II. The bioht feeling with kbgard to suffbkino fob sin. The absence of the wrong feeling can only be secured by the presence of the right one. If selflsh gladness, the gladness springing from envy and jealousy, is to be kept out. It must be by con- stantly cultivating pity for all suffering. Pity is to be the very first feeling with which all suffering is contemplated. I'ity must, indeed, be well under control, and never allowed to open the way for a greater suffering by taking away a lesser one, but it must always be the prevailing feeling. Then also we must take care to rejoice with the rejoicing. It iucreases the happiness of others to know that we are glad because of their happiness
CH.n.1— 22.] THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH.
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Our work as Christians is only part done in removing the evil ; our thoughts are to ba chiefly fixed on producing and establishing the good with all its fruits so pleasant to the spiritual eye, so pleasant to the taste of the inner man. The enemies of Israel saw Israel fallen, and rejoiced that Jehovah had done this. When we see the fallen lifted up and walking along in the strength of Christ, let us rejoice exceedingly because of what the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has Hone. It is worth, all our efforts to keep out of our hearts mean satisfaction because of the disappointments and confusion of others, — Y.
EXPOSITION.
CHAPTER n.
Zion's Judgment is of God. Lamenta- tions AND Supplications.
Ver. 1. — Hath the lord covered; rather, doth . . . cover. The daughter of Zion ; i.e. JeTuialem. Cast down from heaven. Here and in Matt. xi. 23 we have a parallel to Isa. XIV. 12, where the King of Babylon is compared to a bright star. "Oast down" whither? Into the "pit" or dungeon of Hades (Isa. xiv. 15). The beauty of Israel; i.e. Jerusalem, exactly as Babylon is called "the proud beauty [or, 'ornament'] of Chaldea" (Isa. xiii. 19). His footstool; I e. the ark (Fs. cxxxii. 7), or perhaps the temple as containing the ark (1 Chron. xxviii. 2; Ps. xcix. 5).
Ver. 2. — Habitations; rather, pastures. The word properly means the settlements of shepherds in green, grassy spots, but here designates the country parts in general, dis- tinguished from the " strongholds " of Judah. Hath polluted. So Ps. Ixxxix. 39, "Thou hast profaned [same word as here] his crown [by casting it] to the ground." The wearer of a crown was regarded in the East as nearer to divinity than ordinary mortals ; in some countries, indeed, e.g. in Egypt, almost as an incarnation of the deity. To discrown him was to " pollute " or "profane" him.
Ver. 3. — All the horn ; rather, every horn; i.e. all the means of defence, especially the fortresses. He hath drawn back his right hand ; t.e. be hath withdrawn his assistance in war. He burned against; rather, he burned up.
Ver. 4. — The beginning of the verse seems slightly out of order (see the Septua- gint). And slew all that were pleasant, eto. The correct rendering is. And slew all that was pleasant to the eye : in the tent of the daughter of Zion he poured out his fury like jUre. The Authorized Version (follow- ing the Targum) seems to have thought that the youth of the population alone was intended. But, though Ewald also adopts this view, it seems to limit unduly the meaning of the poet. By " tent " we should probably understand "dwelling," as Jer. iv.
LAMENTATIONS.
5, and often ; lea. ztL 5, " the tent of David ; " Ps. Ixxviii. 67, " the tent of Joseph."
Ver. 6. — Was as an enemy : he hath swal- lowed, etc The threefold division of the verse is, unfortunately, concealed in the Authorized Version, owing to the arbitrary stopping. The grouping suggested by the Massoretic text is —
" The Lord is become an enemy, he hath
swallowed up Israel ; He hath swallowed up all her palaces,
be hath destroyed all his strongholds ; And hath increased in the daughter of
Judah moaning and bemoaning."
The change of gender in the second line is easily explicable. In the first case the poet is thinking of the city ; in the second, of the people of Israel. The rendering " moaning and bemoaning " is designed to reproduce, to some extent, the Hebrew phrase, in which two words, derived from the same root, and almost exactly the same, are placed side by side, to give a more intense expression to the idea.
Ver. 6. — Violently taken away; rather, violently treated ; i.e. broken up. His taber- nacle; rather, his hooth. "Tent" and " dwelling " are interchangeable expressions (see ver. 4) ; and in the Psalms " booth " is used as a special poetic synonym for "tent" wlien God's earthly dwelling-place, the sanctuary of the temple, is spoken of (so Ps. xxvii. 5; xxxi. 20; Ixxvi. 2). The Authorized Version, indeed, presumes an allusion to the proper meaning of the Hebrew word, as if the poet compared the sanctuary of Jehovah to a pleasure-booth in a garden. It is, however, more natural to continue, as a garden, the sense of which will be clear from Ps. Ixxx. 12, 13. The Septuagint has, instead, "as a vine" — a reading which differs from the Massoretic by having one letter more {harjgefen instead olkaggan). This ancient reading is adopted by Ewald, and hurmonizes well with Isa. V. 1, eto. ; Jer. ii. 21 (comp. Ps. Ixxx. 8) ; but the received text gives a very good sense. "Garden" in the Bible means, of course, a plantation of trees rather than a flower-garden. His places of the assembly ; rather, hit plaee of meeting (juith (M). The
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THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. [ch. n. 1— 22.
word occurs in the Bame sense in Ps. Ixxiv. 3. It is tlie temple which is meant, and the term is borrowed from the famous phrase, ohel mo'edh (Exod. xxvii. 21 ; comp. XXV. 22).
Ver. 7. — Her palaces; i.e. those of the daughter of Zion, espeeially "high build- ings" (this is the true meaning of 'armon) of the temple. They have made a noise, etc. Comp. Ps. Ixxiv. 3, " Thine enemies roar in the m^dst of thy place of meeting." The passages are parallel, though, whether the calamities reftrred to are the same in both, cannot a priori be determined. The shouts of triumph of the foe are likened to the festal sliouts of the temple- worshippers (ciimp. lea. xxx. 29 ; Amos v. 24).
Ver. 8. — He hath stretched out a line. It is the "line of desolation" mentioned in Isaiah (xxxiv. 11 ; comp. Amos vii. 7 ; 2 Kings xxi. 13). Such is the unsparing rigour of Jehovali's judgments.
Ver. 9. — Are sunk Into the ground; t.e. are broken down and buried iu the dust. The Law is no more. The observanoe of the Law being rendered impossible by the destruction of the temple. Comp. this and the next clause with Ezek. vii. 26.
Ver. 10. — They have cast up dust, etc. A sign of mourning (Josh. vii. 3; 2 Sam. xiii. 19; Jobii. 12).