PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Lamentations
Thomas Kelly Cheyne [1841-1915] · 81,815 words · 85 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Lamentations — Section 1
THE PULPIT COMMENTARY. EDITED BY THE ·vERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D.t DEAN OF GLOUCESTER; AND BY THE REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A. LAMENTATIONS. 0xposition BY REV. T. K. CHEYNE, M.A., D.D., EECTOB OF TENDRING, AND LATE FELLOW OF llALLIOL COLLJ:GE, OllOllll. 1!1omiletics BY REV. W. F . .A.DENEY, M.A. 1!1omili…
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cannot be said to maintain itself at the height of the oper.ing verse. The second points out the true author of Zion's cal.tmity; it is Jehovah, who hns fulfilled his threats of old, and turned r.,gainst his people like nn angry warrior. The fourth has more touches than the rest which reveal ( Bo far as picturesqueneRs…
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plunder them of their crusts of bread. Worse than all, J ernsa.lem is I n rnins and uninhabited, and seems to have been so for an age, by the "pathetic fallacy" explained above. We have seen that the fifth elegy in the collection can hardly be the work of the Prophet Jeremiah, who was probably already in Egypt when th…
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already been softened by time. To assert, with Dean Plumptre, that the born poet "accepts the discipline of a self-imposed law just in prop1Yrtion to the vehemence of his emotions,'' ie incapable of proof from modern Euro- pean poetry, and, if possible, still more opposed to the facts of Hebrew literature Some of the e…
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were specially Wl'itten for that very fast-day which we ho.ve e.lready con- jectured to have occasioned. the composition of the canonical Le,mentations. The most beautiful of the kinotk is probe,bly that of Yehude, hen Samuel He.levi (twelfth century A.o.), which me,y be known even to some general readers by Heinrich H…
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"0ut of " for " bC<'anse of." "Ont of" pl\la<'es of Jerusalem (2 Chron. xxxvi. l0J, the misery into ·which the Jews had been nnd still more those of the temple (2 Chron. brought by the invasions of Nec,ho and xxxvi. 10); comp, \Isa. lxiv. ll). For she Nebuchadnezzar they p&BSed into the new bath seen; rl\thor, yea, …
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rother, ha/1, proclaimed a f e,tioal. When Ver. 19.-For my lovers; render, to my ,Jehovah summons the instruments of his 1m,er~ (see on ver. 2). vengeance, tbo prophets describe it e.s the Ver. 20.-lllly bowel&. The vital po.rte, "proclaiming n fostivo.1." The Persians or especially the heart, as the seat ot' the Chald…
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of R nation is in it,s people. The vigour of a Church is in its membership. A splendid cRthedral, with & rich full service, but no congregRtion, fails in comparison with the homeliest mission, if the latter gathers the people. Doctrine may be souud and " means of grace" abundant, yet we shall not advance except as we h…
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soothing of love, and the cheering of congenial companionship are Divine remedies for sorrow. 'fhey are lights in the gloom, though they do not bring the day; gentle han<l8 to wipe away the tears, the flowing of which they may not be able to stanch. The moat desolate picture is that of one like Jerusalem in this elegy,…
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Ver. 7.-Pk/Uant thi,,n,gs iA the day, of old. I. IN TIMES OF TROUBLE WE OAl.L TO llTh'D TllE PLEASANT THINGS IN THE DAYS OF OLD. I. There have been pleasant things in the days of old. Few lives, if any, are wholly joyl<>ss from cradle to grave. There are rifts in the clouds of the darkest lot. Indeed, for most of UR,…
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Vera. 13, 14.-Fourfold troublefrom God. I. THE TROUBLE rs FRO.M GoD. Tb.ls ia the characteristic of it that the writer dwells upon with most concern. 1. We should recognize the Divine origin of trouble. We miss the meaning and purpose of it if we do 8 THE LAMENTA. TIONS OF JEREMIAH. [ OU. I. 1-22, not see the hand th…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1, 2.-The contrasts of adversity. The key-note of this strain of sorrow, this poetical and pathetic dirge, is struck in the opening words of the composition. The heart of the prophet laments over the captured and ruined city. How natural that the present should recall the past I Jeru…
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leading to the country. It is now so no longer. 3. The festivals are unfrequented. Formerly, when the great and sacred national feasts were being held, multitudes of hraelites attended these holy and welcome o.ssemblies to share in the pious mirth the cheering reminiBCences, the fraternal fellowship, distinctive of suc…
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Ver.12.-Unparalleled woe. 'fhe prophecy here rises into poetry. The captured and afflicted city is personified. Like a woman bereaved and desolate and lonely, bewail- ing her misfortunes, and pouring out the anguii!h of her heart, Jerusalem sits in her solitary desolation and contempt, and calls upon bystanders to rema…
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Ver. 20.-The cry of tM contrite. Trouble, when it leads to an inquiry into its cause, when it prompts to submission and to repentance, proves a means of grace. The cry of suffering and distress may have no moral significance; the cry of contrition and of supplicatioo is a sign of spiritual impression, and is a step …
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Ver. 2.-Nights of weeping explained. Nights of weeping and constant tears upon the cheeks. Thus the metaphor is kept up with which this first song of lamentation begins. The sensitiveness of the woman-nature helps to bring out the prostration of Jerusalem. It is not only that fer condition is lamentable, but she hersel…
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~er. 11.-Tl.e real need of the soul made manifest. I. REAL NEED OAN ONLY BE JUDE MAlHFEBT BY PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE. The greatest need of the natural life is bread, taking the word "bread" as representative of all food. Clothing and shelter, while they may indeed be reckoned as needs, are not needs after the same imperat…
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Y<'r. 18.-Tl,e acknowledgment that suffering is deserved. I. THE cr,EAn nECOGNITION ON THE PART OF THOSE VISITED THAT THE SUFFERIN'G WAS OF JEIIOVAH'B BRINGING, S<'condary cau~es were prominent, but behind them was I\ Divine CI\UBe most important to be percei\·ed in all the intensity of its working. Those who dcsoll…
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EXPOSITION. 5, e.nd often; Isa. xvi. 5," the tent of David;" CHAPTER II. Ps. lxxvili. 67, "the tent of Joseph." ZION'S JUDGMENT IS OF Gon. LAMENTA- Ver. 5.-Was as an enemy: he hath swal- TIONS AND 8UFPLIOATIONS. lowed, etc. The threefold division of the verse is, unfortunately, concealed in the Ver. 1.-Rath the…
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worn O{\('.urs in the BRme ecnee in Pe. lxxiv. oovered; i.e. dieolosed. To turn away thy !l. It is t.he temple which ie me&nt, and oaptivity, 'l'he Cttptivit.y, then, might lmvo the term is borrowed from the fa.moue been " turned away," if the other prophets phrase. iihel ,nii'edh (Exod. xxvii. 21 ; comp. had. like J…
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there Is something wrong in the text; the In the top of every streot; rather, at e1Jer11 following verses seem to re-fer to the daughter ldreet eorner (and so eh. iv. 1). of Zion. Dickell reftcls thus: " Cry aloud Ver. 20.-To whom thou hast done this; viz. unto the Lord, 0 virgin daughter of Zion." to Israel, the chos…
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Vers. 4, 5.-The Lord as an enemy. I. THE LORD MAY BEOOME TO us AS AN EKEMY. We must not suppose the relations of God to those who forsake him to bo purely neg11tive. He cannot simply leave them to their own devices. He is a King who must needs maintain order and restrain and punish rebellion, a Judge who cannot permit …
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Ver. 9 (last clause),-" No vision." I. THE TEACHING Al!ID VISION OF PROPHETIC TRUTH OONSTITUTE AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN RELIGIOUS LIFE. The writer laments the loss of teaching and vision as abnormal and disastrous. The vision of the prophets was not simply nor chiefly concerned with the distant future and recondite coun…
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Ver. 14.-The vinon of fahehood Mid folly. Visions from the Lord have ceasecl. (ver. 9). But the prophets continue to see visions of earthly limitation or even of diabolical delusion. These visions are false and foolish. Better have none than such. I. PPOPHEO"i" IN ITS OORRUPTION SEES THE FALSE AND FOOLISH IN PLAOE OF …
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Ver. 17.-Ruinfrom God. In the fifteenth and sixteenth verses we find strangers and enemies indulging in unseemly jubilation over the fall of Jerusalem. Now, we see -what they do not see-that the cause of that fall was the direct action of God. This fact aggravates the dismay and wretchedn~ of the suffering city, for it…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-The anger of the Lord. Men have fallen into two opposite extremes of opinion and of feeling with regard to the anger of the Lord. There have been times when they have been wont to attribute to the Eternal the passions of imperfect me:i, when they have represented the holy God as mo…
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Ver. 9.-Law and propl1e,;y suspended. Judah was professedly and actually a theo- cracy. The form of government was a mon:trChy, but the true Ruler was Jehovah. Spiritual disobedience and rebellion were Judah's offences; and it was the natural out- come of perseverance in these that the Lord should withdraw his favour, …
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Vere. 18, 19.-The entreaty of anguish. This surely is one of those passages which justify the title of this book; these utterances are "lamentations" indeed; never did human sorrow make of language anything more resembling a wail than this. I. 'l'HE SOULS FROM WHICH TEARFUL ENTREATIES ARISE. The true language of passi…
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also be asked whether there was not a necesRity that he should do so. If Israel had to say," Jehovah acts as an enemy towards us," Jehovah had to say," My people act as nn enemy towards me." These people had now for a long time been travelling in tbe wrong way, and it was in the very nature of things that the more they…
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Ver. 10.-The si)ence of the elders. I. TREm FORMER BPEECB. They are said to lceep silence now; this, of course, suggests that silence had not been their former habit, Old men have a peculiar right to speak, are often expected to speak, and can always plead that years have given them experience and many op)?Ortunitie…
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Ver. 14,-The Bhare of the prophet8in ruining Ji<ru8alem. I. WHAT THE PROPHET OUGHT TO BE. The prophet of those times was a man bound to say things havin~ depth and substance in them. And though the prophet has ceased, so far as formal office is concerned, yet there are sWl Divine things to be seen, and, when seen, …
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EXPOSITION. CHAPTER m (comp. Job iii. 23; Hos. ii. 6). A prisoner with a heavy chain. Age.in, a. traveller Vel'I!. 1-21.-MONOLOGUE SPOKEN BY AN suddenly shut up by solid stone we.Us hallnDUAL BELIEVER WHOSE FATE IS (comp. Hos. ii. 8). llOuND UP WITH THAT 01" THE NATION; Ver. 7.-My ohe.in; literally, my bra88 Oil l'E…
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weapons," or "the weapons of death " (Ps. Ver. 19. - Remembering; rather, re- vii. 13), h!ls fallen out. Restore them, and member. It is the le.ngnage nf pmyer. the verse becomes a two-memhered one, like Ver. 20.-My aonl, etc. Thia rendering Its oompanions. To enter into my reins. is difficult. In the next vers'l we…
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100 of Ps. cxix. prove tha.tthe pa1tlmist wa.s (reading mrii.h for ra'iih). The text-reading an aged ma.n (a.gainst this view, see vers. 84 is, "the Lord seeth not." Thie may be ex- --87). There is no oooasion, therefore, for plained either e.s "the Lord regardeth not th,• textual altera.tion (for a.s such I oa.nnot…
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or the n11tlon; if we should not rather eo.y which ea.me to an end. It would m,iko this tlmt the no.tion itself, personified, is the plainer if we were to alter the renrlering, spor,kcr. In the first trio.cl some have sup- Thou didat plead . . . thou didst redeem. posed o reference to the persecution suffered The speak…
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ill desert mean that the complnint is false and the distress n shnm, of course It Is to be ,·isited with contempt or punishment. But suppose, with evil chnmcter, there Is e.180 renl distress. In such a case we should take the distress into consideration. We may not help in t.he same way in which we would assist a deser…
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Ver. 1.-Hedged about. I. EVERY LIFE 1B l!UBBOUNDED BY DIVINE Lil!ITATIONS. God hedges all of us about. Some have a narrow field of freedom and others a wider field. But every man's field is fenced in. Within cert.a.in limits we have scope for choice and will. Yet even there choice is fettered. For there is not only the…
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the hir,hest obedience is not the restraint of out will before God's will, but the R.Ssiml- lation of the two. We learn to will what God wills. Then we keep within the Di-ine limitations, and yet they cease to be limitations to us. 'l.'hey never touch t:.11 bec,rnse we never attem-pt nor wish to cross them. Here lies t…
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we may ·not be observed by onr fellow-men, and though human sympathy is a consr,- lation, and indifference an additional bitterness, still in the heaviest trouble man can ,lo little. It is not his notice that we should be most anxious to attract. The clamour of the afflicted for pity is an indication of weakness. But w…
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sometim~s appea.r to cease. They a.re not a.lways equ11.lly visible. But a.a the moon which Heems to w11,x and wa.ne never changes in itself, the grace which appears to us to fluctuate, and even at times to be extinguished, is never lessened, much less is it destroyed. 4. They change their form. 'l'he morning light …
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needs of hie children with merciful consideration, is too gracious to diRappoint the hopfl we have in him, 2. Because be isfa,itliful. He has invited our confidence and promised his inheritanco to his obedient and trustfnl children. Thus he has pledged his word. His honour is involved. He will never prove false to his …
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spoken of as a time of plM!!uro, Older people do their best to d1tmp the joyousness of the yonng by telling them that these are their hnppy days, ~oon will conw the dark days of trouble, let them enjoy the bright time wbile it lRsts. Even if such a view· of life were correct, the wisdom of thrusting it formml is not…
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It tends to confirtn ein. His the prospect of mercy that softens the heart and prompts feelings of penitence. II. 'l'IIE nEASON WHY OHABTISEMENT 18 ONLY Jl'OR A BEASON. This reason is to be found in the character of God. "He doth not afflict willingly," or rather, "rrom his heart." There is an essential dilforcncc bct…
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that, if God is with us, we cannot suffer trouble. There is rea.l comforl in the thought 1hnt evil is sent by God, if only by the removal of the common assumption that it indicates desertion by him. Y. Vl'E MAY l?i.FER THAT IF EVIL PROCEEDS FROM Goo IT 18 PERMITTED FOR TIIE BAKE OF ULTlllfA1'E GOOD. For God does no…
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8lld therefore when faith fails we are ready to say that God <loes not hear us. Wo Ehonld remember that God's attention is not confined to th11 evidences of it that he may alford to us. Ho may hoar us without telling us that he does, or he may simply delay the resronso for good and wise reasons. Let us, therefore, bewa…
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Ver. 57.-" Fear not I" The recollection of how God hu forbidden one not to fear in the past is a plea in praying that he will remove the ground of fear in the present. I. WE MUCH NEED Drvnrn ENOOCJRAGEMENTS TO OVERCOME FEAR. 1. In real danger. It. is not only the coward who fears. Indifference often gets the credit …
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-..4.fflicte<l by God. Every child of God, nay, every son of man, has endured affliction. Jeremiah and the city which he here personifies and representi may be said to have experienced affliction in an extra.ordinary degree. A fact so uni- versal cannot be without special significan…
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distress do theeo words present: "I forgat prosperity"! Daye of happiness are Sf) distant that they hove faded into oblivion; their memory is obliterate<l by recurring sorrows, by continuous misfortunes. J. ADVERSITY DOES NOT FULFIL ITS INTENDED PURPOSE IF IT LEADS TO DP:SPAIR. There are natures in which a reverse of …
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Ver. 22.-Sparing oompassion. At this point the meditations of the prophet take a turn. He looks away from his own and his fellow-countrymen's afflictions and directs his i):aze h~nrnnwards. 'l'he scene of his vision changes. No longer the calamities of ,Jcrnsalem, but the character and the purposes of the Most High,…
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powerful motive be found than here? Often ae we h:..ve partaken of Divine goodness often as we have enjoyed the assurance of Divine forgiveness, we are called upon by th~ fo.vours which nro now every moming to renewed devotion of ourselves to the God of nil grace and forgiveness. IV. NEW OCOASIONB ARE THUS AFFORDED FO…
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Ver. 30.-Th.e chuk to the smieer. Probably these verses should be tranela.ted b)r imperatives. The prophet, profiting by his own experience and by that of his country- men, admonishes all to meekness and submission. In resistance is neither peace nor deliverance; in patient subjection and waiting is true wisdom, for su…
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0lfR GOOD. Observe that murmuring is not only wrong, it is most inexpedient, A c()mplaining spirit is inconsistent with the disposition which Blone can receive the wholesome lessons and discipline of sorrow and oan turn them to highest and lasting profit.-T. Ver. 40.-R~iince. Sin Bnd suffering Bra the topic of much…
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fellow-crmtures unmoved; but, a sensitive nature views them wit.h poignant sor- row, Our Lord wept over the same city when, at a later period, he foresaw a fate impending over Jerusalem oven worse than that which occasioned the lamentation of Jeremiah, II. 'l'HE 0HARA0TERJBTI0B OP' THIB SYMPATHETIC BORROW. 1. It is co…
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Ver~. 59-63.-The Lord's knowle<l,ge of hi,s people's sufferings and wrongs. The first thought which occu~ to people when oppressed and afflicted is-The Lord takes no heed ; he has no compassion ; he will not help; my judgment is passed over from my God. But it is afterwards felt that such language is language of imp…
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Ver. 21.-How hope rises frO'I'!- the depths of despair. This utterance needs to be contrasted with that in ver. 18. There the prophet says that hope is perished. Here he has hope, grounded on a "therefore" and strea.gthened by a resolved attitude of mind. 'l'hus we are helped to get an explanation of his past depressio…
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and the skill to use. The greatest of a man's n:1tural resources are in himqe[f. Other- wise he may sit among large poSBessions which are of no more use to him than an, hie hoards to a miser. II, EVERY MAN BAB IT IN HIS OWN POWER TO REMOVE THE INEQUALITIES OF HIS POR- TION, Jeremiah shows us how. Whatever his natural …
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Ver. 27.-The discipline of youth. Remember how early Jeremiah was called to prophesy. He says at the beginning, "Ah, Lord God! behold, I oannot speak : for J am a child" (Jer. i. 6). He had to bear the yoke in his youth, and doubtless this did much to fit him for a useful and well-controlled life afterwards. The compar…
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Vera. 40-42.-.Approaching God in sincerity. I. THE ASCERTAINING OF OUR TRUE BTATE. Such is the exhortation of ver. 40. 'fhe talk of complaining people is generally the hasty outbreak of superficial thought-if, indeed, such loose operations of the mind are worthy to be called thought at all. Searching is above all thing…
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Ver. 55.-Jeremiah cal,1,ing out of tlie dungeon. This is no mere figure for e. great extremity, as we a.re made to feel when we read eh. xxxviii. of the prophecies. It was not from amid mere restraint that the prophet cried, but from miry depths, most perilous, painful, and disgusting. Note- • I. THE PUTTING INTO THE …
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Ver. 64.-The pi·inciple of retributi... .,,,, Whatever the feelings in the prophet's heart may have been, at all eTents he lays down something like a principle on which he expects Go<l will act in dealing with the wicked. It is not because he hates them, or because they have hurt him, that he wants them to suffer, but …
1,071 wordsSource & rights
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.