Lamentations 1:1-22. The miseries of Jerusalem The general subject running through this first chapter may be thus subdivided. Lamentations 1:1 lament the sufferings which Jerusalem is now undergoing, while twice in the course of this portion (Lamentations 1:9_; Lamentations 1:11_) the city itself b... [ Continue Reading ]
_How_ The Heb. (_"Ekhâh_), which occurs also at the commencement of chs. 2 and 4, as well as in Lamentations 1:2 of the latter, and may well have been a word introductory to funeral dirges, has supplied the Hebrew name for this Book, the custom of naming the Books of the Bible by the first word bein... [ Continue Reading ]
Löhr points out as special characteristics of this ch. the writer's yearning for revenge, and also his full recognition of the sin of his own time as well as of earlier generations. Lamentations 1:1 for metrical considerations should be arranged in three approximately equal lines; "she … nations" fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_in the night_ The time of natural silence and darkness is made a part of the picture in order to heighten the effect. The absence of the distractions of the day intensifies the sense of bereavement. _her lovers_(cp. Lamentations 1:19) … _her friends_ the neighbouring states, with whom in the sunshi... [ Continue Reading ]
_is gone into captivity because of affliction_ The better rendering is, _is gone into_ EXILE (so mg.) _because of affliction_, i.e. the long sufferings of the Jews at the hands of Egypt and Chaldaea had induced many of them to go voluntarily to dwell in other lands. That this frequently took place w... [ Continue Reading ]
_The ways of Zion do mourn_ The approaches to Jerusalem are meant. They are desolate, without the usual throng of those coming up to the feasts. For the thought of inanimate objects as sympathising with human affairs cp. "Call it not vain they do not err, Who say, that, when the Poet dies, Mute... [ Continue Reading ]
_are become the head_ There may be a reference to Deuteronomy 28:13; Deuteronomy 28:44. _prosper_ lit. ARE AT PEACE. Cp. Jeremiah 12:1 ("are … at ease"). _for the multitude, etc_.] The acknowledgement that Israel's calamities were the requital for her sin recurs frequently in this poem (Lamentation... [ Continue Reading ]
_majesty_ mg. less well, _beauty_. Exhaustion from hunger and fatigue has taken the place of dignity and wealth. _Her princes are become like harts_ The most natural reference is to the flight and capture of Zedekiah and his princes, Jeremiah 39:4 f. Cp. Jeremiah 52:10. The LXX and Vulg. for "harts... [ Continue Reading ]
The _v_. should, like the rest, be tripartite, whereas as it stands it has four lines. Löhr and others (probably rightly) consider "All her … old" as a gloss. We should then omit the "in" of the first clause. _miseries_ The original word is a rare one (cp. Lamentations 3:19), and probably means _wa... [ Continue Reading ]
_is become_(mg. _is removed) as an unclean thing_ Targ. _has become a wanderer_, but the text is doubtless right.... [ Continue Reading ]
These _vv_. in figurative language describe the Jewish people, as having brought upon itself through sin and consequent national humiliation the contempt of all its neighbours, while it is painfully conscious of its own ignominy (cp. Lamentations 4:21). The first two lines of Lamentations 1:9 are me... [ Continue Reading ]
_is she come down wonderfully_ Cp. Isaiah 47:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_pleasant_ lit. _desirable, precious_, with special reference to the Temple treasures (2 Chronicles 36:10; Jeremiah 52:19; 2 Kings 25:15). For the whole _v_. cp. Isaiah 64:10 f.; also Psalms 74, 79. _the heathen are entered into her sanctuary_ Those who were forbidden, at any rate as nations, ever t... [ Continue Reading ]
The people have already given up their most valuable possessions, that they had hitherto hoarded, for bread. There is therefore nothing now between them and starvation. _meat_ food. Cp. note on "oblations," Jeremiah 17:26. _vile_ See on Jeremiah 15:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is it nothing to you_ This rendering is precarious. Löhr considers the original commencement of the _v_. to be irrevocably lost. The lit. rendering of MT. is "not to you, etc." So the Syr., while the LXX fail to give any clear indication of their Heb. text. The Heb. letter (_Lamed_) which commences... [ Continue Reading ]
See introductory note. Zion, as at the end of the previous _v_., now speaks.... [ Continue Reading ]
Zion likens herself to one whose inmost parts are being consumed, as with flame. Cp. Jeremiah 20:9; Job 30:30; Psalms 102:3. _it prevaileth against it_ SUBDUETH, or, in the sense of the cognate root in Syriac, _chastiseth_. _He hath spread a net for my feet_ Cp. Jeremiah 50:24; Ezekiel 12:13; Job... [ Continue Reading ]
Notice the accumulation of figures under which the destruction of the city is represented, fiery rain, toils of a net, a blocking of the way, a yoke laid on the neck, a sacrificial banquet, the treading of grapes in a winepress.... [ Continue Reading ]
_is bound_ The manifold sins of the people are likened to a complication of cords, attaching a yoke to the neck of a beast of burden, and keeping it secure in its place. Cp. note on "bands and bars" of Jeremiah 27:2. The Heb. verb, however, occurs here only, and the reading may be corrupt. The LXX ... [ Continue Reading ]
_hath called a solemn assembly_ or, sacrificial banquet. Cp. Jeremiah 46:10; Isaiah 34:6; Ezekiel 39:17 ff.; Zephaniah 1:7 f. The festival is not for Israel but for the enemy, and that which is to be celebrated, the overthrow of the flower of the Jewish army. _hath trodden, etc_.] HATH TRODDEN THE W... [ Continue Reading ]
_For these things_ The particulars rehearsed in the last three _vv_. open again the floodgates of tears. _mine eye, mine eye_ This repetition spoils the metre, and arises in all probability from a copyist's error. _mine eye runneth down with water_ See Lamentations 3:48, and cp. the phrase "to wee... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the poet speaks, while Zion resumes her lament from Lamentations 1:18 to the end of the ch. _spreadeth forth her hands_ in fruitless supplication. For the phrase itself cp. Exodus 9:29; 1 Kings 8:38, etc. The Targ., however, takes the expression to indicate a gesture of pain. _Jerusalem is, e... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have rebelled against his commandment_ See on Lamentations 1:5. The Targ. strangely explains the _v_. as having reference to Josiah's defeat and death at Megiddo (b.c. 608).... [ Continue Reading ]
_my lovers_ See on Lamentations 1:2. _meat to refresh their souls_ See on Lamentations 1:11. The LXX add (but unnecessarily, and with injury to the metre), _and found it not_.... [ Continue Reading ]
With description of her distress Zion combines prayer, appealing to Jehovah for redress. _my bowels_ See on Jeremiah 31:20. _are troubled_ lit. _are in a ferment_. _is turned_ cannot rest, is violently agitated. _at home there is as death_ As violent death is imminent for those who stir abroad,... [ Continue Reading ]
The second and third lines are metrically irregular, as failing to fulfil the conditions of the "limping rhythm" of the Ḳinah. (See Intr. p. 321 f.) Löhr accordingly transposes "They are glad … done it" and "Thou wilt bring … proclaimed." _They have heard_ This verb has perhaps been assimilated to... [ Continue Reading ]
_For my sighs are many_ The connexion is, I have had my punishment. Do thou then proceed to inflict upon them their share. For the sentiment, as contrasted with N.T. teaching, cp. Jeremiah 18:20 ff.... [ Continue Reading ]