mh_parser/vol_split/25 - Lamentations/Chapter 4.xml

<div2 id="Lam.v" n="v" next="Lam.vi" prev="Lam.iv" progress="49.06%" title="Chapter IV">
<h2 id="Lam.v-p0.1">L A M E N T A T I O N S.</h2>
<h3 id="Lam.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Lam.v-p1" shownumber="no">This chapter is another single alphabet of
Lamentations for the destruction of Jerusalem, like those in the
first two chapters. I. The prophet here laments the injuries and
indignities done to those to whom respect used to be shown,
<scripRef id="Lam.v-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.1-Lam.4.2" parsed="|Lam|4|1|4|2" passage="La 4:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. He laments
the direful effects of the famine to which they were reduced by the
siege, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.3-Lam.4.10" parsed="|Lam|4|3|4|10" passage="La 4:3-10">ver. 3-10</scripRef>. III. He
laments the taking and sacking of Jerusalem and its amazing
desolations, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.11-Lam.4.12" parsed="|Lam|4|11|4|12" passage="La 4:11,12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>.
IV. He acknowledges that the sins of their leaders were the cause
of all these calamities, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.13-Lam.4.16" parsed="|Lam|4|13|4|16" passage="La 4:13-16">ver.
13-16</scripRef>. V. He gives up all as doomed to utter ruin, for
their enemies were every way too hard for them, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.17-Lam.4.20" parsed="|Lam|4|17|4|20" passage="La 4:17-20">ver. 17-20</scripRef>. VI. He foretels the destruction
of the Edomites who triumphed in Jerusalem's fall, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.21" parsed="|Lam|4|21|0|0" passage="La 4:21">ver. 21</scripRef>. VII. He foretels the return
of the captivity of Zion at last, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.22" parsed="|Lam|4|22|0|0" passage="La 4:22">ver.
22</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Lam.v-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4" parsed="|Lam|4|0|0|0" passage="La 4" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Lam.v-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.1-Lam.4.12" parsed="|Lam|4|1|4|12" passage="La 4:1-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.v-p1.10">
<h4 id="Lam.v-p1.11">Desolate Condition of Jerusalem; Effects of
Famine in Jerusalem; Destruction of Jerusalem. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.v-p1.12">b.
c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.v-p2" shownumber="no">1 How is the gold become dim! <i>how</i> is the
most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out
in the top of every street.   2 The precious sons of Zion,
comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers,
the work of the hands of the potter!   3 Even the sea monsters
draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the
daughter of my people <i>is become</i> cruel, like the ostriches in
the wilderness.   4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth
to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread,
<i>and</i> no man breaketh <i>it</i> unto them.   5 They that
did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were
brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.   6 For the
punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater
than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in
a moment, and no hands stayed on her.   7 Her Nazarites were
purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy
in body than rubies, their polishing <i>was</i> of sapphire:  
8 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the
streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is
become like a stick.   9 <i>They that be</i> slain with the
sword are better than <i>they that be</i> slain with hunger: for
these pine away, stricken through for <i>want of</i> the fruits of
the field.   10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden
their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the
daughter of my people.   11 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.v-p2.1">Lord</span> hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured
out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath
devoured the foundations thereof.   12 The kings of the earth,
and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that
the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of
Jerusalem.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p3" shownumber="no">The elegy in this chapter begins with a
lamentation of the very sad and doleful change which the judgments
of God had made in Jerusalem. The city that was formerly <i>as
gold,</i> as <i>the most fine gold,</i> so rich and splendid,
<i>the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth,</i> has
become dim, and is changed, has lost its lustre, lost its value, is
not what it was; it has become dross. Alas! what an alteration is
here!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p4" shownumber="no">I. The temple was laid waste, which was the
glory of Jerusalem and its protection. It is given up into the
hands of the enemy. And some understand the gold spoken of
(<scripRef id="Lam.v-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.1" parsed="|Lam|4|1|0|0" passage="La 4:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>) to be the
<i>gold of the temple,</i> the fine gold with which it was overlaid
(<scripRef id="Lam.v-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.6.22" parsed="|1Kgs|6|22|0|0" passage="1Ki 6:22">1 Kings vi. 22</scripRef>); when the
temple was burned the gold of it was smoked and sullied, as if it
had been of little value. It was thrown among the rubbish; it
<i>was changed,</i> converted to common uses and made nothing of.
<i>The stones of the sanctuary,</i> which were curiously wrought,
were thrown down by the Chaldeans, when they demolished it, or were
brought down by the force of the fire, and were <i>poured out,</i>
and thrown about <i>in the top of every street;</i> they lay
mingled without distinction among the common ruins. When the God of
the sanctuary was by sin provoked to withdraw no wonder that the
stones of the sanctuary were thus profaned.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p5" shownumber="no">II. The princes and priests, who were in a
special manner the <i>sons of Zion,</i> were trampled upon and
abused, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.2" parsed="|Lam|4|2|0|0" passage="La 4:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Both the
house of God and the house of David were in Zion. The sons of both
those houses were upon this account precious, that they were heirs
to the privileges of those two covenants of priesthood and royalty.
They were <i>comparable to fine gold.</i> Israel was more rich in
them than in treasures of gold and silver. But now they are
<i>esteemed as earthen pitchers;</i> they are broken as <i>earthen
pitchers,</i> thrown by as vessels in which there is no pleasure.
They have grown poor, and are brought into captivity, and thereby
are rendered mean and despicable, and every one treads upon them
and insults over them. Note, The contempt put upon God's people
ought to be matter of lamentation to us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p6" shownumber="no">III. Little children were starved for want
of bread and water, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.3-Lam.4.4" parsed="|Lam|4|3|4|4" passage="La 4:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3,
4</scripRef>. The nursing-mothers, having no meat for themselves,
had no milk for the babes at their breast, so that, though in
disposition they were really compassionate, yet in fact they seemed
to be cruel, <i>like the ostriches in the wilderness, that leave
their eggs in the dust</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.39.14-Job.39.15" parsed="|Job|39|14|39|15" passage="Job 39:14,15">Job
xxxix. 14, 15</scripRef>); having no food for their children, they
were forced to neglect them and do what they could to forget them,
because it was a pain to them to think of them when they had
nothing for them; in this they were worse than the seals, or
<i>sea-monsters,</i> or <i>whales</i> (as some render it), for they
<i>drew out the breast, and gave suck to their young,</i> which
<i>the daughter of my people</i> will not do. Children cannot shift
for themselves as grown people can; and therefore it was the more
painful to see <i>the tongue of the sucking-child cleave to the
roof of his mouth for thirst,</i> because there was not a drop of
water to moisten it; and to hear the young children, that could but
just speak, <i>ask bread</i> of their parents, who had none to give
them, no, nor any friend that could supply them. As doleful as our
thoughts are of this case, so thankful should our thoughts be of
the great plenty we enjoy, and the food convenient we have for
ourselves and for our children, and for <i>those of our own
house.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p7" shownumber="no">IV. Persons of good rank were reduced to
extreme poverty, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.5" parsed="|Lam|4|5|0|0" passage="La 4:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>.
Those who were well-born and well bred, and had been accustomed to
the best, both for food and clothing, who had <i>fed
delicately,</i> had every thing that was curious and nice (they
call it <i>eating well,</i> whereas those only eat well who eat to
the glory of God), and <i>fared sumptuously every day;</i> they had
not only been <i>advanced to the scarlet,</i> but from their
beginning were <i>brought up in scarlet,</i> and were never
acquainted with any thing mean or ordinary. They were <i>brought up
upon scarlet</i> (so the word is); their foot-cloths, and the
carpets they walked on, were scarlet, yet these, being stripped of
all by the war, are <i>desolate in the streets,</i> have not a
house to put their head in, nor a bed to lie on, nor clothes to
cover them, nor fire to warm them. They <i>embrace dunghills;</i>
on them they were glad to lie to get a little rest, and perhaps
raked in the dunghills for something to eat, as the prodigal son
who <i>would fain have filled his belly with the husks.</i> Note,
Those who live in the greatest pomp and plenty know not what
straits they may be reduced to before they die; as sometimes the
<i>needy</i> are <i>raised out of the dunghill. Those who were full
have hired out themselves for bread,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.v-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.5" parsed="|1Sam|2|5|0|0" passage="1Sa 2:5">1 Sam. ii. 5</scripRef>. It is therefore the wisdom of
those who have abundance not to use themselves too nicely, for then
hardships, when they come, will be doubly hard, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.56" parsed="|Deut|28|56|0|0" passage="De 28:56">Deut. xxviii. 56</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p8" shownumber="no">V. Persons who were eminent for dignity,
nay, perhaps for sanctity, shared with others in the common
calamity, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.7-Lam.4.8" parsed="|Lam|4|7|4|8" passage="La 4:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>.
<i>Her Nazarites</i> are extremely charged. Some understand it only
of her honourable ones, the young gentlemen, who were very clean,
and neat, and well-dressed, washed and perfumed; but I see not why
we may not understand it of those devout people among them who
<i>separated themselves to the Lord</i> by the <i>Nazarites'</i>
vow, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.2" parsed="|Num|6|2|0|0" passage="Nu 6:2">Num. vi. 2</scripRef>. That there
were such among them in the most degenerate times appears from
<scripRef id="Lam.v-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.11" parsed="|Amos|2|11|0|0" passage="Am 2:11">Amos ii. 11</scripRef>, <i>I raised up
of your young men for Nazarites.</i> These <i>Nazarites,</i> though
they were not to cut their hair, yet by reason of their temperate
diet, their frequent washings, and especially the pleasure they had
in devoting themselves to God and conversing with him, which made
their faces to shine as <i>Moses's,</i> were <i>purer than snow</i>
and <i>whiter than milk;</i> drinking no wine nor strong drink,
they had a more healthful complexion and cheerful countenance than
those who regaled themselves daily with the blood of the grape, as
<i>Daniel</i> and his fellows with <i>pulse and water.</i> Or it
may denote the great respect and veneration which all good people
had for them; though perhaps to the eye they had <i>no form nor
comeliness,</i> yet, being separated to the Lord, they were valued
as if they had been <i>more ruddy than rubies and their polishing
had been of sapphire.</i> But now <i>their visage is marred</i> (as
is said of Christ, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.52.14" parsed="|Isa|52|14|0|0" passage="Isa 52:14">Isa. lii.
14</scripRef>); it is <i>blacker than a coal;</i> they look
miserably, partly through hunger and partly through grief and
perplexity. <i>They are not known in the streets;</i> those who
respected them now take no notice of them, and those who had been
intimately acquainted with them now scarcely knew them, their
countenance was so altered by the miseries that attended the long
siege. <i>Their skin cleaves to their bones,</i> their flesh being
quite consumed and wasted away; it is <i>withered;</i> it has
<i>become like a stick,</i> as dry and hard as a piece of wood.
Note, It is a thing to be much lamented that even those who are
separated to God are yet, when desolating judgments are abroad,
often involved with others in the common calamity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p9" shownumber="no">VI. Jerusalem came down slowly, and died a
lingering death; for the famine contributed more to her destruction
than any other judgment whatsoever. Upon this account the
destruction of <i>Jerusalem was greater than that of Sodom</i>
(<scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.6" parsed="|Lam|4|6|0|0" passage="La 4:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), for that was
<i>overthrown in a moment;</i> one shower of fire and brimstone
dispatched it; <i>no hand staid on her;</i> she did not endure any
long siege, as Jerusalem has done; she fell immediately into the
<i>hands of the Lord,</i> who strikes home at a blow, and did not
<i>fall into the hands of man,</i> who, being weak, is long in
doing execution, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.8.21" parsed="|Judg|8|21|0|0" passage="Jdg 8:21">Judg. viii.
21</scripRef>. Jerusalem is kept many months upon the rack, in pain
and misery, and dies by inches, dies so as to feel herself die.
And, when the iniquity of Jerusalem is more aggravated than that of
Sodom, no wonder that the punishment of it is so. Sodom never had
the means of grace the Jerusalem had, the oracles of God and his
prophets, and therefore the condemnation of Jerusalem will be
<i>more intolerable</i> than that of Sodom, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.23-Matt.11.24" parsed="|Matt|11|23|11|24" passage="Mt 11:23,24">Matt. xi. 23, 24</scripRef>. The extremity of the
famine is here set forth by two frightful instances of it:—1. The
tedious deaths that it was the cause of (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.9" parsed="|Lam|4|9|0|0" passage="La 4:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); many were slain with hunger, were
famished to death, their stores being spent, and the public stores
so nearly spent that they could not have any relief out of them.
They were <i>stricken through, for want of the fruits of the
field;</i> those who were starved were as sure to die as if they
had been stabbed and stricken through; only their case was much
more miserable. <i>Those who are slain with the sword</i> are soon
put out of their pain; <i>in a moment they go down to the
grave,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.13" parsed="|Job|21|13|0|0" passage="Job 21:13">Job xxi. 13</scripRef>.
They have not the terror of seeing death make its advances towards
them, and scarcely feel it when the blow is given; it is but one
sharp struggle, and the work is done. And, if we be ready for
another world, we need not be afraid of a short passage to it; the
quicker the better. But those who die by famine pine away; hunger
preys upon their spirits and wastes them gradually; nay, and it
frets their spirits, and fills them with vexation, and is as great
a torture to the mind as to the body. There are <i>bands in their
death,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.4" parsed="|Ps|73|4|0|0" passage="Ps 73:4">Ps. lxxiii. 4</scripRef>. 2.
The barbarous murders that it was the occasion of (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.10" parsed="|Lam|4|10|0|0" passage="La 4:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>The hands of the
pitiful women have</i> first slain and then <i>sodden their own
children.</i> This was lamented before (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.8" osisRef="Bible:Lam.2.20" parsed="|Lam|2|20|0|0" passage="La 2:20"><i>ch.</i> ii. 20</scripRef>); and it was a thing to be
greatly lamented that any should be so wicked as to do it and that
they should be brought to such extremities as to be tempted to it.
But this horrid effect of long sieges had been threatened in
general (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.29 Bible:Deut.28.53" parsed="|Lev|26|29|0|0;|Deut|28|53|0|0" passage="Le 26:29,De 28:53">Lev. xxvi. 29, Deut.
xxviii. 53</scripRef>), and particularly against Jerusalem in the
siege of the Chaldeans, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.10" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.9 Bible:Ezek.5.10" parsed="|Jer|19|9|0|0;|Ezek|5|10|0|0" passage="Jer 19:9,Eze 5:10">Jer.
xix. 9; Ezek. v. 10</scripRef>. The case was sad enough that they
had not wherewithal to feed their children and make meat for them
(<scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.11" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.4" parsed="|Lam|4|4|0|0" passage="La 4:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), but much worse
that they could find in their hearts to feed upon their children
and make meat of them. I know not whether to make it an instance of
the power of necessity or of the power of iniquity; but, as the
Gentile idolaters were justly <i>given up to vile affections</i>
(<scripRef id="Lam.v-p9.12" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.26" parsed="|Rom|1|26|0|0" passage="Ro 1:26">Rom. i. 26</scripRef>), so these
Jewish idolaters, and the women particularly, who had <i>made cakes
to the queen of heaven</i> and taught their children to do so too,
were <i>stripped of natural affection</i> and that to their own
children. Being thus left to <i>dishonour their own nature</i> was
a righteous judgment upon them for the dishonour they had done to
God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p10" shownumber="no">VII. Jerusalem comes down utterly and
wonderfully. 1. The destruction of Jerusalem is a complete
destruction (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.11" parsed="|Lam|4|11|0|0" passage="La 4:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>):
<i>The Lord has accomplished his fury;</i> he has made thorough
work of it, has executed all that he purposed in wrath against
Jerusalem, and has remitted no part of the sentence. He has poured
out the full vials of his fierce anger, poured them out to the
bottom, even the dregs of them. He has <i>kindled a fire in
Zion,</i> which has not only consumed the houses, and levelled them
with the ground, but, beyond what other fires do, has <i>devoured
the foundations thereof,</i> as if they were to be no more built
upon. 2. It is an amazing destruction, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.12" parsed="|Lam|4|12|0|0" passage="La 4:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. It was a surprise to the kings
of the earth, who are acquainted with, and inquisitive about, the
state of their neighbours; nay, it was so to <i>all the inhabitants
of the world</i> who knew Jerusalem, or had ever heard or read of
it; they <i>could not have believed that the adversary and enemy
would ever enter into the gates of Jerusalem;</i> for, (1.) They
knew that Jerusalem was strongly fortified, not only by walls and
bulwarks, but by the numbers and strength of its inhabitants; the
strong hold of Zion was thought to be impregnable. (2.) They knew
that it was the <i>city of the great King,</i> where the Lord of
the whole earth had in a more peculiar manner his residence; it was
the holy city, and therefore they thought that it was so much under
the divine protection that it would be in vain for any of its
enemies to make an attack upon it. (3.) They knew that many an
attempt made upon it had been baffled, witness that of Sennacherib.
They were therefore amazed when they heard of the Chaldeans making
themselves masters of it, and concluded that it was certainly by an
immediate hand of God that Jerusalem was given up to them; it was
by a commission from him that the enemy broke through and entered
the gates of Jerusalem.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Lam.v-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.13-Lam.4.20" parsed="|Lam|4|13|4|20" passage="La 4:13-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.v-p10.4">
<h4 id="Lam.v-p10.5">Cause of Jerusalem's
Sorrows. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.v-p10.6">b. c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.v-p11" shownumber="no">13 For the sins of her prophets, <i>and</i> the
iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in
the midst of her,   14 They have wandered <i>as</i> blind
<i>men</i> in the streets, they have polluted themselves with
blood, so that men could not touch their garments.   15 They
cried unto them, Depart ye; <i>it is</i> unclean; depart, depart,
touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the
heathen, They shall no more sojourn <i>there.</i>   16 The
anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.v-p11.1">Lord</span> hath divided them;
he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the
priests, they favoured not the elders.   17 As for us, our
eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have
watched for a nation <i>that</i> could not save <i>us.</i>  
18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end
is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.   19 Our
persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued
us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
  20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.v-p11.2">Lord</span>, was taken in their pits, of whom we
said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p12" shownumber="no">We have here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p13" shownumber="no">I. The sins they were charged with, for
which God brought this destruction upon them, and which served to
justify God in it (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.13-Lam.4.14" parsed="|Lam|4|13|4|14" passage="La 4:13,14"><i>v.</i> 13,
14</scripRef>): It is <i>for the sins of her prophets,</i> and the
<i>iniquities of her priests.</i> Not that the people were
innocent; no, they <i>loved to have it so</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.31" parsed="|Jer|5|31|0|0" passage="Jer 5:31">Jer. v. 31</scripRef>), and it was to please them that
the prophets and priests did as they did; but the fault is chiefly
laid upon them, who should have taught them better, should have
reproved and admonished them, and told them what would be in the
end hereof; of the hands of those watchmen who did not give them
warning will their blood be required. Note, Nothing ripens a people
more for ruin, nor fills the measure faster, than the sins of their
priests and prophets. The particular sin charged upon them is
persecution; the false prophets and corrupt priests joined their
power and interest to <i>shed the blood of the just in the midst of
her,</i> the blood of God's prophets and of those that adhered to
them. They not only shed the blood of their innocent children, whom
they sacrificed to Moloch, but the blood of the righteous men that
were among them, whom they sacrificed to that more cruel idol of
enmity to the truth and true religion. This was that sin which the
Lord would not pardon (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.24.4" parsed="|2Kgs|24|4|0|0" passage="2Ki 24:4">2 Kings xxiv.
4</scripRef>) and which brought the last destruction upon Jerusalem
(<scripRef id="Lam.v-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.6" parsed="|Jas|5|6|0|0" passage="Jam 5:6">Jam. v. 6</scripRef>): <i>You have
condemned and killed the just.</i> And the priests and prophets
were the ringleaders in persecution, as in Christ's time the chief
priests and scribes were the men that incensed the people against
him, who otherwise would have persisted in their hosannas. Now
these are those that <i>wandered as blind men in the streets,</i>
<scripRef id="Lam.v-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.14" parsed="|Lam|4|14|0|0" passage="La 4:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. They strayed
from the paths of justice, were blind to every thing that is good,
but to do evil they were quick-sighted. God says of corrupt judges,
<i>They know not, neither do they understand; they walk in
darkness</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.82.5" parsed="|Ps|82|5|0|0" passage="Ps 82:5">Ps. lxxxii.
5</scripRef>); and Christ says of the corrupt teachers, <i>They are
blind leaders of the blind,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.v-p13.7" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.14" parsed="|Matt|15|14|0|0" passage="Mt 15:14">Matt.
xv. 14</scripRef>. They have so <i>polluted themselves with</i>
innocent <i>blood,</i> the blood of the saints, that <i>men could
not touch their garments;</i> they made themselves odious to all
about them, so that good men were as shy of touching them as of
touching a dead body, which contracted a ceremonial pollution, or
of touching the bloody clothes of one slain, which tender spirits
care not to do. There is nothing that will make prophets and
priests to be abhorred so much as a spirit of persecution.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p14" shownumber="no">II. The testimony of their neighbours
produced in evidence against them, both to convict them of sin and
to show the equity of God's proceedings against them. Some that
have grown very impudent in sin boast that they <i>care not what
people say of them;</i> but God, by the prophet, would have the
Jews to take notice of what people said of them and what was the
opinion of the standers by concerning them (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.15-Lam.4.16" parsed="|Lam|4|15|4|16" passage="La 4:15,16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>), what they said, nay,
what <i>they cried unto them,</i> especially to the corrupt priests
and prophets, <i>among the heathen.</i> 1. They upbraided them with
their pretended purity, while they lived in all manner of real
iniquity. They cried to them, "<i>Depart you; it is unclean.</i>
You were so precise that you would not touch a Gentile, by cried,
<i>Depart, depart; stand by thyself; I am holier than thou,</i>"
<scripRef id="Lam.v-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.5" parsed="|Isa|65|5|0|0" passage="Isa 65:5">Isa. lxv. 5</scripRef>. Thus the
prosecutors of Christ would not go <i>into the judgment-hall, lest
they should be defiled.</i> "But can you now keep the Gentiles from
touching you, when God has delivered you into their hands? When you
flee away and wander you will bid them stand off and not touch you,
because they are unclean. But in vain; these serpents will not be
charmed or enchanted thus; no, they will not <i>respect the persons
of the priests,</i> nor <i>favour the elders;</i> the most
venerable persons will to them be despicable." 2. They upbraided
them with their sins, and the anger of God against them for their
sins, and the direful effects of that anger. <i>They cried to them,
Depart you; it is unclean.</i> They all cried out shame on them,
and could easily foresee that God would not long suffer so
provoking a people to continue in so good a land. They knew their
<i>statutes and judgments were righteous,</i> and expected they
should be <i>a wise and understanding people,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.v-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.6" parsed="|Deut|4|6|0|0" passage="De 4:6">Deut. iv. 6</scripRef>. But, when they saw them
quite otherwise, they cried, <i>Depart, depart;</i> they soon read
their doom, that the land would spue them out, as it had done their
predecessors, and, when they saw the dispersed of <i>Jacob fleeing
and wandering,</i> they told them of it. They said, Now <i>the
anger of the Lord has divided them,</i> has dispersed them into all
countries, because <i>they respected not the persons of the
priests,</i> the pious priests that were among them, such as
Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, Jeremiah, and others; neither did
they <i>favour the elders,</i> but despised them and their
authority when they went about to check them for their vicious
courses. The very heathen foresaw that this would ruin them. 3.
They triumphed in their ruin as irrecoverable. They said, when they
saw them expelled out of their own land, "Now <i>they shall no more
sojourn there;</i> they have bidden it a final farewell, never more
to return to it, for <i>God will no more regard them,</i> and how
then can they help themselves?" Herein they were mistaken. God had
not cast them off, for all this. Yet thus much is intimated, that
all about them observed them to be so very provoking to their God
that there was not reason to expect any other than that they should
be quite abandoned.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p15" shownumber="no">III. The despair which they themselves were
almost brought to under their calamities. Having heard what they
said concerning them <i>among the heathen,</i> let us now hear what
they say concerning themselves (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.17" parsed="|Lam|4|17|0|0" passage="La 4:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): "<i>As for us,</i> we look upon
our case to be in a manner helpless. <i>Our end is near</i>
(<scripRef id="Lam.v-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.18" parsed="|Lam|4|18|0|0" passage="La 4:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), the end both
of our church and of our state; we are just at the brink of the
ruin of both; nay, <i>our end has come;</i> we are utterly undone;
a fatal final period is put to all our comforts; the days of our
prosperity are fulfilled; they are numbered and finished." Thus
their fears concurred with the hopes of their enemies that the
<i>Lord would no more regard them.</i> For, 1. The refuges they
fled to disappointed them. They looked for help from this and the
other powerful ally, but to no purpose; it proved vain help. The
succours they expected did not come in, or at least they had not
the success they expected, and their eyes failed with looking for
that which never came (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.17" parsed="|Lam|4|17|0|0" passage="La 4:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>); they <i>watched in watching;</i> they watched long,
and with a great deal of earnestness and impatience, <i>for a
nation</i> that promised them assistance, but failed them, and
frustrated their expectation. They <i>could not save them;</i> they
were too weak to contend with the Chaldean army and therefore
retired. Help from creatures is vain help (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.60.11" parsed="|Ps|60|11|0|0" passage="Ps 60:11">Ps. lx. 11</scripRef>), and we may look for it till our
eyes fail, till our hearts fail, and come short of it at last. 2.
The persecutors they fled from overtook them and overcame them
(<scripRef id="Lam.v-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.18" parsed="|Lam|4|18|0|0" passage="La 4:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>They hunt
our steps, that we cannot go in our streets.</i> When the Chaldeans
besieged the city they raised their batteries so high above the
walls that they could command the town, and shoot at people as they
went along the streets. They <i>hunted them</i> with their arrows
from place to place. When the city was broken up, and all the men
of war fled, their <i>persecutors were swifter than the eagles of
heaven</i> when they fly upon their prey, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p15.6" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.19" parsed="|Lam|4|19|0|0" passage="La 4:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. There was no escaping them; they
<i>pursued them upon the mountains,</i> and, when they thought they
had got clear of them, they fell into the hands of those that
<i>laid wait for them in the wilderness,</i> to cut off their
retreat, and to pick up stragglers. Nay, the king himself, though
he may be supposed to have had all the advantages the exigence of
the case would admit to favour his flight, yet could not escape,
for divine vengeance pursued him with them, and then (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p15.7" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.20" parsed="|Lam|4|20|0|0" passage="La 4:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), <i>The breath of our
nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits.</i>
Some apply it to Josiah, who was killed in battle by the king of
Egypt; but it is rather to be understood of Zedekiah, who was the
last king of the house of David, and who was pursued by the
Chaldeans and seized in the plains of Jericho, <scripRef id="Lam.v-p15.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.39.5" parsed="|Jer|39|5|0|0" passage="Jer 39:5">Jer. xxxix. 5</scripRef>. He was <i>the anointed of the
Lord,</i> heir of that family which God had appointed to the
government. He was very much confided in by the Jewish state:
<i>They said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.</i>
They promised themselves that the remnant which were left after
Jeconiah's captivity should, under the protection of his
government, yet again <i>take root downward and bear fruit
upward.</i> They thought, though they were so reduced that they
could not think of reigning over the heathen, as they had done, yet
they might make a shift to live among them and not be insulted and
pulled to pieces by them. Thus apt are sinking interests not only
to catch at every twig, but to think it will recover them.
Jerusalem died of a consumption, a flattering distemper. Even when
she was ready to expire she formed some hopeful symptoms to
herself, and on them grounded a hope that she should recover; but
what came of it? The shadow under which they thought they should
live proved like that of Jonah's gourd, which <i>withered in a
night.</i> He that was <i>the anointed of the Lord was taken in
their pits,</i> as if he had been but a beast of prey; so little
account did they make of a person deemed sacred and not to be
violated. Note, When we make any creature <i>the breath of our
nostrils,</i> and promise ourselves that we shall live by it, it is
just with God to stop that breath, and deprive us of the life we
expected by it; for God will have the honour of being himself along
<i>our life and the length of our days.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Lam.v-p15.9" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.21-Lam.4.22" parsed="|Lam|4|21|4|22" passage="La 4:21-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.v-p15.10">
<h4 id="Lam.v-p15.11">Comfort for Zion. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.v-p15.12">b. c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.v-p16" shownumber="no">21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that
dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto
thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.  
22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of
Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit
thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p17" shownumber="no">David's psalms of lamentation commonly
conclude with some word of comfort, which is as life from the dead
and light shining out of darkness; so does this lamentation here in
this chapter. The people of God are now in great distress, their
aspects all doleful, their prospects all frightful, and their
ill-natured neighbours the Edomites insult over them and do all
they can to exasperate their destroyers against them. Such was
their violence against their brother Jacob (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Obad.1.10" parsed="|Obad|1|10|0|0" passage="Ob 1:10">Obad. 10</scripRef>), such their spleen at Jerusalem, of
which they cried, <i>Rase it, rase it,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.v-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.137.7" parsed="|Ps|137|7|0|0" passage="Ps 137:7">Ps. cxxxvii. 7</scripRef>. Now it is here foretold, for
the encouragement of God's people,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p18" shownumber="no">I. That an end shall be put to Zion's
troubles (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.22" parsed="|Lam|4|22|0|0" passage="La 4:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>):
<i>The punishment of they iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of
Zion!</i> not the fulness of that punishment which it deserves, but
of that which God has designed and determined to inflict, and which
was necessary to answer the end, the glorifying of God's justice
and the taking away of their sin. The captivity, which is <i>the
punishment of thy iniquity, is accomplished</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.2" parsed="|Isa|40|2|0|0" passage="Isa 40:2">Isa. xl. 2</scripRef>), and <i>he will no longer keep
thee in captivity;</i> so it may be read, as well as, <i>he will no
more carry thee into captivity;</i> he will turn again thy
captivity and work a glorious release for thee. Note, The troubles
of God's people shall be continued no longer than till they have
done their work for which they were sent.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.v-p19" shownumber="no">II. That an end shall be put to Edom's
triumphs. It is spoken ironically (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.21" parsed="|Lam|4|21|0|0" passage="La 4:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>): "<i>Rejoice and be glad, O
daughter of Edom!</i> go on to insult over Zion in distress, till
thou hast filled up the measure of thy iniquity. Do so; rejoice in
thy own present exemption from the common fate of thy neighbours."
This is like Solomon's upbraiding the young man with his ungoverned
mirth (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.11.9" parsed="|Eccl|11|9|0|0" passage="Ec 11:9">Eccl. xi. 9</scripRef>):
"<i>Rejoice, O young man! in thy youth;</i> rejoice, if thou canst,
when God comes to reckon with thee, and that he will do ere long.
<i>The cup</i> of trembling, which it is now Jerusalem's turn to
drink deeply of, <i>shall pass through unto thee;</i> it shall go
round till it comes to be thy lot to pledge it." Note, This is a
good reason why we should not insult over any who are in misery,
because we ourselves also are in the body, and we know not how soon
their case may be ours. But those who please themselves in the
calamities of God's church must expect to have their doom, as
aiders and abettors, with those that are instrumental in those
calamities. The destruction of the Edomites was foretold by this
prophet (<scripRef id="Lam.v-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.49.7" parsed="|Jer|49|7|0|0" passage="Jer 49:7">Jer. xlix. 7</scripRef>.
&amp;c.), and the people of God must encourage themselves against
their present rudeness and insolence with the prospect of it. 1. It
will be a shameful destruction: "<i>The cup</i> that <i>shall pass
unto thee</i> shall intoxicate thee" (and that is shame enough to
any man); "<i>thou shalt be drunken,</i> quite infatuated, and at
thy wits' end, shalt stagger in all thy counsels and stumble in all
thy enterprises, and then, as Noah when he was drunk, <i>thou shalt
make thyself naked</i> and expose thyself to contempt." Note, Those
who ridicule God's people will justly be left to themselves to do
that, some time or other, by which they will be made ridiculous. 2.
It will be a righteous destruction. God will herein <i>visit thy
iniquity</i> and <i>discover thy sins;</i> he will punish them,
and, to justify himself therein, he will discover them, and make it
to appear that he has just cause thus to proceed against them. Nay,
the punishment of the sin shall so exactly answer the sin that it
shall itself plainly discover it. Sometimes God does so visit the
iniquity that he that runs may read the sin in the punishment. But,
sooner or later, sin will be visited and discovered, and all the
hidden works of darkness brought to light.</p>
</div></div2>