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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Lamentations I].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>L A M E N T A T I O N S.</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. I.</FONT>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We have here the first alphabet of this lamentation, twenty-two
stanzas, in which the miseries of Jerusalem are bitterly bewailed and
her present deplorable condition is aggravated by comparing it with her
former prosperous state; all along, sin is acknowledged and complained
of as the procuring cause of all these miseries; and God is appealed to
for justice against their enemies and applied to for compassion towards
them. The chapter is all of a piece, and the several remonstrances are
interwoven; but here is,
I. A complaint made to God of their calamities, and his compassionate
consideration desired,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:1-11">ver. 1-11</A>.
II. The same complaint made to their friends, and their compassionate
consideration desired,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:12-17">ver. 12-17</A>.
III. An appeal to God and his righteousness concerning it
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:18-22">ver. 18-22</A>),
in which he is justified in their affliction and is humbly solicited to
justify himself in their deliverance.</P>
</FONT>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Miseries of Jerusalem; Grief for the Loss of Ordinances.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 588.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 How doth the city sit solitary, <I>that was</I> full of people!
<I>how</I> is she become as a widow! she <I>that was</I> great among the
nations, <I>and</I> princess among the provinces, <I>how</I> is she become
tributary!
&nbsp; 2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears <I>are</I> on her
cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort <I>her:</I> all
her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become
her enemies.
&nbsp; 3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and
because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she
findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the
straits.
&nbsp; 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 <I>is</I> in bitterness.
&nbsp; 5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions:
her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
&nbsp; 6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her
princes are become like harts <I>that</I> find no pasture, and they
are gone without strength before the pursuer.
&nbsp; 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, <I>and</I> did mock at her
sabbaths.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 9 Her filthiness <I>is</I> in her skirts; she remembereth not her
last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no
comforter. O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath
magnified <I>himself.</I>
&nbsp; 10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant
things: for she hath seen <I>that</I> the heathen entered into her
sanctuary, whom thou didst command <I>that</I> they should not enter
into thy congregation.
&nbsp; 11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their
pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and
consider; for I am become vile.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Those that have any disposition to <I>weep with those that weep,</I>
one would think, should scarcely be able to refrain from tears at the
reading of these verses, so very pathetic are the lamentations
here.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. The miseries of Jerusalem are here complained of as very pressing
and by many circumstances very much aggravated. Let us take a view of
these miseries.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. As to their civil state.
(1.) A city that was populous is now depopulated,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
It is spoken of by way of wonder--Who would have thought that ever it
should come to this! Or by way of enquiry--What is it that has brought
it to this? Or by way of lamentation--Alas! alas! (as
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+18:10,16,19">Rev. xviii. 10, 16, 19</A>)
<I>how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people!</I> She was
full of her own people that replenished her, and full of the people of
other nations that resorted to her, with whom she had both profitable
commerce and pleasant converse; but now her own people are carried into
captivity, and strangers make no court to her: she <I>sits
solitary.</I> The <I>chief places of the city</I> are not now, as they
used to be, <I>place of concourse,</I> where <I>wisdom cried</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+1:20,21">Prov. i. 20, 21</A>);
and justly are they left unfrequented, because wisdom's cry there was
not heard. Note, Those that are ever so much increased God can soon
diminish. <I>How has she become as a widow!</I> Her king that was, or
should have been, as a husband to her, is cut off, and gone; her God
has departed from her, and has given her a bill of divorce; she is
emptied of her children, is solitary and sorrowful as a widow. Let no
family, no state, not Jerusalem, no, nor Babylon herself, be secure,
and say, <I>I sit as a queen,</I> and shall never <I>sit as a
widow,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+47:8,Re+18:7">Isa. xlvii. 8; Rev. xviii. 7</A>.
(2.) A city that had dominion is now in subjection. She had been
<I>great among the nations,</I> greatly loved by some and greatly
feared by others, and greatly observed and obeyed by both; some made
her presents, and others paid her taxes; so that she was really
<I>princess among the provinces,</I> and every sheaf bowed to hers;
even the princes of the people entreated her favour. But now the tables
are turned; she has not only lost her friends and <I>sits solitary,</I>
but has lost her freedom too and sits <I>tributary;</I> she paid
tribute to Egypt first and then to Babylon. Note, Sin brings a people
not only into solitude, but into slavery.
(3.) A city that used to be full of mirth has now become melancholy and
upon all accounts full of grief. Jerusalem had been a joyous city,
whither the tribes went up on purpose to rejoice before the Lord; she
was <I>the joy of the whole earth,</I> but now <I>she weeps sorely,</I>
her laughter if turned into mourning, her solemn feasts are all gone;
she weeps <I>in the night,</I> as true mourners do who weep in secret,
in silence and solitude; <I>in the night,</I> when others compose
themselves to rest, her thoughts are most intent upon her troubles, and
grief then plays the tyrant. What the prophet's head was for her, when
she regarded it not, now her head is--<I>as waters, and</I> her <I>eyes
fountains of tears,</I> so that she <I>weeps day and night</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+9:1">Jer. ix. 1</A>);
<I>her tears are</I> continually <I>on her cheeks.</I> Though nothing
dries away sooner than a tear, yet fresh griefs extort fresh tears, so
that her cheeks are never free from them. Note, There is nothing more
commonly seen <I>under the sun</I> than <I>the tears of the
oppressed,</I> with whom <I>the clouds return after the rain,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:1">Eccl. iv. 1</A>.
(4.) Those that were separated from the heathen now <I>dwell among the
heathen;</I> those that were a peculiar people are now a mingled people
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
<I>Judah has gone into captivity,</I> out of her own land into the land
of her enemies, and there she abides, and is likely to abide, among
those that are aliens to God and the covenants of promise, with whom
<I>she finds no rest,</I> no satisfaction of mind, nor any settlement
of abode, but is continually hurried from place to place at the will of
the victorious imperious tyrants. And again
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
"<I>Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy;</I> those
that were to have been the seed of the next generation are carried off;
so that the land that is now desolate is likely to be still desolate
and lost for want of heirs." Those that dwell among their own people,
and that a free people, and in their own land, would be more thankful
for the mercies they thereby enjoy if they would but consider the
miseries of those that are forced into strange countries.
(5.) Those that used in their wars to conquer are now conquered and
triumphed over: <I>All her persecutors overlook her between the
straits</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
they gained all possible advantages against her, sot hat her people
unavoidably <I>fell into the hand of the enemy,</I> for there was no
way to escape
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
they were hemmed in on every side, and, which way soever they attempted
to flee, they found themselves embarrassed. When they made the best of
their way they could make nothing of it, but were overtaken and
overcome; so that every where <I>her adversaries are the chief and her
enemies prosper</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>);
which way soever their sword turns they get the better. Such straits do
men bring themselves into by sin. If we allow that which is our
greatest adversary and enemy to have dominion over us, and to be chief
in us, justly will our other enemies be suffered to have dominion over
us.
(6.) Those that had been not only a distinguished by a dignified
people, on whom God had put honour, and to whom all their neighbours
had paid respect, are now brought into contempt
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
<I>All that honoured her</I> before <I>despise her;</I> those that
courted an alliance with her now value it not; those that caressed her
when she was in pomp and prosperity slight her now that she is in
distress, <I>because they have seen her nakedness.</I> By the
prevalency of the enemies against her they perceive her weakness, and
that she is not so strong a people as they thought she had been; and by
the prevalency of God's judgments against her they perceive her
wickedness, which now comes to light and is every where talked of. Now
it appears how they have vilified themselves by their sins: <I>The
enemies magnify themselves</I> against them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>);
they trample upon them, and insult over them, and in their eyes they
have <I>become vile,</I> the tail of the nations, though once they were
the head. Note, <I>Sin is the reproach of any people.</I>
(7.) Those that lived in a fruitful land were ready to perish, and many
of them did perish, for want of necessary food
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
<I>All her people sigh</I> in despondency and despair; they are ready
to faint away; their spirits fail, and therefore they sigh, <I>for they
seek bread</I> and seek it in vain. They were brought at last to that
extremity that there was <I>no bread for the people of the land</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+52:6">Jer. lii. 6</A>),
and in their captivity they had much ado to get break,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+5:6"><I>ch.</I> v. 6</A>.
<I>They have given their pleasant things,</I> their jewels and
pictures, and all the furniture of their closets and cabinets, which
they used to please themselves with looking upon, they have sold these
to buy bread for themselves and their families, have parted with them
<I>for meat to relieve the soul,</I> or (as the margin is) <I>to make
the soul come again,</I> when they were ready to faint away. They
desired no other cordial than meat. <I>All that a man has will he give
for life,</I> and for break, which is the staff of life. Let those that
abound in pleasant things not be proud of them, nor fond of them; for
the time may come when they may be glad to let them go for necessary
things. And let those that have competent food to relieve their soul be
content with it, and thankful for it, though they have not pleasant
things.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. We have here an account of their miseries in their ecclesiastical
state, the ruin of their sacred interest, which was much more to be
lamented than that of their secular concerns.
(1.) Their religious feasts were no more observed, no more frequented
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
<I>The ways of Zion do mourn;</I> they look melancholy, overgrown with
grass and weeds. It used to be a pleasant diversion to see people
continually passing and repassing in the highway that led to the
temple, but now you may stand there long enough, and see nobody stir;
for <I>none come to the solemn feasts;</I> a full end is put to them by
the destruction of that which was the <I>city of our solemnities,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+33:20">Isa. xxxiii. 20</A>.
<I>The solemn feasts</I> had been neglected and profaned
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:11,12">Isa. i. 11, 12</A>),
and therefore justly is an end now put to them. But, when thus <I>the
ways of Zion</I> are made to <I>mourn,</I> all the sons of Zion cannot
but mourn with them. It is very grievous to good men to see religious
assemblies broken up and scattered, and those restrained from them that
would gladly attend them. And, as <I>the ways of Zion mourned,</I> so
<I>the gates of Zion,</I> in which the faithful worshippers used to
meet, <I>are desolate;</I> for there is none to meet in them. Time was
when <I>the Lord loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of
Jacob,</I> but now he has forsaken them, and is provoked to withdraw
from them, and therefore it cannot but fare with them as it did with
the temple when Christ quitted it. <I>Behold, you house is left unto
you desolate,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:38">Matt. xxiii. 38</A>.
(2.) Their religious persons were quite disabled from performing their
wonted services, were quite dispirited: <I>Her priests sigh</I> for the
desolations of the temple; their songs are turned into sighs; they
sigh, for they have nothing to do, and therefore there is nothing to be
had; they sigh, as the people
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
<I>for want of bread,</I> because the offerings of the Lord, which were
their livelihood, failed. It is time to sigh when the priests, the
Lord's ministers, sigh. <I>Her virgins</I> also, that used, with their
music and dancing, to grace the solemnities of their feasts, <I>are
afflicted</I> and <I>in heaviness.</I> Notice is taken of their service
in the day of Zion's prosperity
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+68:25">Ps. lxviii. 25</A>,
<I>Among them were the damsels playing with timbrels</I>), and
therefore notice is taken of the failing of it now. <I>Her virgins are
afflicted,</I> and therefore <I>she is in bitterness;</I> that is, all
the inhabitants of Zion are so, whose character it is that they are
<I>sorrowful for the solemn assembly,</I> and that to them <I>the
reproach of it is a burden,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zep+3:18">Zeph. iii. 18</A>.
(3.) Their religious places were profaned
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
<I>The heathen entered into her sanctuary,</I> into the temple itself,
into which no Israelite was permitted to enter, though ever so
reverently and devoutly, but the priests only. <I>The stranger that
comes nigh,</I> even to worship there, <I>shall be put to death.</I>
Thither the heathen now crows rudely in, not to worship, but to
plunder. God had commanded that <I>the heathen should not</I> so much
as <I>enter into the congregation,</I> nor be incorporated with the
people of the Jews
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+23:3">Deut. xxiii. 3</A>);
yet now they <I>enter into the sanctuary</I> without control. Note,
Nothing is more grievous to those who have a true concern for the glory
of God, nor is more lamented, than the violation of God's laws, and the
contempt they see put upon sacred things. What <I>the enemy did
wickedly in the sanctuary</I> was complained of,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+74:3,4">Ps. lxxiv. 3, 4</A>.
(4.) Their religious utensils, and all the rich things with which the
temple was adorned and beautified, and which were made use of in the
worship of God, were made a prey to the enemy
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
<I>The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant
things,</I> has grasped them all, seized them all, for himself. What
these pleasant things are we may learn from
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:11">Isa. lxiv. 11</A>,
where, to the complaint of the burning of the temple, it is added,
<I>All our pleasant things are laid waste;</I> the ark and the altar,
and all the other tokens of God's presence with them, these were their
pleasant things above any other things, and these were now broken to
pieces and carried away. Thus from <I>the daughter of Zion all her
beauty has departed,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
<I>The beauty of holiness</I> was the <I>beauty of the daughter of
Zion;</I> when the temple, that holy and beautiful house, was
destroyed, her beauty was gone; that was the breaking of <I>the staff
of beauty,</I> the taking away of the pledges and seals of the
covenant,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+11:10">Zech. xi. 10</A>.
(5.) Their religious days were made a jest of
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
<I>The adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.</I> They
laughed at them for observing one day in seven as a day of rest from
worldly business. Juvenal, a heathen poet, ridicules the Jews in his
time for losing a seventh part of their time:--</P>
<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER=0>
<TR><TD>--------cui septima qu&aelig;que fuit lux
<BR>Ignava et vit&aelig; partem non attigit ullam----
<BR>They keep their sabbaths to their cost,
<BR>For thus one day in sev'n is lost;
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</CENTER>
<P>
whereas sabbaths, if they be sanctified as they ought to be, will turn
to a better account than all the days of the week besides. And whereas
the Jews professed that they did it in obedience to their God, and to
his honour, their adversaries asked them, "What do you get by it now?
What profit have you in keeping the ordinances of your God, who now
deserts you in your distress?" Note, it is a very great trouble to all
that love God to hear his ordinances mocked at, and particularly his
sabbaths. Zion calls them <I>her sabbaths,</I> for the sabbath was made
for men; they are his institutions, but they are her privileges; and
the contempt put upon sabbaths all the sons of Zion take to themselves
and lay to heart accordingly; nor will they look upon sabbaths, or any
other divine ordinances, as less honourable, nor value them less, for
their being mocked at.
(6.) That which greatly aggravated all these grievances was that her
state at present was just the reverse of what it had been formerly,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
Now, <I>in the days of affliction and misery,</I> when every thing was
black and dismal, <I>she remembers all her pleasant things that she had
in the days of old,</I> and now knows how to value them better than
formerly, when she had the full enjoyment of them. God often makes us
know the worth of mercies by the want of them; and adversity is borne
with the greatest difficulty by those that have fallen into it from the
height of prosperity. This cut David to the heart, when he was banished
from God's ordinances, that he could remember when he <I>went with the
multitude to the house of God,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+42:4">Ps. xlii. 4</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The sins of Jerusalem are here complained of as the procuring
provoking cause of all these calamities. Whoever are the instruments,
God is the author of all these troubles; it is <I>the Lord</I> that
<I>has afflicted her</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>)
and he has done it as a righteous Judge, for <I>she has sinned.</I>
1. Her sins are for number numberless. Are her troubles many? Her sins
are many more. it is <I>for the multitude of her transgressions</I>
that <I>the Lord has afflicted her.</I> See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+30:14">Jer. xxx. 14</A>.
When the transgressions of a people are multiplied we cannot say, as
Job does in his own case, that <I>wounds are multiplied without
cause,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:17">Job ix. 17</A>.
2. They are for nature exceedingly heinous
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
<I>Jerusalem has grievously sinned,</I> has <I>sinned sin</I> (so the
word is), sinned wilfully, deliberately, has sinned that sin which of
all others is the abominable things that the Lord hates, the sin of
idolatry. The sins of Jerusalem, that makes such a profession and
enjoys such privileges, are of all others the most grievous sins. She
has <I>sinned grievously</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
and therefore
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>)
she <I>came down wonderfully.</I> note, Grievous sins bring wondrous
ruin; there are some workers of iniquity to whom there is a strange
punishment,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+31:3">Job xxxi. 3</A>.
They are such sins as may plainly be read in the punishment.
(1.) They have been very oppressive and therefore are justly oppressed
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
<I>Judah has gone into captivity,</I> and it is <I>because of
affliction and great servitude,</I> because the rich among them
afflicted the poor and made them serve with rigour, and particularly
(as the Chaldee paraphrases it) because they had oppressed their Hebrew
servants, which is charged upon them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+34:11">Jer. xxxiv. 11</A>.
Oppression was one of their crying sins
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+6:6,7">Jer. vi. 6, 7</A>)
and it is a sin that cries aloud.
(2.) They have made themselves vile, and therefore are justly vilified.
They all <I>despise her</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
for <I>her filthiness is in her skirts;</I> it appears upon her
garments that she has rolled them in the mire of sin. None could stain
our glory if we did not stain it ourselves.
(3.) They have been very secure and therefore are justly surprised with
this ruin
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
<I>She remembers not her last end;</I> she did not take the warning
that was given her to <I>consider her latter end,</I> to consider what
would be the end of such wicked courses as she took, and therefore she
<I>came down wonderfully,</I> in an astonishing manner, that she might
be made to feel what she would not fear; therefore God shall <I>make
their plagues wonderful.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. Jerusalem's friends are here complained of as false and
faint-hearted, and very unkind: They <I>have all dealt treacherously
with her</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
so that, in effect, <I>they have become here enemies.</I> Her deceivers
have created her as much vexation as her destroyers. The staff that
breaks under us may do us as great a mischief as the <I>staff that
beats us,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+29:6,7">Ezek. xxix. 6, 7</A>.
<I>Her princes,</I> that should have protected her, have not courage
enough to make head against the enemy for their own preservation; they
<I>are like harts,</I> that, upon the first alarm, betake themselves to
flight and make no resistance; nay, they <I>are like harts</I> that are
famished for want of <I>pasture,</I> and therefore <I>are gone without
strength before the pursuer,</I> and, having no strength for flight,
are soon run down and made a prey of. Her neighbours are unneighbourly,
for,
1. There is none <I>to help her</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
either they could not or they would not; nay,
2. <I>She has not comforter,</I> none to sympathize with her, or
suggest any thing to alleviate her griefs,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7,9"><I>v.</I> 7, 9</A>.
Like Job's friends, they saw it was to no purpose, her <I>grief was so
great;</I> and <I>miserable comforters were they all</I> in such a
case.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. Jerusalem's God is here complained to concerning all these things,
and all is referred to his compassionate consideration
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
"<I>O Lord! behold my affliction,</I> and take cognizance of it;" and
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
"<I>See, O Lord! and consider,</I> take order about it." Note, The only
way to make ourselves easy under our burdens is to cast them upon God
first, and leave it to him to do with us as seemeth him good.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>God Acknowledged in Affliction; Jerusalem's Complaint.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 588.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 <I>Is it</I> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath afflicted <I>me</I> in the day of his
fierce anger.
&nbsp; 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 <I>and</I> faint all the
day.
&nbsp; 14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are
wreathed, <I>and</I> come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to
fall, the Lord hath delivered me into <I>their</I> hands, <I>from whom</I>
I am not able to rise up.
&nbsp; 15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty <I>men</I> in the
midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my
young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of
Judah, <I>as</I> in a winepress.
&nbsp; 16 For these <I>things</I> I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down
with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is
far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy
prevailed.
&nbsp; 17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, <I>and there is</I> none to
comfort her: the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath commanded concerning Jacob, <I>that</I> his
adversaries <I>should be</I> round about him: Jerusalem is as a
menstruous woman among them.
&nbsp; 18 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> is righteous; for I have rebelled against his
commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow:
my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
&nbsp; 19 I called for my lovers, <I>but</I> they deceived me: my priests
and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought
their meat to relieve their souls.
&nbsp; 20 Behold, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; for I <I>am</I> in distress: my bowels are
troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously
rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home <I>there is</I> as
death.
&nbsp; 21 They have heard that I sigh: <I>there is</I> none to comfort me:
all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that
thou hast done <I>it:</I> thou wilt bring the day <I>that</I> thou hast
called, and they shall be like unto me.
&nbsp; 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
<I>are</I> many, and my heart <I>is</I> faint.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The complaints here are, for substance, the same with those in the
foregoing part of the chapter; but in these verses the prophet, in the
name of the lamenting church, does more particularly acknowledge the
hand of god in these calamities, and the righteousness of his hand.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. The church in distress here magnifies her affliction, and yet no
more than there was cause for; her groaning was not heavier than her
strokes. She appeals to all spectators: <I>See if there be any sorrow
like unto my sorrow,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
This might perhaps be truly said of Jerusalem's griefs; but we are apt
to apply it too sensibly to ourselves when we are in trouble and more
than there is cause for. Because we feel most from our own burden, and
cannot be persuaded to reconcile ourselves to it, we are ready to cry
out, Surely never was <I>sorrow like unto our sorrow;</I> whereas, if
our troubles were to be thrown into a common stock with those of
others, and then an equal dividend made, share and share alike, rather
than stand to that we should each of us say, "Pray, give me my own
again."</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. She here looks beyond the instruments to the author of her
troubles, and owns them all to be directed, determined, and disposed of
by him: "It is <I>the Lord</I> that <I>has afflicted me,</I> and he has
<I>afflicted me</I> because he is angry with me; the greatness of his
displeasure may be measured by the greatness of my distress; it is
<I>in the day of his fierce anger,</I>"
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
Afflictions cannot but be very much our griefs when we see them arising
from God's wrath; so the church does here.
1. She is as one in a fever, and the fever is of God's sending: "<I>He
has sent fire into my bones</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
a preternatural heat, which <I>prevails against them,</I> so that they
are <I>burnt like a hearth</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:3">Ps. cii. 3</A>),
pained and wasted, and dried away."
2. She is as one in a net, which the more he struggles to get out of
the more he is entangled in, and this net is of God's spreading. "The
enemies could not have succeeded in their stratagems had not God
<I>spread a net for my feet.</I>"
3. She is as one in a wilderness, whose way is embarrassed, solitary,
and tiresome: "<I>He has turned me back,</I> that I cannot go on,
<I>has made me desolate,</I> that I have nothing to support me with,
but am <I>faint all the day.</I>"
4. She is as one in a yoke, not yoked for service, but for penance,
tied neck and heels together
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
<I>The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand.</I> Observe, We
never are entangled in any yoke but what is framed out of our own
transgressions. The sinner is <I>holden with the cords of his own
sins,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:22">Prov. v. 22</A>.
The yoke of Christ's commands is an <I>easy yoke</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+11:30">Matt. xi. 30</A>),
but that of our own transgressions is a heavy one. God is said to bind
this yoke when he charges guilt upon us, and brings us into those
inward and outward troubles which our sins have deserved; when
conscience, as his deputy, binds us over to his judgment, then <I>the
yoke is bound</I> and <I>wreathed by the hand</I> of his justice, and
nothing but the hand of his pardoning mercy will unbind it.
5. She is as one in the dirt, and he it is that has <I>trodden under
foot all her mighty men,</I> that has disabled them to stand, and
overthrown them by one judgment after another, and so left them to be
trampled upon by their proud conquerors,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
Nay, she is as one in a wine-press, not only trodden down, but trodden
to pieces, crushed as grapes in the wine-press of God's wrath, and her
blood pressed out as wine, and it is God that has thus <I>trodden the
virgin, the daughter of Judah.</I>
6. She is in the hand of her enemies, and it is the Lord that has
delivered her <I>into their hands</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
<I>He has made my strength to fall,</I> so that <I>I am not able to</I>
make head against them; nay, not only not able to rise up against them,
but <I>not able to rise up</I> from them, and then <I>he has delivered
me into their hands;</I> nay
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
<I>he has called an assembly against me, to crush my young men,</I> and
such an assembly as it is in vain to think of opposing; and again
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
<I>The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries should
be round about him.</I> He that has many a time <I>commanded
deliverances for Jacob</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+44:4">Ps. xliv. 4</A>)
now commands an invasion against Jacob, because Jacob has disobeyed the
commands of his law.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. She justly demands a share in the pity and compassion of those
that were the spectators of her misery
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
"<I>Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by?</I> Can you look upon
me without concern? What! are your hearts as adamants and your eyes as
marbles, that you cannot bestow upon me one compassionate thought, or
look, or tear? Are not you also in the body? Is it nothing to you that
your neighbor's house is on fire?" There are those to whom Zion's
sorrows and ruins are nothing; they are not <I>grieved for the
affliction of Joseph.</I> How pathetically does she beg their
compassion!
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
"<I>Hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow:</I> hear my
complaints, and see what cause I have for them." This is a request like
that of Job
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:21"><I>ch.</I> xix. 21</A>),
<I>Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you my friends!</I> It helps
to make a burden sit lighter if our friends sympathize with us, and
mingle their tears with ours, for this is an evidence that, though we
are in affliction, we are not in contempt, which is commonly as much
dreaded in an affliction as any thing.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. She justifies her own grief, though it was very extreme, for these
calamities
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
"<I>For these things I weep,</I> I weep in the night
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
when none sees; <I>my eye, my eye, runs down with water.</I>" Note,
This world is a vale of tears to the people of God. Zion's sons are
often Zion's mourners. <I>Zion spreads forth her hands</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
which is here an expression rather of despair than of desire; she
flings out her hands as giving up all for gone. Let us see how she
accounts for this passionate grief.
1. Her God has withdrawn from her; and Micah, that had but gods of
gold, when they were stolen from him cried out, <I>What have I more?
And what is it that you say unto me? What aileth thee?</I> The church
here grieves excessively; for, says she, <I>the comforter that should
relieve my soul is far from me.</I> God is the comforter; he used to be
so to her; he only can administer effectual comforts; it is his word
that speaks them; it is his Spirit that speaks them to us. His are
strong consolations, able to <I>relieve the soul,</I> to <I>bring it
back</I> when it is gone, and we cannot of ourselves <I>fetch it
again;</I> but now he has departed in displeasure, he is <I>far from
me,</I> and beholds me <I>afar off.</I> Note, It is no marvel that the
souls of the saints faint away, when God, who is the only Comforter
that can relieve them, keeps at a distance.
2. Her children are removed from her, and are in no capacity to help
her: it is for them that she weeps, as Rachel for hers, <I>because they
were not,</I> and therefore she <I>refuses to be comforted. Her
children were desolate, because the enemy prevailed</I> against them;
there is <I>none of all her sons to take her by the hand</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+51:18">Isa. li. 18</A>);
they cannot help themselves, and how should they help her? Both the
damsels and the youths, that were her joy and hope, <I>have gone into
captivity,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
It is said of the Chaldeans that they had <I>no compassion upon young
men nor maidens,</I> not on the fair sex, not on the blooming age,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+36:17">2 Chron. xxxvi. 17</A>.
3. Her friends failed her; some would not and others could not give her
any relief. She <I>spread forth her hands,</I> as begging relief, but
<I>there is none to comfort her</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
none that can do it, none that cares to do it; she <I>called</I> for
her <I>lovers,</I> and, to engage them to help her, <I>called</I> them
her <I>lovers,</I> but they <I>deceived</I> her
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
they proved like the brooks in summer to the thirsty traveller,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+6:15">Job vi. 15</A>.
Note, Those creatures that we set our hearts upon and raise our
expectations from we are commonly deceived and disappointed in. Her
idols were her lovers. Egypt and Assyria were her confidants. But they
deceived her. Those that made court to her in her prosperity were shy
of her, and strange to her, in her adversity. Happy are those that
have made God their friend and keep themselves in his love, for he will
not deceive them!
4. Those whose office it was to guide her were disabled from doing her
any service. The <I>priests</I> and the <I>elders,</I> that should have
appeared at the head of affairs, died for hunger
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>);
they <I>gave up the ghost,</I> or were ready to expire, <I>while they
sought their meat;</I> they went a begging for bread to keep them
alive. <I>The famine</I> is <I>sore</I> indeed <I>in the land</I> when
there is no bread to the wise, when priests and elders are starved. The
priests and elders should have been her comforters; but how should they
comfort others when they themselves were comfortless? "<I>They have
heard that I sigh,</I> which should have summoned them to my
assistance; but <I>there is none to comfort me. Lover and friend hast
thou put far from me.</I>"
5. Her enemies were too hard for her, and they insulted over her; they
have <I>prevailed,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
<I>Abroad the sword bereaves</I> and slays all that comes in its way,
and <I>at home</I> all provisions are cut off by the besiegers, so that
<I>there is as death,</I> that is, famine, which is as bad as the
pestilence, or worse--<I>the sword without and terror within,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:25">Deut. xxxii. 25</A>.
And as the enemies, that were the instruments of the calamity, were
very barbarous, so were those that were the standers by, the Edomites
and Ammonites, that bore ill will to Israel: They have <I>heard of my
trouble, and are glad that thou hast done it</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>);
they rejoice in the trouble itself; they rejoice that it is God's
doing; it pleases them to find that God and his Israel have fallen out,
and they act accordingly with a great deal of strangeness towards them.
<I>Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them,</I> that they are
afraid of touching and are shy of,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
Upon all these accounts it cannot be wondered at, nor can she be
blamed, that <I>her sighs are many,</I> in grieving for what is, and
that <I>her heart is faint</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>)
in fear of what is yet further likely to be.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
V. She justifies God in all that is brought upon her, acknowledging
that her sins had deserved these severe chastenings. The yoke that lies
so heavily, and binds so hard, is <I>the yoke of her
transgressions,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
The fetters we are held in are of our own making, and it is with our
own rod that we are beaten. When the church had spoken here as if she
thought the Lord severe she does well to correct herself, at least to
explain herself, but acknowledging
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
<I>The Lord is righteous.</I> He does us no wrong in dealing thus with
us, nor can we charge him with any injustice in it; how unrighteous
soever men are, we are sure that the <I>Lord is righteous,</I> and
manifests his justice, though they contradict all the laws of theirs.
Note, Whatever our troubles are, which God is pleased to inflict upon
us, we must own that therein he <I>is righteous;</I> we understand
neither him nor ourselves if we do not own it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+12:6">2 Chron. xii. 6</A>.
She owns the equity of God's actions, but owning the iniquity of her
own: <I>I have rebelled against his commandments</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>);
and again
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
<I>I have grievously rebelled.</I> We cannot speak ill enough of sin,
and we must always speak worst of our own sin, must call it
<I>rebellion, grievous rebellion;</I> and very grievous sins is to all
true penitents. It is this that lies more heavily upon her than the
afflictions she was under: "<I>My bowels are troubled;</I> they work
within me as the troubled sea; <I>my heart is turned within me,</I> is
restless, is turned upside down; <I>for I have grievously
rebelled.</I>" Note, Sorrow for our sin must be great sorrow and must
affect the soul.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VI. She appeals both to the mercy and to the justice of God in her
present case.
1. She appeals to the mercy of God concerning her own sorrows, which
had made her the proper object of his compassion
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
"<I>Behold, O Lord! for I am in distress;</I> take cognizance of my
case, and take such order for my relief as thou pleasest." Note, It is
matter of comfort to us that the troubles which oppress our spirits are
open before God's eye.
2. She appeals to the justice of God concerning the injuries that her
enemies did her
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>):
"<I>Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called,</I> the day that is
fixed in the counsels of God and published in the prophecies, when my
enemies, that now prosecute me, <I>shall be made like unto me,</I> when
the cup of trembling, now put into my hands, shall be put into theirs."
It may be read as a prayer, "Let the day appointed come," and so it
goes on, "<I>Let their wickedness come before thee,</I> let it come to
be remembered, let it come to be reckoned for; take vengeance on them
for all the wrongs they have done to me
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:14,15">Ps. cix. 14, 15</A>);
hasten the time when thou wilt <I>do to them</I> for their
transgressions <I>as thou hast done to me</I> for mine." This prayer
amounts to a protestation against all thoughts of a coalition with
them, and to a prediction of their ruin, subscribing to that which God
had in his word spoken of it. Note, Our prayers may and must agree
with God's word; and what day God has here called we are to call for,
and no other. And though we are bound in charity to forgive our
enemies, and to pray for them, yet we may in faith pray for the
accomplishment of that which God has spoken against his and his
church's enemies, that will not repent to give him glory.</P>
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