7 The Lord has given up his altar and has been turned in hate from his holy place; he has given up into the hands of the attacker the walls of her great houses: their voices have been loud in the house of the Lord as in the day of a holy meeting.
Say to the people of Israel, The Lord has said, See, I will make my holy place unclean, the pride of your strength, the pleasure of your eyes, and the desire of your soul; and your sons and daughters, who did not come with you here, will be put to the sword.
As for their beautiful ornament, they had put it on high, and had made the images of their disgusting and hated things in it: for this cause I have made it an unclean thing to them. And I will give it into the hands of men from strange lands who will take it by force, and to the evil-doers of the earth to have for themselves; and they will make it unholy. And my face will be turned away from them, and they will make my secret place unholy: violent men will go into it and make it unholy.
When this came to God's ears he was very angry, and gave up Israel completely; So that he went away from the holy place in Shiloh, the tent which he had put among men; And he let his strength be taken prisoner, and gave his glory into the hands of his hater.
Go up and see the unending destruction; all the evil which your haters have done in the holy place; Sending out their voices like lions among your worshippers; they have put up their signs to be seen. They are cutting down, like a man whose blade is lifted up against the thick trees. Your doors are broken down with hammers and iron blades. They have put on fire your holy place; they have made the place of your name unclean, pulling it down to the earth. They have said in their hearts, Let us put an end to them all together; they have given over to the fire all God's places of worship in the land.
And they got false witnesses who said, This man is for ever saying things against this holy place and against the law: For he has said in our hearing that this Jesus of Nazareth will put this place to destruction and make changes in the rules which were handed down to us by Moses.
But he, answering, said to them, See you not all these things? truly I say to you that here there will not be one stone resting on another, which will not be pulled down.
And I will send a fire on Judah, burning up the great houses of Jerusalem.
For this reason I will send the worst of the nations and they will take their houses for themselves: I will make the pride of their strength come to an end; and their holy places will be made unclean.
And I will make your towns waste and send destruction on your holy places; I will take no pleasure in the smell of your sweet perfumes;
And the Chaldaeans put the king's house on fire, as well as the houses of the people, and had the walls of Jerusalem broken down.
Let your cry come to me, and I will give you an answer, and let you see great things and secret things of which you had no knowledge. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said about the houses of this town and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been broken down to make earthworks and ...; ... and to make them full of the dead bodies of men whom I have put to death in my wrath and in my passion, and because of whose evil-doing I have kept my face covered from this town.
And the Chaldaeans, who are fighting against this town, will come and put the town on fire, burning it together with the houses, on the roofs of which perfumes have been burned to the Baal, and drink offerings have been drained out to other gods, moving me to wrath.
Micah the Morashtite, who was a prophet in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, said to all the people of Judah, This is what the Lord of armies has said: Zion will become like a ploughed field, and Jerusalem will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like the high places of the woodland.
But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I put my name at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil-doing of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I sent my word to you, getting up early and sending, but you did not give ear; and my voice came to you, but you gave no answer: For this reason I will do to the house which is named by my name, and in which you have put your faith, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers gave praise to you, is burned with fire; and all the things of our desire have come to destruction. In view of all this, will you still do nothing, O Lord? will you keep quiet, and go on increasing our punishment?
May he be a judge of the poor among the people, may he give salvation to the children of those who are in need; by him let the violent be crushed. May his life go on as long as the sun and moon, through all generations. May he come down like rain on the cut grass; like showers watering the earth. In his days may the upright do well, living in peace as long as there is a moon in heaven. Let his kingdom be from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth. Let those who are against him go down before him; and let his haters be low in the dust. Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands come back with offerings; let the kings of Sheba and Seba give of their stores. Yes, let all kings go down before him; let all nations be his servants. For he will be a saviour to the poor in answer to his cry; and to him who is in need, without a helper. He will have pity on the poor, and be the saviour of those who are in need. He will keep their souls free from evil designs and violent attacks; and their blood will be of value in his eyes. May he have long life, and may gold from Sheba be given to him: may prayers be made for him at all times; may blessings be on him every day. May there be wide-stretching fields of grain in the land, shaking on the top of the mountains, full of fruit like Lebanon: may its stems be unnumbered like the grass of the earth. May his name go on for ever, as long as the sun: may men be blessing themselves by him; may all nations be blessing his name. Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, the only doer of wonders. Praise to the glory of his noble name for ever; let all the earth be full of his glory. So be it, So be it. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. <A Psalm. Of Asaph.>
And the house of God was burned and the wall of Jerusalem broken down; all its great houses were burned with fire and all its beautiful vessels given up to destruction.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Lamentations 2
Commentary on Lamentations 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 2
La 2:1-22.
Aleph.
1. How—The title of the collection repeated here, and in La 4:1.
covered … with a cloud—that is, with the darkness of ignominy.
cast down from heaven unto … earth—(Mt 11:23); dashed down from the highest prosperity to the lowest misery.
beauty of Israel—the beautiful temple (Ps 29:2; 74:7; 96:9, Margin; Isa 60:7; 64:11).
his footstool—the ark (compare 1Ch 28:2, with Ps 99:5; 132:7). They once had gloried more in the ark than in the God whose symbol it was; they now feel it was but His "footstool," yet that it had been a great glory to them that God deigned to use it as such.
Beth.
2. polluted—by delivering it into the hands of the profane foe. Compare Ps 89:39, "profaned … crown."
Gimel.
3. horn—worn in the East as an ornament on the forehead, and an emblem of power and majesty (1Sa 2:10; Ps 132:17; see on Jer 48:25).
drawn back … fight hand—(Ps 74:11). God has withdrawn the help which He before gave them. Not as Henderson, "He has turned back his (Israel's) right hand" (Ps 89:43).
Daleth.
4. (Isa 63:10).
stood with … right hand—He took His stand so as to use His right hand as an adversary. Henderson makes the image to be that of an archer steadying his right hand to take aim. Not only did He withdraw His help, but also took arms against Israel.
all … pleasant to … eye—(Eze 24:25). All that were conspicuous for youth, beauty, and rank.
in … tabernacle—the dwellings of Jerusalem.
He.
5. an enemy—(Jer 30:14).
mourning and lamentation—There is a play of similar sounds in the original, "sorrow and sadness," to heighten the effect (Job 30:3, Hebrew; Eze 35:3, Margin).
Vau.
6. tabernacle—rather, "He hath violently taken away His hedge (the hedge of the place sacred to Him, Ps 80:12; 89:40; Isa 5:5), as that of a garden" [Maurer]. Calvin supports English Version, "His tabernacle (that is, temple) as (one would take away the temporary cottage or booth) of a garden." Isa 1:8 accords with this (Job 27:18).
places of … assembly—the temple and synagogues (Ps 74:7, 8).
solemn feasts—(La 1:4).
Zain.
7. they … made a noise in … house of … Lord, as in … feast—The foe's shout of triumph in the captured temple bore a resemblance (but oh, how sad a contrast as to the occasion of it!) to the joyous thanksgivings we used to offer in the same place at our "solemn feasts" (compare La 2:22).
Cheth.
8. stretched … a line—The Easterns used a measuring-line not merely in building, but in destroying edifices (2Ki 21:13; Isa 34:11); implying here the unsparing rigidness with which He would exact punishment.
Teth.
9. Her gates cannot oppose the entrance of the foe into the city, for they are sunk under a mass of rubbish and earth.
broken … bars—(Jer 51:30).
her king … among … Gentiles—(De 28:36).
law … no more—(2Ch 15:3). The civil and religious laws were one under the theocracy. "All the legal ordinances (prophetical as well as priestly) of the theocracy, are no more" (Ps 74:9; Eze 7:26).
Jod.
10. (Job 2:12, 13). The "elders," by their example, would draw the others to violent grief.
the virgins—who usually are so anxious to set off their personal appearances to advantage.
Caph.
11. liver is poured, &c.—that is, as the liver was thought to be the seat of the passions, "all my feelings are poured out and prostrated for," &c. The "liver," is here put for the bile ("gall," Job 16:13; "bowels," Ps 22:14) in a bladder on the surface of the liver, copiously discharged when the passions are agitated.
swoon—through faintness from the effects of hunger.
Lamed.
12. as the wounded—famine being as deadly as the sword (Jer 52:6).
soul … poured … into … mothers bosom—Instinctively turning to their mother's bosom, but finding no milk there, they breathe out their life as it were "into her bosom."
Mem.
13. What thing shall I take to witness—What can I bring forward as a witness, or instance, to prove that others have sustained as grievous ills as thou? I cannot console thee as mourners are often consoled by showing that thy lot is only what others, too, suffer. The "sea" affords the only suitable emblem of thy woes, by its boundless extent and depth (La 1:12; Da 9:12).
Nun.
14. Thy prophets—not God's (Jer 23:26).
vain … for thee—to gratify thy appetite, not for truth, but for false things.
not discovered thine iniquity—in opposition to God's command to the true prophets (Isa 58:1). Literally, "They have not taken off (the veil) which was on thine iniquity, so as to set it before thee."
burdens—Their prophecies were soothing and flattering; but the result of them was heavy calamities to the people, worse than even what the prophecies of Jeremiah, which they in derision called "burdens," threatened. Hence he terms their pretended prophecies "false burdens," which proved to the Jews "causes of their banishment" [Calvin].
Samech.
15. clap … hands—in derision (Job 27:23; 34:37).
wag … head—(2Ki 19:21; Ps 44:14).
perfection of beauty … joy of … earth—(Ps 48:2; 50:2). The Jews' enemies quote their very words in scorn.
Pe.
16, 17. For the transposition of Hebrew letters (Pe and Ain, La 2:16, 17) in the order of verses, see Introduction.
opened … mouth—as ravening, roaring wild beasts (Job 16:9, 10; Ps 22:13). Herein Jerusalem was a type of Messiah.
gnash … teeth—in vindictive malice.
we have seen it—(Ps 35:21).
Ain.
17. Lord—Let not the foe exult as if it was their doing. It was "the Lord" who thus fulfilled the threats uttered by His prophets for the guilt of Judea (Le 26:16-25; De 28:36-48, 53; Jer 19:9).
Tzaddi.
18. wall—(La 2:8). Personified. "Their heart," that is, the Jews'; while their heart is lifted up to the Lord in prayer, their speech is addressed to the "wall" (the part being put for the whole city).
let tears, &c.—(Jer 14:17). The wall is called on to weep for its own ruin and that of the city. Compare the similar personification (La 1:4).
apple—the pupil of the eye (Ps 17:8).
Koph.
19. cry … in … night—(Ps 119:147).
beginning of … watches—that is, the first of the three equal divisions (four hours each) into which the ancient Jews divided the night; namely, from sunset to ten o'clock. The second was called "the middle watch" (Jud 7:19), from ten till two o'clock. The third, "the morning watch," from two to sunrise (Ex 14:24; 1Sa 11:11). Afterwards, under the Romans, they had four watches (Mt 14:25; Lu 12:38).
for … thy … children—that God, if He will not spare thee, may at least preserve "thy young children."
top of … street—(Isa 51:20; Na 3:10).
Resh.
20. women eat … fruit—as threatened (Le 26:29; De 28:53, 56, 57; Jer 19:9).
children … span long—or else, "children whom they carry in their arms" [Maurer].
Schin.
21. (2Ch 36:17).
Tau.
22. Thou hast called as in … solemn day … terrors—Thou hast summoned my enemies against me from all quarters, just as multitudes used to be convened to Jerusalem, on the solemn feast days. The objects, for which the enemies and the festal multitude respectively met, formed a sad contrast. Compare La 1:15: "called an assembly against me."