Ver. 12. — The observation cf suffering. L A beeminqlt dnbbasonablb complaint. " Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? " So speaks Jerusalem, personified under the guise of the weeping widow, with the tears on her cheeks and the beauty faded, deprived of all her pleasant things, and left in solitude so far as her familiar supports and consolations are concerned. She sits, as it were, by the highway, and the crowd passes on, taking no notice. Why, indeed, should it take notice ? The spectacle of a conquered nation and a pillaged capital was not a rare thing. The nations asked to sympathize had been through the same experience themselves. We are all prompted to say, " Surely no trouble has been like our trouble ; " and yet, as our observation of human affairs enlarges, we see how human nature, in every individual instance, is made to know its extraordinary capacity for suffering. Nevertheless, the piteous appeal here is not a baseless one. The trouble of the children of Israel had not come upon them after the manner of a common nation. They were peculiar in constitution, privileges, and history. If only there had been eyes to see it, there was something very signifi- cant to demand attention. But the thing to be seen did not lie on the surface, nor was it to be discovered save by faculties specially illuminated. The downfall and the sufferings of Israel, as they are to be seen both in the Scriptures and subsequent history, belong to the things that are to be spiritually discerned. Therefore this complainl, while superficially it may be called unreasonable, is yet reasonable enough, if we only consider the position and mission of Israel, and the work which, even in her degrada- tion, she has done for the world.
II. The need these is to mark Jehovah's sijbe visitations on the disobedient. This is the critical element in the appeal that widow-like Jerusalem makes to the passers-by : " Look at me as the greatest illustration of the certainty with which Jehovah punishes those who rebel against him." We must, of course, beware of the conclusion that suffering always means punishment ; but where we can see that it is punishment we must mark it as such, so that we ourselves may be admonished and 111*7 also more effectually admonish others. Here was a nation that in obedience might have rested confidently and happily in Jehovah's promise. The power behind that promise was more than all the armies of the great empires round about. But when the power was withdrawn it meant not merely suffering ; the withdrawing had in it the nature of a judicial, solemn sentence from Jehovah himself. — ^Y.
16 THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. [oh. 1. 1—22.
Ver. 18. — The acknowledgment that suffering is deserved. L The clbab becoqnitiob
ON THE PART OF THOSE VISITED THAT THE SDPFBRIKa WAS OP JeHOVAH'S BBINOINO.
Secondary causes were proruiDent, but behind them was a Divine cause most important to be perceived in all the intensity of its working. Those who desolated Jerusalem did so from the worst of motives, motives always to be condemned; and these motives, keenly inspiring as tliey were, would have ended in nothing save for the weakness in which Israel had been left by its apostasy from God. When we are suffering for our sin and folly it is good if we can recognize that the suffering is of God's producing. Because that which God produces God can remove in the hour of repentance. Whereas what man produces he may not be able to put right again, even when he is so disposed.
II. A SEASON IS GIVEN FOB DBCLABINO Jehovah BIGHTB0TJ8. He has doue righteoiisly to those who have rebelled against his commandments. God has made us so that we can distinguish between the ri^ht and the wrong. We need ever to be on our guard against saying that a thing is right because God does it. What is admitted here is that it is a right thing for God to inflict chastisement on the diso?>edient. The greater the disobedience the severer must be the chastisement. The commandment of God was always a rigbt thing in itself; and the prophets had again and again illustrated the righteousness of particular commandments and the evident miseries that flowed from neglecting them. Recollect that this great blow upon Israel came after many lesser ones. It was not as if Israel could plead that the commandments were dubious or the warnings scanty.
III. It must not be forgotten that Jehovah's BianTEousNESS is equallt shown in HIS XBEATUENT OF THE OBEDIENT. It is of the greatest importance to recollect this, because unfortunately the disobedient are more noticeable than the obedient, and the treatment of the disobedient, by consequence, more noticeable than the treatment of the obedient. The spirit of our li'e determines, by a most fixed law, the way in which God will treat us. It is perfectly impossible for the disobedient to escape suffering. But it is equally impossible for tne obedient to lose their reward. Joy and blessedness, the exquisite peace and rapture of holiness, must come to them by the very nature oi things. — Y.
Ver. 21. — A wicked gUtdneu. I. Thk weono feelino with beoabd to suFFEBiNa FOB BIN. People are here represented as rejoicing over the sufferings of others. Not that they take delight in suffering as suffering, but those who suffered were their enemies. Those now suffering had once inflicted suffering on others. They had been a source of danger, provoking jealousy, and producing humiliation. Hence, when Israel fell into all this solitude and misery, other peoples not only failed to pity, but even posi- tively rejoiced. This was just what might be expected, and even if some of the heathen nations said, " This serves Israel right for neglecting Jehovah," it was certainly nothing more than the simple truth. The wrong thing was the exultant feeling, the gladness of heart over all this sufftring. There is no fear but what we shall sympathize with the suf- fering of the innocent, tiie pain coming from some accident or disea.se ; but when it is an evil-doer who suffers, then we are only too easily betrayed into language expressing glad- ness of heart. And we should never be glad with respect to any suffering whatever. Let it be remembered, too, that gladness is only one out of several possible wrong attitudes with respect to suffering. If while others are suffering for their sins we allow ourselves to get into any of these wrong attitudes with respect to them, then our unchristian state of mind may prove a very serious obstacle in the way of their repentance and amend- ment. The censuring, lecturing spirit must be guarded agamst, aud also the spirit that looks down as from a position of superioi goodness. We must restore others in a spirit of meekness, considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted.