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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Lamentations I].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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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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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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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. I.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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We have here the first alphabet of this lamentation, twenty-two
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stanzas, in which the miseries of Jerusalem are bitterly bewailed and
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her present deplorable condition is aggravated by comparing it with her
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former prosperous state; all along, sin is acknowledged and complained
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of as the procuring cause of all these miseries; and God is appealed to
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for justice against their enemies and applied to for compassion towards
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them. The chapter is all of a piece, and the several remonstrances are
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interwoven; but here is,
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I. A complaint made to God of their calamities, and his compassionate
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consideration desired,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:1-11">ver. 1-11</A>.
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II. The same complaint made to their friends, and their compassionate
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consideration desired,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:12-17">ver. 12-17</A>.
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III. An appeal to God and his righteousness concerning it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:18-22">ver. 18-22</A>),
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in which he is justified in their affliction and is humbly solicited to
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justify himself in their deliverance.</P>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Miseries of Jerusalem; Grief for the Loss of Ordinances.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD 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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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 How doth the city sit solitary, <I>that was</I> full of people!
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<I>how</I> is she become as a widow! she <I>that was</I> great among the
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nations, <I>and</I> princess among the provinces, <I>how</I> is she become
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tributary!
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2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears <I>are</I> on her
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cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort <I>her:</I> all
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her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become
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her enemies.
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3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and
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because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she
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findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the
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straits.
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4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn
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feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins
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are afflicted, and she <I>is</I> in bitterness.
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5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions:
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her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
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6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her
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princes are become like harts <I>that</I> find no pasture, and they
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are gone without strength before the pursuer.
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7 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her
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miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old,
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when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did
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help her: the adversaries saw her, <I>and</I> did mock at her
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sabbaths.
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8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed:
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all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her
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nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
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9 Her filthiness <I>is</I> in her skirts; she remembereth not her
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last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no
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comforter. O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath
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magnified <I>himself.</I>
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10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant
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things: for she hath seen <I>that</I> the heathen entered into her
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sanctuary, whom thou didst command <I>that</I> they should not enter
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into thy congregation.
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11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their
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pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and
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consider; for I am become vile.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Those that have any disposition to <I>weep with those that weep,</I>
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one would think, should scarcely be able to refrain from tears at the
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reading of these verses, so very pathetic are the lamentations
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here.</P>
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<P>
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I. The miseries of Jerusalem are here complained of as very pressing
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and by many circumstances very much aggravated. Let us take a view of
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these miseries.</P>
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<P>
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1. As to their civil state.
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(1.) A city that was populous is now depopulated,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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It is spoken of by way of wonder--Who would have thought that ever it
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should come to this! Or by way of enquiry--What is it that has brought
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it to this? Or by way of lamentation--Alas! alas! (as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+18:10,16,19">Rev. xviii. 10, 16, 19</A>)
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<I>how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people!</I> She was
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full of her own people that replenished her, and full of the people of
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other nations that resorted to her, with whom she had both profitable
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commerce and pleasant converse; but now her own people are carried into
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captivity, and strangers make no court to her: she <I>sits
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solitary.</I> The <I>chief places of the city</I> are not now, as they
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used to be, <I>place of concourse,</I> where <I>wisdom cried</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+1:20,21">Prov. i. 20, 21</A>);
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and justly are they left unfrequented, because wisdom's cry there was
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not heard. Note, Those that are ever so much increased God can soon
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diminish. <I>How has she become as a widow!</I> Her king that was, or
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should have been, as a husband to her, is cut off, and gone; her God
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has departed from her, and has given her a bill of divorce; she is
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emptied of her children, is solitary and sorrowful as a widow. Let no
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family, no state, not Jerusalem, no, nor Babylon herself, be secure,
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and say, <I>I sit as a queen,</I> and shall never <I>sit as a
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widow,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+47:8,Re+18:7">Isa. xlvii. 8; Rev. xviii. 7</A>.
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(2.) A city that had dominion is now in subjection. She had been
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<I>great among the nations,</I> greatly loved by some and greatly
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feared by others, and greatly observed and obeyed by both; some made
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her presents, and others paid her taxes; so that she was really
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<I>princess among the provinces,</I> and every sheaf bowed to hers;
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even the princes of the people entreated her favour. But now the tables
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are turned; she has not only lost her friends and <I>sits solitary,</I>
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but has lost her freedom too and sits <I>tributary;</I> she paid
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tribute to Egypt first and then to Babylon. Note, Sin brings a people
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not only into solitude, but into slavery.
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(3.) A city that used to be full of mirth has now become melancholy and
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upon all accounts full of grief. Jerusalem had been a joyous city,
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whither the tribes went up on purpose to rejoice before the Lord; she
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was <I>the joy of the whole earth,</I> but now <I>she weeps sorely,</I>
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her laughter if turned into mourning, her solemn feasts are all gone;
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she weeps <I>in the night,</I> as true mourners do who weep in secret,
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in silence and solitude; <I>in the night,</I> when others compose
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themselves to rest, her thoughts are most intent upon her troubles, and
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grief then plays the tyrant. What the prophet's head was for her, when
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she regarded it not, now her head is--<I>as waters, and</I> her <I>eyes
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fountains of tears,</I> so that she <I>weeps day and night</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+9:1">Jer. ix. 1</A>);
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<I>her tears are</I> continually <I>on her cheeks.</I> Though nothing
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dries away sooner than a tear, yet fresh griefs extort fresh tears, so
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that her cheeks are never free from them. Note, There is nothing more
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commonly seen <I>under the sun</I> than <I>the tears of the
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oppressed,</I> with whom <I>the clouds return after the rain,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:1">Eccl. iv. 1</A>.
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(4.) Those that were separated from the heathen now <I>dwell among the
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heathen;</I> those that were a peculiar people are now a mingled people
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>Judah has gone into captivity,</I> out of her own land into the land
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of her enemies, and there she abides, and is likely to abide, among
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those that are aliens to God and the covenants of promise, with whom
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<I>she finds no rest,</I> no satisfaction of mind, nor any settlement
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of abode, but is continually hurried from place to place at the will of
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the victorious imperious tyrants. And again
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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"<I>Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy;</I> those
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that were to have been the seed of the next generation are carried off;
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so that the land that is now desolate is likely to be still desolate
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and lost for want of heirs." Those that dwell among their own people,
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and that a free people, and in their own land, would be more thankful
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for the mercies they thereby enjoy if they would but consider the
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miseries of those that are forced into strange countries.
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(5.) Those that used in their wars to conquer are now conquered and
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triumphed over: <I>All her persecutors overlook her between the
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straits</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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they gained all possible advantages against her, sot hat her people
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unavoidably <I>fell into the hand of the enemy,</I> for there was no
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way to escape
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
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they were hemmed in on every side, and, which way soever they attempted
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to flee, they found themselves embarrassed. When they made the best of
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their way they could make nothing of it, but were overtaken and
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overcome; so that every where <I>her adversaries are the chief and her
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enemies prosper</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>);
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which way soever their sword turns they get the better. Such straits do
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men bring themselves into by sin. If we allow that which is our
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greatest adversary and enemy to have dominion over us, and to be chief
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in us, justly will our other enemies be suffered to have dominion over
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us.
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(6.) Those that had been not only a distinguished by a dignified
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people, on whom God had put honour, and to whom all their neighbours
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had paid respect, are now brought into contempt
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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<I>All that honoured her</I> before <I>despise her;</I> those that
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courted an alliance with her now value it not; those that caressed her
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when she was in pomp and prosperity slight her now that she is in
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distress, <I>because they have seen her nakedness.</I> By the
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prevalency of the enemies against her they perceive her weakness, and
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that she is not so strong a people as they thought she had been; and by
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the prevalency of God's judgments against her they perceive her
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wickedness, which now comes to light and is every where talked of. Now
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it appears how they have vilified themselves by their sins: <I>The
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enemies magnify themselves</I> against them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>);
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they trample upon them, and insult over them, and in their eyes they
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have <I>become vile,</I> the tail of the nations, though once they were
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the head. Note, <I>Sin is the reproach of any people.</I>
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(7.) Those that lived in a fruitful land were ready to perish, and many
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of them did perish, for want of necessary food
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
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<I>All her people sigh</I> in despondency and despair; they are ready
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to faint away; their spirits fail, and therefore they sigh, <I>for they
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seek bread</I> and seek it in vain. They were brought at last to that
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extremity that there was <I>no bread for the people of the land</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+52:6">Jer. lii. 6</A>),
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and in their captivity they had much ado to get break,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+5:6"><I>ch.</I> v. 6</A>.
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<I>They have given their pleasant things,</I> their jewels and
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pictures, and all the furniture of their closets and cabinets, which
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they used to please themselves with looking upon, they have sold these
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to buy bread for themselves and their families, have parted with them
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<I>for meat to relieve the soul,</I> or (as the margin is) <I>to make
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the soul come again,</I> when they were ready to faint away. They
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desired no other cordial than meat. <I>All that a man has will he give
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for life,</I> and for break, which is the staff of life. Let those that
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abound in pleasant things not be proud of them, nor fond of them; for
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the time may come when they may be glad to let them go for necessary
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things. And let those that have competent food to relieve their soul be
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content with it, and thankful for it, though they have not pleasant
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things.</P>
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<P>
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2. We have here an account of their miseries in their ecclesiastical
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state, the ruin of their sacred interest, which was much more to be
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lamented than that of their secular concerns.
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(1.) Their religious feasts were no more observed, no more frequented
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>The ways of Zion do mourn;</I> they look melancholy, overgrown with
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grass and weeds. It used to be a pleasant diversion to see people
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continually passing and repassing in the highway that led to the
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temple, but now you may stand there long enough, and see nobody stir;
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for <I>none come to the solemn feasts;</I> a full end is put to them by
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the destruction of that which was the <I>city of our solemnities,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+33:20">Isa. xxxiii. 20</A>.
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<I>The solemn feasts</I> had been neglected and profaned
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:11,12">Isa. i. 11, 12</A>),
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and therefore justly is an end now put to them. But, when thus <I>the
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ways of Zion</I> are made to <I>mourn,</I> all the sons of Zion cannot
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but mourn with them. It is very grievous to good men to see religious
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assemblies broken up and scattered, and those restrained from them that
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would gladly attend them. And, as <I>the ways of Zion mourned,</I> so
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<I>the gates of Zion,</I> in which the faithful worshippers used to
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meet, <I>are desolate;</I> for there is none to meet in them. Time was
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when <I>the Lord loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of
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Jacob,</I> but now he has forsaken them, and is provoked to withdraw
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from them, and therefore it cannot but fare with them as it did with
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the temple when Christ quitted it. <I>Behold, you house is left unto
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you desolate,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:38">Matt. xxiii. 38</A>.
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(2.) Their religious persons were quite disabled from performing their
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wonted services, were quite dispirited: <I>Her priests sigh</I> for the
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desolations of the temple; their songs are turned into sighs; they
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sigh, for they have nothing to do, and therefore there is nothing to be
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had; they sigh, as the people
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
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<I>for want of bread,</I> because the offerings of the Lord, which were
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their livelihood, failed. It is time to sigh when the priests, the
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Lord's ministers, sigh. <I>Her virgins</I> also, that used, with their
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music and dancing, to grace the solemnities of their feasts, <I>are
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afflicted</I> and <I>in heaviness.</I> Notice is taken of their service
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in the day of Zion's prosperity
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+68:25">Ps. lxviii. 25</A>,
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<I>Among them were the damsels playing with timbrels</I>), and
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therefore notice is taken of the failing of it now. <I>Her virgins are
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afflicted,</I> and therefore <I>she is in bitterness;</I> that is, all
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the inhabitants of Zion are so, whose character it is that they are
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<I>sorrowful for the solemn assembly,</I> and that to them <I>the
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reproach of it is a burden,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zep+3:18">Zeph. iii. 18</A>.
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(3.) Their religious places were profaned
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The heathen entered into her sanctuary,</I> into the temple itself,
|
|
into which no Israelite was permitted to enter, though ever so
|
|
reverently and devoutly, but the priests only. <I>The stranger that
|
|
comes nigh,</I> even to worship there, <I>shall be put to death.</I>
|
|
Thither the heathen now crows rudely in, not to worship, but to
|
|
plunder. God had commanded that <I>the heathen should not</I> so much
|
|
as <I>enter into the congregation,</I> nor be incorporated with the
|
|
people of the Jews
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+23:3">Deut. xxiii. 3</A>);
|
|
|
|
yet now they <I>enter into the sanctuary</I> without control. Note,
|
|
Nothing is more grievous to those who have a true concern for the glory
|
|
of God, nor is more lamented, than the violation of God's laws, and the
|
|
contempt they see put upon sacred things. What <I>the enemy did
|
|
wickedly in the sanctuary</I> was complained of,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+74:3,4">Ps. lxxiv. 3, 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
(4.) Their religious utensils, and all the rich things with which the
|
|
temple was adorned and beautified, and which were made use of in the
|
|
worship of God, were made a prey to the enemy
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant
|
|
things,</I> has grasped them all, seized them all, for himself. What
|
|
these pleasant things are we may learn from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:11">Isa. lxiv. 11</A>,
|
|
|
|
where, to the complaint of the burning of the temple, it is added,
|
|
<I>All our pleasant things are laid waste;</I> the ark and the altar,
|
|
and all the other tokens of God's presence with them, these were their
|
|
pleasant things above any other things, and these were now broken to
|
|
pieces and carried away. Thus from <I>the daughter of Zion all her
|
|
beauty has departed,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The beauty of holiness</I> was the <I>beauty of the daughter of
|
|
Zion;</I> when the temple, that holy and beautiful house, was
|
|
destroyed, her beauty was gone; that was the breaking of <I>the staff
|
|
of beauty,</I> the taking away of the pledges and seals of the
|
|
covenant,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+11:10">Zech. xi. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
(5.) Their religious days were made a jest of
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.</I> They
|
|
laughed at them for observing one day in seven as a day of rest from
|
|
worldly business. Juvenal, a heathen poet, ridicules the Jews in his
|
|
time for losing a seventh part of their time:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<TABLE BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD>--------cui septima quæque fuit lux
|
|
<BR>Ignava et vitæ partem non attigit ullam----
|
|
<BR>They keep their sabbaths to their cost,
|
|
<BR>For thus one day in sev'n is lost;
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
whereas sabbaths, if they be sanctified as they ought to be, will turn
|
|
to a better account than all the days of the week besides. And whereas
|
|
the Jews professed that they did it in obedience to their God, and to
|
|
his honour, their adversaries asked them, "What do you get by it now?
|
|
What profit have you in keeping the ordinances of your God, who now
|
|
deserts you in your distress?" Note, it is a very great trouble to all
|
|
that love God to hear his ordinances mocked at, and particularly his
|
|
sabbaths. Zion calls them <I>her sabbaths,</I> for the sabbath was made
|
|
for men; they are his institutions, but they are her privileges; and
|
|
the contempt put upon sabbaths all the sons of Zion take to themselves
|
|
and lay to heart accordingly; nor will they look upon sabbaths, or any
|
|
other divine ordinances, as less honourable, nor value them less, for
|
|
their being mocked at.
|
|
|
|
(6.) That which greatly aggravated all these grievances was that her
|
|
state at present was just the reverse of what it had been formerly,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now, <I>in the days of affliction and misery,</I> when every thing was
|
|
black and dismal, <I>she remembers all her pleasant things that she had
|
|
in the days of old,</I> and now knows how to value them better than
|
|
formerly, when she had the full enjoyment of them. God often makes us
|
|
know the worth of mercies by the want of them; and adversity is borne
|
|
with the greatest difficulty by those that have fallen into it from the
|
|
height of prosperity. This cut David to the heart, when he was banished
|
|
from God's ordinances, that he could remember when he <I>went with the
|
|
multitude to the house of God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+42:4">Ps. xlii. 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The sins of Jerusalem are here complained of as the procuring
|
|
provoking cause of all these calamities. Whoever are the instruments,
|
|
God is the author of all these troubles; it is <I>the Lord</I> that
|
|
<I>has afflicted her</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>)
|
|
|
|
and he has done it as a righteous Judge, for <I>she has sinned.</I>
|
|
|
|
1. Her sins are for number numberless. Are her troubles many? Her sins
|
|
are many more. it is <I>for the multitude of her transgressions</I>
|
|
that <I>the Lord has afflicted her.</I> See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+30:14">Jer. xxx. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
When the transgressions of a people are multiplied we cannot say, as
|
|
Job does in his own case, that <I>wounds are multiplied without
|
|
cause,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+9:17">Job ix. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. They are for nature exceedingly heinous
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Jerusalem has grievously sinned,</I> has <I>sinned sin</I> (so the
|
|
word is), sinned wilfully, deliberately, has sinned that sin which of
|
|
all others is the abominable things that the Lord hates, the sin of
|
|
idolatry. The sins of Jerusalem, that makes such a profession and
|
|
enjoys such privileges, are of all others the most grievous sins. She
|
|
has <I>sinned grievously</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
and therefore
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>)
|
|
|
|
she <I>came down wonderfully.</I> note, Grievous sins bring wondrous
|
|
ruin; there are some workers of iniquity to whom there is a strange
|
|
punishment,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+31:3">Job xxxi. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
They are such sins as may plainly be read in the punishment.
|
|
|
|
(1.) They have been very oppressive and therefore are justly oppressed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Judah has gone into captivity,</I> and it is <I>because of
|
|
affliction and great servitude,</I> because the rich among them
|
|
afflicted the poor and made them serve with rigour, and particularly
|
|
(as the Chaldee paraphrases it) because they had oppressed their Hebrew
|
|
servants, which is charged upon them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+34:11">Jer. xxxiv. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Oppression was one of their crying sins
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+6:6,7">Jer. vi. 6, 7</A>)
|
|
|
|
and it is a sin that cries aloud.
|
|
|
|
(2.) They have made themselves vile, and therefore are justly vilified.
|
|
They all <I>despise her</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
for <I>her filthiness is in her skirts;</I> it appears upon her
|
|
garments that she has rolled them in the mire of sin. None could stain
|
|
our glory if we did not stain it ourselves.
|
|
|
|
(3.) They have been very secure and therefore are justly surprised with
|
|
this ruin
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>She remembers not her last end;</I> she did not take the warning
|
|
that was given her to <I>consider her latter end,</I> to consider what
|
|
would be the end of such wicked courses as she took, and therefore she
|
|
<I>came down wonderfully,</I> in an astonishing manner, that she might
|
|
be made to feel what she would not fear; therefore God shall <I>make
|
|
their plagues wonderful.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Jerusalem's friends are here complained of as false and
|
|
faint-hearted, and very unkind: They <I>have all dealt treacherously
|
|
with her</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
so that, in effect, <I>they have become here enemies.</I> Her deceivers
|
|
have created her as much vexation as her destroyers. The staff that
|
|
breaks under us may do us as great a mischief as the <I>staff that
|
|
beats us,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+29:6,7">Ezek. xxix. 6, 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Her princes,</I> that should have protected her, have not courage
|
|
enough to make head against the enemy for their own preservation; they
|
|
<I>are like harts,</I> that, upon the first alarm, betake themselves to
|
|
flight and make no resistance; nay, they <I>are like harts</I> that are
|
|
famished for want of <I>pasture,</I> and therefore <I>are gone without
|
|
strength before the pursuer,</I> and, having no strength for flight,
|
|
are soon run down and made a prey of. Her neighbours are unneighbourly,
|
|
for,
|
|
|
|
1. There is none <I>to help her</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
either they could not or they would not; nay,
|
|
|
|
2. <I>She has not comforter,</I> none to sympathize with her, or
|
|
suggest any thing to alleviate her griefs,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:7,9"><I>v.</I> 7, 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Like Job's friends, they saw it was to no purpose, her <I>grief was so
|
|
great;</I> and <I>miserable comforters were they all</I> in such a
|
|
case.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. Jerusalem's God is here complained to concerning all these things,
|
|
and all is referred to his compassionate consideration
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>O Lord! behold my affliction,</I> and take cognizance of it;" and
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
"<I>See, O Lord! and consider,</I> take order about it." Note, The only
|
|
way to make ourselves easy under our burdens is to cast them upon God
|
|
first, and leave it to him to do with us as seemeth him good.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="La1_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="La1_22"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>God Acknowledged in Affliction; Jerusalem's Complaint.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 588.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 <I>Is it</I> nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see
|
|
if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto
|
|
me, wherewith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath afflicted <I>me</I> in the day of his
|
|
fierce anger.
|
|
13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it
|
|
prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he
|
|
hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate <I>and</I> faint all the
|
|
day.
|
|
14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are
|
|
wreathed, <I>and</I> come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to
|
|
fall, the Lord hath delivered me into <I>their</I> hands, <I>from whom</I>
|
|
I am not able to rise up.
|
|
15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty <I>men</I> in the
|
|
midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my
|
|
young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of
|
|
Judah, <I>as</I> in a winepress.
|
|
16 For these <I>things</I> I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down
|
|
with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is
|
|
far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy
|
|
prevailed.
|
|
17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, <I>and there is</I> none to
|
|
comfort her: the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath commanded concerning Jacob, <I>that</I> his
|
|
adversaries <I>should be</I> round about him: Jerusalem is as a
|
|
menstruous woman among them.
|
|
18 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> is righteous; for I have rebelled against his
|
|
commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow:
|
|
my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
|
|
19 I called for my lovers, <I>but</I> they deceived me: my priests
|
|
and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought
|
|
their meat to relieve their souls.
|
|
20 Behold, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; for I <I>am</I> in distress: my bowels are
|
|
troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously
|
|
rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home <I>there is</I> as
|
|
death.
|
|
21 They have heard that I sigh: <I>there is</I> none to comfort me:
|
|
all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that
|
|
thou hast done <I>it:</I> thou wilt bring the day <I>that</I> thou hast
|
|
called, and they shall be like unto me.
|
|
22 Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them,
|
|
as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs
|
|
<I>are</I> many, and my heart <I>is</I> faint.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The complaints here are, for substance, the same with those in the
|
|
foregoing part of the chapter; but in these verses the prophet, in the
|
|
name of the lamenting church, does more particularly acknowledge the
|
|
hand of god in these calamities, and the righteousness of his hand.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The church in distress here magnifies her affliction, and yet no
|
|
more than there was cause for; her groaning was not heavier than her
|
|
strokes. She appeals to all spectators: <I>See if there be any sorrow
|
|
like unto my sorrow,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
This might perhaps be truly said of Jerusalem's griefs; but we are apt
|
|
to apply it too sensibly to ourselves when we are in trouble and more
|
|
than there is cause for. Because we feel most from our own burden, and
|
|
cannot be persuaded to reconcile ourselves to it, we are ready to cry
|
|
out, Surely never was <I>sorrow like unto our sorrow;</I> whereas, if
|
|
our troubles were to be thrown into a common stock with those of
|
|
others, and then an equal dividend made, share and share alike, rather
|
|
than stand to that we should each of us say, "Pray, give me my own
|
|
again."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. She here looks beyond the instruments to the author of her
|
|
troubles, and owns them all to be directed, determined, and disposed of
|
|
by him: "It is <I>the Lord</I> that <I>has afflicted me,</I> and he has
|
|
<I>afflicted me</I> because he is angry with me; the greatness of his
|
|
displeasure may be measured by the greatness of my distress; it is
|
|
<I>in the day of his fierce anger,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Afflictions cannot but be very much our griefs when we see them arising
|
|
from God's wrath; so the church does here.
|
|
|
|
1. She is as one in a fever, and the fever is of God's sending: "<I>He
|
|
has sent fire into my bones</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
a preternatural heat, which <I>prevails against them,</I> so that they
|
|
are <I>burnt like a hearth</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:3">Ps. cii. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
pained and wasted, and dried away."
|
|
|
|
2. She is as one in a net, which the more he struggles to get out of
|
|
the more he is entangled in, and this net is of God's spreading. "The
|
|
enemies could not have succeeded in their stratagems had not God
|
|
<I>spread a net for my feet.</I>"
|
|
|
|
3. She is as one in a wilderness, whose way is embarrassed, solitary,
|
|
and tiresome: "<I>He has turned me back,</I> that I cannot go on,
|
|
<I>has made me desolate,</I> that I have nothing to support me with,
|
|
but am <I>faint all the day.</I>"
|
|
|
|
4. She is as one in a yoke, not yoked for service, but for penance,
|
|
tied neck and heels together
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand.</I> Observe, We
|
|
never are entangled in any yoke but what is framed out of our own
|
|
transgressions. The sinner is <I>holden with the cords of his own
|
|
sins,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:22">Prov. v. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
The yoke of Christ's commands is an <I>easy yoke</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+11:30">Matt. xi. 30</A>),
|
|
|
|
but that of our own transgressions is a heavy one. God is said to bind
|
|
this yoke when he charges guilt upon us, and brings us into those
|
|
inward and outward troubles which our sins have deserved; when
|
|
conscience, as his deputy, binds us over to his judgment, then <I>the
|
|
yoke is bound</I> and <I>wreathed by the hand</I> of his justice, and
|
|
nothing but the hand of his pardoning mercy will unbind it.
|
|
|
|
5. She is as one in the dirt, and he it is that has <I>trodden under
|
|
foot all her mighty men,</I> that has disabled them to stand, and
|
|
overthrown them by one judgment after another, and so left them to be
|
|
trampled upon by their proud conquerors,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Nay, she is as one in a wine-press, not only trodden down, but trodden
|
|
to pieces, crushed as grapes in the wine-press of God's wrath, and her
|
|
blood pressed out as wine, and it is God that has thus <I>trodden the
|
|
virgin, the daughter of Judah.</I>
|
|
|
|
6. She is in the hand of her enemies, and it is the Lord that has
|
|
delivered her <I>into their hands</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He has made my strength to fall,</I> so that <I>I am not able to</I>
|
|
make head against them; nay, not only not able to rise up against them,
|
|
but <I>not able to rise up</I> from them, and then <I>he has delivered
|
|
me into their hands;</I> nay
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>he has called an assembly against me, to crush my young men,</I> and
|
|
such an assembly as it is in vain to think of opposing; and again
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries should
|
|
be round about him.</I> He that has many a time <I>commanded
|
|
deliverances for Jacob</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+44:4">Ps. xliv. 4</A>)
|
|
|
|
now commands an invasion against Jacob, because Jacob has disobeyed the
|
|
commands of his law.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. She justly demands a share in the pity and compassion of those
|
|
that were the spectators of her misery
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by?</I> Can you look upon
|
|
me without concern? What! are your hearts as adamants and your eyes as
|
|
marbles, that you cannot bestow upon me one compassionate thought, or
|
|
look, or tear? Are not you also in the body? Is it nothing to you that
|
|
your neighbor's house is on fire?" There are those to whom Zion's
|
|
sorrows and ruins are nothing; they are not <I>grieved for the
|
|
affliction of Joseph.</I> How pathetically does she beg their
|
|
compassion!
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow:</I> hear my
|
|
complaints, and see what cause I have for them." This is a request like
|
|
that of Job
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:21"><I>ch.</I> xix. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you my friends!</I> It helps
|
|
to make a burden sit lighter if our friends sympathize with us, and
|
|
mingle their tears with ours, for this is an evidence that, though we
|
|
are in affliction, we are not in contempt, which is commonly as much
|
|
dreaded in an affliction as any thing.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. She justifies her own grief, though it was very extreme, for these
|
|
calamities
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>For these things I weep,</I> I weep in the night
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
when none sees; <I>my eye, my eye, runs down with water.</I>" Note,
|
|
This world is a vale of tears to the people of God. Zion's sons are
|
|
often Zion's mourners. <I>Zion spreads forth her hands</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
which is here an expression rather of despair than of desire; she
|
|
flings out her hands as giving up all for gone. Let us see how she
|
|
accounts for this passionate grief.
|
|
|
|
1. Her God has withdrawn from her; and Micah, that had but gods of
|
|
gold, when they were stolen from him cried out, <I>What have I more?
|
|
And what is it that you say unto me? What aileth thee?</I> The church
|
|
here grieves excessively; for, says she, <I>the comforter that should
|
|
relieve my soul is far from me.</I> God is the comforter; he used to be
|
|
so to her; he only can administer effectual comforts; it is his word
|
|
that speaks them; it is his Spirit that speaks them to us. His are
|
|
strong consolations, able to <I>relieve the soul,</I> to <I>bring it
|
|
back</I> when it is gone, and we cannot of ourselves <I>fetch it
|
|
again;</I> but now he has departed in displeasure, he is <I>far from
|
|
me,</I> and beholds me <I>afar off.</I> Note, It is no marvel that the
|
|
souls of the saints faint away, when God, who is the only Comforter
|
|
that can relieve them, keeps at a distance.
|
|
|
|
2. Her children are removed from her, and are in no capacity to help
|
|
her: it is for them that she weeps, as Rachel for hers, <I>because they
|
|
were not,</I> and therefore she <I>refuses to be comforted. Her
|
|
children were desolate, because the enemy prevailed</I> against them;
|
|
there is <I>none of all her sons to take her by the hand</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+51:18">Isa. li. 18</A>);
|
|
|
|
they cannot help themselves, and how should they help her? Both the
|
|
damsels and the youths, that were her joy and hope, <I>have gone into
|
|
captivity,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is said of the Chaldeans that they had <I>no compassion upon young
|
|
men nor maidens,</I> not on the fair sex, not on the blooming age,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+36:17">2 Chron. xxxvi. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
3. Her friends failed her; some would not and others could not give her
|
|
any relief. She <I>spread forth her hands,</I> as begging relief, but
|
|
<I>there is none to comfort her</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
none that can do it, none that cares to do it; she <I>called</I> for
|
|
her <I>lovers,</I> and, to engage them to help her, <I>called</I> them
|
|
her <I>lovers,</I> but they <I>deceived</I> her
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
they proved like the brooks in summer to the thirsty traveller,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+6:15">Job vi. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Those creatures that we set our hearts upon and raise our
|
|
expectations from we are commonly deceived and disappointed in. Her
|
|
idols were her lovers. Egypt and Assyria were her confidants. But they
|
|
deceived her. Those that made court to her in her prosperity were shy
|
|
of her, and strange to her, in her adversity. Happy are those that
|
|
have made God their friend and keep themselves in his love, for he will
|
|
not deceive them!
|
|
|
|
4. Those whose office it was to guide her were disabled from doing her
|
|
any service. The <I>priests</I> and the <I>elders,</I> that should have
|
|
appeared at the head of affairs, died for hunger
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>);
|
|
|
|
they <I>gave up the ghost,</I> or were ready to expire, <I>while they
|
|
sought their meat;</I> they went a begging for bread to keep them
|
|
alive. <I>The famine</I> is <I>sore</I> indeed <I>in the land</I> when
|
|
there is no bread to the wise, when priests and elders are starved. The
|
|
priests and elders should have been her comforters; but how should they
|
|
comfort others when they themselves were comfortless? "<I>They have
|
|
heard that I sigh,</I> which should have summoned them to my
|
|
assistance; but <I>there is none to comfort me. Lover and friend hast
|
|
thou put far from me.</I>"
|
|
|
|
5. Her enemies were too hard for her, and they insulted over her; they
|
|
have <I>prevailed,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Abroad the sword bereaves</I> and slays all that comes in its way,
|
|
and <I>at home</I> all provisions are cut off by the besiegers, so that
|
|
<I>there is as death,</I> that is, famine, which is as bad as the
|
|
pestilence, or worse--<I>the sword without and terror within,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:25">Deut. xxxii. 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
And as the enemies, that were the instruments of the calamity, were
|
|
very barbarous, so were those that were the standers by, the Edomites
|
|
and Ammonites, that bore ill will to Israel: They have <I>heard of my
|
|
trouble, and are glad that thou hast done it</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>);
|
|
|
|
they rejoice in the trouble itself; they rejoice that it is God's
|
|
doing; it pleases them to find that God and his Israel have fallen out,
|
|
and they act accordingly with a great deal of strangeness towards them.
|
|
<I>Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them,</I> that they are
|
|
afraid of touching and are shy of,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Upon all these accounts it cannot be wondered at, nor can she be
|
|
blamed, that <I>her sighs are many,</I> in grieving for what is, and
|
|
that <I>her heart is faint</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>)
|
|
|
|
in fear of what is yet further likely to be.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. She justifies God in all that is brought upon her, acknowledging
|
|
that her sins had deserved these severe chastenings. The yoke that lies
|
|
so heavily, and binds so hard, is <I>the yoke of her
|
|
transgressions,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
The fetters we are held in are of our own making, and it is with our
|
|
own rod that we are beaten. When the church had spoken here as if she
|
|
thought the Lord severe she does well to correct herself, at least to
|
|
explain herself, but acknowledging
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord is righteous.</I> He does us no wrong in dealing thus with
|
|
us, nor can we charge him with any injustice in it; how unrighteous
|
|
soever men are, we are sure that the <I>Lord is righteous,</I> and
|
|
manifests his justice, though they contradict all the laws of theirs.
|
|
Note, Whatever our troubles are, which God is pleased to inflict upon
|
|
us, we must own that therein he <I>is righteous;</I> we understand
|
|
neither him nor ourselves if we do not own it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+12:6">2 Chron. xii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
She owns the equity of God's actions, but owning the iniquity of her
|
|
own: <I>I have rebelled against his commandments</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>);
|
|
|
|
and again
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>I have grievously rebelled.</I> We cannot speak ill enough of sin,
|
|
and we must always speak worst of our own sin, must call it
|
|
<I>rebellion, grievous rebellion;</I> and very grievous sins is to all
|
|
true penitents. It is this that lies more heavily upon her than the
|
|
afflictions she was under: "<I>My bowels are troubled;</I> they work
|
|
within me as the troubled sea; <I>my heart is turned within me,</I> is
|
|
restless, is turned upside down; <I>for I have grievously
|
|
rebelled.</I>" Note, Sorrow for our sin must be great sorrow and must
|
|
affect the soul.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. She appeals both to the mercy and to the justice of God in her
|
|
present case.
|
|
|
|
1. She appeals to the mercy of God concerning her own sorrows, which
|
|
had made her the proper object of his compassion
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Behold, O Lord! for I am in distress;</I> take cognizance of my
|
|
case, and take such order for my relief as thou pleasest." Note, It is
|
|
matter of comfort to us that the troubles which oppress our spirits are
|
|
open before God's eye.
|
|
|
|
2. She appeals to the justice of God concerning the injuries that her
|
|
enemies did her
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+2:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called,</I> the day that is
|
|
fixed in the counsels of God and published in the prophecies, when my
|
|
enemies, that now prosecute me, <I>shall be made like unto me,</I> when
|
|
the cup of trembling, now put into my hands, shall be put into theirs."
|
|
It may be read as a prayer, "Let the day appointed come," and so it
|
|
goes on, "<I>Let their wickedness come before thee,</I> let it come to
|
|
be remembered, let it come to be reckoned for; take vengeance on them
|
|
for all the wrongs they have done to me
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:14,15">Ps. cix. 14, 15</A>);
|
|
|
|
hasten the time when thou wilt <I>do to them</I> for their
|
|
transgressions <I>as thou hast done to me</I> for mine." This prayer
|
|
amounts to a protestation against all thoughts of a coalition with
|
|
them, and to a prediction of their ruin, subscribing to that which God
|
|
had in his word spoken of it. Note, Our prayers may and must agree
|
|
with God's word; and what day God has here called we are to call for,
|
|
and no other. And though we are bound in charity to forgive our
|
|
enemies, and to pray for them, yet we may in faith pray for the
|
|
accomplishment of that which God has spoken against his and his
|
|
church's enemies, that will not repent to give him glory.</P>
|
|
|
|
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