mh_parser/vol_split/25 - Lamentations/Chapter 5.xml

<div2 id="Lam.vi" n="vi" next="Ez" prev="Lam.v" progress="49.42%" title="Chapter V">
<h2 id="Lam.vi-p0.1">L A M E N T A T I O N S.</h2>
<h3 id="Lam.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Lam.vi-p1" shownumber="no">This chapter, though it has the same number of
verses with the 1st, 2nd, and 4th, is not alphabetical, as they
were, but the scope of it is the same with that of all the
foregoing elegies. We have in it, I. A representation of the
present calamitous state of God's people in their captivity,
<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.1-Lam.5.16" parsed="|Lam|5|1|5|16" passage="La 5:1-16">ver. 1-16</scripRef>. II. A
protestation of their concern for God's sanctuary, as that which
lay nearer their heart than any secular interest of their own,
<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.17-Lam.5.18" parsed="|Lam|5|17|5|18" passage="La 5:17,18">ver. 17, 18</scripRef>. III. A
humble supplication to God and expostulation with him, for the
returns of mercy (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.19-Lam.5.22" parsed="|Lam|5|19|5|22" passage="La 5:19-22">ver.
19-22</scripRef>); for those that lament and do not pray sin in
their lamentations. Some ancient versions call this chapter, "The
Prayer of Jeremiah."</p>
<scripCom id="Lam.vi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5" parsed="|Lam|5|0|0|0" passage="La 5" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Lam.vi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.1-Lam.5.16" parsed="|Lam|5|1|5|16" passage="La 5:1-16" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.vi-p1.6">
<h4 id="Lam.vi-p1.7">An Appeal to God; Complicated
Sorrows. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.vi-p1.8">b. c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.vi-p2" shownumber="no">1 Remember, <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.vi-p2.1">O
Lord</span>, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our
reproach.   2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our
houses to aliens.   3 We are orphans and fatherless, our
mothers <i>are</i> as widows.   4 We have drunken our water
for money; our wood is sold unto us.   5 Our necks <i>are</i>
under persecution: we labour, <i>and</i> have no rest.   6 We
have given the hand <i>to</i> the Egyptians, <i>and to</i> the
Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.   7 Our fathers have
sinned, <i>and are</i> not; and we have borne their iniquities.
  8 Servants have ruled over us: <i>there is</i> none that
doth deliver <i>us</i> out of their hand.   9 We gat our bread
with <i>the peril of</i> our lives because of the sword of the
wilderness.   10 Our skin was black like an oven because of
the terrible famine.   11 They ravished the women in Zion,
<i>and</i> the maids in the cities of Judah.   12 Princes are
hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
  13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell
under the wood.   14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the
young men from their music.   15 The joy of our heart is
ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.   16 The crown is
fallen <i>from</i> our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p3" shownumber="no"><i>Is any afflicted? let him pray;</i> and
let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God, and make known
before him his trouble. The people of God do so here; being
overwhelmed with grief, they give vent to their sorrows at the
footstool of the throne of grace, and so give themselves ease. They
complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt: "<i>Remember what
has come upon us,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.1" parsed="|Lam|5|1|0|0" passage="La 5:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>. What was of old threatened against us, and was long
in the coming, has now at length <i>come upon us,</i> and we are
ready to sink under it. <i>Remember what is</i> past, <i>consider
and behold</i> what is present, and <i>let not all the trouble</i>
we are in <i>seem little to thee,</i> and not worth taking notice
of," <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Neh.9.32" parsed="|Neh|9|32|0|0" passage="Ne 9:32">Neh. ix. 32</scripRef>. Note, As
it is a great comfort to us, so it ought to be a sufficient one, in
our troubles, that God sees, and considers, and remembers, all that
<i>has come upon us;</i> and in our prayers we need only to
recommend our case to his gracious and compassionate consideration.
The one word in which all their grievances are summer up is
<i>reproach: Consider, and behold our reproach.</i> The troubles
they were in compared with their former dignity and plenty, were a
greater reproach to them than they would have been to any other
people, especially considering their relation to God and dependence
upon him, and his former appearances for them; and therefore this
they complain of very sensibly, because, as it was a reproach, it
reflected upon the name and honour of that God who had owned them
for his people. <i>And what wilt thou do unto thy great
name?</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p4" shownumber="no">I. They acknowledge the reproach of sin
which they bear, <i>the reproach of their youth</i> (which Ephraim
bemoans himself for, <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.31.19" parsed="|Jer|31|19|0|0" passage="Jer 31:19">Jer. xxxi.
19</scripRef>), of the early days of their nation. This comes in in
the midst of their complaints (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.7" parsed="|Lam|5|7|0|0" passage="La 5:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>), but may well be put in the front of them: <i>Our
fathers have sinned and are not;</i> they are dead and gone, but
<i>we have borne their iniquities.</i> This is not here a peevish
complaint, nor an imputation of unrighteousness to God, like that
which we have, <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.31.29 Bible:Ezek.18.2" parsed="|Jer|31|29|0|0;|Ezek|18|2|0|0" passage="Jer 31:29,Eze 18:2">Jer. xxxi.
29, Ezek. xviii. 2</scripRef>. <i>The fathers did eat sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge,</i> and therefore <i>the
ways of the Lord are not equal.</i> But it is a penitent confession
of the sins of their ancestors, which they themselves also had
persisted in, for which they now justly suffered; the judgments God
brought upon them were so very great that it appeared that God had
in them an eye to the sins of their ancestors (because they had not
been remarkably punished in this world) as well as to their own
sins; and thus God was justified both in his connivance at their
ancestors (he <i>laid up their iniquity for their children</i>) and
in his severity with them, on whom he visited that iniquity,
<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.35-Matt.23.36" parsed="|Matt|23|35|23|36" passage="Mt 23:35,36">Matt. xxiii. 35, 36</scripRef>.
Thus they do here, 1. Submit themselves to the divine justice:
"Lord, thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for we are a
seed of evil doers, children of wrath, and heirs of the curse; we
are sinful, and we have it by kind." Note, The sins which God looks
back upon in punishing we must look back upon in repenting, and
must take notice of all that which will help to justify God in
correcting us. 2. They refer themselves to the divine pity: "Lord,
<i>our fathers have sinned,</i> and we justly smart for their sins;
but <i>they are not;</i> they were taken away from the evil to
come; they lived not to see and share in these miseries that have
<i>come upon us,</i> and we are left to <i>bear their
iniquities.</i> Now, though herein God is righteous, yet it must be
owned that our case is pitiable, and worthy of compassion." Note,
If we be penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of
our fathers, we may expect that he who punishes will pity, and will
soon return in mercy to us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p5" shownumber="no">II. They represent the reproach of trouble
which they bear, in divers particulars, which tend much to their
disgrace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p6" shownumber="no">1. They are disseised of that good land
which God gave them, and their enemies have got possession of it,
<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.2" parsed="|Lam|5|2|0|0" passage="La 5:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Canaan was their
inheritance; it was theirs by promise. God gave it to them and
their seed, and they held it by grant from his crown, (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.136.21-Ps.136.22" parsed="|Ps|136|21|136|22" passage="Ps 136:21,22">Ps. cxxxvi. 21, 22</scripRef>); but now, "It
is turned to strangers; those possess it who have no right to it,
who are <i>strangers to the commonwealth of Israel and aliens from
the covenants of promise;</i> they dwell in the houses that we
built, and this is our reproach." It is the happiness of all God's
spiritual Israel that the heavenly Canaan is an inheritance that
they cannot be disseised of, that shall never be turned to
strangers.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p7" shownumber="no">2. Their state and nation are brought into
a condition like that of widows and orphans (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.3" parsed="|Lam|5|3|0|0" passage="La 5:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): "<i>We are fatherless</i> (that
is, helpless); we have none to protect us, to provide for us, to
take any care of us. Our king, who is the father of the country, is
cut off; nay, God our Father seems to have forsaken us and cast us
off; <i>our mothers,</i> our cities, that were as fruitful mothers
in Israel, <i>are</i> now <i>as widows,</i> are as wives whose
husbands are dead, destitute of comfort, and exposed to wrong and
injury, and this is our reproach; for we who made a figure are now
looked on with contempt."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p8" shownumber="no">3. They are put hard to it to provide
necessaries for themselves and their families, whereas once they
lived in abundance and had plenty of every thing. Water used to be
free and easily come by, but now (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.4" parsed="|Lam|5|4|0|0" passage="La 5:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), <i>We have drunk our water for
money,</i> and the saying is no longer true, <i>Usus communis
aquarum</i>—<i>Water is free to all.</i> So hardly did their
oppressors use them that they could not have a draught of fair
water but they must purchase it either with money or with work.
Formerly they had fuel too for the fetching; but now, "<i>Our wood
is sold to us,</i> and we pay dearly for every faggot." Now were
they punished for employing their children to gather wood for fire
with which to <i>bake cakes for the queen of heaven,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.18" parsed="|Jer|7|18|0|0" passage="Jer 7:18">Jer. vii. 18</scripRef>. They were perfectly
proscribed by their oppressors, were forbidden the use both of fire
and water, according to the ancient form, <i>Interdico tibi aqua et
igni</i>—<i>I forbid thee the use of water and fire.</i> But what
must they do for bread? Truly that was as hard to come at as any
thing, for (1.) Some of them sold their liberty for it (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.6" parsed="|Lam|5|6|0|0" passage="La 5:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): "<i>We have given the
hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians,</i> have made the best
bargain we could with them, to serve them, that we might <i>be
satisfied with bread.</i> We were glad to submit to the meanest
employment, upon the hardest terms, to get a sorry livelihood; we
have yielded ourselves to be their vassals, have parted with all to
them, as the Egyptians did to Pharaoh in the years of famine, that
we might have something for ourselves and families to subsist on."
The neighbouring nations used to trade with Judah for wheat
(<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.27.17" parsed="|Ezek|27|17|0|0" passage="Eze 27:17">Ezek. xxvii. 17</scripRef>), for it
was a fruitful land; but now it <i>eats up the inhabitants,</i> and
they are glad to make court to the Egyptians and Assyrians. (2.)
Others of them ventured their lives for it (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.9" parsed="|Lam|5|9|0|0" passage="La 5:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>We got our bread with the
peril of our lives;</i> when, being straitened by the siege and all
provisions cut off, they either sallied or stole out of the city,
to fetch in some supply, they were in danger of falling into the
hands of the besiegers and being put to the sword, <i>the sword of
the wilderness</i> it is called, or <i>of the plain</i> (for so the
word signifies), the besiegers lying dispersed every where in the
plains that were about the city. Let us take occasion hence to
bless God for the plenty that we enjoy, that we get our bread so
easily, scarcely with the sweat of our face, much less <i>with the
peril of our lives;</i> and for the peace we enjoy, that we can go
out, and enjoy not only the necessary productions, but the
pleasures of the country, without any fear of <i>the sword of the
wilderness.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p9" shownumber="no">4. Those are brought into slavery who were
a free people, and not only their own masters, but masters of all
about them, and this is as much as any thing their reproach
(<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.5" parsed="|Lam|5|5|0|0" passage="La 5:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>Our necks
are under</i> the grievous and intolerable yoke of
<i>persecution</i> (the iron yoke which Jeremiah foretold should be
laid upon them, <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.28.14" parsed="|Jer|28|14|0|0" passage="Jer 28:14">Jer. xxviii.
14</scripRef>); we are used like beasts in the yoke, that wholly
serve their owners, and are at the command of their drivers. That
which aggravated the servitude was, (1.) That their labours were
incessant, like those of Israel in Egypt, who were daily tasked,
nay, overtasked: <i>We labour and have no rest,</i> neither leave
nor leisure to rest. The oxen in the yoke are unyoked at night and
have rest; so they have, by a particular provision of the law, on
the sabbath day; but the poor captives in Babylon, who were
compelled to work for their living, <i>laboured and had no
rest,</i> no night's rest, no sabbath-rest; they were quite tired
out with continual toil. (2.) That their masters were insufferable
(<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.8" parsed="|Lam|5|8|0|0" passage="La 5:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Servants
have ruled over us;</i> and nothing is more vexatious than <i>a
servant when he reigns,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.22" parsed="|Prov|30|22|0|0" passage="Pr 30:22">Prov. xxx.
22</scripRef>. They were not only the great men of the Chaldeans
that commanded them, but even the meanest of their servants abused
them at pleasure, and insulted over them; and they must be at their
beck too. The curse of Canaan had now become the doom of Judah:
<i>A servant of servants shall he be.</i> They would not be ruled
by their God, and by his servants the prophets, whose rule was
gentle and gracious, and therefore justly are they ruled with
rigour by their enemies and their servants. (3.) That they saw no
probable way for the redress of their grievances: "<i>There is none
that doth deliver us out of their hand;</i> not only none to rescue
us out of our captivity, but none to check and restrain the
insolence of the servants that abuse us and trample upon us," which
one would think their masters should have done, because it was a
usurpation of their authority; but, it should seem, they connived
at it and encouraged it, and, as if they were not worthy of the
correction of gentlemen, they are turned over to the footmen to be
spurned by them. Well might they pray, <i>Lord, consider and behold
our reproach.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p10" shownumber="no">5. Those who used to be feasted are now
famished (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.10" parsed="|Lam|5|10|0|0" passage="La 5:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>):
<i>Our skin was black like an oven,</i> dried and parched too,
<i>because of the terrible famine,</i> the <i>storms of famine</i>
(so the word is); for, though famine comes gradually upon a people,
yet it comes violently, and bears down all before it, and there is
no resisting it; and this also is their disgrace; hence we read of
<i>the reproach of famine,</i> which in captivity their received
among the heathen, <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.36.30" parsed="|Ezek|36|30|0|0" passage="Eze 36:30">Ezek. xxxvi.
30</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p11" shownumber="no">6. All sorts of people, even those whose
persons and characters were most inviolable, were abused and
dishonoured. (1.) The <i>women</i> were <i>ravished,</i> even
<i>the women in Zion,</i> that holy mountain, <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.11" parsed="|Lam|5|11|0|0" passage="La 5:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. The committing of such
abominable wickednesses there is very justly and sadly complained
of. (2.) The great men were not only put to death, but put to
ignominious deaths. <i>Princes were hanged,</i> as if they had been
slaves, <i>by the hands</i> of the Chaldeans (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.12" parsed="|Lam|5|12|0|0" passage="La 5:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), who took a pride in doing this
barbarous execution with <i>their own hands.</i> Some think that
the dead bodies of the princes, after they were slain with the
sword, were hung up, as the bodies of Saul's sons, in disgrace to
them, and as it were to expiate the nation's guilt. (3.) No respect
was shown to magistrates and those in authority: <i>The faces of
elders,</i> elders in age, elders in office, <i>were not
honoured.</i> This will be particularly remembered against the
Chaldeans another day. <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.6" parsed="|Isa|47|6|0|0" passage="Isa 47:6">Isa. xlvii.
6</scripRef>, <i>Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy
yoke.</i> (4.) The tenderness of youth was no more considered than
the gravity of old age (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.13" parsed="|Lam|5|13|0|0" passage="La 5:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): <i>They took the young men to grind</i> at the
hand-mills, nay, perhaps at the horse-mills. <i>The young men have
carried the grist</i> (so some), <i>have carried the mill,</i> or
<i>mill-stones,</i> so others. They loaded them as if they had been
beasts of burden, and so broke their backs while they were young,
and made the rest of their lives the more miserable. Nay, they made
<i>the</i> little <i>children</i> carry their wood home for fuel,
and laid such burdens upon them that they <i>fell</i> down
<i>under</i> them, so very inhuman were these cruel
taskmasters!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p12" shownumber="no">7. An end was put to all their gladness,
and their joy was quite extinguished (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.14" parsed="|Lam|5|14|0|0" passage="La 5:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>The young men,</i> who used
to be disposed to mirth, have ceased <i>from their music,</i> have
hung their harps upon the willow-trees. It does indeed well become
old men to cease from their music; it is time to lay it by with a
gracious contempt when <i>all the daughters of music are brought
low;</i> but it speaks some great calamity upon a people when their
young men are made to cease from it. It was so with the body of the
people (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.15" parsed="|Lam|5|15|0|0" passage="La 5:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>):
<i>The joy of their heart ceased;</i> they never knew what joy was
since the enemy came in upon them like a flood, for ever since
<i>deep called unto deep,</i> and one wave flowed in upon the neck
of another, so that they were quite overwhelmed: <i>Our dance is
turned into mourning,</i> instead of leaping for joy, as formerly,
we sink and lie down in sorrow. This may refer especially to the
joy of their solemn feasts, and the dancing used in them (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.21.21" parsed="|Judg|21|21|0|0" passage="Jdg 21:21">Judg. xxi. 21</scripRef>), which was not only
modest, but sacred, dancing; this was <i>turned into mourning,</i>
which was doubled on their festival days, in remembrance of their
former pleasant things.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p13" shownumber="no">8. An end was put to all their glory. (1.)
The public administration of justice was their glory, but that was
gone: <i>The elders have ceased from the gate</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.14" parsed="|Lam|5|14|0|0" passage="La 5:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); the course of justice,
which used to run down like a river, is now stopped; the courts of
justice, which used to be kept with so much solemnity, are put
down; for the judges are slain, or carried captive. (2.) The royal
dignity was their glory, but that also was gone: <i>The crown has
fallen from our head,</i> not only the <i>king</i> himself fallen
into disgrace, but <i>the crown;</i> he has no successor; the
regalia are all lost. Note, Earthly crowns are fading falling
things; but, blessed be God, there is <i>a crown of glory that
fades not away,</i> that never falls, <i>a kingdom that cannot be
moved.</i> Upon this complaint, but with reference to all the
foregoing complaints, they make that penitent acknowledgment,
"<i>Woe unto us that we have sinned!</i> Alas for us! Our case is
very deplorable, and it is all owing to ourselves; we are undone,
and, which aggravates the matter, we are undone by our own hands.
God is righteous, for <i>we have sinned.</i>" Note, All our woes
are owing to our own sin and folly. If <i>the crown of our head be
fallen</i> (for so the words run), if we lose our excellency and
become mean, we may thank ourselves, we have by our own iniquity
profaned our crown and <i>laid our honour in the dust.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Lam.vi-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.17-Lam.5.22" parsed="|Lam|5|17|5|22" passage="La 5:17-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Lam.vi-p13.3">
<h4 id="Lam.vi-p13.4">Unchangeableness of God; Prayer for Mercy
and Grace. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.vi-p13.5">b. c.</span> 588.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lam.vi-p14" shownumber="no">17 For this our heart is faint; for these
<i>things</i> our eyes are dim.   18 Because of the mountain
of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.   19 Thou,
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.vi-p14.1">O Lord</span>, remainest for ever; thy
throne from generation to generation.   20 Wherefore dost thou
forget us for ever, <i>and</i> forsake us so long time?   21
Turn thou us unto thee, <span class="smallcaps" id="Lam.vi-p14.2">O Lord</span>, and
we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.   22 But thou
hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p15" shownumber="no">Here, I. The people of God express the deep
concern they had for the ruins of the temple, more than for any
other of their calamities; the interests of God's house lay nearer
their hearts than those of their own (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.17-Lam.5.18" parsed="|Lam|5|17|5|18" passage="La 5:17,18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>): <i>For this our heart is
faint,</i> and sinks under the load of its own heaviness; <i>for
these things our eyes are dim,</i> and our sight is gone, as is
usual in a deliquium, or fainting fit. "It is <i>because of the
mountain of Zion, which is desolate,</i> the holy mountain, and the
temple built upon that mountain. For other desolations our hearts
grieve and our eyes weep; but for this our hearts faint and our
eyes are dim." Note, Nothing lies so heavily upon the spirits of
good people as that which threatens the ruin of religion or weakens
its interests; and it is a comfort if we can appeal to God that
that afflicts us more than any temporal affliction to ourselves.
"The people have polluted the <i>mountain of Zion</i> with their
sins, and therefore God has justly made it <i>desolate,</i> to such
a degree that <i>the foxes walk upon it</i> as freely and commonly
as they do in the woods." It is sad indeed when the <i>mountain of
Zion</i> has become <i>a portion for foxes</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.63.10" parsed="|Ps|63|10|0|0" passage="Ps 63:10">Ps. lxiii. 10</scripRef>); but sin had first made it so,
<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.13.4" parsed="|Ezek|13|4|0|0" passage="Eze 13:4">Ezek. xiii. 4</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p16" shownumber="no">II. They comfort themselves with the
doctrine of God's eternity, and the perpetuity of his government
(<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.19" parsed="|Lam|5|19|0|0" passage="La 5:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): But <i>thou,
O Lord! remainest for ever.</i> This they are taught to do by that
psalm which is entitled, <i>A prayer of the afflicted,</i>
<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.27-Ps.102.28" parsed="|Ps|102|27|102|28" passage="Ps 102:27,28">Ps. cii. 27, 28</scripRef>. When
all our creature-comforts are removed from us, and our hearts fail
us, we may then encourage ourselves with the belief, 1. Of God's
eternity: <i>Thou remainest for ever.</i> What shakes the world
gives no disturbance to him who made it; whatever revolutions there
are on earth there is no change in the Eternal Mind; God is still
the same, and <i>remains for ever</i> infinitely wise and holy,
just and good; with him there is <i>no variableness nor shadow of
turning.</i> 2. Of the never-failing continuance of his dominion:
<i>Thy throne is from generation to generation;</i> the throne of
glory, the throne of grace, and the throne of government, are all
unchangeable, immovable; and this is matter of comfort to us when
<i>the crown has fallen from our head.</i> When the thrones of
princes, that should be our protectors, are brought to the dust,
and buried in it, God's throne continues still; he still rules the
world, and rules it for the good of the church. The Lord reigns,
reigns for ever, even <i>thy God, O Zion!</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p17" shownumber="no">III. They humbly expostulate with God
concerning the low condition they were now in, and the frowns of
heaven they were now under (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.20" parsed="|Lam|5|20|0|0" passage="La 5:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>): "<i>Wherefore dost thou forsake us so long
time,</i> as if we were quite deprived of the tokens of thy
presence? Wherefore dost thou defer our deliverance, as if thou
hadst utterly abandoned us? Thou art the same, and, though the
throne of thy sanctuary is demolished, thy throne in heaven is
unshaken. But wilt thou not be the same to us?" Not as if they
thought God had forgotten and forsaken them, much less feared his
forgetting and forsaking them for ever; but thus they express the
value they had for his favour and presence, which they thought it
long that they were deprived of the evidence and comfort of. The
<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.22" parsed="|Lam|5|22|0|0" passage="La 5:22">last verse</scripRef> may be read as
such an expostulation, and so the margin reads it: "<i>For wilt
thou utterly reject us? Wilt thou be perpetually wroth with us,</i>
not only not smile upon us and remember us in mercy, but frown upon
us and lay us under the tokens of thy wrath, not only not draw nigh
to us, but cast us out of thy presence and forbid us to draw nigh
unto thee? How ill this be reconciled with thy goodness and
faithfulness, and the stability of thy covenant?" We read it,
"<i>But thou hast rejected us;</i> thou hast given us cause to fear
that thou hast. Lord, how long shall we be in this temptation?"
Note, Thou we may not quarrel with God, yet we may plead with him;
and, though we may not conclude that he has cast off, yet we may
(with the prophet, <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.12.1" parsed="|Jer|12|1|0|0" passage="Jer 12:1">Jer. xii.
1</scripRef>) humbly reason with him concerning his judgments,
especially the continuance of the desolations of his sanctuary.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lam.vi-p18" shownumber="no">IV. They earnestly pray to God for mercy
and grace: "Lord, do not reject <i>us for ever,</i> but <i>turn
thou us unto thee; renew our days,</i>" <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.21" parsed="|Lam|5|21|0|0" passage="La 5:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Though these words are not put
last, yet the Rabbin, because they would not have the book to
conclude with those melancholy words (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.22" parsed="|Lam|5|22|0|0" passage="La 5:22">v. 22</scripRef>), repeat this prayer again, that the sun
may not set under a cloud, and so make these the last words both in
writing and reading this chapter. They here pray, 1. For converting
grace to prepare and qualify them for mercy: <i>Turn us to thee, O
Lord!</i> They had complained that God had forsaken and forgotten
them, and then their prayer is not, <i>Turn thou to us,</i> but,
<i>Turn us to thee,</i> which implies an acknowledgment that the
cause of the distance was in themselves. God never leaves any till
they first leave him, nor stands afar off from any longer than
while they stand afar off from him; if therefore he turn them to
him in a way of duty, no doubt but he will quickly return to them
in a way of mercy. This agrees with that repeated prayer (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.3 Bible:Ps.80.7 Bible:Ps.80.19" parsed="|Ps|80|3|0|0;|Ps|80|7|0|0;|Ps|80|19|0|0" passage="Ps 80:3,7,19">Ps. lxxx. 3, 7, 19</scripRef>), <i>Turn us
again, and then cause thy face to shine. Turn us</i> from our idols
to thyself, by a sincere repentance and reformation, <i>and</i>
then <i>we shall be turned.</i> This implies a further
acknowledgment of their own weakness and inability to turn
themselves. There is in our nature a proneness to backslide from
God, but no disposition to return to him till his grace works in us
both <i>to will and to do.</i> So necessary is that grace that we
may truly say, <i>Turn us or we shall not be turned,</i> but shall
wander endlessly; and so powerful and effectual is that grace that
we may as truly say, <i>Turn us, and we shall be turned;</i> for it
is a day of power, almighty power, in which God's people are made a
<i>willing people,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.110.3" parsed="|Ps|110|3|0|0" passage="Ps 110:3">Ps. cx.
3</scripRef>. 2. For restoring mercy: <i>Turn us to thee,</i> and
then <i>renew our days as of old,</i> put us into the same happy
state that our ancestors were in long ago and that they continued
long in; let it be with us as it was <i>at the first,</i> and <i>at
the beginning,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.26" parsed="|Isa|1|26|0|0" passage="Isa 1:26">Isa. i.
26</scripRef>. Note, If God by his grace renew our hearts, he will
be his favour <i>renew our days,</i> so that we shall <i>renew our
youth as the eagle,</i> <scripRef id="Lam.vi-p18.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.5" parsed="|Ps|103|5|0|0" passage="Ps 103:5">Ps. ciii.
5</scripRef>. Those that <i>repent, and do their first works,</i>
shall rejoice, and recover their first comforts. God's mercies to
his people have been <i>ever of old</i> (<scripRef id="Lam.vi-p18.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.25.6" parsed="|Ps|25|6|0|0" passage="Ps 25:6">Ps. xxv. 6</scripRef>); and therefore they may hope, even
then when he seems to have forsaken and forgotten them, that the
mercy which was <i>from everlasting</i> will be <i>to
everlasting.</i></p>
</div></div2>