| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Lamentations
Chapter Two
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 2
This
chapter contains another alphabet, in which the Prophet Jeremiah, or those he
represents, lament the sad condition of Jerusalem; the destruction of the city
and temple, and of all persons and things relative to them, and to its civil or
church state; and that as being from the hand of the Lord himself, who is
represented all along as the author thereof, because of their sins, Lamentations 2:1;
and then the elders and virgins of Zion are represented as in great distress,
and weeping for those desolations; which were very much owing to the false
prophets, that had deceived them, Lamentations 2:10;
and all this occasioned great rejoicing in the enemies of Zion, Lamentations 2:15;
but sorrow of heart to Zion herself, who is called to weeping, Lamentations 2:18;
and the chapter is concluded with an address to the Lord, to take this her sorrowful
case into consideration, and show pity and compassion, Lamentations 2:20.
Lamentations 2:1 How
the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He cast
down from heaven to the earth The beauty of Israel, And did not remember His
footstool In the day of His anger.
YLT
1How doth the Lord cloud in
His anger the daughter of Zion, He hath cast from heaven [to] earth the beauty
of Israel, And hath not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.
How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his
anger,.... Not their persons for protection, as he did the Israelites
at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; nor their sins, which he blots out as a
thick cloud; or with such an one as he filled the tabernacle and temple with
when dedicated; for this was "in his anger", in the day of his anger,
against Jerusalem; but with the thick and black clouds of calamity and
distress; he "beclouded"F18יעיב
"obnubilavit", Montanus, Vatablus; "obnubilat", Cocceius.
her, as it may be rendered, and is by Broughton; he drew a veil, or caused a
cloud to come over all her brightness and glory, and surrounded her with
darkness, that her light and splendour might not be seen. Aben Ezra interprets
it, "he lifted her up to the clouds": that is, in order to cast her
down with the greater force, as follows:
and cast down from heaven
unto the earth the beauty of Israel; all its glory, both in
church and state; this was brought down from the highest pitch of its
excellency and dignity, to the lowest degree of infamy and reproach;
particularly this was true of the temple, and service of God in it, which was
the beauty and glory of the nation, but now utterly demolished:
and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger; to spare and
preserve that; meaning either the house of the sanctuary, the temple itself, as
the Targum and Jarchi; or rather the ark with the mercy seat, on which the
Shechinah or divine Majesty set his feet, when sitting between the cherubim;
and is so called, 1 Chronicles 28:2.
Lamentations 2:2 2 The Lord has swallowed up
and has not pitied All the dwelling places of Jacob. He has thrown down in His
wrath The strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down
to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
YLT
2Swallowed up hath the Lord,
He hath not pitied any of the pleasant places of Jacob, He hath broken down in
His wrath The fortresses of the daughter of Judah, He hath caused to come to
the earth, He polluted the kingdom and its princes.
The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath
not pitied,.... As he regarded not his own habitation the temple, nor the
ark his footstool, it is no wonder he should be unconcerned about the
habitations of others; as of the inhabitants of the land of Judea and of
Jerusalem, particularly of the king, his nobles, and the great men; these the
Lord swallowed up, or suffered to be swallowed up, as houses in an earthquake,
and by an inundation, so as to be seen no more; and this he did without showing
the least reluctance, pity, and compassion; being so highly incensed and
provoked by their sins and transgressions:
he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter
of Judah; not only the dwelling houses of the people, but the most
fortified places, their castles, towers, and citadels:
he hath brought them down to the ground; and not only
battered and shook them, but beat them down, and laid them level with the
ground; and all this done in the fury of his wrath, being irritated to it by
the sins of his people; even the daughter of Judah, or the congregation
thereof, as the Targum:
he hath polluted the kingdom, and the princes thereof; what was
reckoned sacred, the kingdom of the house of David, and the kings and princes
of it, the Lord's anointed; these being defiled with sin, God cast them away,
as filth to the dunghill, and gave them up into the hands of the Gentiles, who
were reckoned unclean; and thus they were profaned. Jarchi interprets these
princes of the Israelites in common, who were called a kingdom of priests; and
makes mention of a Midrash, that explains them of the princes above, or of
heaven.
Lamentations 2:3 3 He has cut off in fierce
anger Every horn of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand From before the
enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire Devouring all around.
YLT
3He hath cut off in the heat
of anger every horn of Israel, He hath turned backward His right hand From the
face of the enemy, And He burneth against Jacob as a flaming fire, It hath
devoured round about.
He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel,.... All its
power and strength, especially its kingly power, which is often signified by a
horn in Scripture; see Daniel 7:24; this
the Lord took away in his fierce anger, and left the land destitute of all
relief, help, defence and protection; whether from its king and princes, or
from its men of war or fortified places; all being cut off and destroyed:
he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy; either his
own right hand, with which he had used to fight for his people, and protect
them, but now withdrawing it, left them to the mercy of their enemies; or
Israel's right hand, which he so weakened, that they had no power to resist the
enemy, and defend themselves:
and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire which
devoureth round about; that is, his wrath was like a burning flaming fire, which
consumes all around, wherever it comes; thus the Lord in his anger consumed
Jacob, and left neither root nor branch.
Lamentations 2:4 4 Standing like an enemy, He
has bent His bow; With His right hand, like an adversary, He has slain all who
were pleasing to His eye; On the tent of the daughter of Zion, He has
poured out His fury like fire.
YLT
4He hath trodden His bow as
an enemy, Stood hath His right hand as an adversary, And He slayeth all the
desirable ones of the eye, In the tent of the daughter of Zion, He hath poured
out as fire His fury.
He hath bent his bow like an enemy,.... God sometimes
appears as if he was an enemy to his people, when he is not, by his conduct and
behaviour; by the dispensations of his providence they take him to be so, as
Job did, Job 16:9; he bends
his bow, or treads it, for the bending or stretching the bow was done by the
foot; and as the Targum,
"and
threw his arrows at me:'
he stood with his right hand as an adversary; with arrows
in it, to put into his bow or with his sword drawn, as an adversary does. The
Targum is,
"he
stood at the right hand of Nebuchadnezzar and helped him, when he distressed
his people Israel:'
and slew all that were pleasant to the eye; princes and
priests, husbands and wives, parents and children, young men and maids;
desirable to their friends and relations, and to the commonwealth:
in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion he poured out his fury
like fire; that is, either in the temple, or in the city of Jerusalem, or
both, which were burnt with fire, as the effect of divine wrath and fury; and
which itself is comparable to fire; like a burning lamp of fire, as the Targum;
or rather like a burning furnace or mountain; see Nahum 1:6.
Lamentations 2:5 5 The Lord was like an
enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has
destroyed her strongholds, And has increased mourning and lamentation In the
daughter of Judah.
YLT
5The Lord hath been as an
enemy, He hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up all her palaces, He
hath destroyed His fortresses, And He multiplieth in the daughter of Judah
Mourning and moaning.
The Lord was as an enemy,.... Who formerly was on
their side, their God and guardian, their protector and deliverer, but now
against them; and a terrible thing it is to have God for an enemy, or even to
be as one; this is repeated, as being exceeding distressing, and even
intolerable. Mr. Broughton renders it, "the Lord is become a very
enemy"; taking "caph" for a note of reality, and not of
similitude;
he hath swallowed up Israel; the ten tribes, or the
Jewish nation in general; as a lion, or any other savage beast, swallows its
prey, and makes nothing of it, and leaves none behind:
he hath swallowed up all her palaces: the palaces
of Zion or Jerusalem; the palaces of the king, princes, nobles, and great men;
as an earthquake or inundation swallows up whole streets and cities at once;
See Gill on Lamentations 2:2;
he hath destroyed his strong holds: the fortified places of
the land of Israel, the towers and castles:
and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and
lamentation; exceeding great lamentation, for the destruction of its cities,
towns, villages, and the inhabitants of them.
Lamentations 2:6 6 He has done violence to
His tabernacle, As if it were a garden; He has destroyed His place of
assembly; The Lord
has caused The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion. In His
burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest.
YLT
6And He shaketh as a garden
His tabernacle, He hath destroyed His appointed place, Jehovah hath forgotten
in Zion the appointed time and sabbath, And despiseth, in the indignation of
His anger, king and priest.
And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were
of a garden,.... The house of the sanctuary or temple, as the Targum; which
was demolished at once with great force and violence, and as easily done as a
tent or tabernacle is taken down; and no more account made of it than of a
cottage or lodge in a vineyard or garden, set up while the fruit was,
gathering; either to shelter from the heat of the sun in the day, or to lodge
in at night; see Isaiah 1:8;
he hath destroyed his places in the assembly; the courts
where the people used to assemble for worship in the temple; or the synagogues
in Jerusalem, and other parts of the land:
the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be
forgotten in Zion; there being neither places to keep them in, nor people to
observe them:
and hath despised, in the indignation of his anger, the king and
the priest; whose persons and offices were sacred, and ought to be treated
by men with honour and respect; but, for the sins of both, the Lord despised
them himself, and made them the object of his wrath and indignation, and
suffered them to be despised and ill used by others, by the Chaldeans; Zedekiah
had his children slain before his eyes, and then they were put out, and he was
carried in chains to Babylon, and there detained a captive all his days; and
Seraiah the chief priest, or, as the Targum here has it, the high priest, was
put to death by the king of Babylon; though not only the persons of the king
and priest are meant, but their offices also; the kingdom and priesthood ceased
from being exercised for many years.
Lamentations 2:7 7 The Lord has spurned His
altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord As on the day
of a set feast.
YLT
7The Lord hath cast off His
altar, He hath rejected His sanctuary, He hath shut up into the hand of the
enemy The walls of her palaces, A noise they have made in the house of Jehovah
Like a day of appointment.
The Lord hath cast off his altar,.... Whether of incense,
or of burnt offerings; the sacrifices of which used to be acceptable to him;
but now the altar being cast down and demolished, there were no more offerings;
nor did he show any desire of them, but the reverse:
he hath abhorred his sanctuary; the temple; by suffering
it to be profaned, pulled down, and burnt, it looked as if he had an abhorrence
of it, and the service in it; as he had, as it was performed without faith in
Christ, love to him, or any view to his glory; see Isaiah 1:13;
he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her
palaces; both the walls of the sanctuary, and the walls of the houses of
the kin, and princes; especially thee former are meant, both by what goes
before and follows:
they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of
a solemn feast; that is the enemy, the Chaldeans, made a noise in the temple,
blaspheming God, that had dwelt in it; insulting over the people of God, that
had worshipped there; rejoicing in their victories over them; singing their
"paeans" to their gods, and other profane songs; indulging themselves
in revelling and rioting; making as great a noise with their shouts and songs
as the priests, Levites, and people of Israel did, when they sung the songs of
Zion on a festival day. The Targum is,
"as
the voice of the people of the house of Israel, that prayed in the midst of it
in the day of the passover.'
Lamentations 2:8 8 The Lord has purposed
to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line; He
has not withdrawn His hand from destroying; Therefore He has caused the rampart
and wall to lament; They languished together.
YLT
8Devised hath Jehovah to
destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, He hath stretched out a line, He hath
not turned His hand from destroying, And He causeth bulwark and wall to mourn,
Together -- they have been weak.
The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion,.... Either
the wall of the city, as Aben Ezra; or the wall that encompassed the temple,
and all the outward courts of it, as Dr. LightfootF19Prospect of the
Temple, c. 17. p. 1089. thinks; this the Lord had determined to destroy, and
according to his purposes did destroy it, or suffer it to be demolished; and so
all were laid open for the enemy to enter:
he hath stretched out a line; a line of destruction,
to mark out how far the destruction should go, and bow much should be laid in
ruins; all being as exactly done, according to the purpose and counsel of God,
as if it was done by line and rule; see Isaiah 34:11;
he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying; till he made
a full end of the city and temple, as he first designed:
therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament: the
"chel" and the wall; all that space between the courts of the temple
and the wall that surrounded it was called the "chel"; and so the Targum,
the circumference or enclosure; and these were laid waste together, and so said
to lament: according to others they were two walls, a wall the son of a wall,
as Jarchi interprets it; an outward and an inward wall, one higher than
another; a low wall over against a high wall; which was as a rampart or
bulwark, for the strength and support of it:
they languished together; or fell together, as
persons in a fit faint away and full to the ground.
Lamentations 2:9 9 Her gates have sunk into
the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are
among the nations; The Law is no more, And her prophets find no
vision from the Lord.
YLT
9Sunk into the earth have
her gates, He hath destroyed and broken her bars, Her king and her princes
[are] among the nations, There is no law, also her prophets Have not found
vision from Jehovah.
Her gates are sunk into the ground,.... Either the gates of
the city or temple, or both; being broke and demolished, and laid level with
the ground, and covered with rubbish; for as for the Midrash, or exposition,
that Jarchi mentions, that the gates sunk into the earth upon the approach of
the enemy, that they might not have power over them, through which the ark
passed, is a mere fable of their Rabbins; and equally as absurd is the
additional gloss of the Targum,
"her
gates sunk into the earth, because they sacrificed a hog, and brought of the
blood of it to them:'
he hath destroyed and broken her bars; with which
the gates were bolted and barred, that so the enemy might enter; it was God
that did it, or suffered it to be done, or it would not have been in the power
of the enemy:
her king and her princes are among the Gentiles; Zedekiah, and
the princes that were not slain by the king of Babylon, were carried captive
thither; and there they lived, even among Heathens that knew not God, and
despised his worship:
the law is no more; the book of the law was
burnt in the temple, and the tables of it carried away with the ark, or
destroyed; and though, no doubt, there were copies of the law preserved, yet it
was not read nor expounded; nor was worship performed according to the
direction of it; nor could it be in a strange land. Mr. Broughton joins this
with the preceding clause, as descriptive of the Heathens: "her king and
her princes are among Heathen that have no law"; see Romans 2:12;
her prophets also find no vision from the Lord; there was
none but Jeremiah left in the land, and none but Ezekiel and Daniel in the
captivity; prophets were very rare at this time, as they were afterwards; for
we hear of no more after the captivity, till the coming of the Messiah, but
Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi; so that there was very little open vision; the
word of the Lord was precious or scarce; there was a famine of hearing it, 1 Samuel 3:1.
Lamentations 2:10 10 The elders of the daughter
of Zion Sit on the ground and keep silence; They throw dust on their
heads And gird themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem Bow their
heads to the ground.
YLT
10Sit on the earth -- keep
silent do the elders of the daughter of Zion, They have caused dust to go up on
their head, They have girded on sackcloth, Put down to the earth their head
have the virgins of Jerusalem.
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, and
keep silence,.... Who used to sit in the gate on thrones of judgment, and
passed sentence in causes tried before them; or were wont to give advice and
counsel, and were regarded as oracles, now sit on the ground, and dumb, as
mourners; see Job 2:13;
they have cast up dust upon their heads; on their
white hairs and gray locks, which bespoke wisdom, and made them grave and
venerable:
they have girded themselves with sackcloth: after the
manner of mourners; who used to be clothed in scarlet and rich apparel, in
robes suitable to their office as civil magistrates:
the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground: through shame
and sorrow; who used to look brisk and gay, and walk with outstretched necks,
and carried their heads high, but now low enough. Aben Ezra interprets it of
the hair of their heads, which used to be tied up, but now loosed and
dishevelled, and hung down as it were to the ground.
Lamentations 2:11 11 My eyes fail with tears, My
heart is troubled; My bile is poured on the ground Because of the destruction
of the daughter of my people, Because the children and the infants Faint in the
streets of the city.
YLT
11Consumed by tears have been
my eyes, Troubled have been my bowels, Poured out to the earth hath been my
liver, For the breach of the daughter of my people; In infant and suckling
being feeble, In the broad places of the city,
Mine eyes do fail with tears,.... According to Aben
Ezra, everyone of the elders before mentioned said this; but rather they are
the words of the Prophet Jeremiah, who had wept his eyes dry, or rather blind,
on account of the calamities of his people; though he himself obtained liberty
and enlargement by means thereof:
my bowels are troubled; all his inward parts
were distressed:
my liver is poured upon the earth; his gall bladder, which
lay at the bottom of his liver, broke, and he cast it up, and poured it on the
earth; see Job 16:13; and all
this was
for the destruction of the daughter of my people; or, the
"breach" of themF20על שבר "propter contritionem", Pagninus, Montanus,
Junius & Tremellius; "propter confractionem", Piscator;
"propter fractionem", Cocceius. ; their civil and church state being
destroyed and broke to shivers; and for the ruin of the several families of
them: particularly
because the children and sucklings swoon in the streets of the
city; through famine, for want of bread, with those that could eat it;
and for want of the milk of their mothers and nurses, who being starved
themselves could not give it; and hence the poor infants fainted and swooned
away; which was a dismal sight, and heart melting to the prophet.
Lamentations 2:12 12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?” As they swoon like the wounded In the streets
of the city, As their life is poured out In their mothers’ bosom.
YLT
12To their mothers they say,
`Where [are] corn and wine?' In their becoming feeble as a pierced one In the
broad places of the city, In their soul pouring itself out into the bosom of
their mothers.
They say to their mothers, where is corn and wine?.... Not the
sucklings who could not speak, nor were used to corn and wine, but the children
more grown; both are before spoken of, but these are meant, even the young men
of Israel, as the Targum; and such as had been brought up in the best manner,
had been used to wine, and not water, and therefore ask for that as well as
corn; both take in all the necessaries of life; and which they ask of their
mothers, who had been used to feed them, and were most tender of them; but now
not seeing and having their usual provisions, and not knowing what was the
reason of it, inquire after them, being pressed with hunger:
when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city; having no
food given them, though they asked for it time after time, they fainted away,
and died a lingering death; as wounded persons do who are not killed at once,
which is the more distressing:
when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom; meaning not
the desires of their souls for food, expressed in moving and melting language
as they sat in their mothers' laps, and lay in their bosoms; which must be
piercing unto them, if no more was designed; but their souls or lives
themselves, which they gave up through famine, as the Targum; expiring in their
mothers' arms.
Lamentations 2:13 13 How shall I console you? To
what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you,
that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is
spread wide as the sea; Who can heal you?
YLT
13What do I testify [to]
thee, what do I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What do I equal to
thee, and I comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For great as a sea [is]
thy breach, Who doth give healing to thee?
What thing shall I take to witness for thee?.... What
argument can be made use of? what proof or evidence can be given? what
witnesses can be called to convince thee, and make it a clear case to time,
that ever any people or nation was in such distress and calamity, what with
sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity, as thou art?
what thing shall I liken thee to, O daughter of Jerusalem? what kingdom
or nation ever suffered the like? no example can be given, no instance that
comes up to it; not the Egyptians, when the ten plagues were inflicted on them;
not the Canaanites, when conquered and drove out by Joshua; not the
Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, and Syrians, when subdued by David; or any
other people:
what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin
daughter of Zion? for this is one way that friends comfort the afflicted, by
telling them that such an one's case was as bad, and worse, than theirs; and
therefore bid them be of good heart; bear their affliction patiently; before
long it will be over; but nothing of this kind could be said here; no, nor any
hope given it would be otherwise; they could not say their case was like
others, or that it was not desperate:
for thy breach is great like the sea; as large and
as wide as that: Zion's troubles were a sea of trouble; her afflictions as
numerous and as boisterous as the waves of the sea; and as salt, as
disagreeable, and as intolerable, as the waters of it: or her breach was great,
like the breach of the sea; when it overflows its banks, or breaks through its
bounds, there is no stopping it, but it grows wider and wider:
who can heal thee? it was not in the power of man, in her own
power, or of her allies, to recover her out of the hands of the enemy; to
restore her civil or church state; her wound was incurable; none but God could
be her physician. The Targum is,
"for
thy breach is great as the greatness of the breach of the waves of the sea in
the time of its tempest; and who is the physician that can heal thee of thy
infirmity?'
Lamentations 2:14 14 Your prophets have seen
for you False and deceptive visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, To
bring back your captives, But have envisioned for you false prophecies and
delusions.
YLT
14Thy prophets have seen for
thee a false and insipid thing, And have not revealed concerning thine
iniquity, To turn back thy captivity, And they see for thee false burdens and
causes of expulsion.
Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee,.... Not the
prophets of the Lord; but false prophets, as the Targum; which were of the
people's choosing, and were acceptable to them; prophets after their own
hearts, because they prophesied smooth things, such as they liked; though in
the issue they proved "vain" and "foolish", idle stories,
impertinent talk, the fictions of their own brains; and yet they pretended to
have visions of them from the Lord; as that within two years Jeconiah, and all
the vessels of the temple carried away by the king of Babylon, should be
returned; and that he would not come against Jerusalem, nor should it be
delivered into his hands; see Jeremiah 28:2;
and they have not discovered thine iniquity: they did not
tell them of their sins; they took no pains to convince them of them, but
connived at them; instead of reproving them for them, they soothed them in
them; they did not "remove" the covering that was "over their
iniquity"F21ולא גלו
על עונך "et non
revelarunt legmen pravitati tuae impositum", Christ. Ben.
Miehaelis. , as it might be rendered; which they might easily have done, and
laid their sirs to open view: whereby they might have been ashamed of them, and
brought to repentance for them. The Targum is,
"neither
have they manifested the punishment that should come upon thee for thy sins;'
but,
on the contrary, told them it should not come upon them; had they dealt
faithfully with them, by showing them their transgressions, and the
consequences of them, they might have been a means of preventing their ruin:
and, as it here follows,
to turn away thy captivity; either to turn them from
their backslidings and wanderings about, as Jarchi; or to turn them by
repentance, as the Targum; or to prevent their going into captivity:
but have seen for thee false burdens, and causes of banishment; that is,
false prophecies against Babylon, and in favour of the Jews; prophecies, even
those that are true, being often called "burdens", as the
"burden of Egypt", and "the burden of Damascus", &c.
and the rather this name is here given to those false prophecies because the
prophecies of Jeremiah were reproached by them with it, Jeremiah 23:33,
&c. and because these proved in the issue burdensome, sad, and sorrowful
ones though they once tickled and pleased; and were the cause of the people's
going into exile and captivity they listening to them: or they were
"depulsions" or "expulsions"F23ומדוחים και
εξωσματα, Sept. "et expulsiones", Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin;
"et ad depulsionem spectantium", Junius & Tremellius;
"depulsiones, expulsiones", Stockius, p. 649. ; drivings, that drove
them from the right way; from God and his worship; from his word and prophets;
and, at last, the means of driving them out of their own land; of impelling
them to sin, and so of expelling them from their own country. The Targum
renders it, "words of error.'
Lamentations 2:15 15 All who pass by clap their
hands at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is
this the city that is called ‘The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole
earth’?”
YLT
15Clapped hands at thee have
all passing by the way, They have hissed -- and they shake the head At the
daughter of Jerusalem: `Is this the city of which they said: The perfection of
beauty, a joy to all the land?'
All that pass by clap their hands at thee,....
Travellers that passed by, and saw Jerusalem in ruins, clapped their hands at
it, by way of rejoicing, as well pleased at the sight. This must be understood,
not of the inhabitants of the land, but of strangers, who had no good will to
it; though they seem to be distinguished from their implacable enemies in Lamentations 2:16,
they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem; by way of
scorn and derision; hereby expressing their contempt of her, and the pleasure
and satisfaction they took in seeing her in this condition:
saying, is this the city
that men call the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth? a complete city, a most
beautiful one for its situation; for its fortifications by nature and art; for
its spacious buildings, palaces, and towers; and especially for the magnificent
temple in it, and the residence of the God of heaven there, and that pompous
worship of him there performed; on account of all which, and the abundant
blessings of goodness bestowed upon the inhabitants, they had reason to rejoice
more than all the men of the world besides; as well as they contributed many
ways to the good and happiness of all nations; this is what had been said by
themselves, Psalm 48:2; and had
even been owned by others; by the forefathers of those very persons that now
insult over it. So the Targum,
"is
this the city which our fathers that were of old said? &c.'
nor
do they by these words deny, but rather own, that it had been what was said of
it; but now the case was otherwise; instead of being a perfect beauty, it was a
perfect heap of rubbish; instead of being the joy of the whole earth, it was
the offscouring of all things.
Lamentations 2:16 16 All your enemies have
opened their mouth against you; They hiss and gnash their teeth. They
say, “We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day we have
waited for; We have found it, we have seen it!”
YLT
16Opened against thee their
mouth have all thine enemies, They have hissed, yea, they gnash the teeth, They
have said: `We have swallowed [her] up, Surely this [is] the day that we looked
for, We have found -- we have seen.'
All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee,.... Or
"widened"F24פצו
"dilatant", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. them; stretched them
out as far as they could, to reproach, blaspheme, and insult; or, like gaping
beasts, to swallow up and devour:
they hiss and gnash their teeth; hiss like serpents, and
gnash their teeth in wrath and fury; all expressing their extreme hatred and
abhorrence of the Jews, and the delight they took in their ruin and
destruction:
they say, we have swallowed her up; all her
wealth and riches were corns into their hands, and were all their own; as well
as they thought these were all their own doings, owing to their wisdom and
skill, courage and strength; not seeing and knowing the hand of God in all
this. These words seem to be the words of the Chaldeans particularly:
certainly this is the day that we have looked for; we have
found, we have seen it: this day of Jerusalem's destruction, which
they had long looked for, and earnestly desired; and now it was come; and they
had what they so much wished for; and express it with the utmost pleasure. In
this verse the order of the alphabet is not observed the letter פ, "pe", being set before the letter ע, "ain", which should be first, according to the
constant order of the alphabet; and which was so before the times of Jeremiah,
even in David's time, as appears by the ninety ninth Psalm, and others. Grotius
thinks it is after the manner of the Chaldeans; but the order of the Hebrew and
Chaldee alphabets is the same Dr Lightfoot thinksF25Vol. 1. p. 129.
the prophet, by this charge, hints at the seventy years that Jerusalem should
be desolate, which were now begun; the letter ע,
"ain", in numbers, denoting seventy. So Mr. BedfordF26Scripture
Chronology, p. 685. , who observes, that the transposition of these letters
seems to show the confusion in which the prophet was, when he considered that
this captivity should last seventy years. JarchiF1E Talmud Bab.
Sanhedrin, fol. 104. 2. says one is put before the other, because they spoke
with their mouths what they saw not with their eyes; "pe" signifying
the mouth, and "ain" an eye.
Lamentations 2:17 17 The Lord has done what
He purposed; He has fulfilled His word Which He commanded in days of old. He
has thrown down and has not pitied, And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over
you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.
YLT
17Jehovah hath done that
which He devised, He hath fulfilled His saying That He commanded from the days
of old, He hath broken down and hath not pitied, And causeth an enemy to
rejoice over thee, He lifted up the horn of thine adversaries.
The Lord hath done that which he had devised,.... It was
not so much the Chaldeans that did it, though they ascribed it to themselves;
but it was the Lord's doing, and what he had deliberately thought of, purposed
and designed within himself; all whose purposes and devices certainly come to
pass:
he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of
old; not only by the mouth of Jeremiah, years ago, or in the times of
Isaiah, long before him; but even in the days of Moses; see Leviticus 26:17,
&c. Deuteronomy 28:20,
&c. So the Targum,
"which
he commanded to Moses the prophet from ancient days, that if the children of
Israel would not keep the commands of the Lord, he would take vengeance on
them:'
he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied; he hath
thrown down, or caused to be thrown down, without any pity, the walls of
Jerusalem; and not only the houses and palaces in it, but also his own house,
the temple:
and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee; giving thorn
victory, and putting all into their hands; on which they insulted them, and
gloried over them:
he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries; increased
their strength and power, their kingdom and authority; and which swelled their
pride, and made them more haughty and insolent.
Lamentations 2:18 18 Their heart cried out to
the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let tears run down like a river day
and night; Give yourself no relief; Give your eyes no rest.
YLT
18Cried hath their heart unto
the Lord; O wall of the daughter of Zion, Cause to go down as a stream tears
daily and nightly, Give not rest to thyself, Let not the daughter of thine eye
stand still.
Their heart cried unto the Lord,.... Either the heart of
their enemies, as Aben Ezra; which cried against the Lord, and blasphemed him;
or rather the heart of the Jews in their distress, when they saw the walls of
the city breaking down, they cried unto the Lord for help and protection,
whether sincerely or not; no doubt some did; and all were desirous of
preservation:
O wall of the daughter of Zion! this seems to be an
address of the prophet to the people of Jerusalem carried captive, which was
now without houses and inhabitants, only a broken wall standing, some remains
and ruins of that; which is mentioned to excite their sorrow and lamentation:
let tears run down like a river, day and night; incessantly,
for the destruction and desolation made:
give thyself no rest; or intermission; but
weep continually:
let not the apple of thine eye cease; from pouring
out tears; or from weeping, as the Targum; or let it not "be silent"F2אל תדם "non taceat",
Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; "ne sileat", Calvin, Michaelis. , or
asleep; but be open and employed in beholding the miseries of the nation, and
in deploring them.
Lamentations 2:19 19 “Arise, cry out in the
night, At the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before
the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him For the life of your young
children, Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.”
YLT
19Arise, cry aloud in the
night, At the beginning of the watches. Pour out as water thy heart, Over
against the face of the Lord, Lift up unto Him thy hands, for the soul of thine
infants, Who are feeble with hunger at the head of all out-places.
Arise, cry out in the night,.... That is, O daughter
of Zion, or congregation of Israel, as the Targum; who are addressed and called
upon by the prophet to arise from their beds, and shake off their sleep, and
sloth, and stupidity, and cry to God in the night season; and be earnest and
importunate with him for help and assistance. Aben Ezra rightly observes, that
the word used signifies a lifting up of the voice both in singing and in
lamentation; here it is used in the latter sense; and denotes great vehemency
and earnestness in crying unto God, arising from deep distress and sorrow,
which prevents sleep:
in the beginning of the watches; either at the first of
them; so Broughton renders it, "at the first watch"; which began at
the time of going to bed: or at the beginning of each of them; for with the
ancient Jews there were three of them; in later times four: or in the beginning
of the morning watch, as the Targum; very early in the morning, before sun
rising; as they are called upon to pray late at night, so betimes in the
mottling:
pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord; use the
utmost freedom with him; tell him, in the fullest manner, thy whole case, fit
thy complaints; unbosom thyself to him; keep nothing from him; speak out freely
all lily soul needs; do all this publicly, and in the most affectionate way and
manner, thy soul melted in floods of tears, under a sense of sin, and pressing
evils for it. The Targum is,
"pour
out as water the perverseness of thine heart, and return by repentance, and
pray in the house of the congregation (or synagogue) before the face of the
Lord:'
lift up thine hands towards him; in prayer, as the Targum
adds; for this is a prayer gesture, as in Lamentations 3:41;
for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the
top of every street; pray for them, that they might have food and sustenance, to
preserve them alive; who, for want of it, were ready to swoon and die the
public streets; in the top of them, where they met, and where was the greatest
concourse of people, and yet none able to relieve them.
Lamentations 2:20 20 “See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this? Should the women eat their offspring, The children
they have cuddled?[a] Should the
priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord?
YLT
20See, O Jehovah, and look
attentively, To whom Thou hast acted thus, Do women eat their fruit, infants of
a handbreadth? Slain in the sanctuary of the Lord are priest and prophet?
Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this,.... On whom
thou hast brought these calamities of famine and sword; not upon thine enemies,
but upon thine own people, that are called by thy name, and upon theirs, their
young ones, who had not sinned as their fathers had: here the church does not
charge God with any injustice, or complain of hard usage; only humbly entreats
he would look upon her, in her misery, with an eye of pity and compassion; and
consider her sorrowful condition; and remember the relation she stood in to
him; and so submits her case, and leaves it with him. These words seem to be
suggested to the church by the prophet, as what might be proper for her to use,
when praying for the life of her young children; and might be introduced by
supplying the word "saying" before "behold, O Lord",
&c.
shall the women eat their fruit; their children, the
fruit of their womb, as the Targum; their newborn babes, that hung at their
breasts, and were carried in their arms; it seems they did, as was threatened
they should, Leviticus 26:29;
and so they did at the siege of Samaria, and at the siege of Jerusalem, both by
the Chaldeans and the Romans:
and children of a span long? or of a
hand's breadth; the breadth of the palms of the hand, denoting very little
ones: or "children handled", or "swaddled with the hands"F3עללי טפחים "parvulos qui
educantur", Pagninus; "parvulos educationum", Montanus;
"educationis", Calvin; "infantes palmationum, sive
tractationis palmarum", Michaelis; "pueros palmis tractatos",
Cocceius. ; of their parents, who are used to stroke the limbs of their babes,
to bring them to; and keep them in right form and shape, and swaddle them with
swaddling bands in a proper manner; see Lamentations 2:22;
and so the Targum,
"desirable
children, who are wrapped in fine linen.'
JarchiF4E
Talmud Bab. Yoma, fol. 38. 2. interprets it of Doeg Ben Joseph, whom his mother
slew, and ate:
shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the
Lord? as very probably some were, who fled thither for safety when the
city was broken up; but were not spared by the merciless Chaldeans, who had no
regard to their office and character; nor is it any wonder they should not,
when the Jews themselves slew Zechariah, a priest and prophet, between the
porch and the altar; of whom the Targum here makes mention; and to whom Jarchi
applies these words.
Lamentations 2:21 21 “Young and old lie On the
ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword; You
have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered and
not pitied.
YLT
21Lain on the earth [in]
out-places have young and old, My virgins and my young men have fallen by the
sword, Thou hast slain in a day of Thine anger, Thou hast slaughtered -- Thou
hast not pitied.
The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets,.... Young men
and old men, virgins and aged women; these promiscuously lay on the ground in
the public streets, fainting and dying for want of food; or lay killed there by
the sword of the enemy; the Chaldeans sparing neither age nor sex. The Targum
interprets it of their sleeping on the ground,
"young
men slept on the ground in the villages, and old men who used to lie on pillows
of fine wool, and on beds of ivory;'
but
the former sense is confirmed by what follows:
my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; by the sword
of the Chaldeans, when they entered the city:
thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger: thou hast
killed,
and not pitied; the Chaldeans
were only instruments; it was the Lord's doing; it was according to his will;
it was what he had purposed and decreed; what he had solemnly declared and
threatened; and now in his providence brought about, for the sins of the Jews,
by which he was provoked to anger; and so gave them up into the hands of their
enemies, to slay them without mercy; and which is here owned; the church takes
notice of the hand of God in all this.
Lamentations 2:22 22 “You have invited as to a
feast day The terrors that surround me. In the day of the Lord’s anger There
was no refugee or survivor. Those whom I have borne and brought up My enemies
have destroyed.”
YLT
22Thou dost call as [at] a
day of appointment, My fears from round about, And there hath not been in the
day of the anger of Jehovah, An escaped and remaining one, They whom I
stretched out and nourished, My enemy hath consumed!
Thou hast called, as in a solemn day, my terrors round about,.... Terrible
enemies, as the Chaldeans; these came at the call of God, as soldiers at the
command of their general; and in as great numbers as men from all parts of
Judea flocked to Jerusalem on any of the three solemn feasts of passover,
pentecost, and tabernacles. The Targum paraphrases it very foreign to the
sense;
"thou
shall proclaim liberty to thy people, the house of Israel, by the Messiah, as
thou didst by Moses and Aaron on the day of the passover:'
so that in the day of the Lord's anger none escaped or remained; in the city
of Jerusalem, and in the land of Judea; either they were put to death, or were
carried captive; so that there was scarce an inhabitant to be found, especially
after Gedaliah was slain, and the Jews left in the land were carried into
Egypt:
those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed; or "whom
I could span", as Broughton; or "handled"; whose limbs she had
stroked with her hands, whom she had swathed with bands, and had carried in her
arms, and had most carefully and tenderly brought up: by those she had
"swaddled" are meant the little ones; and by those she had
"brought up" the greater ones, as Aben Ezra observes; but both the
enemy, the Chaldeans, consumed and destroyed without mercy, without regard to
their tender years, or the manner in which they were brought up; but as if they
were nourished like lambs for the day of slaughter.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)