ZION'S DESOLATION AND SORROW Though the five poems contained in the book have practically the same theme—the downfall of Jerusalem—yet each poem dwells on a different phase of the subject as intimated in the opening words of each chapter This first one emphasises the desolation and misery of the cit... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW] a characteristic word for the commencement of an elegy: cp. Lamentations 2:1; Lamentations 4:1; Isaiah 14:4. SIT SOLITARY] in the sense of empty houses and deserted streets. PROVINCES] the neighbouring countries, such as Edom and Moab.... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVERS] synonymous with FRIENDS, viz. her allies Edom and Egypt (Lamentations 4:22).... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE OF AFFLICTION AND.. GREAT SERVITUDE] i.e. Judah chose exile to escape the sufferings to which she was exposed in her own land (Jeremiah 40:11). BETWEEN THE STRAITS] RV 'within the straits.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WAYS OF ZION DO MOURN] The roads by which pilgrims came up to the feasts are now deserted (Jeremiah 14:2). HER VIRGINS] those who took part in the festal occasions (Psalms 68:25).... [ Continue Reading ]
ARE THE CHIEF] RV 'are become the head': i.e. Judah has lost her leadership. BEFORE THE ENEMY] driven as slaves.... [ Continue Reading ]
HER PRINCES ARE BECOME LIKE HARTS] referring to Zedekiah's flight with his sons (Jeremiah 39:4).... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBERED] RV 'remembereth.' SABBATHS] RV 'desolations,' in the sense probably of ceasings: cp. the enforced sabbaths of Leviticus 26:34; Leviticus 26:35. The Heb. word employed here is not found elsewhere in OT.... [ Continue Reading ]
IS REMOVED] RV 'is become as an unclean thing.' HER NAKEDNESS] her sin and its punishment (Lamentations 4:21).... [ Continue Reading ]
HER FILTHINESS] moral pollution, expressed by a bold but common Oriental figure (Jeremiah 13:22). SHE REMEMBERETH NOT] RV 'she remembered not.'... [ Continue Reading ]
PLEASANT THINGS] primarily the vessels of the sanctuary (2 Chronicles 36:10; 2 Chronicles 36:19), but ineluding all of Jerusalem's precious possessions. 12-19. Zion's comfortless condition due to Jehovah's righteousness.... [ Continue Reading ]
Zion yearns for sympathy.... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM ABOVE] RV 'From on high.'... [ Continue Reading ]
IS BOUND] a bucolic figure, God being represented as binding Judah's sins upon his neck as a ploughman binds the yoke upon oxen (Jeremiah 27:2). HE HATH MADE MY STRENGTH TO FALL] rather, 'it (the yoke) hath caused my strength to stumble.' THE LORD] in Heb. _Adonai,_ used 14 times in Lamentations to... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH CALLED AN ASSEMBLY] lit. 'an appointed time': i.e. a religious festival (Leviticus 23:4); not for Israel, however, but for the enemy, to celebrate the defeat of Zion's soldiers.... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE EYE, MINE EYE] The emphatic repetition reminding one of Jeremiah's style (Jeremiah 4:19; Jeremiah 6:14).... [ Continue Reading ]
_That_ HIS ADVERSARIES _should be_ ROUND ABOUT HIM] i.e. that his nearest neighbours should be his most hateful foes. In this v. the poet speaks.... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVERS] see on Lamentations 1:2. MY PRIESTS AND MINE ELDERS] Even the most honoured chiefs of the city died of starvation. 20-22. In distress Zion appeals to Jehovah for redress.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAY] i.e. the day of vengeance on Zion, long before announced (Jeremiah 25:17).... [ Continue Reading ]
LET ALL THEIR WICKEDNESS COME BEFORE THEE] a not infrequent prayer of OT. saints for righteous retribution upon the enemy: cp. Psalms 69, 109, 137 Jeremiah 18:20 not altogether unjustifiable, for the Hebrew was conscious that wickedness must be punished, but far below the plane of the Sermon on the... [ Continue Reading ]