14 The elders H2205 have ceased H7673 from the gate, H8179 the young men H970 from their musick. H5058
When I went out H3318 to the gate H8179 through the city, H7176 when I prepared H3559 my seat H4186 in the street! H7339 The young men H5288 saw H7200 me, and hid H2244 themselves: and the aged H3453 arose, H6965 and stood up. H5975 The princes H8269 refrained H6113 talking, H4405 and laid H7760 their hand H3709 on their mouth. H6310 The nobles H5057 held H2244 their peace, H6963 and their tongue H3956 cleaved H1692 to the roof of their mouth. H2441 When the ear H241 heard H8085 me, then it blessed H833 me; and when the eye H5869 saw H7200 me, it gave witness H5749 to me: Because I delivered H4422 the poor H6041 that cried, H7768 and the fatherless, H3490 and him that had none to help H5826 him. The blessing H1293 of him that was ready to perish H6 came H935 upon me: and I caused the widow's H490 heart H3820 to sing for joy. H7442 I put H3847 on righteousness, H6664 and it clothed H3847 me: my judgment H4941 was as a robe H4598 and a diadem. H6797 I was eyes H5869 to the blind, H5787 and feet H7272 was I to the lame. H6455 I was a father H1 to the poor: H34 and the cause H7379 which I knew H3045 not I searched out. H2713 And I brake H7665 the jaws H4973 of the wicked, H5767 and plucked H7993 the spoil H2964 out of his teeth. H8127
The mighty man, H1368 and the man H376 of war, H4421 the judge, H8199 and the prophet, H5030 and the prudent, H7080 and the ancient, H2205 The captain H8269 of fifty, H2572 and the honourable H5375 man, H6440 and the counsellor, H3289 and the cunning H2450 artificer, H2791 and the eloquent H995 orator. H3908
The new wine H8492 mourneth, H56 the vine H1612 languisheth, H535 all the merryhearted H8056 H3820 do sigh. H584 The mirth H4885 of tabrets H8596 ceaseth, H7673 the noise H7588 of them that rejoice H5947 endeth, H2308 the joy H4885 of the harp H3658 ceaseth. H7673 They shall not drink H8354 wine H3196 with a song; H7892 strong drink H7941 shall be bitter H4843 to them that drink H8354 it. The city H7151 of confusion H8414 is broken down: H7665 every house H1004 is shut up, H5462 that no man may come in. H935 There is a crying H6682 for wine H3196 in the streets; H2351 all joy H8057 is darkened, H6150 the mirth H4885 of the land H776 is gone. H1540
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Lamentations 5
Commentary on Lamentations 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
La 5:1-22. Epiphonema, or a Closing Recapitulation of the Calamities Treated in the Previous Elegies.
1. (Ps 89:50, 51).
2. Our inheritance—"Thine inheritance" (Ps 79:1). The land given of old to us by Thy gift.
3. fatherless—Our whole land is full of orphans [Calvin]. Or, "we are fatherless," being abandoned by Thee our "Father" (Jer 3:19), [Grotius].
4. water for money—The Jews were compelled to pay the enemy for the water of their own cisterns after the overthrow of Jerusalem; or rather, it refers to their sojourn in Babylon; they had to pay tax for access to the rivers and fountains. Thus, "our" means the water which we need, the commonest necessary of life.
our wood—In Judea each one could get wood without pay; in Babylon, "our wood," the wood we need, must be paid for.
5. Literally, "On our necks we are persecuted"; that is, Men tread on our necks (Ps 66:12; Isa 51:23; compare Jos 10:24). The extremest oppression. The foe not merely galled the Jews face, back, and sides, but their neck. A just retribution, as they had been stiff in neck against the yoke of God (2Ch 30:8, Margin; Ne 9:29; Isa 48:4).
6. given … hand to—in token of submission (see on Jer 50:15).
to … Egyptians—at the death of Josiah (2Ch 36:3, 4).
Assyrians—that is, the Chaldeans who occupied the empire which Assyria had held. So Jer 2:18.
to be satisfied with bread—(De 28:48).
7. (Jer 31:29).
borne their iniquities—that is, the punishment of them. The accumulated sins of our fathers from age to age, as well as our own, are visited on us. They say this as a plea why God should pity them (compare Eze 18:2, &c.).
8. Servants … ruled … us—Servants under the Chaldean governors ruled the Jews (Ne 5:15). Israel, once a "kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6), is become like Canaan, "a servant of servants," according to the curse (Ge 9:25). The Chaldeans were designed to be "servants" of Shem, being descended from Ham (Ge 9:26). Now through the Jews' sin, their positions are reversed.
9. We gat our bread with … peril—that is, those of us left in the city after its capture by the Chaldeans.
because of … sword of … wilderness—because of the liability to attack by the robber Arabs of the wilderness, through which the Jews had to pass to get "bread" from Egypt (compare La 5:6).
10. As an oven is scorched with too much fire, so our skin with the hot blast of famine (Margin, rightly, "storms," like the hot simoom). Hunger dries up the pores so that the skin becomes like as if it were scorched by the sun (Job 30:30; Ps 119:83).
11. So in just retribution Babylon itself should fare in the end. Jerusalem shall for the last time suffer these woes before her final restoration (Zec 14:2).
12. hanged … by their hand—a piece of wanton cruelty invented by the Chaldeans. Grotius translates, "Princes were hung by the hand of the enemy"; hanging was a usual mode of execution (Ge 40:19).
elders—officials (La 4:16).
13. young men … grind—The work of the lowest female slave was laid on young men (Jud 16:21; Job 31:10).
children fell under … wood—Mere children had to bear burdens of wood so heavy that they sank beneath them.
14. Aged men in the East meet in the open space round the gate to decide judicial trials and to hold social converse (Job 29:7, 8).
16. The crown—all our glory, the kingdom and the priesthood (Job 19:9; Ps 89:39, 44).
17. (La 1:22; 2:11).
18. foxes—They frequent desolate places where they can freely and fearlessly roam.
19. (Ps 102:12). The perpetuity of God's rule over human affairs, however He may seem to let His people be oppressed for a time, is their ground of hope of restoration.
20. for ever—that is, for "so long a time."
21. (Ps 80:3; Jer 31:18). "Restore us to favor with Thee, and so we shall be restored to our old position" [Grotius]. Jeremiah is not speaking of spiritual conversion, but of that outward turning whereby God receives men into His fatherly favor, manifested in bestowing prosperity [Calvin]. Still, as Israel is a type of the Church, temporal goods typify spiritual blessings; and so the sinner may use this prayer for God to convert him.
22. Rather, "Unless haply Thou hast utterly rejected us, and art beyond measure wroth against us," that is, Unless Thou art implacable, which is impossible, hear our prayer [Calvin]. Or, as Margin, "For wouldest Thou utterly reject us?" &c.—No; that cannot be. The Jews, in this book, and in Isaiah and Malachi, to avoid the ill-omen of a mournful closing sentence, repeat the verse immediately preceding the last [Calvin].