Exposition of the Whole Bible

| not. by the fword of the enemy, but thro’ famine and fo, in the drabic language, the word ale 5

|Signifies to labour under famine, and want of food and perifh thro’ it; and if ‘this*was the ¢aie’ of their priefts that officiated in holy things; and of their elders or civil magiftrates, what muft be the cafe of the common people? while they fo meat to relieve their fouls; or, fetch * them which were juft fainting and dying away thro hunger; and who did expire while they were bi ging their bread, or enquiring in one place’ another where they could get any, either’ freely or for money. a ¥. 20. Bebold, O Lord, for I am in diftrefs, &e.} Thus fhe turns from one to another; fometimes fhe addrefies {trangers, people that pafs by; fome= times fhe calls to her Jovers; and at other times to God, which is beft of all, to have pity and compaffion on her in her diftrefs; and from whom it may be moft expected, who is a God of grace and mercy: my bowels are troubled; as the fea, agitated by winds, which cafts up mire and dirt; Or as any waters, moved by any thing whatfoever, become thick and muddy; or like wine in fermentation; fo the word pe ', in the Arabic language, fignifies, expreflive of great difturbance, confufion, and uneafinefs: mine heart is turned within me, has no reft nor peace: for I have grievoufly rebelled; againft God and his word; her fins were greatly aggravated, and thefe lay heavy on her mind and confcience, and greatly diftreffed her: abroad the fword bereaveth, this, and what es in the next clawfe, defcribe the ftate and condition of the ‘ews, while the city was befieged; without it, the fword of the Chaldeans bereaved mothers of their children, and children of their parents, and left them defolate: at home there is as death, within the city, and in the houfes of it, the famine raged, which was as death, and worfe than immediate death; it was a lingering one; or, i” the houfe was certain death™, tor the caph here, is not a mere note of fimilitude, but of certainty and reality; to abide at home was fure and certain death, nothing elfe could be expected. The Targum is, ‘* within the famine kills like the deftroying angel, “‘ that is appointed over death;” fee Hed. ii. 14. and Yarchi interprets it of the fear of demons and noxious fpirits, and the angels of death. r ¥. 21. They have heard that I figh, there is none to comfort me, &c.] That is, the nations, as the Targum; the neighbouring ones, thofe that were her confederates and allies; the fame with her lovers, as before, as ben Ezra obferves; thefe being near her, knew full well her forrowful and diftreffed condition, being as it were within the hearing of her fighs and groans; and yet none of... them offered to help her, or fo much as to {peak a comfortable word to her: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; not only her friends, but foes; meaning the Tyrians, Edomites, Moabites, and Am are glad that thou haft done it; brought all this us fee Hzek. xxv. 3. Obad. y. 12. there being a confiderable ftop on the word glad, it may be rendred, as by fome, they are glad; but thou haft done it”, not they, but thou; and therefore maft be patiently bore, and quietly fubmitted to, it being the Lord’s doing: thou wilt bring the day that thou hafi called, the time of the deitruction of the Chaldeans, who had the chief hand in the ruin of the Yewyh nation, and of thofe that rejoiced at it; which time was fixed by the Lord, and proclaimed and publifhed by his prophets, and would certainly and exactly come, as and when it was pointed out: fome-° take it to be a with or prayer, that God would bring it, as he had declared; tho’ others interpret it in a quite: differerit. fenfe, shou bajft brought the day’; meaning on herfelf, the determined deftruction; fo the Targum, * thou haft ** brought upon me the day of vengeance; thou - haft called a time upon me to my defolation:” and they foall be like unto me; in the fame diftrefled, defolate, and forrewful condition, being brought to ruin and deftruction; which afterwards was the cafe of the Chaldeans, and all the other nations,

HIS chapter contains another alphabet, in which the prophet Yeremiah, or thofe he perfonates, lament the fad condition of Feru/alem; the deftruction of the city and temple, and of all perfons and things relative to them, and to its civil or church-ftate; and that as being from the hand of the Lord himfelf, who is reprefented all along as the author thereof, becaufe of their fins, ¥. 1— g. and then the elders and virgins of Zion are rerefented as in great diftrefs, and weeping for thofe Se which were very much owing to the falfe prophets, that had deceived them, ¥. 10— 14. and all this occafioned great rejoicing in the enemies of Zion, ¥. 15, 16,17. but forrow of heart to Zion herfelf, who is called to weeping, y. 18, 19. and the chapter is concluded with an addrefs to the Lord, to take this her forrowful cafe into confideration, and fhow pity and compaffion, ‘¥. 20, 21, 22.

¥. 1. How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in bis anger, &c.]_ Not their perfons for protection, as he did the J/raelites at the Red-Sea, and in the wildernefs; nor their, fins, which he blots out as a thick cloud; or with fuch an one as he filled the tabernacle and temple with when dedicated; for this was ia bis anger, in the day of his anger, againft Feru/alem; but with the thick and black clouds of calamity and diftrefs; he beclouded * her, as it may be rendred, and is by come over al] her brightnefs and glory, and furrounded her with darknefs, that her light and fplendor might not be feen. bea Ezra interprets it, be lifted ber up to the clouds; that is, in order to caft her down with the greater force, as follows: and caft down from heaven unto the earth the beauty. of Yrael, all its glory, both in church and ftate, this was brought down from the higheft pitch of

¥. 22. Let all their wickedne/s come before theer &c.] The Targum adds, ‘* in the day of the great ‘* judgment;” but it feems to refer to prefent time, at leaft to the time fixed by the Lord fot their ruin; and which the church imprecates, not from a fpirit of revenge, but from a holy zeal, for the glory of God; defiring that the wickednefs of her enemies might be remembred_ by the Lord, fo as to punifh them in righteous judgment for the fame: and do unto them as thou hajft done unto me for all my tranferefions; the owns that what was. done to her was for her fins, and therefore could not charge God with injuftice; only fhe defires the fame might be done to her enemies, who were equally guilty: fome render it, glean them%; or rather, gather them as a vintage; or as grapes are gathered: as thou haft gathered me; as thou haft took me, and caft me into the wine-prefs of thy wrath, and there haft trodden and {queezed me; fee ¥. 15. fo do unto them: for my fighs are many, and my heart is faint, her fighs were many becaufe of her affliftions; and her Heart faint becaufe of her fighing.

Pic, sel its excellency and dignity, to the loweft degree of infamy and reproach; particularly this was true of the temple, and fervice of God in it, which was the beauty and glory of the nation, but now utterly demolifhed: and remembred not his foot-ftool in the day of bis anger; to fpare and preferve that; meaning either the houfe of the fanétuary, the temple it-. felf, as the Targum and Farchi; or rather the ark. with the mercy-feat, on which the Shekinah or di-. vine majefty fet his feet, when fitting between the cherubim; and is fo called, 1 Chron. xxviii. 2.. PJP XCIX. 'F, ¥. 2. The Lord hath fwallowed up all the babita-, tions of facob, and hath not pitied, &c.] As he regarded not his own habitation the temple, nor. the ark his foot-ftool; it is no wonder he fhould be unconcerned about the habitations of others; as of the inhabitants of the land of Fudea, and of Ferufalem, particularly of the king, his nobles, and the great men; thefe the Lord fwallowed up, or fuffered to be fwallowed up, as houfes in an earthquake, and by an inundation, fo as to be feen no more; and this he did without fhewing the leaft reluctance, pity, and compaffion; being fo highly incenfed and provoked by their fins and tranfgref-' fions: he hath thrown down in his wrath the ftrongholds of the daughter of Fudab, not only the dwelling-houfes of the people, but the moft fortified places, their caftles, towers, and citadels: be hath brought them down to the ground; and not only battered and fhook them, but beat them down, and laid them level with the ground; and all this done in the fury of his wrath, being irritated to it by the fins of his people; even the daughter of Fudah, or the congregation thereof, as the Tar- ‘gum: be hath polluted the kingdom, and the princes thereof; what was reckoned facred, the kingdom of the houfe of David, and the kings and princes of it, the Lord’s anointed; thefe being defiled ° with © Utinam induceres diem, fo fome in Vatablus.

with fin, God caft them away,..as filth to the danghil,, and gave them. up i the hands of the Gentiles, who were reckoned unclean; and. thus they were profaned, ‘farcbi interprets thefe princes of the J/raelites in common, who were called a kingdom of priefts; and makes mention of a} ¥. 6. Midrafh, that explains them of the princes above, zael, the towers and caftles.:.aud hath increafed i the daughter of Judah mourning and laine eae exceeding great lamentation, for ‘the: deftrn@tio of its, cities, towns, villages, and the inhabitan of them. — ites 6 Shai And be hath violently taken away bis tab zacle, as if it were of a gurden, &c.) The houfer or of heaven.. i, Siete the fanétuary or temple, as the Zargumy whi

¥. 3. He hath cut off in bis fierce anger all the horn of Irael, &c:} All-its power and’ ftrength, efpecially its kingly power, which is often fignified by an horn in fcripture; fee Dan, vii. 24. this the Lord took away in his fierce anger, and left the land deftitute of all relief and fuccour, defence and protection, whether from its king and princes, or front its men of war or fortified places; all being cut off and deftroyed; be bath drawn back his right-hand from before the enemy, either his own | right-hand, with which he had ufed to fight for his people, and protect them, but now withdraw- | was demolifhed at once with great force andi lence, and as eafily done as a tent of tabernacle taken down; and no more account made of: than of a cottage or lodge in a vineyard or rden, fet up while the fruit was gathering; either to fhelter from the heat of the fun in’ the day, ont lodge in at night; fee J/ i. 8:" be bath deftroy bis places in the affembly, the courts. where the peo~.ple ufed to affemble for worfhip in the temples’ or’ the fynagogues in Ferufalem, and other patts oF 'the land: the Lord hath caufed the file Pais bas abbaths to be forgotten in Zion, there being, neither ing it, left them to the mercy of their enemies; or Jfrael’s right-hand, which he fo weakened, that they had no power to refift the enemy, and defend themfelves: and he burned againft Facob, tke a flaming fire which devoureth round about, that is, his wrath was like a burning, flaming fire, which confumes all around, wherever it comes; thus the Lord in his anger confumed Facod, and,left neither root nor branch.. ¥. 4. He. hath bent his bow like. an enemy, &c.]. God fometimes appears as-if he was an enemy to. his ‘people, when he is “not, by his conduct and behaviour; by the difpenfations of his providence they take him to ‘be fo, as ‘od did, ch. xvi, 9, 12, 13, 14. he bends ‘his bow, or treads’ it, for the bending or ftretching the bow was done by the foot; ‘and as the Targum, * and threw his arrows “at me:” be ftood with -bis right-hand as am advérfery;, with arrows in it, to put into. his bow; or-with his fword drawn, as an adverfary does. The Targum is, ** he ftood at the right-hand of “Nebuchadnezzar, and, helped him,.when he di-| “ ‘ftreffed his people [rael:* and flew all that were pleafant ta the eye 3, princes and priefts, huf-' bands and wives, parents and children, young men and maids; defirable to their friends and relations, and to the commonwealth: ibe tabernacle of the daughter of Zion be poured out bis fury like fire; that is, ¢ither'in the temple, or in the eity of ‘¥e— rujalem, or both, which were burnt with fire, as the effect of divine wrath and fury’; ‘and which, itfelf is comparable to fire; like a butning’ lamp of fire, as the Targum; or rather like a burning furnace Or mountain; fee Wad. i. 6.

for many years.. Sora: Sees y. 7.. The Lord hath capt off his hae oe Whether of incenfe, or‘of burnt-offerings 3 the facrifices of which, ufed to be acceptable to him 5 but now'the altar being caft down and demolt ied, there were no mote offerings; nor did hée thow aay defire’ of them, but the reverfe: de bath abborie Ais /ané?uary, the temple; by fuffering’ it to be profaned, pulled down, and burnt, it looked asi he had an abhorrence of it, ‘and'the fervice in ity as he had, as it was performed without faith ‘te. Chrift, love to him, or any: view to “his glory;) fee J/ i. 13, 14: be bath given up into the band of te enemy the walls of ber palaces, both the walls ‘of the fanctuary, and thé*walls of the houfes' of the’ king and princes; efpecially the former are meant, f | both by what goes before and follows: rhey have?

made a noife in the boufe of the Lord, as in the day formerly was on their fide, their God ‘and guarof a folemn fea/f, ‘that is, the enemy, the Chaldeans, dian, théir. protector and deliverer, but now againft od,”

’ made a noifé in the temple, blafpheming» them; and a terrible thing ‘it is to have God for ave that had dwelt in it; infulting over the. je ain enemy, or even to be as one; this is repeated, God, that had worfhipped there, rejoicing Hae ei as being exceeding diftreffing, and even intolera- victories over them; finging their pans to thei ble. Mr. Broughton renders it, the Lord is become avery enemy, taking capb for a note of reality, and not of fimilitude. “He hath. fwallowed up I/- racl; the ten tribes, or the Fewi/h nation in gene- \gods, and other profane fongs; indulging” m ‘Rives in revelling and rioting; making as g: noife with their fhouts and fongs, as the prielts, Levies, and people of Z/rae/ did, when’ they fang ral; as a lion, or any other favage beaft, fwallows its prey, and makes nothing of it, and leaves, none behind: be bath fwallowed up all ber palaces; the palaces‘ of Zion or ‘Ferufalem, the palaces of the’ king, princes, nobles, and great men’; “as an earthquake or inundation fwallows:up whole ftreets and cities Jat “once;-fee on y.2: he hath deftroyed bis Strang-bolds, the fortified places of the land of J - places to keep themin, nor people to” obferye them: and hath defpifed in the indignation of anger the king and the prieft, whote perfons land offices were facred, and ought to be ‘treated “by men with honour and refpeét; but for the fins’ 6 both, the Lord defpifed them himfelf, andomade them the object of his wrath and indignation; and fuffered them to be defpifed and ill-ufed by others, by the Chaldeans; Zedekiab had his childrem fain before his eyes, and then they were put our, and he was carried in chains to Badylom, and. there detained a captive all his days; and Seraiab the chief-prieft, or as the Targum here has it, the high-prieft, was put to death by the king of Babylon., tho” not only the perfons of the kine and -prieft are meant, but their offices alfo.; the’ kin dom and priefthood ceafed from being exerciled

“© Dfrael, that prayed in the midit of it in th or. = “¢ of the paffover.” * {ood Lg ARRS TE ION '¥. 8. The Lord hath purpofed to deftroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, 8c.) Either the wall of! the city, as Aben Ezra; or the wall that enconipaffed the temple, and all the outward courts of it, c Sjoiq 5 1CAgee I fulag2 eZ as Dr. Lightfoot ‘thinks; this the Lord had determined to deftroy, and according to his “purpoles did deftroy it, or fuffer it to ‘be: demolithed;; and fo all were laid open for the enemy toventer: be bath Stretched out a line; a line of deftrudtion, to mark out how far’ the deftruction fhould go, and howimuth fhould be laid in ruins;, all being as exactly done, according to the purpo& and: counfel of God, as if it was done by line and rule; fee If, xxxiv.i1: be bath not withdrawn his band from defiroying; till he made a full end of the city and temple, as he firft defigned: therefore be made the rampart and the wall to lament; the chel and the wall; all that fpace between the courts.of the temple, ‘and: the wall that furrounded. it, was called the. chel’; and fo the Targum, the circumference or fglotire; and thefe were laid wafte together, and fo faid to lament: according’ to others, they were two walls, a wall'the fon of a wall, as Farchi interprets it; an outward and an inward wall, one higher than, another; a low wall over-againft. an high wall; which was as a rampart or bulwark, for the ftrenigth and fupport of it: they languiihed together;, or fell together, as perfons in a fitt faint pete and fall to the ground. > g. ler. gates are > funk into the gupiend &c. ] Bither the gates of the city or temple, or both; being broke and demolifhed, and laid level with the ground, and covered ah rubbifh; for as for the Midra/h or expofition that Yerchi mentions, that the gates funk into the earth upon the approach, of the enemy, that they might not.have power over them, thro’ which the ark paffed, is a mete fable of their Raddins 5, and equally as abfurd is the additional glofs of the Zargum, ‘‘ her gates *« funk into*the earth, becaufe they facrificed a * hog, and brought of the blood of it to them:” he hath deftroyed and broken her bars; with which the gates were bolted and barred, that fo. the enemy might enter, it was God that did it, or fuffered it to’ be done, or it would not have been in the power of the enemy: er king and her princes are among the Gentiles; Zedekiab, and the princes that were hot flain by the king of Babylon, were carried captive thither; and, there they lived, even among heathens,. that knew not God, and defpifed his worthip,:.éhe Jaw 15 no, more; the book of the law. » was burnt in the temple, and the tables of it carried away with the ark, or deftroyed; and tho’, no doubt, there were copies. of the. law preferved, yet it was not read nor expounded; nor was worfhip performed according to the direction of it, nor could it be, in,a ftrange land.. Mr. Broughton joins this. withthe preceding claufe, as defcriptive of the heathens; ber king and ber princes are amaug beathen: that have no law; fee Rom. ii. 12. phets alfo find no vifion fram the Lord, there was none but Ferémiah left in the land, and none but Exekiel and Daniel in the captivity; prophets were very ‘fare at this’ time,: as. they ‘were afterwards; for-we hear of no more after the captivity, till the coming of the Meffiah, but Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi;

if. 10. The detsut the daughter of Zion fit on it the-gate on thrones’ of, judgm sae and, pafled fentence in’ caufes tried bebons the 5 Or were wont Moons Jf ‘ t.

fo that there was very ittle.open vifion; | the wot: ‘of the Lord was precious ordcarce; there.

to. give adyice and: counfel, and.wete-tegarded as oracles, now fit on the ground,,and,,dumb, as mourners; fee Fob ii. 13: they bave aft up duft. upon their heads on. their white hairs. and grey. locks,. which befpoke wifdom, and. made them grave. and venerable: they have girded themselves with Jackcloth, after the manner Of mourners; who, ufed to be clothed in fcarlet and rich apparel, in, robes fuitable to their officé: as. civil: magiftrates:

the virgins of Ferufalem bang down their beads to. the ground; thro’ fhame and forrow; who ufed to look brifk and gay, and walk with ftretched-out necks, and carried their heads high, but now low enough, Aben Ezra interprets it of the hair of their heads,

‘which. ufed to be tied up, but now loofed. and difhevelled, and hung down: as it were. to ‘the ground,

¥. 11. Mine eyes do fail with tears, &c.] According to Aben Ezra, every one of the elders be-: fore-mentioned faid this;;. but rather they are, the words of the prophet Feremiah, who had wept his eyes dry, or rather blind, on account of the calamities of his.people; though he himfelf obtained liberty and enlargement by means. thereof: my bowels are troubled all his inward: parts were di- {trefled: my liver is poured upon the earth; his gallbladder, which lay at the bottom. of his liver, broke, and he caft it up, and poured ir on the earth; fee Fob xvi. 13. and all this was for the deftruction of the daughter of my people; or, the breach of them'; their civil and church-ftate, being deftroyed and broke to fhivers; and for the ruin of the feveral families of them: particularly becaufe the children and fucklings fwoon in the fireets of the city; thro’ famine, for want. of bread, with thofe that could eat it; and for want of the milk of their mothers and nurfes, who being ftarved themfelves could not give it; and hence the. poor infants fainted and fwooned away; which was a dilmal fight and heart-melting to the prophet. - ¥an12. They fay to “their mothers, where is corn and wine? &c.] Not the fucklings, who could not fpeak, nor were ufed to corn and wine, bur the children more grown;, both are before fpoken of, but thefe are meant, even the young men of J//- rael, as the Targum; ‘and fuch as had been broughe up in the.beft manner, had been ufed to wine,

|and not water, and therefore afk for thar as well ‘as corn; both take in all the neceffaries of life;

and which they afk of their mothers, who had been ufed to feed them, and were moft tender of them; but now not feeing and having their ufual provifions, and_not knowing what was the reafon of it, enquire after them, | being prefled with hunger: when ‘hey fwooned as the wounded in. the pf reels of the city, having no food given them, though they -afked for it time after time, they fainted away, and died a lingring death; as wounded perfons do, who are not killed at once, which: is the more diftres. fing: when their foul was poured, out into their mox thers be ofom; meaning, not the defires of their fouls for food, cxpretied in moving and melting Janguage, as they fat in their mothers laps, and lay in their bofoms; which muft bepiercing unto

‘them, if no more-was defigned:; bur their fouls or lives themfelves, which they g gave up through famine; as the Targum; pet uo in their mothers arms,

¥.13. What thing frall I take to ents for thee?

&e. 4 What rN cat be made ule of? what proof or evidence can be given? what witneffes can be called to convince thee, and make it a clear cafe to thee, that ever any people or nation was in fuch diftrefs and calamity, what with fword, famine, peftilence and captivity, as thou art? ‘what thing foall I liken thee to, O daughter of Ferufalem? what kingdom or nation ever fuffered the like? no example can be given, no inftance that comes up to it; not the Agyptians, when the ten plagues were inflicted on them; not the Canaanites, when conquered and drove out by Fofbua; not the Philiftines, Moabites, Edomites and Syrians, when fubdued by Devid, or any other people: what fhall T equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for this is one way that friends comfort the’ afflicted, by telling them that fuch an one’s cafe was as bad, and worfe than theirs; and therefore bid them be of good heart; bear their affliction patiently; ere long it will be over; but nothing of this kind could be faid here; no, nor any hope given it would. be otherwife,; they could not fay their cafe was like others, or that it was not defperate: for thy breach is great like the fea; as Jarge and as wide as that: Zion’s troubles were a fea of trouble; her afflictions as numerous and as boifterous as the waves of the fea; and as falt, as difagreeable, and as intolerable as the waters of it: or her breach was. great, like the breach of the f:a;’when it overflows its banks, or breaks thro’ its bounds, there is no ftopping it, but it grows wider and wider: who can heal thee? it was not in the power of man, in her own power, or of her allies, to recover her out of the hands of the enemy; to reftore her civil, or church-ftate; her wound was incurable; none but God could be her phyfician. The Targum is, ‘* for thy breach is “< reat as the greatnefs of the breach of the waves “«¢ of the fea in the time of its tempeft; and who *¢ js the phyfician that can heal thee of thy in- ‘© firmity?”

¥.14. Thy prophets have feen vain and feolifh things for thee, &c.] Not the prophets of the Lord; but falfe prophets, as the Targum; which were of the peoples chufing, and were acceptable to them; prophets after their own hearts, becaufe they prophefied {mooth things, fuch as they liked; tho’ in the iffue they proved vain and fooli h, idle ftories, impertinent talk, the fictions of their own brains; and yet they pretended to have vifions of them from the Lord; as that within two years, Seconich, and all the veffels of the temple carried away by the king of Babylon, fhould be returned; and that he would not come againft Yeru/alem, nor fhould it be delivered into his hands; fee ‘Yer. xxviii. 2,3,4: and they have not difcovered thine iniquity, they did not tell them of their fins; they took no pains to conyince them of them, but connived at them; inftead of reproving them for them, they foothed them in them; they did not remove the covering that was over their iniquity ", as it might be rendered; which they might eafily have done, and laid their fins to open view; whereby they might have been afhamed of them, and brought to repentance for them. The Targum is, ‘ neither «¢ have they manifefted the punifhment that fhould <* come upon thee for thy fins;” but, on the contrary, fold them it fhould not come upon them; had they dealt faithfully with them, by fhewing them their tranfgreffions, and the confequences of

LAMENTATIONS Chili %. 14-16)

them, they might have been a means of preventing their ruin: and as it here follows, to turn away thy captivity; either to turn them from their backflidings and wandrings about, as Yarchi; or to turn them by repentance, as the Largum x or to prevent their going into captivity: du bave fen for thee falfe burdens, and caufes of banifoment, that is, falfe prophecies againft Babylon, and ‘ine i, our of the ews; prophecies, even thofe that are tr being often called burdens, as the burden of 1 and the burden of Damafcus, &c. and the rath this name is here given to thofe falfe prophecies, becaufe the prophecies of feremiah were reproache by them with it, Yer. xxiii. 33. &c. and becaufe thefe proved in the iflue burdenfome, fad and forrowful ones, tho’ they onc¢ tickled and pleafed; and were the cau/e of the peoples going into exile and captivity, they liftening to them: or they were depulfiens, or expul/ions”, drivings, that drove them from the right way; from God and his worfhip; from his word and prephets; and, at laft, the means of driving them out of their own land; of impelling them to fin, and fo of expelling them from their own country. The Zargum renders it, ** words ‘sof ‘error. aid ¥.15. All that pafs by, clap their hands at thee, &c.] Travellers that paffed by, and faw Jeru- Jalem in ruins, clapped their hands at it, by way of rejoicing, as well pleafed at the fight. This muft be underftood, not of the inhabitants of the land, but of ftrangers, who had no good will to it; tho’ they feem to be diftinguifhed from their implacable enemies in the next verfe: they ifs and wag their bead at the daughter of Ferufalem; by way of fcorn and derifion; hereby expreffing their contempt of her, and the pleafure and fatisfa@tion they took in feeing her in this condition: /aying, is this the city that men call the, perfettion of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? a complete city, a moft beautiful one, for its fituation; for its fortifications by nature and art; for its fpacious buildings, palaces and towers; and efpecially for the magnificent temple in it, and the refidence of the God of heaven there, and that pompous worfhip of him there performed; on account of all which, and the abundant bleffings of goodnefs beftowed upon the inhabitants, they had reafon to rejoice more than all the men of the world befides; as well as they contributed many ways to the good and happinefs of all nations; this is what had been faid by themfelyes, Pf. xviii. 2. and 1.2, and had even been owned by others; by the forefathers of thofe very perfons that now infult over it. So the Targum, ** is ‘* this the city which our fathers that were of old “« faid,” &c. nor do they by thefe words deny,. but rather own, that it had been what was faid of it; but now the cafe was otherwife; inftead of being a perfect beauty, it was a perfect heap of rubbifh; inftead of being the joy of the whole earth, it was the offscouring of all things, ¥. 16, All thine enemies ie opened ‘Beir mouth againft thee, &c.] Or widened * them; hed them out as far as they could, to reproach, blaf abhorrence of the ews, and the deli in their ruin and deftruction: they fay, we fi

' Ww & ad depulfionem {peftantium, Junius s Tremellire Hea fwatlowed her up; all her wealth and riches were _ come into their hands, and were all their own; as well as they thought thefe were all their own doings, owing to their wifdom and {kill, courage and ftrength; not feeing and knowing the hand of God in all this. Thefe‘words feem to be the words of the Chaldeans particularly: certainly this is the day that we have looked for; we have found, we have feen it; this-day of Ferufalem’s deflruction, which they had long looked for, and earneftly defired; and now it was come; and they had what they fo much wifhed for; and exprefs it with the utmoft pleafure. In this verfe the order of the alphabet is not obferved; the letter 5 Pe being fet before the letter ¥ diz, which fhould be firft, according to the conftant order of the alphabet; and which was fo before the times of Feremiab, even in David’s time, as. appears: by the cxixth P/a/m, and others. Grotius thinks it is after the manner of the Chaldeans; but the order of the Hebrew and Chaldee alphabets is the fame. Dr. Lighifoot thinks ’, the prophet by this charge hints at the feventy years that Feru/alem fhould be defolate, which were now begun; the letter 3 4” in numbers denoting feventy. So Mr. Bedford =, who obferves, that the tran{pofition of thefe letters feems to fhew the confufion. in which the prophet was, when he confidered that this captivity fhould laft feventy years. archi * {ays, one is put before the other, because they fpoke with their mouths, what they faw not with their eyes; Pe Signifying the mouth, and din ‘an eye. ¥.17. Lhe Lord hath done that which be had devifed, &c.] It was not fo much the Chaldeans that did it, tho” they afcribed it to themfelves; but it was the Lord’s doing, and what he had deliberately thought of, purpofed and defigned within himfelf; all whofe purpofes and devices certainly come to pafs: be bath fulfilled his word that he bad commanded in the days of old; not only by the mouth of Feremiah years ago; or in the times of Jaiah long before him; but even in the days of Moj/es; fee Lev. xxvi. 17, Gc. Deut. xxviii. 20, &c. So the Targum, ‘* which he commanded to Mo/es the *¢ prophet from ancient days, that if the children s¢ of Jacl would not keep the commands of the “¢ Lora, he would take vengeance on them:” se hath thrown down, and hath not pitied; he hath thrown down, or caufed to be thrown down, without any pity, the walls of Feru/alem; and not only the houfes and palaces in it, but alfo his own houfe the temple: e hath caufed thine enemy to rejoice over thee, giving them victory, and putting all into their hands; on which they infulted them, and gloried over them: he hath fet up the horn of thine adverfaries; increafed their ftrength and power, their kingdom and authority; and which {welled their pride, and made them more haughty and infolent. he ¥.18: Their heart cried unto the Lord, &c.| Either the heart of their enemies, as Aben Ezra, which cried againft the Lord, and blafphemed him, or rather the heart of the ews in their diftrefs, when they faw the walls of the city breaking down, they cried unto the Lord for help and protection, whether fincerely or no; no doubt fome did; and all were defirous of prefervation: O wall of the tive, which was’ now without houfes and inhabitants, only a broken wall ftanding, fome remains and ruins of that; which is mentioned to excite their forrow and lamentation: /et tears run down like a river day and might; inceffantly, for the de- {truction and defolation made: give thy/elf iio reff; or intermiffion; but weep continually: /et not the apple of thine eye ceafe; from pouring out tears; or from weeping, as the Targum; or, let it not be filent », or afleep; but be open and employed in

-beholding the miferies of the nation, and in de+

¥.19. Arife, cry out in the night, &c.] That is, O daughter of Zion, or congregation of SJ/rael, as the Targum, who are addrefled and called upon by the prophet to arife from their beds, and fhake oif their fleep, and floth, and ftupidity, and cry to God in the night-feafon’; and’ be earneft and importunate with him for help and affiftance. Aben Ezra rightly obferves, that the word ufed fignifies a lifting up of the voice both in finging and in lamentation; here it is ufed in the latter fenfe; and denotes great vehemiency and earneftnefs in crying unto God, arifing from deep diftrefs and forrow, which prevents fleep: in the beginning of the watches, either at the firft of them; fo Broughton renders it, at the firft watch; which begun at the time of going to bed: or at the beginning of each of theth; for with the ancient Fews there were three of them) in after-times four: or in the beginning of the morning-watch, as the Targum, very early in the morning, before fun-rifing; as they are called upon to pray late at night, fo betimes in the morning: pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord, ufe the utmoft freedom with him $ tell him in the fulleft manner thy whole cafe, all thy complaints; unbofom thyfelf to him; kee nothing from him; fpeak out freely all thy foul needs; do all this publickly, and in the moft af> fe€tionate way and manner, thy foul melted in floods of tears, under a fenfe of fin, and preffing evils for it. The Targum is, ‘* pour out as water ** the perverfenefs of thine heart, and return by ‘* repentance, and pray in the houfe of the con- ‘* gregation (or fynagogue) before the face of the “¢ Lord:” lift up thine hands towards him, in prayer, as the Targum adds; for this is a prayergefture, as in ch. ili. 41. 1 Tim. ii. 8: for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every ftreet; pray for them, that they might have food and fuftenance, to preferve them alive; who, for want of it, were ready to fwoon and die in the public ftreets; in the top of them, where they met, and where was the greateft concourfe of people, and yet none able to relieve y.20. Behold, O Lord, and confider to whom thou haft done this, &c.] On whom thou haft brought thefe calamities of famine and sword; not upon thine enemies, but upon thine own people, that are called by thy name, and upon theirs, their young ones, who had not finned as their fathers had: here the church does not charge God with any injuftice, or complain of hard ufage; only humbly intreats he would look upon her in her mifery, with an eye of pity and compaffion; and confider her forrowful condition; and remember daughter of Zion, this feems to be an addrefs of ' the prophet to the people of Ferufalem carried capthe relation fhe ftood in to him; and fo fubmits her cafe, and leaves it with him.

feem to be fuggefted to the church by the prophet, as what-might be proper’ for hér to ufe, when praying’ for the life of her young children, and might be introduced, by fupplying the word /aying before bebold, O Lord, 8c. foall the women eat their fruit; their children, the fruit of their womb, as the Targum, their new-born babes, that’ hung at their breafts, and were carried in their arms; it feems they did, as was threatened they fhould, Lev: xxvi. 29, Deut. xxviii. 57. and fo they did at the fiege of Samaria, and at the fiege of Ferufalem, both by the Chaldeans, and the Romzans: and thildren of a {pan long? or of an hand’s breadth; the breadth of the palms of the hand, denoting very little ones: or, children handled, or fwaddled with the hands‘, of their parents, who are ufed to ftroke the limbs of their babes, to bring them to, and keep them in right form and fhape, and fwaddle them with fwaddling bands in a proper manner; fee ¥. 22. and fo the Targum, “ defirable “¢ children, who are wrapped in fine linen.” archi* interprets it, of Doeg ben Fofeph, whom his mother flew, and ate: fall the prie/t and the propoet be flcin in the fanfuary of the Lord? as very probably fome were, who fled thither for fafety when the city-was broken up; but were not {pared by the mercilefs Chaldeans, who had no regard to their office and charaéter; nor is ‘it any wonder they fhould not, when the Yews themfelves flew Zechariah 2 prieft and prophet, between the porch and the altar; of whom the Targum here makes mention;. and “to whom ‘archi applies thefe words.

y. 2a. The young and the old lie on the ground in the ftrects, €cc.] Young’ men and old men, virgins.and aged women; thefe promifcuoufly lay on the ground in the public ftreets, fainting and dying for want of food;: or Jay killed there’ by the fword ofthe enemy; the Chaldeans fparing neither age nor fex.: The Targum interprets it:of their fleeping on the ground, ‘* young men flept on the ground «¢ in the villages, and old men who ufed to lie on «« pillows of fine wool, and on beds of ivory;” but the former fenfe is confirmed by what follows: