Lamentations 2:22 Kommentar

The second alphabetical elegy is set to the same mournful tune with the former, and the substance of it is much the same; it begins with Ecah, as that did, "How sad is our case! Alas for us!" I. Here is the anger of Zion's God taken notice of as the cause of her calamities (Lam 2:1-9). II. Here is the sorrow of Zion's children taken notice of as the effect of her calamities (Lam 2:10-19). III. The complaint is made to God, and the matter referred to his compassionate consideration (Lam 2:20-22). The hand that wounded must make whole.

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 2 This chapter contains another alphabet, in which the Prophet Jeremiah, or those he represents, lament the sad condition of Jerusalem; the destruction of the city and temple, and of all persons and things relative to them, and to its civil or church state; and that as being from the hand of the Lord himself, who is represented all along as the author thereof, because of their sins, Lam 2:1; and then the elders and virgins of Zion are represented as in great distress, and weeping for those desolations; which were very much owing to the false prophets, that had deceived them, Lam 2:10; and all this occasioned great rejoicing in the enemies of Zion, Lam 2:15; but sorrow of heart to Zion herself, who is called to weeping, Lam 2:18; and the chapter is concluded with an address to the Lord, to take this her sorrowful case into consideration, and show pity and compassion, Lam 2:20.

Thou hast called, as in a solemn day, my terrors round about,.... Terrible enemies, as the Chaldeans; these came at the call of God, as soldiers at the command of their general; and in as great numbers as men from all parts of Judea flocked to Jerusalem on any of the three solemn feasts of passover, pentecost, and tabernacles. The Targum paraphrases it very foreign to the sense; "thou shall proclaim liberty to thy people, the house of Israel, by the Messiah, as thou didst by Moses and Aaron on the day of the passover:'' so that in the day of the Lord's anger none escaped or remained; in the city of Jerusalem, and in the land of Judea; either they were put to death, or were carried captive; so that there was scarce an inhabitant to be found, especially after Gedaliah was slain, and the Jews left in the land were carried into Egypt: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed; or "whom I could span", as Broughton; or "handled"; whose limbs she had stroked with her hands, whom she had swathed with bands, and had carried in her arms, and had most carefully and tenderly brought up: by those she had "swaddled" are meant the little ones; and by those she had "brought up" the greater ones, as Aben Ezra observes; but both the enemy, the Chaldeans, consumed and destroyed without mercy, without regard to their tender years, or the manner in which they were brought up; but as if they were nourished like lambs for the day of slaughter. Next: Lamentations Chapter 3

The impossibility of escaping is set forth here. To this idea three more notions are presented. First, is the siege, as Verse 22 begins: "Thou didst invite as to the day of an appointed feast my terrors on every side." Namely, like to the Jewish people accustomed to come to a solemn feast day. So, that, by you, (Lord) inspiring, they come to obey you. For, Isaiah 29:3 declares: "And I will encamp against you round about, and I will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you." Second, the impossibility of escaping is noticed. As stated: "and on the day of the anger of the Lord none escaped or survived." And Isaiah 41:25 declares: "I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, and he shall call on my name." Third, the destruction of those persons understanding is evaluated. Since Verse 22 concludes: "those whom I dandled and reared my enemy destroyed." For, Baruch 4:11 claims: "With joy I nurtured them, but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow."

The prophet shows the dire effects of the Divine anger in the miseries brought on his country; the unparalleled calamities of which he charges, on a great measure, on the false prophets, Lam 2:1-14. In thus desperate condition, the astonishment and by-word of all who see her, Jerusalem is directed to sue earnestly for mercy and pardon, Lam 2:15-22.

Thou hast called as in a solemn day - It is by thy influence alone that so many enemies are called together at one time; and they have so hemmed us in that none could escape, and none remained unslain or uncaptivated, Perhaps the figure is the collecting of the people in Jerusalem on one of the solemn annual festivals. God has called terrors together to feast on Jerusalem, similar to the convocation of the people from all parts of the land to one of those annual festivals. The indiscriminate slaughter of young and old, priest and prophet, all ranks and conditions, may be illustrated by the following verses from Lucan, which appear as if a translation of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first verses of this chapter: - Nobilitas cum plebe perit; lateque vagatur Ensis, et a nullo revocatum est pectore ferrum. Stat cruor in Templis; multaque rubentia caede Lubrica saxa madent. Nulli sua profuit aetas. Non senes extremum piguit vergentibus annis Praecipitasse diem; nec primo in limine vitae, Infanti miseri nascentia rumpere fata. Pharsal. lib. ii., 101. "With what a slide devouring slaughter passed, And swept promiscuous orders in her haste; O'er noble and plebeian ranged the sword, Nor pity nor remorse one pause afford! The sliding streets with blood were clotted o'er, And sacred temples stood in pools of gore. The ruthless steel, impatient of delay, Forbade the sire to linger out his day: It struck the bending father to the earth, And cropped the wailing infant at its birth." Rowe.

(Lam. 2:1-22) How--The title of the collection repeated here, and in Lam 4:1. covered . . . with a cloud--that is, with the darkness of ignominy. cast down from heaven unto . . . earth-- (Mat 11:23); dashed down from the highest prosperity to the lowest misery. beauty of Israel--the beautiful temple (Psa 29:2; Psa 74:7; Psa 96:9, Margin; Isa 60:7; Isa 64:11). his footstool--the ark (compare Ch1 28:2, with Psa 99:5; Psa 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.

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 Lam 1:15 : "called an assembly against me." Jeremiah proposes his own experience under afflictions, as an example as to how the Jews should behave under theirs, so as to have hope of a restoration; hence the change from singular to plural (Lam 3:22, Lam 3:40-47). The stanzas consist of three lines, each of which begins with the same Hebrew letter. Next: Lamentations Chapter 3

Lamentation over the Judgment of Destruction That Has Come on Zion and the Desolation of Judah 1 Alas! how the Lord envelopes the daughter of Zion in His wrath! He hath cast down the glory of Israel from heaven to earth; Nor hath He remembered His footstool in the day of His wrath. 2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, He hath not spared: He hath broken down, in His anger, the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He hath smitten [them] down to the earth. He hath profaned the kingdom and its princes. 3 He hath cut off, in the burning of wrath, every horn of Israel; He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, And hath burned among Jacob like a flaming fire, [which] devours round about. 4 He hath bent His bow like an enemy, standing [with] His right hand like an adversary, And He slew all the desires of the eye; On the tent of the daughter of Zion hath He poured out His fury like fire. 5 The Lord hath become like an enemy; He hath swallowed up Israel. He hath swallowed up all her palaces, He hath destroyed his strongholds, And hath increased on the daughter of Judah groaning and moaning. 6 And He hath violently treated His own enclosure, like a garden; He hat destroyed His own place of meeting: Jahveh hath caused to be forgotten in Zion the festival and the Sabbath, And in the fierceness of His wrath He hath rejected king and priest. 7 The Lord hath spruned His own altar, He hath abhorred His own sanctuary; He hath delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; They have made a noise in the house of Jahvey, as [on] the day of a festival. 8 Jahveh hath purposed to destroy the walls of the daughter of Zion: He hath stretched out a line, He hath not drawn back His hand from demolishing; And He hath made the rampart and the [city] wall to mourn; they sorrow together. 9 Her gates have sunk into the earth; He hath destroyed and broken her bars: Her king and her princces are among the nations; there is no law. Her prophets also find no vision from Jahveh. 10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, they silent; They have cast up dust upon their head, they have clothed themselves with sackcloth garments: The virgins of Jerusalem have brought down their head to the earth. 11 Mine eyes waste away with tears, My bowels glow, My liver is poured out on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people; Because the young child and the suckling pine away in the streets of the city. 12 They said to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? When they were fainting like one wounded in the streets of the city, When their soul was poured out into the bosom of their mothers. 13 What slall I testify against thee? what shall I compare to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I liken to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy destruction is great, like the sea; who can heal thee? 14 Thy prophets have seen for thee vanity and absurdity, And have not revealed thine iniquity, to turn thy captivity; But they have seen for thee burdens of vanity, and expulsion. 15 All that pass by the way clap [their] hands against thee; They hiss and shake their head against the daughter of Jerusalem [saying, "Is] this the city that they call "The perfection of beauty, a joy of the whole earth?'" 16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, "We have swallowed [her]; Assuredly this is the day that we have expected; we have found [it], we have seen [it]." 17 Jahveh hath done what He hath purposed: He hath executed His word which He commanded from the days of yore: He hath broken down, and hath not spared: And He hath made the enemy rejoice over thee; He hath raised up the horn of thine adversaries. 18 Their heart crieth out unto the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a stream by day and by night: Give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. 19 Arise, wail in the night; at the beginning of the watches, Pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord: Lift up thine hands to Him for the soul of thy young children, That faint for hunger at the head of every street. 20 See, O Jahveh, and consider to whom Thou hast acted thus! Shall women eat their [body's] fruit, the children of their care? Or shall priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 The boy and the old man lie without, on the ground; My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword: Thou hast slain in the day of Thy wrath, Thou hast slaughtered, Thou hast not spared. 22 Thou summonest, as on a feast-day, my terrors round about; And in the day of wrath of Jahveh there was no fugitive or survivor Whom I would have nursed and brought up; mine enemy destroyed them. This second poem contains a new and more bitter lamentation regarding the fall of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah; and it is distinguished from the first, partly by the bitterness of the complaint, but chiefly by the fact that while, in the first, the oppressed, helpless, and comfortless condition of Jerusalem is the main feature, - here, on the other hand, it is the judgment which the Lord, in His wrath, has decreed against Jerusalem and Judah, that forms the leading thought in the complaint, as is shown by the prominence repeatedly given to the wrath, rage, burning wrath, etc. (Lam 2:1.). The description of this judgment occupies the first part of the poem (Lam 2:1-10); then follows, in the second part (Lam 2:11-19), the lamentation over the impotency of human consolation, and over the scoffing of enemies at the misfortunes of Jerusalem (Lam 2:11-16). It was the Lord who sent this judgment; and it is He alone who can give comfort and help in this distress. To Him must the daughter of Zion betake herself with her complaint (Lam 2:17-19); and this she actually does in the concluding portion (Lam 2:20-22). Lamentations 2:1-22 Description of the judgment. - Lam 2:1. The lamentation opens with signs for the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. The first member of the verse contains the general idea that the Lord (אדני, the Lord κατ ̓ ἐξοχὴν, very suitably used instead of יהוה) has, in His wrath, enveloped Jerusalem with clouds. This thought is particularized in the two members that follow, and is referred to the overthrow of Jerusalem and the temple. יעיב, from עוּב (which is ἅπ. λεγ. as a verb, and is probably a denominative from עב, a cloud), signifies to cover or surround with clouds. בּאפּו does not mean "with His wrath" (Ewald, Thenius), but "in His wrath," as is shown by Lam 2:3, Lam 2:6, Lam 2:21, Lam 2:22. "The daughter of Zion" here means the city of Jerusalem, which in the second member is called "the glory (or ornament) of Israel," by which we are to understand neither res Judaeorum florentissimae in general (Rosenmller), nor the temple in special, as the "splendid house," Isa 64:10 (Michaelis, Vaihinger). Jerusalem is called the glory or ornament of Israel, in the same way as Babylon in Isa 64:10 is called "the glory of the splendour of the Chaldeans" (Thenius, Gerlach). In the figurative expression, "He cast down from heaven to earth," we are not to think there is any reference to a thunderbolt which knocks down an object, such as a lofty tower that reaches to heaven (Thenius); "from heaven" implies that what is to be thrown down was in heaven, as has been already remarked by Raschi in his explanation, postquam sustulisset eos (Judaeos) usque ad coelum, eosdem dejecit in terram, where we have merely to substitute "Jerusalem," for eos, which is too vague. Gerlach has rightly remarked that the expression "cast down from heaven" is to be accounted for by the fact that, in the first member of the verse, Jerusalem is compared to a star, in the same way as Babylon is expressly called a tar in Isa 14:12; nay, what is more, Jerusalem is here compared to a star that has fallen from heaven; the reference to that passage thus becomes unmistakeable. Moreover, the casting down from heaven means something more than deprivation of the glory that had come on the city in consequence of God's dwelling in the midst of it (Gerlach); it signifies, besides, the destruction of the city, viz., that it would be laid in ashes. In all this, the Lord has not been thinking of, i.e., paid any regard to, His footstool, i.e., the ark of the covenant (Ch1 28:2; Psa 99:5), - not the temple (Ewald), although we cannot think of the ark without at the same thinking of the temple as the house in which it was kept. The ark, and not the temple, is named, because the temple became a habitation of the Lord, and a place where He revealed Himself, only through the ark of the covenant, with which the Lord had graciously connected His presence among His people. It is further implied, in the fact that God does not think of His footstool, that the ark itself was destroyed along with the temple and the city.

The imperf. תּקרא has perhaps bee chosen merely for the sake of the alphabetic arrangement, because the description is still continued, and the idea of custom (wont) or repetition is not very suitable in the present instance. "Thou summonest, as for a feast-day (viz., for the enemy, cf. Lam 1:15), all my terrors round about." מגוּרי מסּביב is to be explained in conformity with the formula מגור מסּביב, so frequent in Jeremiah (Jer 6:25; Jer 20:4, Jer 20:10, etc.): מגוּרי is therefore to be derived from מגור, but not to be confined in its reference to the enemy (as in the Vulgate, qui terrent); it is rather to be understood as applying to all the terrible powers that had come upon Judah, - sword, famine, plagues (cf. Lam 1:20). On the ground that מגוּרים elsewhere means wandering, pilgrimage, and that, moreover, the sing. מגור in Psa 55:16 signifies a dwelling, Ewald translates the expression in the text, "my hamlets round about," understanding by that the inhabitants of the defenceless country towns and villages, which stand to the capital that gave them its protection in the relation of settlers in its neighbourhood (lxx πάροικοι). According to this view, the verse alludes to an important event which took place in those days of the siege, when all the inhabitants of the country towns fled to the capital, thinking that a great festival was going to be held there, as on former occasions; but this became at last for them the great festival of death, when the city was taken. But the translation of the lxx is of no authority, since they have given a false rendering of מגור מסּביב also; and the whole explanation is so artificial and unnatural, that it needs no further refutation. Raschi, indeed, had previously explained מגוּרי to mean שכיני, vicinos meos, but added improbos, ut sese congregarent adversus me ad perdendum. Notwithstanding this, מגוּרים, "wandering" and "place of sojourn," cannot denote the country towns as distinguished from the capital; nor can the flight of the inhabitants of the low-lying regions into the capital be fitly called a summoning together of them by the Lord. The combination פּליט ושׂריד is used as in Jer 42:17; Jer 44:14. For טפּח, see on Lam 2:20. With the complaint that no one could escape the judgment, - that the enemy dared to murder even the children whom she Jerusalem had carefully nourished and brought up, - the poem concludes, like the first, with deep sorrow, regarding which all attempts at comfort are quite unavailing (Gerlach).