Lamentations 4:10 Kommentar

This chapter is another single alphabet of Lamentations for the destruction of Jerusalem, like those in the first two chapters. I. The prophet here laments the injuries and indignities done to those to whom respect used to be shown (Lam 4:1, Lam 4:2). II. He laments the direful effects of the famine to which they were reduced by the siege (Lam 4:3-10). III. He laments the taking and sacking of Jerusalem and its amazing desolations (Lam 4:11, Lam 4:12). IV. He acknowledges that the sins of their leaders were the cause of all these calamities (Lam 4:13-16). V. He gives up all as doomed to utter ruin, for their enemies were every way too hard for them (Lam 4:17-20). VI. He foretels the destruction of the Edomites who triumphed in Jerusalem's fall (Lam 4:21). VII. He foretels the return of the captivity of Zion at last (Lam 4:22).

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 4 The prophet begins this chapter with a complaint of the ill usage of the dear children of God, and precious sons of Zion, Lam 4:1; relates the dreadful effects of the famine during the siege of Jerusalem, Lam 4:3; the taking and destruction of that city he imputes to the wrath of God; and represents it as incredible to the kings and inhabitants of the earth, Lam 4:11; the causes of which were the sins of the prophets, priests, and people, Lam 4:13; expresses the vain hopes they once had, but now were given up entirely, their king being taken, Lam 4:17; and the chapter is concluded with a prophecy of the destruction of the Edomites, and of the return of the Jews from captivity, Lam 4:21.

The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children,.... Such as were naturally, and agreeably to their sex, pitiful and compassionate; merciful to the poor, as the Targum; and especially tenderhearted to their own offspring; yet, by reason of the soreness of the famine, became so cruel and hardhearted, as to take their own children, and slay them with their own hands, cut them to pieces, put them into a pot of water, and make a fire and boil them, and then eat them, as follows: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people: at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. This strange and unnatural action was foretold by Moses, Deu 28:56; and though we have no particular instance of it on record, as done at the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, yet no doubt there was, as may be concluded from the words: and at the siege of it by the Romans, when many things here spoken of had a fuller accomplishment, we have a remarkable instance of it, which Josephus (a) relates; an illustrious woman, named Mary, pressed with the famine, slew her own son, a sucking child, boiled him, and ate part of him, and laid up the rest; which was found by the seditious party that broke into her house, which struck them with the utmost horror; See Gill on Lam 2:20. (a) De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4.

What were Israel’s sufferings in Palestine, famines, pestilences, wars, captivities, under the Babylonians and under the Assyrians, and their miseries from the Macedonians and those under Hadrian and Vespasian? I have something that I wish, beloved, to relate to you; no, do not run away! Or rather I will tell you another thing before it. There was once a famine, it says, and the king was walking on the wall; then a woman came to him and uttered these words: “O king, this woman said to me, Let us roast your son today, and eat him—and tomorrow [do the same to mine]. And we roasted and ate, and now she does not give me hers.” What can be more dreadful than this calamity? Again, in another place the prophet says, “The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children.” The Jews then suffered such punishment, and shall we not much rather suffer?Would you also hear other calamities of theirs? Read over Josephus, and you will learn that whole tragedy, if perchance we may persuade you from these things, that there is a hell. For consider, if they were punished, why are we not punished? Or how is it reasonable that we are not now punished, who sin more grievously than they? Is it not manifest that it is because the punishment is kept in store for us?

Here is considered the immense hunger of mothers, who eat their own children, through an excessive hunger. As said above in Chapter 2:20: "Should women eat their offspring, the children of their tender care?"

The present deplorable sate of the nation is now contrasted with its ancient prosperity, Lam 4:1-12; and the unhappy change ascribed, in a great degree, to the profligacy of the priests and prophets, Lam 4:13-16. The national calamities are tenderly lamented, Lam 4:17-20. The ruin of the Edomites also, who had insulted the Jews in their distress, is ironically predicted, Lam 4:21. See Psa 137:7, and Oba 1:10-12. The chapter closes with a gracious promise of deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, Lam 4:22.

The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children - See on Lam 2:20 (note). But here there is a reference to mothers eating their own children; and this was done, not by mothers cruel and brutal, but by נשים רחמניות nashim rachmaniyoth, the compassionate, the tender-hearted mothers. From these horrible scenes it is well to pass with as hasty a step as possible.

THE SAD CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM, THE HOPE OF RESTORATION, AND THE RETRIBUTION AWAITING IDUMEA FOR JOINING BABYLON AGAINST JUDEA. (Lam. 4:1-22) gold--the splendid adornment of the temple [CALVIN] (Lam 1:10; Kg1 6:22; Jer 52:19); or, the principal men of Judea [GROTIUS] (Lam 4:2). stones of . . . sanctuary--the gems on the breastplate of the high priest; or, metaphorically, the priests and Levites.

(Lam 2:20; Deu 28:56-57). pitiful--naturally at other times compassionate (Isa 49:15). JOSEPHUS describes the unnatural act as it took place in the siege under Titus. sodden--boiled.

Submission under the Judgment of God, and Hope 1 How the gold becomes dim, - the fine gold changeth, - Sacred stones are scattered about at the top of every street! 2 The dear sons of Zion, who are precious as fine gold, - How they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of a potters hands! 3 [But] the daughter of my people [hath become] cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 4 The tongue of the suckling cleaveth to his palate for thirst; Young children ask for bread, [but] there is none breaking [it] for them. 5 Those who ate dainties [before] are desolate in the streets; Those who were carried on scarlet embrace dunghills. 6 The iniquity of the daughter of my people became greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown as in a moment, though no hands were laid on her. 7 Her princes were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, They were redder in body than corals, their form was [that of] a sapphire. 8 `Their form is darker than blackness, - they are not recognised in the streets; Their skin adhereth closely to their bones, - it hath become dry, like wood. 9 Better are those slain with the sword than those slain with hunger; For these pine away, pierced through from [want of] the fruits of the field. 10 The hands of women [who were once] tender-hearted, have boiled their own children; They became food to them in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11 Jahveh accomplished His wrath: He poured out the burning of His anger; And kindled a fire in Zion, and it devoured her foundations. 12 Would the kinds of the earth, all the inhabitants of the world; not believe That an adversary and an enemy would enter in at the gates of Jerusalem. 13 Because of the sins of her prophets, the iniquities of her priests, Who shed blood of righteous ones in her midst, 14 They wander [like] blind men in the streets; they are defiled with blood, So that [people] could not touch their clothes. 15 "Keep off! it is unclean!" they cried to them, "keep off! keep off! touch not!" When they fled, they also wandered; [People] say among the nations, "They must no longer sojourn [here]." 16 The face of Jahveh hath scattered them; no longer doth He look on them: They regard not the priests, they respect not old men. 17 Still do our eyes pine away, [looking] for our help, [which is] vanity: In our watching, we watched for a nation [that] will not help. 18 They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets; Our end is near, our days are full, - yea, our end is come. 19 Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of heaven; They pursued us on the mountains, in the wilderness they laid wait for us. 20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jahveh, was caught in their pits, [Of] whom we thought, "In His shadow we shall live among the nations." 21 Be glad and rejoice, O daughter of Edom, dwelling in the land of Uz To thee also shall the cup pass; thou shalt be drunk, and make thyself naked. 22 Thy guilt is at an end, O daughter of Zion; He will no more carry thee captive: He visiteth thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He discovereth thy sins. Lamentations 4:1-22 The lamentation over the terrible calamity that has befallen Jerusalem is distinguished in this poem from the lamentations in Lamentations 1 and 2, not merely by the fact that in it the fate of the several classes of the population is contemplated, but chiefly by the circumstance that the calamity is set forth as a well-merited punishment by God for the grievous sins of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This consideration forms the chief feature in the whole poem, from the beginning to the end of which there predominates the hope that Zion will not perish, but that the appointed punishment will terminate, and then fall on their now triumphant enemies. In this fundamental idea of the poem, compared with the first two, there is plainly an advance towards the due recognition of the suffering as a punishment; from this point it is possible to advance, not merely to the hope regarding the future, with which the poem concludes, but also the prayer for deliverance in Lamentations 5. The contents of the poem are the following: The princes and inhabitants of Zion are sunk into a terrible state of misery, because their guilt was greater than the sin of Sodom (Lam 4:1-11). Jerusalem has been delivered into the hands of her enemies on account of her prophets and priests, who have shed the blood of righteous ones (Lam 4:12-16), and because the people have placed their trust on the vain help of man (Lam 4:17-20). For this they must atone; for the present, however, the enemy may triumph; the guilt of the daughter of Zion will come to an end, and then the judgment will befall her enemies (Lam 4:21, Lam 4:22).