Lamentations 1:1-22
1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of greata servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.
4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.
8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.
11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.
12 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.
15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin,b the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.
16 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relievec my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.
17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.
18 The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment:d hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.
20 Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.
21 They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it: thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called,e and they shall be like unto me.
22 Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.
This chapter is composed in the acrostic character. Each verse begins with the Hebrew letters in alphabetical order; that is to say, the first begins with א aleph, the second with ב beth; and each verse contains three hemistichs, with the exception of Lamentations 1:1; Lamentations 1:19, which have four. The composition surpasses encomium, because the heart of the poet so acted as to touch the heart of the reader. The ideas and the figures are of the first style of composition. The words are laconic, as those of David: Oh Absalom, my son, my son. Such is the character of grief.
The following verse we sometimes find at the head of this book, introduced expletively. ”And it came to pass, after that Israel had been carried away captive, and Jerusalem was become desolate, that Jeremiah sat weeping, and lamented with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said,”
Lamentations 1:1. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people. A desecrated city without inhabitant is justly introduced as the first cause of sorrow: all was once regal and festive joy, now all is gloom and desolation.
Lamentations 1:4. The ways of Zion mourn. No joyful festivals, no train of worshippers entering at every gate, and cheering their accustomed dwellingplaces. No feasts with wine to gladden the heart, no animating worship in the temple, no fire on the altar to take away sin, no music, no virgin voices accompanying the psalms, no faithful prophets to preach to the people. All is mournful silence, and deathful gloom.
Lamentations 1:7. Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction all her pleasant things. Her mansions, her gardens, her splendour, and the brilliant sphere in which she had moved. The poor had not far to fall, but the feelings of the rich were exquisite.
Lamentations 1:8. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned. The impurity of her idolatries is now discovered. This is the answer to the enquiries in the first verse, and this is heaven's defence for afflicting her. Come hither then, all ye writers of elegies, who eulogize the spotless dead. Come hither then, all ye Flecheres, who make orations for princes; and ye humbler preachers of funeral sermons. Where is there one of you who dares to talk of Zion's sins? If your tongues are venal, how can you stand in presence of the prophets how in presence of God!
Lamentations 1:12. See if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. These words designate the sublime of grief. Jeremiah identifies himself with Zion. Many cities have been destroyed in war; but what city had fallen from Zion's glory? What sorrow could be compared to her's? The touchstone of the prophet's grief arose from joining his sorrows with those of Christ, who expressed the like sentiments in the garden.
Lamentations 1:18. My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. A disconsolate mother, without a child to wipe her tears. She called for her allies and lovers, but none durst appear. The heathen poets abound with examples of mourners, but all are irrelevant; they apply not to the woes of Zion.
REFLECTIONS.
Jeremiah was forbidden to marry, because of the calamities approaching his country; yet he called the people his children, and bewails them as lost. It has always been the character of genuine piety to sympathize with the afflicted, and to pray for their good. We should weep that the wicked may weep for themselves. Tears flowed plentifully by the waters of Babylon, Psalms 137., when they remembered their former good things and their glory; and had they wept earlier for their sins, these calamities would not have come.
The friendship of the wicked is founded on pleasure and interest; for they are lovers of themselves. Hence when Judah was in trouble, all her lovers forsook her. So it was with Babylon when her day was come, and so it was with the prodigal when his money was spent. Let us therefore seek acquaintance with the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He will never leave us in the time of trouble; and when dangers have surrounded his church, he has always appeared in due time for her salvation.
In this chapter, and in other parts of the poem, there is a frequent recurrence to sin as the cause of Israel's calamities. It is the abomination which maketh both the sanctuary and the soul a desolation. It is a blight which withers the most hopeful aspects, and causes the glory of grace to enshroud itself in thickest darkness. Let the ruins of Zion instruct the christian church, and awe us in the hour of temptation. The consideration of sin should enlighten our prayers when we deprecate the calamities of war; for every nation should fear God; then the paternal corrections of his own hand would be deemed sufficient. He would not suffer the sword of an enemy to correct the errors of his people; for he is the righteous Lord of heaven and earth.
The chapter closes with a curse against Babylon, the author of Judah's ruin: but as has been frequently observed of the curses in the psalms, it is purely predictive. It does not exclude repentance, and the turning away of God's fierce indignation. The king of Babylon is called, as was Cyrus and also the Messiah, the Lord's anointed. The Chaldeans had their commission signed in heaven; but they corrupted it through pride, through revenge, and with a bloody hand. Hence, in due time, it was right that God should commission the Medes to do unto Babylon as Babylon had done to Judah. The curse is purely the language of justice, and it associates with the cry of the martyrs. How long, Holy and True, dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth.