Lamentazioni 5:22 Commento

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 (v. 1-16). II. A protestation of their concern for God's sanctuary, as that which lay nearer their heart than any secular interest of their own (Lam 5:17, Lam 5:18). III. A humble supplication to God and expostulation with him, for the returns of mercy (Lam 5:19-22); for those that lament and do not pray sin in their lamentations. Some ancient versions call this chapter, "The Prayer of Jeremiah."

INTRODUCTION TO LAMENTATIONS 5 In this chapter are reckoned up the various calamities and distresses of the Jews in Babylon, which the Lord is desired to remember and consider, Lam 5:1; their great concern for the desolation of the temple in particular is expressed, Lam 5:17; and the chapter is concluded with a prayer that God would show favour to them, and turn them to him, and renew their prosperity as of old, though he had rejected them, and been wroth with them, Lam 5:19.

But thou hast utterly rejected us,.... That looks as if they had no hope, and were in despair of having their petitions granted; since God had entirely rejected them from being his people, and would never more have mercy on them; but the words may be rendered, "though thou hast in rejecting rejected us" (e); or else, "unless thou hast utterly rejected us" (f); or rather by an interrogation, "for wilt thou utterly reject", or "despise us?" (g) surely thou wilt not; such is thy grace and goodness: thou art very wroth against us; thou hast been, and still continuest to be: or, "wilt thou be exceeding wroth against us?" (h) or continue thy wrath to extremity, and for ever? thou wait not; it is not consistent with, thy mercy and grace, truth and faithfulness; and so it is an argument of faith in prayer, and not an expression of despondency; though the Jews, because they would not have the book end in what is sorrowful and distressing, repeat the foregoing verse; and the like method they take at the end of Ecclesiastes, and the prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi, as Jarchi observes. (e) "quamvis detestatione detestatus es nos", Targ. (f) "Nisi forte repudiando repudiasti nos", Calvin. (g) "Nam an omnino sperneres nos?" Junius & Tremellius. (h) "effervesceres contra nos admodum?" Junius & Tremellius. Next: Ezekiel Introduction

Finally, is considered the need for praying. As stated: "Or hast thou utterly rejected us? Art thou exceedingly angry with us?" And as Jeremiah elsewhere states: "Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Does thy soul loath Zion? Why hast thou smitten us so that there is no healing for us?" (Jer 14:19).

This chapter is, as it were, an epiphonema, or conclusion to the four preceding, representing the nation as groaning under their calamities, and humbly supplicating the Divine favor, vv. 1-22.

But thou hast utterly rejected us - It appears as if thou hadst sealed our final reprobation, because thou showest against us exceeding great wrath. But convert us, O Lord, onto thee, and we shall be converted. We are now greatly humbled, feel our sin, and see our folly: once more restore us, and we shall never again forsake thee! He heard the prayer; and at the end of seventy years they were restored to their own land. This last verse is well rendered in the first printed edition of our Bible, 1535: - Renue our daies as in olde tyme, for thou hast now banished us longe ynough, and bene sore displeased at us. My old MS. Bible is not less nervous: Newe thou our dais as fro the begynnyng: bot castand aweie thou put us out: thou wrathedist ugein us hugely. Dr. Blayney translates, "For surely thou hast cast us off altogether:" and adds, "כי ki ought certainly to be rendered as causal; God's having rejected his people, and expressed great indignation against them, being the cause and ground of the preceding application, in which they pray to be restored to his favor, and the enjoyment of their ancient privileges." Pareau thinks no good sense can be made of this place unless we translate interrogatively, as in Jer 14:19 : - "Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath thy soul loathed Sion?" On this ground he translates here, An enim prorsus nos rejecisses? Nobis iratus esses usque adeo? "Hast thou indeed utterly cast us off? Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?" Wilt thou extend thy wrath against us so as to show us no more mercy? This agrees well with the state and feelings of the complainants. Masoretic Notes Number of verses in this Book, 154. Middle verse, Lam 3:34. In one of my oldest MSS., the twenty-first verse is repeated at the conclusion of the twenty-second verse. In another, yet older, there is only the first word of it, השיבנו hashibenu, Convert us! Having given in the preceding preface and notes what I judge necessary to explain the principal difficulties in this very fine and affecting poem, very fitly termed The Lamentations, as it justly stands at the head of every composition of the kind, I shall add but a few words, and these shall be by way of recapitulation chiefly. The Hebrews were accustomed to make lamentations or mourning songs upon the death of great men, princes, and heroes, who had distinguished themselves in arms; and upon any occasion or public miseries and calamities. Calmet thinks they had collections of these sorts of Lamentations: and refers in proof to Ch2 35:25 : "And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations, to this day; and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the Lamentations." From this verse it is evident, that Jeremiah had composed a funeral elegy on Josiah: but, from the complexion of this Book, it is most evident that it was not composed on the death of Josiah, but upon the desolations of Jerusalem, etc., as has already been noted. His lamentation for Josiah is therefore lost. It appears also, that on particular occasions, perhaps anniversaries, these lamentations were sung by men and women singers, who performed their several parts; for these were all alternate or responsive songs. And it is very likely, that this book was sung in the same way; the men commencing with א aleph, the women responding with ב beth and so on. Several of this sort of songs are still extant. We have those which David composed on the death of his son Absalom, and on the death of his friend Jonathan. And we have those made by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, on the desolation of Egypt, Tyre, Sidon, and Babylon. See Isa 14:4, Isa 14:5; Isa 15:1-9; Isa 16:1-14; Jer 7:29; Jer 9:10; Jer 48:32; Eze 19:1; Eze 28:11; Eze 32:2; Jer 9:17. Besides these, we have fragments of others in different places; and references to some, which are now finally lost. In the two first chapters of this book, the prophet describes, principally, the calamities of the siege of Jerusalem. In the third, he deplores the persecutions which he himself had suffered; though he may in this be personifying the city and state; many of his own sufferings being illustrative of the calamities that fell generally upon the city and people at large. The fourth chapter is employed chiefly on the ruin and desolation of the city and temple; and upon the misfortunes of Zedekiah, of whom he speaks in a most respectful, tender, and affecting manner: - "The anointed of Jehovah, the breadth of our nostrils, was taken in their toils, Under whose shadow we said, We shall live among the nations." At the end he speaks of the cruelty of the Edomites, who had insulted Jerusalem in her miseries, and contributed to its demolition. These he threatens with the wrath of God. The fifth chapter is a kind of form of prayer for the Jews, in their dispersions and captivity. In the conclusion of it, he speaks of their fallen royalty; attributes all their calamities to their rebellion and wickedness; and acknowledges that there can be no end to their misery, but in their restoration to the Divine favor. This last chapter was probably written some considerable time after the rest: for it supposes the temple to be so deserted, that the foxes walked undisturbed among its ruins, and that the people were already in captivity. The poem is a monument of the people's iniquity and rebellion; of the displeasure and judgment of God against them; and of the piety, eloquence, and incomparable ability of the poet.

EPIPHONEMA, OR A CLOSING RECAPITULATION OF THE CALAMITIES TREATED IN THE PREVIOUS ELEGIES. (Lam. 5:1-22) (Psa 89:50-51).

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]. Next: Ezekiel Introduction

A Prayer to the Lord by the Church, Languishing in Misery, for the Restoration of Her Former State of Grace 1 Remember, O Jahveh, what hath happened to us; consider, and behold our reproach. 2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to foreigners. 3 We are orphans, without a father; our mothers are as widows. 4 Our own water we drink for money, our own wood cometh to us in return for payment. 5 On our necks are we persecuted; we are jaded, - there is no rest for us. 6 [Towards] Egypt we reach our hand, - [towards] Assyria, to satisfy ourselves [with] bread. 7 Our fathers sinned, they are not; we bear their iniquities. 8 Servants rule us; there is none to deliver us out of their hand. 9 At the risk of our life we bring in our bread, because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin gloweth with heat like a furnace, because of the fever-heat of hunger. 11 They have forced women in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes are hung up by their hand; the face of the elders is not honoured. 13 Young men carry millstones, and lads stagger under [loads of] wood. 14 Elders cease from the gate, young men from their instrumental music. 15 The joy of our heart hath ceased, our dancing has turned into mourning. 16 The crown of our head is fallen; woe unto us, that we have sinned! 17 Because of this our heart became sick; because of these [things] our eyes became dark. 18 Upon Mount Zion, which is laid waste, jackals roam through it. 19 Thou, O Jahveh, dost sit [enthroned] for ever; They throne is for generation and generation. 20 Why dost thou forget us for ever, - forsake us for a length of days? 21 Lead us back, O Jahveh, to thyself, that we may return; renew our days, as of old. 22 Or, hast Thou indeed utterly rejected us? art thou very wroth against us? This poem begins (Lam 5:1) with the request addressed to the Lord, that He would be pleased to think of the disgrace that has befallen Judah, and concludes (Lam 5:19-22) with the request that the Lord may not forsake His people for ever, but once more receive them into favour. The main portion of this petition is formed by the description of the disgrace and misery under which the suppliants groan, together with the acknowledgment (Lam 5:7 and Lam 5:16) that they are compelled to bear the sins of their fathers and their own sins. By this confession, the description given of their misery is divided into two strophes (Lam 5:2-7 and Lam 5:8-16), which are followed by the request for deliverance (Lam 5:19-22), introduced by Lam 5:17 and Lam 5:18. The author of this prayer speaks throughout in the name of the people, or, to speak more correctly, in the name of the congregation, laying their distress and their supplication before the Lord. The view of Thenius, - that this poem originated among a small company of Jews who had been dispersed, and who, in the mist of constant persecution, sought a place of refuge from the oppression of the Chaldeans, - has been forced upon the text through the arbitrary interpretation of detached figurative expressions.