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 passion -this utterance is lacking in coherence. The heart of the people cries a.loud; the very walls .of the city are invoked in their desolation to call upon the Lord. Clearly the distress is that of the inhabitants of the wretched city, of those survivors whose fate is sadder than that of those who fell by the sword. II. THE 0IRCUMSTANCES THAT OCCASION THE ENTREATY. 1. Personal want, suffering, and distress. 2. The spectacle of the woes of others, especially of children. Literature has no more agonizing picture than this of the young children fainting and dying of hunger in every street. III. THE BEING TO WHOM THE. SUPPLICATIONS OF THE ANGUISHED ARE ADDRESSED. In such circumstances vain is the help of man. Upon whom shall Jerusalem call but upon the Lord, the King of the city, the great Patron and Protector of the chosen nation, who has forsaken even his own people because they have forgotten him, a.nd in whose fu.vour alone is hope of salvation? IV. THE CHARACTER OF THE ENTREATY URGED. I. It is sorrowful, accompanied by many tears, flowing like a. river an.d pa.using not. 2. Earnest, as appears from the description-heart, eyes, and hands a1.l uniting in the appeal with imploring prayer. 3. Continuous; for not only by day, but through the night watches, supplications ascend unto heaven, invoking compassion and e.id.-T.
Ver. 20,-Conaideration besougl.t, How truly human is this language I How real 28 TlIE LAMENTATIONS OF JtREMIAJI. [OH, II, 1-22,
was the eternal Lord to him who could shape his entreaty thus I As If to urge n plea for pity, the prophet implores him who has been offended by the Mtion's sins, who has 1mffered tbe nation's misery and apparent ruin, to consider; to remember who Judah is, and to have mercy. 1. THE CIROUMSTANCES THAT CALL FOR OONSIDERATION. 1. Fe.mine and the inhuman conduct t-0 which famine sometimes leads. 2. Death by the sword. 3. The prive.tion of those religiou~ offices which are the centre and inspiration or the nation's life. 4, The common suffering of all classes; prophet and priest, children and old men, virgins and youth, are alike overtaken by want, by wounds, by death. II. THE GROUNDS UPON WHIOH CONSIDERATION IS BEGGED FOR. 1. The me.in appeal is to Divine pity and benevolence. 2. The former mercies shown to Judah seem to be hrougbt implicitly forward in this language. Israel bas been chosen by God himself, favomed with privileges, delivered, protected, and blessed in a thousand ways. Will God cast off those in whom he has taken an interest so deep, for whom he bas done so great things 'I III. THE HOPE WITH WHICH CONSIDERATION IS ASKED. Hitherto the reaard of God in recent events has been a regard of displeasure and or censure. But if the attitude of the stricken be no longer one of defiance, but of submission, it may be that the Lord will tum him again, will be favourable uuto his afflicted people, will restore them to former prosperity, enriched with the precious lessons of their adverse experience.-T. Ver. 1.-Tlie manifestatinn of Jehovah's wrath with Israel. It will be noticed that the words " anger " and "wrath " occur again and again in these first three verses. Figure is heaped upon figure in order to bring out the practical effects of this anger. We need not pursue these figures into detail; each of them speaks for itself. Let us rather notice- I. How THEY Th"DICATE THE EXTE~"T OF PAST FAVOUR. • The very fact that, in order to show the character of Jehovah's anger, such strong figurative expressions are possible proves that in former days there had been many indications of his complacency with Israel. Not that Israel had been really better in the past than in the present, but she had to be dealt with in a long-suffering way, and the long-suffering of Jehovah is a quality which shows itself by abundance of most positive favours. God looked upon Israel according to the bright possibilities of excellence that lie in human nature. Israel did sink very low, but that was because she had the capacity of rising very high. Thus God heaped upon Israel favours, as if to show that he would not entertain any doubt as to her willingness to respond to his requests. And so the black anger-cloud resting on Israel's present looks blacker still when contrasted with the Divine brightness and dearness of Israel's past. God has cast down tbe beauty of Israel, and that casting is as from heaven to earth. That which God has not remembered in the day of his anger is something which he had reckoned useful to himself, even as the footstool is useful to the king seated on his throne. Thus the extent of present anger measures the extent of past favour. IL How THESE FIGURES INDICATE THE REALITY OF JEHOVAB'S WRATH, The very heaping up of these strong figures should make us feel very deeply that God's wrath is not itself a figure. God's anger is not to be reduced to e. mere anthropomorphism. We are misled in this matter, because human anger is never seen without selfish and dearadina elements. An angry man, in all his excitement and violence, is a pitiable sight, but nevertheless it is possible for a man to be angry and sin not. The man whu cannot understand the reality of God's anger will never comprehend the ideal of humanity. The sensitive musician would laugh to scorn any one who told him that, while he was plea.sed with harmony, he should not be disturbed by discord. Again and again Jesus was really and righteously angry, showing in this, not least, how he was ]Jartaker of the Divine nature. When we are in wrong ways and God is consequently .against us, his opposition and displeasure must be shown in ways that cannot be mistaken.-Y. Ver. 5.-Jehovah reckoned as an enemy. I. How FAR WAS THERE REALITY UNDER 'I'His APPEARANCE OF ENMITY? God might look like an enemy, but it did not therefore fulluw that he was one. But even if Jehovah behaved himself like an enemy, it must CJI, II, 1-22,] 'l'HE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREM[AH. 29