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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>L A M E N T A T I O N S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. IV.</FONT>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This chapter is another single alphabet of Lamentations for the
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destruction of Jerusalem, like those in the first two chapters.
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I. The prophet here laments the injuries and indignities done to those
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to whom respect used to be shown,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. He laments the direful effects of the famine to which they were
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reduced by the siege,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:3-10">ver. 3-10</A>.
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III. He laments the taking and sacking of Jerusalem and its amazing
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desolations,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:11,12">ver. 11, 12</A>.
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IV. He acknowledges that the sins of their leaders were the cause of
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all these calamities,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:13-16">ver. 13-16</A>.
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V. He gives up all as doomed to utter ruin, for their enemies were
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every way too hard for them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:17-20">ver. 17-20</A>.
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VI. He foretels the destruction of the Edomites who triumphed in
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Jerusalem's fall,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:21">ver. 21</A>.
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VII. He foretels the return of the captivity of Zion at last,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:22">ver. 22</A>.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Desolate Condition of Jerusalem; Effects of Famine in Jerusalem; Destruction of Jerusalem.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD VALIGN=BOTTOM ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 588.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 How is the gold become dim! <I>how</I> is the most fine gold
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changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of
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every street.
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2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are
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they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the
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potter!
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3 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to
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their young ones: the daughter of my people <I>is become</I> cruel,
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like the ostriches in the wilderness.
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4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his
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mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, <I>and</I> no man
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breaketh <I>it</I> unto them.
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5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets:
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they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
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6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my
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people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that
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was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
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7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than
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milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing
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<I>was</I> of sapphire:
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8 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in
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the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered,
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it is become like a stick.
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9 <I>They that be</I> slain with the sword are better than <I>they
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that be</I> slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through
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for <I>want of</I> the fruits of the field.
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10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own
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children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter
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of my people.
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11 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his
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fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath
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devoured the foundations thereof.
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12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the
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world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy
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should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The elegy in this chapter begins with a lamentation of the very sad and
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doleful change which the judgments of God had made in Jerusalem. The
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city that was formerly <I>as gold,</I> as <I>the most fine gold,</I> so
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rich and splendid, <I>the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole
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earth,</I> has become dim, and is changed, has lost its lustre, lost
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its value, is not what it was; it has become dross. Alas! what an
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alteration is here!</P>
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<P>
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I. The temple was laid waste, which was the glory of Jerusalem and its
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protection. It is given up into the hands of the enemy. And some
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understand the gold spoken of
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>)
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to be the <I>gold of the temple,</I> the fine gold with which it was
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overlaid
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+6:22">1 Kings vi. 22</A>);
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when the temple was burned the gold of it was smoked and sullied, as if
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it had been of little value. It was thrown among the rubbish; it <I>was
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changed,</I> converted to common uses and made nothing of. <I>The
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stones of the sanctuary,</I> which were curiously wrought, were thrown
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down by the Chaldeans, when they demolished it, or were brought down by
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the force of the fire, and were <I>poured out,</I> and thrown about
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<I>in the top of every street;</I> they lay mingled without distinction
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among the common ruins. When the God of the sanctuary was by sin
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provoked to withdraw no wonder that the stones of the sanctuary were
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thus profaned.</P>
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<P>
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II. The princes and priests, who were in a special manner the <I>sons
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of Zion,</I> were trampled upon and abused,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Both the house of God and the house of David were in Zion. The sons of
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both those houses were upon this account precious, that they were heirs
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to the privileges of those two covenants of priesthood and royalty.
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They were <I>comparable to fine gold.</I> Israel was more rich in them
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than in treasures of gold and silver. But now they are <I>esteemed as
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earthen pitchers;</I> they are broken as <I>earthen pitchers,</I>
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thrown by as vessels in which there is no pleasure. They have grown
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poor, and are brought into captivity, and thereby are rendered mean and
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despicable, and every one treads upon them and insults over them. Note,
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The contempt put upon God's people ought to be matter of lamentation to
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us.</P>
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<P>
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III. Little children were starved for want of bread and water,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>.
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The nursing-mothers, having no meat for themselves, had no milk for the
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babes at their breast, so that, though in disposition they were really
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compassionate, yet in fact they seemed to be cruel, <I>like the
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ostriches in the wilderness, that leave their eggs in the dust</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+39:14,15">Job xxxix. 14, 15</A>);
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having no food for their children, they were forced to neglect them and
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do what they could to forget them, because it was a pain to them to
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think of them when they had nothing for them; in this they were worse
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than the seals, or <I>sea-monsters,</I> or <I>whales</I> (as some
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render it), for they <I>drew out the breast, and gave suck to their
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young,</I> which <I>the daughter of my people</I> will not do. Children
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cannot shift for themselves as grown people can; and therefore it was
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the more painful to see <I>the tongue of the sucking-child cleave to
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the roof of his mouth for thirst,</I> because there was not a drop of
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water to moisten it; and to hear the young children, that could but
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just speak, <I>ask bread</I> of their parents, who had none to give
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them, no, nor any friend that could supply them. As doleful as our
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thoughts are of this case, so thankful should our thoughts be of the
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great plenty we enjoy, and the food convenient we have for ourselves
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and for our children, and for <I>those of our own house.</I></P>
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<P>
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IV. Persons of good rank were reduced to extreme poverty,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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Those who were well-born and well bred, and had been accustomed to the
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best, both for food and clothing, who had <I>fed delicately,</I> had
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every thing that was curious and nice (they call it <I>eating well,</I>
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whereas those only eat well who eat to the glory of God), and <I>fared
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sumptuously every day;</I> they had not only been <I>advanced to the
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scarlet,</I> but from their beginning were <I>brought up in
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scarlet,</I> and were never acquainted with any thing mean or ordinary.
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They were <I>brought up upon scarlet</I> (so the word is); their
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foot-cloths, and the carpets they walked on, were scarlet, yet these,
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being stripped of all by the war, are <I>desolate in the streets,</I>
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have not a house to put their head in, nor a bed to lie on, nor clothes
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to cover them, nor fire to warm them. They <I>embrace dunghills;</I> on
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them they were glad to lie to get a little rest, and perhaps raked in
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the dunghills for something to eat, as the prodigal son who <I>would
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fain have filled his belly with the husks.</I> Note, Those who live in
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the greatest pomp and plenty know not what straits they may be reduced
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to before they die; as sometimes the <I>needy</I> are <I>raised out of
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the dunghill. Those who were full have hired out themselves for
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bread,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+2:5">1 Sam. ii. 5</A>.
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It is therefore the wisdom of those who have abundance not to use
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themselves too nicely, for then hardships, when they come, will be
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doubly hard,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:56">Deut. xxviii. 56</A>.</P>
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<P>
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V. Persons who were eminent for dignity, nay, perhaps for sanctity,
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shared with others in the common calamity,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
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<I>Her Nazarites</I> are extremely charged. Some understand it only of
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her honourable ones, the young gentlemen, who were very clean, and
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neat, and well-dressed, washed and perfumed; but I see not why we may
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not understand it of those devout people among them who <I>separated
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themselves to the Lord</I> by the <I>Nazarites'</I> vow,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+6:2">Num. vi. 2</A>.
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That there were such among them in the most degenerate times appears
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from
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:11">Amos ii. 11</A>,
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<I>I raised up of your young men for Nazarites.</I> These
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<I>Nazarites,</I> though they were not to cut their hair, yet by reason
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of their temperate diet, their frequent washings, and especially the
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pleasure they had in devoting themselves to God and conversing with
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him, which made their faces to shine as <I>Moses's,</I> were <I>purer
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than snow</I> and <I>whiter than milk;</I> drinking no wine nor strong
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drink, they had a more healthful complexion and cheerful countenance
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than those who regaled themselves daily with the blood of the grape, as
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<I>Daniel</I> and his fellows with <I>pulse and water.</I> Or it may
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denote the great respect and veneration which all good people had for
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them; though perhaps to the eye they had <I>no form nor comeliness,</I>
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yet, being separated to the Lord, they were valued as if they had been
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<I>more ruddy than rubies and their polishing had been of sapphire.</I>
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But now <I>their visage is marred</I> (as is said of Christ,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+52:14">Isa. lii. 14</A>);
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it is <I>blacker than a coal;</I> they look miserably, partly through
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hunger and partly through grief and perplexity. <I>They are not known
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in the streets;</I> those who respected them now take no notice of
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them, and those who had been intimately acquainted with them now
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scarcely knew them, their countenance was so altered by the miseries
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that attended the long siege. <I>Their skin cleaves to their bones,</I>
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their flesh being quite consumed and wasted away; it is
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<I>withered;</I> it has <I>become like a stick,</I> as dry and hard as
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a piece of wood. Note, It is a thing to be much lamented that even
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those who are separated to God are yet, when desolating judgments are
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abroad, often involved with others in the common calamity.</P>
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<P>
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VI. Jerusalem came down slowly, and died a lingering death; for the
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famine contributed more to her destruction than any other judgment
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whatsoever. Upon this account the destruction of <I>Jerusalem was
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greater than that of Sodom</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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for that was <I>overthrown in a moment;</I> one shower of fire and
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brimstone dispatched it; <I>no hand staid on her;</I> she did not
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endure any long siege, as Jerusalem has done; she fell immediately into
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the <I>hands of the Lord,</I> who strikes home at a blow, and did not
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<I>fall into the hands of man,</I> who, being weak, is long in doing
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execution,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+8:21">Judg. viii. 21</A>.
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Jerusalem is kept many months upon the rack, in pain and misery, and
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dies by inches, dies so as to feel herself die. And, when the iniquity
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of Jerusalem is more aggravated than that of Sodom, no wonder that the
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punishment of it is so. Sodom never had the means of grace the
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Jerusalem had, the oracles of God and his prophets, and therefore the
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condemnation of Jerusalem will be <I>more intolerable</I> than that of
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Sodom,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+11:23,24">Matt. xi. 23, 24</A>.
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The extremity of the famine is here set forth by two frightful
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instances of it:--
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1. The tedious deaths that it was the cause of
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>);
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many were slain with hunger, were famished to death, their stores being
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spent, and the public stores so nearly spent that they could not have
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any relief out of them. They were <I>stricken through, for want of the
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fruits of the field;</I> those who were starved were as sure to die as
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if they had been stabbed and stricken through; only their case was much
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more miserable. <I>Those who are slain with the sword</I> are soon put
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out of their pain; <I>in a moment they go down to the grave,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:13">Job xxi. 13</A>.
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They have not the terror of seeing death make its advances towards
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them, and scarcely feel it when the blow is given; it is but one sharp
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struggle, and the work is done. And, if we be ready for another world,
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we need not be afraid of a short passage to it; the quicker the better.
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But those who die by famine pine away; hunger preys upon their spirits
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and wastes them gradually; nay, and it frets their spirits, and fills
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them with vexation, and is as great a torture to the mind as to the
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body. There are <I>bands in their death,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:4">Ps. lxxiii. 4</A>.
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2. The barbarous murders that it was the occasion of
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
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<I>The hands of the pitiful women have</I> first slain and then
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<I>sodden their own children.</I> This was lamented before
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:20"><I>ch.</I> ii. 20</A>);
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and it was a thing to be greatly lamented that any should be so wicked
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as to do it and that they should be brought to such extremities as to
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be tempted to it. But this horrid effect of long sieges had been
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threatened in general
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:29,De+28:53">Lev. xxvi. 29, Deut. xxviii. 53</A>),
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and particularly against Jerusalem in the siege of the Chaldeans,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+19:9,Eze+5:10">Jer. xix. 9; Ezek. v. 10</A>.
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The case was sad enough that they had not wherewithal to feed their
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children and make meat for them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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but much worse that they could find in their hearts to feed upon their
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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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:26">Rom. i. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
VII. Jerusalem comes down utterly and wonderfully.
|
|
|
|
1. The destruction of Jerusalem is a complete destruction
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="La4_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La4_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La4_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La4_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La4_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La4_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La4_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La4_20"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Cause of Jerusalem's Sorrows.</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>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, was
|
|
taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall
|
|
live among the heathen.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The sins they were charged with, for which God brought this
|
|
destruction upon them, and which served to justify God in it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:13,14"><I>v.</I> 13, 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:31">Jer. v. 31</A>),
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+24:4">2 Kings xxiv. 4</A>)
|
|
|
|
and which brought the last destruction upon Jerusalem
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:6">Jam. v. 6</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+82:5">Ps. lxxxii. 5</A>);
|
|
|
|
and Christ says of the corrupt teachers, <I>They are blind leaders of
|
|
the blind,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+15:14">Matt. xv. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:15,16"><I>v.</I> 15, 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:5">Isa. lxv. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
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 no <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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:6">Deut. iv. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>As for us,</I> we look upon our case to be in a manner helpless.
|
|
<I>Our end is near</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>);
|
|
|
|
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 the, 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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+60:11">Ps. lx. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
<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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+39:5">Jer. xxxix. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="La4_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La4_22"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Comfort for Zion.</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>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ob+1:10">Obad. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
such their spleen at Jerusalem, of which they cried, <I>Rase it, rase
|
|
it,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:7">Ps. cxxxvii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now it is here foretold, for the encouragement of God's people,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. That an end shall be put to Zion's troubles
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+40:2">Isa. xl. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
II. That an end shall be put to Edom's triumphs. It is spoken
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ironically
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>):
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"<I>Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom!</I> go on to insult over
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Zion in distress, till thou hast filled up the measure of thy iniquity.
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Do so; rejoice in thy own present exemption from the common fate of thy
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neighbours." This is like Solomon's upbraiding the young man with his
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ungoverned mirth
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+11:9">Eccl. xi. 9</A>):
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"<I>Rejoice, O young man! in thy youth;</I> rejoice, if thou canst,
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when God comes to reckon with thee, and that he will do ere long.
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<I>The cup</I> of trembling, which it is now Jerusalem's turn to drink
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deeply of, <I>shall pass through unto thee;</I> it shall go round till
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it comes to be thy lot to pledge it." Note, This is a good reason why
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we should not insult over any who are in misery, because we ourselves
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|
also are in the body, and we know not how soon their case may be ours.
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But those who please themselves in the calamities of God's church must
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|
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
|
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+49:7">Jer. xlix. 7</A>.
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|
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&c.), and the people of God must encourage themselves against their
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present rudeness and insolence with the prospect of it.
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1. It will be a shameful destruction: "<I>The cup</I> that <I>shall
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|
pass unto thee</I> shall intoxicate thee" (and that is shame enough to
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|
any man); "<I>thou shalt be drunken,</I> quite infatuated, and at thy
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|
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
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|
ridicule God's people will justly be left to themselves to do that,
|
|
some time or other, by which they will be made ridiculous.
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2. It will be a righteous destruction. God will herein <I>visit thy
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|
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
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|
that he has just cause thus to proceed against them. Nay, the
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|
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
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darkness brought to light.</P>
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