thou didst once love us, O let that love be renewed towards us!

Renew our days as of old - Restore us to our former state. Let us regain our country, our temple, and all the Divine offices of our religion; but, more especially, thy favor.

But thou hast utterly rejected us - It appears as if thou hadst sealed our final reprobation, because thou showest against us exceeding great wrath. But convert us, O Lord, onto thee, and we shall be converted. We are now greatly humbled, feel our sin, and see our folly: once more restore us, and we shall never again forsake thee! He heard the prayer; and at the end of seventy years they were restored to their own land.

This last verse is well rendered in the first printed edition of our Bible, 1535: - Renue our daies as in olde tyme, for thou hast now banished us longe ynough, and bene sore displeased at us.

My old MS. Bible is not less nervous: Newe thou our dais as fro the begynnyng: bot castand aweie thou put us out: thou wrathedist ugein us hugely.

Dr. Blayney translates, "For surely thou hast cast us off altogether:" and adds, "כי ki ought certainly to be rendered as causal; God's having rejected his people, and expressed great indignation against them, being the cause and ground of the preceding application, in which they pray to be restored to his favor, and the enjoyment of their ancient privileges."

Pareau thinks no good sense can be made of this place unless we translate interrogatively, as in Jer 14:19 : - "Hast thou utterly rejected Judah?

Hath thy soul loathed Sion?"

On this ground he translates here,

An enim prorsus nos rejecisses?

Nobis iratus esses usque adeo? "Hast thou indeed utterly cast us off?

Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?"

Wilt thou extend thy wrath against us so as to show us no more mercy? This agrees well with the state and feelings of the complainants.

Masoretic Notes

Number of verses in this Book, 154.

Middle verse, Lam 3:34.

In one of my oldest MSS., the twenty-first verse is repeated at the conclusion of the twenty-second verse. In another, yet older, there is only the first word of it, השיבנו hashibenu, Convert us!

Having given in the preceding preface and notes what I judge necessary to explain the principal difficulties in this very fine and affecting poem, very fitly termed The Lamentations, as it justly stands at the head of every composition of the kind, I shall add but a few words, and these shall be by way of recapitulation chiefly.

The Hebrews were accustomed to make lamentations or mourning songs upon the death of great men, princes, and heroes, who had distinguished themselves in arms; and upon any occasion or public miseries and calamities. Calmet thinks they had collections of these sorts of Lamentations: and refers in proof to 2Chr 35:25 : "And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations, to this day; and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the Lamentations."

From this verse it is evident, that Jeremiah had composed a funeral elegy on Josiah: but, from the complexion of this Book, it is most evident that it was not composed on the death of Josiah, but upon the desolations of Jerusalem, etc., as has already been noted. His lamentation for Josiah is therefore lost. It appears also, that on particular occasions, perhaps anniversaries, these lamentations were sung by men and women singers, who performed their several parts; for these were all alternate or responsive songs. And it is very likely, that this book was sung in the same way; the men commencing with א aleph, the women responding with ב beth and so on. Several of this sort of songs are still extant. We have those which David composed on the death of his son Absalom, and on the death of his friend Jonathan. And we have those made by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, on the desolation of Egypt, Tyre, Sidon, and Babylon. See Isa 14:4, Isa 14:5; Isa 15:1-9; Isa 16:1-14; Jer 7:29; Jer 9:10; Jer 48:32; Eze 19:1; Eze 28:11; Eze 32:2; Jer 9:17. Besides these, we have fragments of others in different places; and references to some, which are now finally lost.

In the two first chapters of this book, the prophet describes, principally, the calamities of the siege of Jerusalem.

In the third, he deplores the persecutions which he himself had suffered; though he may in this be personifying the city and state; many of his own sufferings being illustrative of the calamities that fell generally upon the city and people at large.

The fourth chapter is employed chiefly on the ruin and desolation of the city and temple; and upon the misfortunes of Zedekiah, of whom he speaks in a most respectful, tender, and affecting manner: - "The anointed of Jehovah, the breadth of our nostrils, was taken in their toils,

Under whose shadow we said,

We shall live among the nations."

At the end he speaks of the cruelty of the Edomites, who had insulted Jerusalem in her miseries, and contributed to its demolition. These he threatens with the wrath of God.

The fifth chapter is a kind of form of prayer for the Jews, in their dispersions and captivity. In the conclusion of it, he speaks of their fallen royalty; attributes all their calamities to their rebellion and wickedness; and acknowledges that there can be no end to their misery, but in their restoration to the Divine favor.

This last chapter was probably written some considerable time after the rest: for it supposes the temple to be so deserted, that the foxes walked undisturbed among its ruins, and that the people were already in captivity.

The poem is a monument of the people's iniquity and rebellion; of the displeasure and judgment of God against them; and of the piety, eloquence, and incomparable ability of the poet.

We - We are all of us without a king, (our common father) we are deprived of thy fatherly protection, and many young children among us are left without an earthly parent.

1 REmember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider and behold our reproach .

It hath been before observed that it is very frequent in Scripture to express those acts which are reasonably consequent to the exercise of our exterior or interior senses, by terms which signifie the exercise of those senses. That which the Prophet here prayeth for is Gods freeing the Jews from those calamities which oppressed them, this he prayeth for under the notion of Gods remembring them, and beholding their reproach.

2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens .

What our Fathers inherited as given them by thee, and we as left to us by them, is come into the hands of the Chaldeans.

3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows .

We are all of us without a King (who is the common Father of the Countrey) we are deprived of thy fatherly care and protection, many young Children amongst us are left without an earthly Parent.

Either our great Cities are like Widows wanting Magistrates. Or our Women that were married are left Widows.

4 We have drunken our water for mony, our wood is sold to us .

This seemeth to refer to the state of the Jews in Babylon where it is probable their adversaries made them buy both Water and Wood, which in the Land of Canaan they had plentifully and without any further charge to them, then fetching the one, and cutting down and bringing home the other.

Marginal references: Heb. cometh for price.

5 Our necks are under persecution, we labour and have no rest .

As the generality of Prisoners of War, are made slaves and put to hard and incessant labour, so in probability the most of the Jews were at first at least.

Marginal references: Heb. on our necks we are persecuted.

6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread .

The ten Tribes were all carried Captives into Assyria, many of the Kingdom of Iudah, as we have heard, fled into Egypt after the taking of Ierusalem. Giving the hand may either signifie working with their hands, and labouring for them. Or yielding up themselves to their power, or lifting up the hands as supplicants to them, or striking hands and making Covenants with them, or lending them their hands to help them, and all to get any thing to live upon.

7 Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we have born their iniquities .

We must not understand this in the same sense as Ezek. 18.2. where God reflecteth upon them for using a Proverb to this sense. It is the Prophet who here speaketh, and in the name of the Godly Iews who would not excuse themselves, as if they suffered meerly for their forefathers sins. But the Prophet confes[illegible: 1 letter]eth and bewaileth that God had punished their iniquities and the iniquities of their forefathers together, and it was better with their forefathers who had sinned, and were dead and gone, than with them upon whom the punishment of their iniquity did abide, and was like so to do a long time.

Marginal references: Jer. 31.29.

8 Servants have ruled over us : there is none that doth deliver us out of their hands .

Either those who sometimes were our servants, tributary to us, or the posterity of Cham, condemned of old to be Servants to our forefather Sem, Gen. 9.26. Or the servants of those masters whom we serve in Babylon.

And none will help us and give us more liberty.

9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness .

The Enemies lay incamped in all the plains, so as they could stir out no way but the sword of the Chaldeans was upon them, and what Victuals they gat they adventured their lives for, during the time of the siege.

10 Our skin was black like an oven, because of the terrible famine .

The want of bread caused leanness, and paleness, and ill colours in their faces.

Marginal references: Job. 30.30. Psal. 119.83.; Or, Terrors or stormes.

11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah .

Usual outrages of barbarous Souldiers. The Heb. is, They humbled, a modest term to express those actions by.

12 Princes are hanged up by their hand : the faces of elders were not honoured.

Most probably by the Enemies hands, though some would have it by their hands intimating a more sharp and lingring death. Hanging was an ancient way in the Eastern Countries of putting malefactors to death, Gen. 40.19.

Marginal references: Isa. 47.6.

13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood .

Their base servile condition is expressed by the labour they were put to, which was either grinding in the Mill (an ordinary employment of Slaves in those Countries) or carrying Millstones, and the younger Children, in carrying great burdens of wood under which they fell, as being not able to stand under the burdens laid upon them.

14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick .

Our grave men were wont to sit and execute judgment in the gates, but now there is no such thing. Our young men were wont to play on Musick, and to have their merry meetings, but they are also ceased.

15 The joy of our heart is ceased, our dance is turned into mourning.

Either our rejoycing at our solemn Festivals, and dancings there, which were usual as appeareth from many Scriptures. Or all our joy and dancings as well at other times as in our Solemn Festivals.

16 The crown is fallen from our head : wo unto us that we have sinned .

Or, the crown of our head is fallen, by which is not onely to be understood the cessation of their Kingdom, but all their honour, splendour and dignity, (Crown being taken in a metaphorical Notion).

We must thank our selves for all this, this wo is come upon us because of our sins.

Marginal references: Heb. the [illegible: 1 word] of our head is fallen.

17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim .

Either for our sins these miseries are befallen us: or for these miseries our Spirits fail us, and we are almost blinded with weeping.

Marginal references: Psal. 6.7.

18 Because of the mountain of Zion which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it .

Foxes and other wild beasts, which fly from places inhabited for fear of men inhabiting, and are much in desolate places. The Mountain of Zion, where the temple once stood, and people met to worship God, was now a desolate unfrequented place, so as wild beasts ran up and down there.

19 Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever: thy throne from generation to generation .

That is, Lord though for our sins thou sufferest these things to be done unto us, and our throne be through thy righteous Providence thrown down, and thy throne in thy Sanctuary amongst us be thrown down; yet thou art still the same God, thy power is not diminished, nor thy goodness abated. Thou rulest the world, and shalt rule it for ever and for ever.

Marginal references: Psal. 9.[illegible: 1 letter].[illegible: 1 letter] 10.16. & [illegible: 2 letters] 10. & 1[illegible: 1 letter]2.[illegible: 2 letters] 27. & 145.1[illegible: 1 letter] Hab. 1.12

20 Wherefore doest thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time ?

Wherefore dost thou in the dispensations of thy Providence carry thy self as if thou hadst forgotten us, and forsaken us, and that for a long time.

Marginal references: Heb. for [illegible: 1 word] of dayes.

21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned : renew our days as of old .

See the like expression Ier. 31.18. Turn thou us unto thee by giving us Repentance, and then our condition will be altered, or receive us into thy favour, and then it shall be well with us.

Restore us to our former estate, that it may be with us as it hath formerly been.

Marginal references: Psal. 80.[illegible: 2 letters] 19.

22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us .

Our Translators have here so rendered the particle [non-Latin text not transcribed] that the words seem to express some diffidence in the Prophet of Gods Mercy in restoring the people to their former state, some expressions of which nature we find falling from the most eminent Servants of God in an hour of great Temptation: but where such a sense is not necessary, it is hard to put it upon a Text. Some therefore expound [non-Latin text not transcribed] in this place by But if. Others translate them, Although thou hast, &c. Mr. Calvin prefereth the translation of them by Nisi, unless thou hast utterly rejected us, and thinks that by this expression the Prophet confirmeth himself against Temptations of diffidence, because it was impossible God should utterly cast off his People, Rom. 11.2. Others read it Interrogatively, Hast thou utterly rejected us? which doth not suppose that the Prophet believed he had, though his present Providence shewed him very angry with them.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] thou [illegible: 4 letters]ject us.

Lam 5:1-7

Supplication and statement regarding the distress. The quest made in Lam 5:1 refers to the oppression depicted in what follows. The words, "Remember, O Lord, what hath happened (i.e., befallen) us," are more fully explained in the second member, "Look and behold our disgrace." It is quite arbitrary in Thenius to refer the first member to the past, the second to the present, described in what follows, Lam 5:12-16. The Qeri הבּיטה is an unnecessary alteration, after Lam 1:11; Lam 3:63. - With Lam 5:2 begins the description of the disgrace that has befallen them. This consists, first of all, in the fact that their inheritance has become the possession of strangers. Rosenmüller rightly explains נחלה to mean, terra quae tuo nobis dono quandam est concessa. נחפך is used of the transference of the property to others, as in Isa 60:5. Many expositors would refer בּתּינוּ to the houses in Jerusalem which the Chaldeans had not destroyed, on the ground that it is stated, in 2Ki 25:9 and Jer 52:13, that the Chaldeans destroyed none but large houses. There is no foundation, however, for this restriction; moreover, it is opposed by the parallel נחלתנוּ. Just as by נחלה we are to understand, not merely the possession of Jerusalem, but of the whole country, so also בּתּינוּ are the dwelling-houses of the country in towns and villages; in this case, the question whether any houses still remained standing in Jerusalem does not demand consideration at all. Nägelsbach is wrong in his remark that נחלה and בּתּים respectively mean immovable and portable property, for houses are certainly not moveable property.

Lam 5:8

Further description of the miserable condition under which the congregation languishes. Lam 5:8. "Servants rule over us," etc. עבדים are not the Chaldean soldiers, who are in 2Ki 24:10 designated the servants of Nebuchadnezzar (Pareau, Rosenmüller, Maurer); still less the Chaldeans, in so far as they, till shortly before, had been the subjects of the Assyrians (Kalkschmidt); nor the Chaldean satraps, as servants of the king of Babylon (Thenius, Ewald); nor even "slaves who had been employed as overseers and taskmasters of the captives while on the march" (Nägelsbach); but the Chaldeans. These are called servants, partly because of the despotic rule under which they were placed, partly in the sense already indicated by C. B. Michaelis, as being those qui nobis potius, si pii fuissemus, servire debuissent, in accordance with the analogous designation of Jerusalem as a princess among the countries of the world, Lam 1:1.

Lam 5:9

And in addition to this humiliation under dishonourable servitude, we can get our daily bread only at the risk of our life. Thus there is fulfilled to them the threatening in Deu 28:28, "Ye shall be servants among your enemies, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and want of everything." בּנפשׁנוּ, "for the price of our soul," i.e., with our life at stake, we bring in our bread. The danger is more exactly described by what is added: "before the sword of the wilderness." By this expression are meant the predatory Bedouins of the desert, who, falling upon those that were bringing in the bread, plundered, and probably even killed them. The bringing of the bread is not, however, to be referred (with Rosenmüller, Maurer, and Kalkschmidt) to the attempts made to procure bread from the neighbouring countries; still less is it to be referred (with Thenius, Ewald, and Nägelsbach) to the need for "wringing the bread from the desert and its plunderers;" but it refers to the ingathering of the scanty harvest in the country devastated by war and by the visitations of predatory Bedouins: הביא is the word constantly employed in this connection; cf. 2Sa 9:10; Hag 1:6.

Lam 5:10

The bread which we are thus obliged to struggle for, at the risk of our life, is not even sufficient to allay hunger, which consumes our bodies. נכמר does not mean to be blackened (Chaldee, Kimchi, C. B. Michaelis, Maurer), but in Gen 43:30; 1Ki 3:26, and Hos 11:8, to be stirred up (of the bowels, compassion), hence to kindle, glow. This last meaning is required by the comparison with תּנּוּר, oven, furnace. This comparison does not mean cutis nostra tanquam fornace adusta est (Gesenius in Thes., Kalkschmidt), still less "black as an oven" (Dietrich in Ges. Lex.), because תּנּוּר does not mean the oven viewed in respect of its blackness, but (from נוּר) in respect of the fire burning in it. The meaning is, "our skin glows like a baker’s oven" (Vaihinger, Thenius, Nägelsbach, Gerlach), - a strong expression for the fever-heat produced by hunger. As to זלעפות, glowing heat, see on Psa 11:6.

Lam 5:11-12

With this must further be considered the maltreatment which persons of every station, sex, and age have to endure. Lam 5:11. Women and virgins are dishonoured in Jerusalem, and in the other cities of the land. Lam 5:12. Princes are suspended by the hand of the enemy (Ewald, contrary to the use of language, renders "along with" them). To hang those who had been put to death was something superadded to the simple punishment by death (Deu 21:22.), and so far as a shameful kind of execution. "The old men are not honoured," i.e., dishonoured; cf. Lam 4:16; Lev 19:32. The words are not to be restricted to the events mentioned in Jer 39:6, but also apply to the present condition of those who are complaining,

Lam 5:13-14

Youths and boys are forced to engage in heavy servile work. טחון נשׂאוּ does not mean "they take them for the mill," ad molendum sumpserunt (Ewald, Rosenmüller). Apart from the consideration that there is no ground for it in the language employed, such a view of the words does not accord with the parallelism. נשׂא, construed with a simple infinitive or accusative (without ל), does not mean "to take for something." טחון is a substantive, "the mill." "To bear (carry) the mill" signifies to work at and with the mill. We must think of the hand-mill, which was found in every household, and which could thus be carried from one place to another. Grinding was the work of salves; see on Jdg 16:21. The carrying of the mill (not merely of the upper millstone) is mentioned as the heaviest portion of the work in grinding. "Boys stagger (fall down) on the wood laid on them to be carried," i.e., under the burden of it. כּשׁל with בּ means to stumble on something; here בּ denotes the cause of the stumbling; cf. Jer 6:21; Lev 26:37. It is arbitrary to understand עץ as meaning the wooden handle of the mill (Aben Ezra, and Bochart in Hieroz. i. 157, ed. Rosenmüller); the same must also be said regarding the opinion of Thenius and Nägelsbach, who refer the words to the dragging of the hand-mills, and of the wood necessary for baking bread for the comfort of the soldiers, on the march of the captives to Babylon.

Lam 5:15-16

Under the pressure of such circumstances, all public meetings and amusements have ceased. "The elders cease from the fate." The gate was the place of assembly for the people, not merely for deliberating upon public affairs (Rth 4:15; Jos 20:4), but also "for social entertainment (since there were no refreshment-rooms, coffeehouses, and public baths, such as are now to be found in the East), or even for quiet enjoyment in looking at the motley multitude of passers-by; Gen 19:1; 1Sa 4:18; 1Sa 9:18; Job 29:7" (Winer’s Bibl. R.W.B. s.v. Thor). That the gate is here to be regarded as a place of entertainment and amusement, is shown by the parallel member, "young men cease from their instrumental music;" cf. Lam 1:4. On Lam 5:15, cf. Jer 7:34; Jer 16:9, and Jer 31:13; Psa 30:12. Lastly, in Lam 5:16, the writer sums up the whole of the misery in the complaint, "The crown of our head is fallen! woe unto us, for we have sinned," i.e., we suffer the punishment for our sins. "The fallen crown can only be a figurative expression for the honourable position of the people in its entirety, but which is now lost." Such is the view which Ewald rightly takes; on the other hand, the interpretation of Thenius, that "the 'crown of our head' is nothing else than Zion, together with its palaces, placed on Jerusalem, as it were on the head [of the country], and adorning it," deserves mention simply as a curious specimen of exegetical fancy. Nägelsbach has gone too far in restricting the figurative expression to the crown of Jerusalem, which consists in her being mistress among the nations, a princess among the regions of the earth (Lam 1:1), the perfection of beauty, and the joy of the whole earth (Lam 2:15); for "our crown" is not equivalent to Jerusalem, or a crown on the head of Jerusalem.

Lam 5:17-18

The request that the judgment of wrath may be averted, and that the former gracious condition may be restored. Lam 5:17 and Lam 5:18 form the transition to the request in Lam 5:19-22. "Because of this" and "because of these [things]" refer mainly to what precedes, yet not in such a way as that the former must be referred to the fact that sin has been committed, and the latter to the suffering. The two halves of the verse are unmistakeably parallel; the sickening of the heart is essentially similar to the dimness coming on the eyes, the former indicating the sorrow of the soul, while the latter is the expression of this sorrow in tears. "Because of this (viz., because of the misery hitherto complained of) the heart has become sick," and the grief of the heart finds vent in tears, in consequence of which the eyes have become dim; cf. Lam 2:11. But this sorrow culminates in the view taken of the desolation of Mount Zion, which receives consideration, not because of its splendid palaces (Thenius), but as the holy mountain on which the house of God stood, for "Zion" comprehended Moriah; see on Psa 2:6; Psa 9:12; Psa 76:3. The glory formerly attaching to Mount Zion (Psa 48:3; Psa 50:2) is departed; the mountain has been so much laid waste, that jackals roam on it. שׁוּעלים are not properly foxes, but jackals (as in Psa 63:11), which lodge among the ruins. הלּך is an intensive form, meaning to rove or roam about.

Lam 5:19-20

The glory of Zion, the earthly habitation of the Lord, is at an end, but the throne of the Lord endures eternally. Through this thought, the lamentation rises to the prayer that the Lord may not forsake His people for ever, but re-establish His kingdom on the earth. "Thou, O Jahveh, art enthroned eternally." This thought is expressed as the ground of hope, in nearly the same words as are found in Psa 102:13. Jahveh is the God of salvation. Since His throne endures eternally in heaven, He cannot let His kingdom perish on the earth. On this is founded the request, "Why wilt Thou forget us for ever, forsake us for a length of days (i.e., through life, always, Psa 23:6)?" This the Lord cannot do, because of His grace. From this is developed the further request (Lam 5:21), "Lead us back to Thyself, that we may return." We must not restrict השׁיב and שׁוּב to conversion to the Lord (Kalkschmidt, Ewald, Vaihinger, Gerlach); they signify the re-establishment of the gracious relation, which is, of course, impossible without repentance and conversion on the part of Israel. It is wrong to refer the words to the restoration of the people to their native land, or to the re-establishment of the theocracy (Dathe, Thenius), because it is not the exiles who address this petition to the Lord. The mode in which we are to understand the "bringing back to Jahveh" is shown in the second hemistich, "renew our days, as they were in former times," i.e., vouchsafe to us again the life (or state of grace) which we enjoyed in former times. In Lam 5:22 this request is based on an argument introduced in a negative form. כּי אם, after a negative clause, signifies nisi, but (Ger. sondern). This meaning developed into that of a strong limitation (cf. Ewald, §356), unless = provided that. Thus literally here: "unless Thou hast utterly rejected us, - art very wroth against us." This case, however, is merely stated as a possibility, the actual occurrence of which is out of the question. The idea is the same as that expressed by Jeremiah (Jer 14:19) in the form of a question, in order to give greater emphasis to his intercession for his nation. The Lord cannot have utterly rejected His people Israel, because He would thereby make His name to be despised in the eyes of the nations (Jer 14:21). Thus terminates this lamentation, with a request for whose fulfilment faith can hope with confidence.

Lam 5:21-22

In many Hebrew MSS Lam 5:21 is found repeated after Lam 5:22, to make the whole more suitable for public reading in the synagogue, that the poem may not end with the mention of the wrath of God, as is the case also at the close of Isaiah, Malachi, and Ecclesiastes: the intention is, to conclude with words of comfort. But v. 22, rightly understood, did not require this repetition: for, as Rhabanas has already remarked in Ghisleri commentar. on v. 22: non haec quasi desperando de salute populi sui locutus est, sed ut dolorem suum nimium de contritione et objectione diutina gentis suae manifestaret. This conclusion entirely agrees with the character of the Lamentations, in which complaint and supplication should continue to the end, - not, however, without an element of hope, although the latter may not rise to the heights of joyful victory, but, as Gerlach expresses himself, "merely glimmers from afar, like the morning star through the clouds, which does not indeed itself dispel the shadows of the night, though it announces that the rising of the sun is near, and that it shall obtain the victory."

An Appeal to God; Complicated Sorrows. (b. c. 588.)

1 Remember, O Lord , what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. 2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. 4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. 5 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. 6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. 7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. 8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. 9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. 11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. 13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. 14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. 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!

Is any afflicted? let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God, and make known before him his trouble. The people of God do so here; being overwhelmed with grief, they give vent to their sorrows at the footstool of the throne of grace, and so give themselves ease. They complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt: "Remember what has come upon us, v. 1. What was of old threatened against us, and was long in the coming, has now at length come upon us, and we are ready to sink under it. Remember what is past, consider and behold what is present, and let not all the trouble we are in seem little to thee, and not worth taking notice of," Neh. ix. 32. Note, As it is a great comfort to us, so it ought to be a sufficient one, in our troubles, that God sees, and considers, and remembers, all that has come upon us; and in our prayers we need only to recommend our case to his gracious and compassionate consideration. The one word in which all their grievances are summer up is reproach: Consider, and behold our reproach. The troubles they were in compared with their former dignity and plenty, were a greater reproach to them than they would have been to any other people, especially considering their relation to God and dependence upon him, and his former appearances for them; and therefore this they complain of very sensibly, because, as it was a reproach, it reflected upon the name and honour of that God who had owned them for his people. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

I. They acknowledge the reproach of sin which they bear, the reproach of their youth (which Ephraim bemoans himself for, Jer. xxxi. 19), of the early days of their nation. This comes in in the midst of their complaints (v. 7), but may well be put in the front of them: Our fathers have sinned and are not; they are dead and gone, but we have borne their iniquities. This is not here a peevish complaint, nor an imputation of unrighteousness to God, like that which we have, Jer. xxxi. 29, Ezek. xviii. 2. The fathers did eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge, and therefore the ways of the Lord are not equal. But it is a penitent confession of the sins of their ancestors, which they themselves also had persisted in, for which they now justly suffered; the judgments God brought upon them were so very great that it appeared that God had in them an eye to the sins of their ancestors (because they had not been remarkably punished in this world) as well as to their own sins; and thus God was justified both in his connivance at their ancestors (he laid up their iniquity for their children) and in his severity with them, on whom he visited that iniquity, Matt. xxiii. 35, 36. Thus they do here, 1. Submit themselves to the divine justice: "Lord, thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for we are a seed of evil doers, children of wrath, and heirs of the curse; we are sinful, and we have it by kind." Note, The sins which God looks back upon in punishing we must look back upon in repenting, and must take notice of all that which will help to justify God in correcting us. 2. They refer themselves to the divine pity: "Lord, our fathers have sinned, and we justly smart for their sins; but they are not; they were taken away from the evil to come; they lived not to see and share in these miseries that have come upon us, and we are left to bear their iniquities. Now, though herein God is righteous, yet it must be owned that our case is pitiable, and worthy of compassion." Note, If we be penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of our fathers, we may expect that he who punishes will pity, and will soon return in mercy to us.

II. They represent the reproach of trouble which they bear, in divers particulars, which tend much to their disgrace.

1. They are disseised of that good land which God gave them, and their enemies have got possession of it, v. 2. Canaan was their inheritance; it was theirs by promise. God gave it to them and their seed, and they held it by grant from his crown, (Ps. cxxxvi. 21, 22); but now, "It is turned to strangers; those possess it who have no right to it, who are strangers to the commonwealth of Israel and aliens from the covenants of promise; they dwell in the houses that we built, and this is our reproach." It is the happiness of all God's spiritual Israel that the heavenly Canaan is an inheritance that they cannot be disseised of, that shall never be turned to strangers.

2. Their state and nation are brought into a condition like that of widows and orphans (v. 3): "We are fatherless (that is, helpless); we have none to protect us, to provide for us, to take any care of us. Our king, who is the father of the country, is cut off; nay, God our Father seems to have forsaken us and cast us off; our mothers, our cities, that were as fruitful mothers in Israel, are now as widows, are as wives whose husbands are dead, destitute of comfort, and exposed to wrong and injury, and this is our reproach; for we who made a figure are now looked on with contempt."

3. They are put hard to it to provide necessaries for themselves and their families, whereas once they lived in abundance and had plenty of every thing. Water used to be free and easily come by, but now (v. 4), We have drunk our water for money, and the saying is no longer true, Usus communis aquarum—Water is free to all. So hardly did their oppressors use them that they could not have a draught of fair water but they must purchase it either with money or with work. Formerly they had fuel too for the fetching; but now, "Our wood is sold to us, and we pay dearly for every faggot." Now were they punished for employing their children to gather wood for fire with which to bake cakes for the queen of heaven, Jer. vii. 18. They were perfectly proscribed by their oppressors, were forbidden the use both of fire and water, according to the ancient form, Interdico tibi aqua et igni—I forbid thee the use of water and fire. But what must they do for bread? Truly that was as hard to come at as any thing, for (1.) Some of them sold their liberty for it (v. 6): "We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, have made the best bargain we could with them, to serve them, that we might be satisfied with bread. We were glad to submit to the meanest employment, upon the hardest terms, to get a sorry livelihood; we have yielded ourselves to be their vassals, have parted with all to them, as the Egyptians did to Pharaoh in the years of famine, that we might have something for ourselves and families to subsist on." The neighbouring nations used to trade with Judah for wheat (Ezek. xxvii. 17), for it was a fruitful land; but now it eats up the inhabitants, and they are glad to make court to the Egyptians and Assyrians. (2.) Others of them ventured their lives for it (v. 9): We got our bread with the peril of our lives; when, being straitened by the siege and all provisions cut off, they either sallied or stole out of the city, to fetch in some supply, they were in danger of falling into the hands of the besiegers and being put to the sword, the sword of the wilderness it is called, or of the plain (for so the word signifies), the besiegers lying dispersed every where in the plains that were about the city. Let us take occasion hence to bless God for the plenty that we enjoy, that we get our bread so easily, scarcely with the sweat of our face, much less with the peril of our lives; and for the peace we enjoy, that we can go out, and enjoy not only the necessary productions, but the pleasures of the country, without any fear of the sword of the wilderness.

4. Those are brought into slavery who were a free people, and not only their own masters, but masters of all about them, and this is as much as any thing their reproach (v. 5): Our necks are under the grievous and intolerable yoke of persecution (the iron yoke which Jeremiah foretold should be laid upon them, Jer. xxviii. 14); we are used like beasts in the yoke, that wholly serve their owners, and are at the command of their drivers. That which aggravated the servitude was, (1.) That their labours were incessant, like those of Israel in Egypt, who were daily tasked, nay, overtasked: We labour and have no rest, neither leave nor leisure to rest. The oxen in the yoke are unyoked at night and have rest; so they have, by a particular provision of the law, on the sabbath day; but the poor captives in Babylon, who were compelled to work for their living, laboured and had no rest, no night's rest, no sabbath-rest; they were quite tired out with continual toil. (2.) That their masters were insufferable (v. 8): Servants have ruled over us; and nothing is more vexatious than a servant when he reigns, Prov. xxx. 22. They were not only the great men of the Chaldeans that commanded them, but even the meanest of their servants abused them at pleasure, and insulted over them; and they must be at their beck too. The curse of Canaan had now become the doom of Judah: A servant of servants shall he be. They would not be ruled by their God, and by his servants the prophets, whose rule was gentle and gracious, and therefore justly are they ruled with rigour by their enemies and their servants. (3.) That they saw no probable way for the redress of their grievances: "There is none that doth deliver us out of their hand; not only none to rescue us out of our captivity, but none to check and restrain the insolence of the servants that abuse us and trample upon us," which one would think their masters should have done, because it was a usurpation of their authority; but, it should seem, they connived at it and encouraged it, and, as if they were not worthy of the correction of gentlemen, they are turned over to the footmen to be spurned by them. Well might they pray, Lord, consider and behold our reproach.

5. Those who used to be feasted are now famished (v. 10): Our skin was black like an oven, dried and parched too, because of the terrible famine, the storms of famine (so the word is); for, though famine comes gradually upon a people, yet it comes violently, and bears down all before it, and there is no resisting it; and this also is their disgrace; hence we read of the reproach of famine, which in captivity their received among the heathen, Ezek. xxxvi. 30.

6. All sorts of people, even those whose persons and characters were most inviolable, were abused and dishonoured. (1.) The women were ravished, even the women in Zion, that holy mountain, v. 11. The committing of such abominable wickednesses there is very justly and sadly complained of. (2.) The great men were not only put to death, but put to ignominious deaths. Princes were hanged, as if they had been slaves, by the hands of the Chaldeans (v. 12), who took a pride in doing this barbarous execution with their own hands. Some think that the dead bodies of the princes, after they were slain with the sword, were hung up, as the bodies of Saul's sons, in disgrace to them, and as it were to expiate the nation's guilt. (3.) No respect was shown to magistrates and those in authority: The faces of elders, elders in age, elders in office, were not honoured. This will be particularly remembered against the Chaldeans another day. Isa. xlvii. 6, Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. (4.) The tenderness of youth was no more considered than the gravity of old age (v. 13): They took the young men to grind at the hand-mills, nay, perhaps at the horse-mills. The young men have carried the grist (so some), have carried the mill, or mill-stones, so others. They loaded them as if they had been beasts of burden, and so broke their backs while they were young, and made the rest of their lives the more miserable. Nay, they made the little children carry their wood home for fuel, and laid such burdens upon them that they fell down under them, so very inhuman were these cruel taskmasters!

7. An end was put to all their gladness, and their joy was quite extinguished (v. 14): The young men, who used to be disposed to mirth, have ceased from their music, have hung their harps upon the willow-trees. It does indeed well become old men to cease from their music; it is time to lay it by with a gracious contempt when all the daughters of music are brought low; but it speaks some great calamity upon a people when their young men are made to cease from it. It was so with the body of the people (v. 15): The joy of their heart ceased; they never knew what joy was since the enemy came in upon them like a flood, for ever since deep called unto deep, and one wave flowed in upon the neck of another, so that they were quite overwhelmed: Our dance is turned into mourning, instead of leaping for joy, as formerly, we sink and lie down in sorrow. This may refer especially to the joy of their solemn feasts, and the dancing used in them (Judg. xxi. 21), which was not only modest, but sacred, dancing; this was turned into mourning, which was doubled on their festival days, in remembrance of their former pleasant things.

8. An end was put to all their glory. (1.) The public administration of justice was their glory, but that was gone: The elders have ceased from the gate (v. 14); the course of justice, which used to run down like a river, is now stopped; the courts of justice, which used to be kept with so much solemnity, are put down; for the judges are slain, or carried captive. (2.) The royal dignity was their glory, but that also was gone: The crown has fallen from our head, not only the king himself fallen into disgrace, but the crown; he has no successor; the regalia are all lost. Note, Earthly crowns are fading falling things; but, blessed be God, there is a crown of glory that fades not away, that never falls, a kingdom that cannot be moved. Upon this complaint, but with reference to all the foregoing complaints, they make that penitent acknowledgment, "Woe unto us that we have sinned! Alas for us! Our case is very deplorable, and it is all owing to ourselves; we are undone, and, which aggravates the matter, we are undone by our own hands. God is righteous, for we have sinned." Note, All our woes are owing to our own sin and folly. If the crown of our head be fallen (for so the words run), if we lose our excellency and become mean, we may thank ourselves, we have by our own iniquity profaned our crown and laid our honour in the dust.

Unchangeableness of God; Prayer for Mercy and Grace. (b. c. 588.)

17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. 18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. 19 Thou, O Lord , remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. 20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? 21 Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord , and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. 22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

Here, I. The people of God express the deep concern they had for the ruins of the temple, more than for any other of their calamities; the interests of God's house lay nearer their hearts than those of their own (v. 17, 18): For this our heart is faint, and sinks under the load of its own heaviness; for these things our eyes are dim, and our sight is gone, as is usual in a deliquium, or fainting fit. "It is because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the holy mountain, and the temple built upon that mountain. For other desolations our hearts grieve and our eyes weep; but for this our hearts faint and our eyes are dim." Note, Nothing lies so heavily upon the spirits of good people as that which threatens the ruin of religion or weakens its interests; and it is a comfort if we can appeal to God that that afflicts us more than any temporal affliction to ourselves. "The people have polluted the mountain of Zion with their sins, and therefore God has justly made it desolate, to such a degree that the foxes walk upon it as freely and commonly as they do in the woods." It is sad indeed when the mountain of Zion has become a portion for foxes (Ps. lxiii. 10); but sin had first made it so, Ezek. xiii. 4.

II. They comfort themselves with the doctrine of God's eternity, and the perpetuity of his government (v. 19): But thou, O Lord! remainest for ever. This they are taught to do by that psalm which is entitled, A prayer of the afflicted, Ps. cii. 27, 28. When all our creature-comforts are removed from us, and our hearts fail us, we may then encourage ourselves with the belief, 1. Of God's eternity: Thou remainest for ever. What shakes the world gives no disturbance to him who made it; whatever revolutions there are on earth there is no change in the Eternal Mind; God is still the same, and remains for ever infinitely wise and holy, just and good; with him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. 2. Of the never-failing continuance of his dominion: Thy throne is from generation to generation; the throne of glory, the throne of grace, and the throne of government, are all unchangeable, immovable; and this is matter of comfort to us when the crown has fallen from our head. When the thrones of princes, that should be our protectors, are brought to the dust, and buried in it, God's throne continues still; he still rules the world, and rules it for the good of the church. The Lord reigns, reigns for ever, even thy God, O Zion!

III. They humbly expostulate with God concerning the low condition they were now in, and the frowns of heaven they were now under (v. 20): "Wherefore dost thou forsake us so long time, as if we were quite deprived of the tokens of thy presence? Wherefore dost thou defer our deliverance, as if thou hadst utterly abandoned us? Thou art the same, and, though the throne of thy sanctuary is demolished, thy throne in heaven is unshaken. But wilt thou not be the same to us?" Not as if they thought God had forgotten and forsaken them, much less feared his forgetting and forsaking them for ever; but thus they express the value they had for his favour and presence, which they thought it long that they were deprived of the evidence and comfort of. The last verse may be read as such an expostulation, and so the margin reads it: "For wilt thou utterly reject us? Wilt thou be perpetually wroth with us, not only not smile upon us and remember us in mercy, but frown upon us and lay us under the tokens of thy wrath, not only not draw nigh to us, but cast us out of thy presence and forbid us to draw nigh unto thee? How ill this be reconciled with thy goodness and faithfulness, and the stability of thy covenant?" We read it, "But thou hast rejected us; thou hast given us cause to fear that thou hast. Lord, how long shall we be in this temptation?" Note, Thou we may not quarrel with God, yet we may plead with him; and, though we may not conclude that he has cast off, yet we may (with the prophet, Jer. xii. 1) humbly reason with him concerning his judgments, especially the continuance of the desolations of his sanctuary.

IV. They earnestly pray to God for mercy and grace: "Lord, do not reject us for ever, but turn thou us unto thee; renew our days," v. 21. Though these words are not put last, yet the Rabbin, because they would not have the book to conclude with those melancholy words (v. 22), repeat this prayer again, that the sun may not set under a cloud, and so make these the last words both in writing and reading this chapter. They here pray, 1. For converting grace to prepare and qualify them for mercy: Turn us to thee, O Lord! They had complained that God had forsaken and forgotten them, and then their prayer is not, Turn thou to us, but, Turn us to thee, which implies an acknowledgment that the cause of the distance was in themselves. God never leaves any till they first leave him, nor stands afar off from any longer than while they stand afar off from him; if therefore he turn them to him in a way of duty, no doubt but he will quickly return to them in a way of mercy. This agrees with that repeated prayer (Ps. lxxx. 3, 7, 19), Turn us again, and then cause thy face to shine. Turn us from our idols to thyself, by a sincere repentance and reformation, and then we shall be turned. This implies a further acknowledgment of their own weakness and inability to turn themselves. There is in our nature a proneness to backslide from God, but no disposition to return to him till his grace works in us both to will and to do. So necessary is that grace that we may truly say, Turn us or we shall not be turned, but shall wander endlessly; and so powerful and effectual is that grace that we may as truly say, Turn us, and we shall be turned; for it is a day of power, almighty power, in which God's people are made a willing people, Ps. cx. 3. 2. For restoring mercy: Turn us to thee, and then renew our days as of old, put us into the same happy state that our ancestors were in long ago and that they continued long in; let it be with us as it was at the first, and at the beginning, Isa. i. 26. Note, If God by his grace renew our hearts, he will be his favour renew our days, so that we shall renew our youth as the eagle, Ps. ciii. 5. Those that repent, and do their first works, shall rejoice, and recover their first comforts. God's mercies to his people have been ever of old (Ps. xxv. 6); and therefore they may hope, even then when he seems to have forsaken and forgotten them, that the mercy which was from everlasting will be to everlasting.

CHAP. V.

Ver. 1. REmember, O Lord, what is come upon us] This laſt Chapter is a brief Recapitulation of what had been ſaid in the four former,Propheta per [non-Latin text not transcribed] repetit omnia mala ſupra commemorata, & remedium petit à Domino. Figuelr. that they might be the better remembred and conſidered by the Reader. The ancient Greek and Latin Bibles ſtile it Jeremies prayer. Herein the Prophet, or rather the Church layeth open, as a Lazar, her ſores and ſufferings: and beggeth to be remembred and conſidered of God. Not that either forgetfulneſſe or inobſervancy can be found in him (for All things both paſt and future are preſent with him) but theſe are Metaphorical expreſſions, and He alloweth us to be his Remembrancers.

Conſider and behold] Heb. behold and ſee: Affectum cum effecta conjunctum ſignificat.

Our reproach] This is that which mans nature is moſt impatient of: to the Saints it is ſo much the more grievous, becauſe they do quarter Arms with Chriſt.

Ver. 2. Our inheritance is turned to ſtrangers] So the Jews called all other Nations, as the Greeks, Barbarians. From hence to ver. 19. there are ſo many verſes, ſo many ſeveral complaints. Whiles we are in this vale of miſery and vally of tears, we are ſure of many ailements, and ſtill to have ſomewhat to cry for.

Ver. 3. We are orphans and fatherleſſe] And ſo are become thy clients: juſt objects of thy pitty, Hoſ. 14.3.

Offic. 1.Ver. 4. We have drunk our water for money] Fire, water, and air, are common good, quae jure naturae ſunt omnium & ſingulorum, ſaith Cicero. Lyſimachus paid dear for a cup of water when he parted with his Kingdom for it. Dives would have done as much in hell for a drop, and could not have it.

Our wood is ſold to us] This was ſtrange to them (who had enough of their own growing, or might have it from the Commons for fetching) but juſt upon them for their abuſe of it to the ſervice of the Queen of heaven, Jer. 7.18.

Ver. 5. Our necks are under perſecution] For that we would not ſtoop to the ſweet yoke of thine obedience, but held it heavy, now we are under an intolerable yoke of extreme ſlavery.

We labour and have no reſt] Who once troubled Gods holy reſt by bearing burdens and working thereon, Jer. 17.21. In many places amongſt us, Gods Sabbath is made the voyder and dunghil for all refuſe buſineſſes. The Sabbath of the Lord the ſanctified day of his Reſt (ſaith a Reverend writer) is ſhameleſly troubled and diſquieted. B. K[illegible: 1 letter]ng on Jo[illegible: 1 letter]. Lec. 7. The Sabbath was never ſo profaned (ſaith ſuch another Reverend man yet living) with heart, hand, foot, tongue, pen and Preſſe, as of late. And is it not juſt with God that thoſe who would juſtle his religious Reſt out of its right,Mr. Ley his Faſt. Serm. before Parl. April 26. 1643. ſhould be reſtleſſe in their condition? as Lam. 5.5. Thus He. All wicked men acted and agitated by the devil day and night, may well cry out as here, We labour and have no reſt: but they are not ſenſible of this woful ſervitude.

Ver. 6. We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Aſſyrians] Enemies to the Chaldaeans, no leſſe then they were to us: but hard hunger (that driveth the wolf out of the wood) hath made us glad to be beholding to them for bread: ſo ill have the cruel Chaldees relieved and rewarded us for our work.

Nobis ſoret jucundius ſemel emori, quam vitam in vitam vivere.Ver. 7. Our fathers have ſinned and are not] They had their payment, but not comparable to ours: who have out-ſinned them, and do therefore juſtly bear the puniſhment of both their ſins and our own too.

Ver. 8. Servants have ruled over us] And they are uſually moſt inſolent; as was Tobiah the ſervant, Neh. 2.19. Cicero, after the defeat given to Pompey, complaineth in a certain Epiſtle, Lords we could not away with, and now we are forced to ſerve our fellow-ſervant. This was Canaans curſe to be a ſervant of ſervants, Gen. 9.25. See the Notes there.

Ver. 9. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives] So did our good Anceſtors the bread of life, whilſt their Preachers alſo were glad to do as Jotham did, Judg. 9.21. when they had delivered what they had to ſay, run away, and fly for their lives. See 2 Sam. 23.17.

Becauſe of the ſword of the wilderneſſe] Where rovers and robbers lay in wait for us: neither could we paſſe them without apparent peril.

Ver. 10. Our skin was black like an oven] Or, at a chimney, Iſa. 31.9. being ſtill beaten upon with the fire that is within it.

Becauſe of the terrible famine] Propter procellas famis, becauſe of the tempeſts of famine, which, like a violent ſtorm, beareth down all before it.

Ver. 11. They raviſhed the women in Zion] Heb. they humbled, i. e. they diſhoneſted: although Virgo invita vexari quidem poteſt, violari non poteſt. The Chaldee Paraphraſeth thus, The wives were raviſhed by the Romans, and the maides by the Chaldees: for the Jew-doctours do underſtand this book of the Lamentations concerning both the deſtructions of Jeruſalem.

Ver. 12. Princes are hanged up by the hand] Made to dye a dogs death,Calvin. and (as ſome will have it) by their own hands, [non-Latin text not transcribed].

The faces of the Elders were not honoured] Magna fuit quondam capitis reverentia cani: Inque ſuo precio ruga ſenilis erat.Ovid. But now it was otherwiſe with the Jewiſh Elders, who haply were not worthy of their years, as we ſay: like as the Princes had done wickedly with both hands earneſtly, and were therfore not undeſervedly hanged up by the hand: But if Quakers amongſt us might have their way, our families (ſaith One) would ſoon be like the cabbins of the Leſtringonians in Sicily, where every body was at liberty, and none regarded or reverenced their Seniours or Superiours.

Ver. 13. They took the young men to grind] i. e. To do any baſe and abject buſineſſe, Exod. 11.5. & 12.29. Fruſtra enim hic Hieronymus & alii Sodomiticum quid cogitant.

And the children fell under the wood] Being not able to ſtand under ſuch unreaſonable burthens as were laid upon their backs.

Ver. 14. The Elders have ceaſed from the gate] Where they were wont to ſit, Gen. 34.20. to judge between party and party.

The young men from their muſick] From their ordinary and honeſt recreations and diſports.

Ver. 15. The joy of our heart is ceaſed] Heb. keepeth Sabbath, i. e. is vaniſhed, and that becauſe we made not Gods Sabbath our delight, as Iſa. 58.13.

Ver. 16. The crown is fallen from our head] i. e. All our glory both of Church and State, becauſe we refuſed to ſerve God, which indeed is to reign in righteouſneſſe. Now neither is all this, nor any of this ſpoken to exaſperate or exulcerate peoples hearts to fret againſt God, or to faint under their preſſures, but to put them upon the practice of true humiliation that ſo they may not loſe the fruit of their Afflictions: whence the following paſſage,

Woe unto us that we have ſinned] Which as it runneth ſweetly and rythmically in the Original: ſo it pointeth us to that ſavory and ſoveraign practice of lamenting our ſins more then our miſeries; and humbling our ſelves to the utmoſt under the mighty hand of God, that he may lift up in due ſeaſon.

Ver. 17. For this, our heart is faine] Ponit ſymbolum vere contritionis, we are ſin-ſick even at heart: our ſins are as ſo many daggers at our hearts, or bearded arrows in our fleſh.

For theſe things our eyes are dim] we have well-nigh wept them out: whereby nevertheleſſe out minds have been illightened.Lachrymae ſunt ſuccus cordis contriti, ſeu liquores animae patientis.

Ver. 18. Becauſe of the mountain of Zion which is deſolate] q. d. Next unto our ſins (which are our greateſt ſorrow) nothing troubleth us more then this, that the publike exerciſes of Piety are put down: Sion, the ſeat of Gods Sanctuary is deſolate.

Ver. 19. Thou O Lord remaineſt for ever] Alioqui totus totus deſperaſſem, as that good man ſaid once in like caſe: Otherwiſe I ſhould have but ſmall joy of my life. But thou art everlaſting and invariable in eſſence, truth, will and promiſes: This is mine Anchor-hold.

Thy throne from generation to generation] i. e. Thy moſt equal and righteous ordering of all things, utut nobis quaedam confuſiuſculè currere videantur, though ſome things may ſeem to us to be ſomewhat confuſedly carried, and even to run on wheels, yet it ſhall one day appear that there was a wheel within a wheel, Ezek. 1. that is, an over ruling and all-diſpoſing Providence.

Ver. 20. Wherefore doſt thou forget us?] Sith thy Covenant runs otherwiſe? 2 Sam. 7.14. See on ver. 1.

And forſakeſt us ſo long time] Heb. to length of dayes, as Pſal. 23, 6. Not for Seventy years only, but to the end of the world: till wrath is come upon us to the utmoſt, as 2 Theſ. 2.

Ver. 21. Turn thou us unto thee] That thou maiſt turn thee to us, as Zach. 1.3. Let there be a through-reformation wrought in us: and then a gracious reſtauration wrought for us.

Eſt Apoſiopeſis ad pathos.Ver. 22. But thou haſt utterly rejected us] This is a ſad Cataſtrophe, or cloſe of this doleful ditty. Sometimes Gods ſuppliants are put hard to it in the courſe of their Prayers: the laſt grain of their faith and patience ſeemeth to be put into the ſcale. When the Son of man cometh with deliverance to his praying people, ſhall he find faith in the earth? Hard and ſcarce: And yet he comes oft when they have even done looking for him: he is ſeen in the Mount, he helpeth thoſe that are forſaken of their hopes: Hallelujah. Sure it is that God cannot utterly reject his people whom he hath choſen, Rom. 11. Tremellius rendreth it, and ſo the Margin of our Bibles hath it (and I think better) For wilt thou utterly reject us, or be extreamly wrath with us? ſc. ſupra modulum noſtrum, according to thine infinite power, and above all that we are able to bear? I cannot think it, neither doth it conſiſt with thy Covenant.

Here (as alſo at the end of Eccleſiaſtes, Iſaiah and Malachy) many of the Hebrew Bibles repeat the foregoing verſe, Turn thou us unto thee O Lord, &c. yet without pricks, left any thing ſhould ſeem added thereby to the holy Scriptures. The reaſon here of read in the end of the Prophecy of Iſa. This is alſo here obſerved by the moſt renowned Mr. Thomas Gataker, whom for honour ſake I name, and to whoſe moſt accurate and elaborate Annotations upon Iſaiah and Jeremy I have been not a little beholden, all along. Theſe he finiſhed not long before his death, to the great glory of God and good of his Church:Fretum Magellanicum. And of him, and this worthy Work of his I may fitly ſay as a learned man doth of Magellanus the Portingal (that great Navigator) that the Strait or Sea now called by his name, unâ navigatione ſimul & immortalem gloriam & mortem ei attulerit, Boxhorn. hiſtor. univerſal. was both his death, and his never-dying Monument.

1 Sam. 7.12. Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.