Exposition of the Whole Bible

proveth not; as he does not do thefe things himfelf, he don’t approve of them in others; that they, fhould ufe captives cruelly, trample upc like mire in the ftreets, or as the d feet; particularly regard may be had to |: in Babylon, ufed ill.by thofe that detained them 5: - fer tho’ it was by the will of God they were carried captive, yet the Chaldeans exceeded due bounds in their ufage of them, and added affliction to their affiction, which the Lord approved not of, but.

¥. 35. Io turn afide the right of a man, &c.J The Zargum is, of a poor man; not to do him juftice in a court of judicature; to cauie judgment to incline to the wrong fide; to give the caufe againft a man, to give a wrong fentence; this is difapproved of by the Lord, and forbidden by him: before the face of the moft high; either before the moft high God, he being prefent and among the gods, the judges, when they pafs fentence; and yet, to pafs a wrong one in his prefence, without any regard to him, or fear of him, muft be provoking to him: or, defore a fuperior*, as fome render it; before a judge that fits upon the bench; endeavouring by unjuft charges, wrong pleas, and falfe witnefles, to deprive a man of his right; fee Eccl. v. 8.

y. 36. To fubvert.a man in his caufe, &e.] A poor man, as the Zargum, which aggravates it; as by courfes and methods taken in an open court, fo by fecret underhand-ways, to get the caufe from him, and injure him in his property: the Lord approveth not; or, feeth not *; which fome under- {tand as fpoken by wicked men, who do the above things, and flatter themfelves that God fees not, and takes no notice of them, Ezek. ix. 9. and others read it interrogatively, doth mot the Lord fee*? he does; he fees all the actions of men, nothing is hid from him; but he fees not with approbation; he don’t look upon fuch things with delight and pleafure, but with abhorrence, Had. i. 13. The Targum is, *¢ is it poffible that it fhould «* not be revealed before the Lord?”

¥. 37. Who is be that faith, and tt cometh to pafs? &c.] Or, whe that /ays this thall be, and it cometh to pafs? or, who is be that faith this thalk come to pa/s‘? this, or that, or the other thing, he wills and defires, and his heart is fet upon: when the Lord commandeth it not? has net willed and decreed it, but determined the contrary; for nothing efcapes his knowledge and foreknowledge; or can refift his will; or controul his power; or fruftrate his councils, and counter-work his defigns; whatever f{chemes men form to get riches, obtain honour, do mifchief to others, prolong life to themfelves, and, perpetuate their names to po- {terity, being contrary to the purpofe of God, never fucceed; whenever they do fucceed in any of. the above inftances, it is becaufe God has commanded, or he has determined, it fhould be fo; as im the of

“* world; but becaufe they: have done: what ** not commanded from the mouth of the Lor

¥. 38. Out, of the mouth of the I oft Hi b ceed not evil and good?) Certai i 10 hy.; nected with the laft claufe of y. 36: the Lord apcome to pals, both one and the,ather, as God has:

» Non videret?- Pifeator.. ai Pe pronounced, and his will determined; even. evils, as it is in the plural number; not the evil of fin, or of fault; this comes not out. of the mouth of God, but is forbidden and condemned by him; much lefs is he the author of it, or.tempter to it; indeed it is not without his knowledge, nor in fome fenfe without his will; not with his will of approbation, but by his permiflive will, which he fuffers to be, and over-rules for good; but evils here defign the judgments of God, or punifhment inflicted on finners, and chaftifement on his own people; the evil of affliction, or adverfe difpenfations of providence, If. xlv. 7. Amos iii. 6. Mic. vi. g. they are all by his appointment; -he has faid or determined what fhall be the kind and nature of them.; the meafure, how far they fhall go; and the duration, how long they fhall laft; and the end and ufe of them; fee Fodii. 10. and v. 6, 7. and xxiii. 14. and fo all good comes from God, who is goodnefs itfelf; all created good, as every creature of God is good; every good thing in provilence; all temporal good things; as to have a being; to be preferved in it; to have an habitation to dwell in; to have food and raiment, health and long life; thefe are all by the appointment of

God, and according to the determination of his will: all fpiritual good things are purpofed, promifed and prepared by him in. council and covenant; the great good of all, falvation by Chrift; this is what God has appointed his Son for, and his people to, and fixed the time of it, and all things relating to it; the effectual calling of the redeemed ones is according to his purpofe and grace; the perions, thing itfelf, time, place and means; alfo eternal glory and happinefs, which is the kingdom prepared, the crown laid up, and inheritance referved in heaven, according to the purpofe of

God; all good things, in time and eternity, are as God has pronounced them.

¥. 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain? &c.] Or murmur, or fret and vex, or bemoan himielf; all which the word * may fignify; as the prophet had done in his own perfon; or as _perjonating the church, from y¥. 1. to ¥. 19. and here checks himfelf for it; and efpecially fince the mercies and compaffions of God never fail, and are daily renewed, and the Lord himfelf is the portion of his people, ¥. 22, 23, 24. and feeing he is good to them that feek him, and it is good to wait quietly for the falvation of God,. and to bear the yoke patiently, ¥. 25,26, 27. and becaufe of the unwillingnels of God to afflict men, and his fympathy and compafiion towards them under affliction, ¥. 32, 33. and efpecially fince all is from the fovereignty of God, who does according to his will; and from whom all good and evil come, ¥. 37, 38. he is not to be complained of, or againit, for any thing he does; or to be murmured at; nor fhould men vex and fret themfelves at their own adverfity, or at the profperity of others; or bemoan themfelves, as if no cafe was like theirs, or fo bad. It does not become a man, a reafonable creature; a man grown up, to behave in this manner; fuch fhould quit.themfelves like men, and condué as fuch; a man that God is fo mindful of, and cares for, and vifits every moment, and follows with his goodnefs continually; a maa, finful man, that has rendered himfelf unworthy. of the leaft favour; and yet fuch is the loving-kindnefs, favour and good-will of God to man, that-he has provided his own Son to be his Saviour; and therefore man, of all God’s creatures, has no reafon to complain of him; and is a ving man too, ina natural fenfe; is upheld in life by the Lord, and has the common mercies of life; is in health, or however in the land of the living; out of hell, where he deferves to be; and therefore fhould praife, and not complain, J/ xxxviii. 19. efpecially if he is a living man, in a fpiritual fenfe; has a principle of {piricual life implanted in him; Chrift lives in him, and his life is hid with him in God, and has a right and title to eternal life: @ man for the punithment of bis fins? the word punifhment is not in the text; but admitting the fupplement; if a man is a wicked man; and fo the Zargum interprets it; and is punifhed for his fins, no. injuftice is done him; he has no reafon to complain; and efpecially of his punifhment in this world, which is greatly lefs than his fins deferve, Ezra ix. 13. and if he is a good man, and is chaftifed «for his fins, he ought not to complain for the chaflifement of them; fince it is the chaftifement of a father, is in love, and for his good: but the words may be rendered literally, @ man for, or of his fins *; and be confidered as a diftinét claufe, and-as an anfwer to the former, fo Farchi; if a man will complain, let him complain of his fins; of the corruptions of his heart; of the body of fin and death he carries about with him; of his daily iniquities; let him mourn over them, and bemoan himfelf for them; and if he does this in an evangelic manner, he is happy; for he fhall be comforted.

¥. 40. Let us fearch and try cur ways, &e.] Inftead of murmuring and complaining, let us fearch for fomething that mayfupport and comfort, teach and inftruét under afflictive providences; let us fearch into the love of God, which, ‘tho’ it cannot be fully fearched out, it will be found to be from everlafting to everlafting; and that all affictions {pring from it; and that it continues’ notwithftanding them:, let us fearch into the covenant of grace, in which provifion is made for afilictions in cafe of difobedience, and. for fupports under them: let us: fearch the fcriptures, whicli are written for our comfort; and it is much if we don’t find fome in the inftances, examples and experiences of other faints therein recorded: let us {earch after a greater degree of the knowledge of Chrift, and of his grace; fo fhall we be more conformable to his fufferings.and death,’ and patient under our troubles: let us fearch into our own hearts, and examine ourfelves, whether we have true repentance for fin, ‘true faith in Chrift; and whether he is in us, or no5 and we have a part in him, which will make us eafy in every ftate: let us fearch into the prefent difpenfation, in order to find out the caufe of it, which is fin; and the end of it, which God has in it for our good: let us fearch our ways, and try them, by the word of God, the ftandard of faith and practice; and fee what agreement there is between them: let us try our thoughts, words and actions by the law of God, which is holy, fpiritual, juft and good and we fhall fee how abundantly fhort they come of it;

and let us try our ways, and compare them with the ways of God, which he has prefcribed in his word 5

' SND Py 7) unufquifque propter fua peccata guiritatur, Pifcator; vel contra fua peccata and we fhall find, that the one are holy, the other unholy; the one plain, the other crooked; the one dark, the other light; the one pleafant, and peace is in them, the other not; the one lead to life, the other to death; fee J: lv. 7, 8,9: and turn again to the Lord; by repentance, as the Targum adds; let us turn out of our finful ways, upon a fearch and examination of them; and turn to the Lord, his ways and worfhip, from whom we thave departed, and againft whom we have finned; acknowledging our iniquities, who receives gracioufly, is ready to forgive, and does abundantly pardon.

y. 41. Let us lift up our heart with our bands, &c.] Lifting up of the hands is a prayer-gefture, and is put for prayer itfelf; fee P/. cxli.2. 1 Yim. ii. 8. but the heart muft go along with it, or it is of no avail; the foul mutt be lifted up to God; there muft be an afcending of that unto him, in earneft defires after him; in affection and love to him; in faith and dependance on him; and in hope and expectation of good things from him, P/. xxv. 1. this is the way in which men return to God, even by prayer and fupplication. The Zargum is, * let us lift up our hearts, and caft away ‘* rapine and prey out of our hands;” and Farchi and Abendana mention a Midra/b, that paraphrafes it, ‘* let us lift up our hearts in truth to God, as “© a man wathes his hands in purity, and catfts ‘© away all filthinefs from them;” fee Heb. x. 22: unto God in the heavens; who has made them, and dwells in them; and therefore prayer mutt be directed to him, as being there; fo our Lord taught his difciples to pray, Mart. vi. 9. and which is a very great encouragement to faith in prayer; when it is confidered that God is the maker and poffeffor of heaven and earth; and that our help is in, and expected from him, who made all thefe; and befides the faints have an high-prieft, an advocate with the Father there, to. plead their caufe for them; and many great and good things are there laid up for them.

¥. 42. We have tranfgreffed, and have rebelled, &c.] Here begins the prayer, the fenfe of which is directed to, tho’ the words are not dictated; and it begins with confeffion of fin, as prayer fhould, efpecially when in fuch circumftances as the people of the Yews now were; and with confeffion of it, as a tran{greffion of the law of God; and as rebellion againft him, as every fin is, a breach of his law, a contempt of his authority, and a trampling under foot his legiflative power, and an act of hoftility againft him; and fo downright rebellion; every fin being an overt-act of that kind, and which is aggravated by the favours before acknowledged to have been received: thou hajft not pardoned; as they apprehended; they had not the difcovery and application of pardoning grace and mercy; otherwife pardon of fin with God is patt, and includes all fin prefent and future, as well as paft; but temporal. afflictions being upon them, they concluded their fins were not pardoned;_ pardon of fin in fcripture often fignifying the removal of fuch afflictions.

¥.43. Thou haft covered with anger, &c.| Either himfelf; not as a tender father, that cannot bear to fee the affliction of -a child; this does not. fuit with anger; but rather as one greatly difpleafed, in whofe face anger appears, being covered with it; or who covers his face with it, that he may not be feen, withdrawing his gracious prefence; or

haft put anger as a wall between thee and us, as Jarchi;, fo that there was no coming nigh to him: or elfe it means covering his people with it; fo the Targum, ‘* thou haft covered us with anger;” denoting the largenefs and abundance of afflictions upon them; they were as it were covered with them, as tokens of the divine difpleafure; one wave and billow after another paffing over them. SanéHus thinks the allufion is to the covering of the faces of condemned malefactors, as a token of — their being guilty: and perfecuted us; the Targum adds, in captivity; that is, purfued and followed us with frefh inftances of anger and refentment; to have men to be perfecutors is bad, but to have God to be a perfecutor is dreadful: thou haft flain, thou bat not pitied, had fufiered them to be flain by the fword of the enemy, and had fhewn ne compaffion to them; fee the note on ch, ii. 21. here, and in fome following verfes, the prophet, or the people he perfonates, are got to cemplaining again, tho’ before he had checked himfelf for it; fo hard it is under afflictions to put in practice what fhould be done by ourfelves and others.

¥. 44. Thou haft covered thyfelf with a cloud, 8cc.] With wrath and anger, as a cloud; he wrapped up himfelf in thick darknefs, fo as not to be feen or come at: fin, when it appears not pardoned, is as a cloud between God and his people; and this caufes him to fhew his anger and difpleafure; which is the cloud about him, or the hiding of his face. The Targum is, * thou haft covered the heavens’ ‘* with the clouds of thy glory:” that our prayer foould not pafs thre’; in fuch circumftances God feems to his people to be inexorable; and not a God hearing and anfwering prayer, as he is; as if there was no accefs unto him, or audience to be had of him, or acceptance of perfons and prayers with him; whereas the throne of grace is always open and acceffible: and there is a new and living way for believers always to approach unto God in; he is on a mercy-feat ready to receive and hear their prayers.

¥.45. Thou baft made us as the off-[couring and refuse in the midft of the people.) Had given them up into the hands of the Gentiles, the Chaldeans, to be treated as the dirt of the ftreets, as the {weepings of a houfe; or the drofs of metal; or any thing that is vile, mean and contemptible. The apoftle feems to have fome reference to this paffage; and his words may be an illuftration of it, « Cor. iv. 13.

¥. 46. All our enemies have opened their mouths againft us.| Like lions and other beafts of prey, to devour us; or in way of fcorn and derifion; pouring out their reproaches upon us, and fcoffs at us, for our religion, and the worfhip of God, and on account of prefent miféries and diftreffes; fee ch. ii. 16. The Targum adds, ‘* to decree againft ‘© us evil decrees.”

¥. 47. Fear and a fuare is come upon us, 8c.) Or, fear and a pit; the fear of falling into the pit of ruin and deftruction, on the brink of which they faw themfelves; or fear feized us, and caufed us to flee; and a fnare or pit was prepared for us to fall into; fo that there was no efcaping hence: defolation and deftruétion, defolation or devaftation of their land; and deftruction of their city and temple; and of multitudes of them by the fword, famine and peftilence; and the reft carried into captivity, excepting a few left defolare in the

¥. 48. Mine eye runneth down with rivers of wa- ‘ver, &c.] Denoting the greatnefs of his grief and trouble at the afflictions of his people, and the vaft profufion of tears on that account. Here the prophet fpeaks in his own perfon, exprefling the anguifh of his foul he felt, and the floods of tears he fhed: for the deftruétion of the daughter of my people; for thofe that were flain of them, or carried captive; fee Fer. ix. 1. Pf cxix. 136. The Targum is, ‘* for the deftruction of the congrega- ** tion of my people.”

¥. 49. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceafeth not, &c.] From weeping, as the Zargum; the prophet was continually weeping; the diftrefies of his people were always uppermoft in his mind; and which {fo affected him, that it drew tears from his eyes, which conftantly trickled. down his cheeks: without any intermiffion,; or, without intermiffions ® there were no {tops or paufes in his grief, and in the expreffions of it: or it may be rendered, decauje there were no intermiffions °; that is, of the miferies of his people; fo Ferchi, “* becaufe there ** were no changes and paffing away;” that -is, of evils; and to the fame purpofe the Targum, “< becaufe there is none that intermits my diftrefs, *¢ and {peaks comforts to me.”

¥. 50: Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.| Difperfes and diffipates the cloud that was about him; fhines forth and manifefts himfelf, and looks favourably upon his people, and delivers them out of their troubles: this the prophet was in hope of, and was waiting for; but till it came to pafs, could have no reft and comfort. The Targum is, ‘* till he look and behold “< my injury;” as if he had regard to his own perfonal injury done him; but the former fenfe is bett.

¥. 51. Mine eye affecteth mine heart, &c.| Seeing the defolation of his country; the ruins of the city and temple of Feru/alem; and the multitudes of thofe that were flain, and carried captive; and the diftrefles the reft were in; this affected his heart, and filled it with grief; as his heart alfo affected his eyes, and caufed them to run down in rivers of water, as before exprefled; or, as the Targum, ‘© the weeping of mine eyes is the occafion of hurt ** to my foul or life;” his exceffive weeping endangered his life: decaufe of all the daughters of my city; not Anathoth his native place, but Ferufalem; fo the Targum, ‘* of Ferufalem my city.” The meaning is, that his heart was affected at feeing the ruin of the inhabitants of Ferufalem; or of the towns and cities round about it, which that was the metropolis of. Some, as Farchi, render it, more than all the daughters of my city”; his heart was more affected with thofe calamities, than thofe of the moft tender fex, even than any, or all of

¥.52. Mine enemies chafed me fore like a bird, &c.} That is weak and helplefs, fearful and timorous; that flees from place to place when purfued; fo it was with the prophet, or rather with the people of the Fews he perfonates; for here and in the following verfes he fpeaks not only of himfelf, but of them; who, when they fled out of the city, were chafed and purfued by the Cha/- deans like a bird, till they were taken; fee Fer. lit. 7, 8, 9: without caufe,; which may be con-

*tatis mew; fo fome in Vatablus; and Jarchi.

nected with the word enemies, fo the Targum; who were fo without caufe; they had done them no injury, to make them their enemies; and without fee purfued and chafed them in the manner they id.

¥. 53. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, &c.] Farchi interprets it, * they bound me in ‘* the prifon.” eremiah was both in a prifon, and in a dungeon, where he was deprived of the fociety of men, as if he had been dead; and he was in danger of lofing his life; but whether any refpect is had to it here, is not certain: it feems rather to refpect the people of the Fews in captivity, who were deprived of their rights and liberties, and of the comforts of life; and were like dead men in their graves, to whom they are compared, Ezek. XXXvil. 11. but fince Feremiah was not dead, nor did he die in the dungeon, Farchi’s fenfe feems bett, and agrees with what follows; and is confirmed by the verfion of others, who render it, they /hut up my life in the dungeon *; or himfelf there: and caft a ftone upon me; to fee if he was dead, or to prevent him from rifing. The allufion is to the putting of ftones at the mouths of dens and dungeons, caves and graves, to keep in thofe there

| put: or they ftoned me, as the Targum, that is, | they endeavoured to do it: or the Fews in captivity were like perfons ftoned to death, or like dead men covered with an heap of ftones; for that eremiah was ftoned to death there is no reafon to believe.

¥. 54. Waters flowed over mine head, &c.| As in a pit or dungeon, where there is not only mire and clay, but much water, into which perfons being put, fink and are covered therewith; fee Pf. \xix.1,2. this is to be underftood metaphorically, of the waters of afflictions, which overflowed and overwhelmed the people of the Jews. Farchi interprets it, of the nations of the world, as much people are often compared to waters; and here the Chaldeans may be particularly intended, whofe army overflowed the land of Yudea, and, like a mighty torrent, carried away the people, and wealth of it} and brought them into troubles, which were like deep waters: then J faid, I am cut off; whilft the waters are only up to a man’s loins, he does not apprehend himfelf in danger; but there is hope of his wading thro’, and getting out; but when they rife above his head, his hopes are gone;_ he reckons it all over with him, and that he is juft perifhing, and his life in the utmoft danger; there being fcarce any probability or poffibility of faving him; fo ir was with thefe people.

¥. 55. I called upon thy name, O Lord, &c.|] As in times paft, fo in the prefent diftrefs; when all hope was gone, and all help failed, ftill there was a God to go to, and call upon: out of the low dungeon; or, dungeon of lowneffes', the loweft dungeon, the deepeft diftrefs, a man or people could be ing yet then and there it is not too late to call upon the Lord; and there may be hope of deliverance out of fuch an eftate by him. yy. 56. Thou haft heard my voice, &c.] Either in times paft, when he cried unto him, and was delivered; and this was an encouragement to call upon him again in fuch extremity, who had fhewn himfelf to be a God hearing and ne prayer; hence it follows: Aide not thine ear at my breathing, at fine intervallis, Cocceius. © Eo quod nulle funt Pasyy AID b>» fupra cumétas filias civi-

© PYSTWI VAN « cilterna infi- at my cry; turn not a deaf ear to me, who haft been wont to hear me heretofore; ftop not thine ear at my cry now, at my prayer, which he calls his dreathing; prayer is the breath of a foul regenerated by the Spirit, and is a fign and evidence of life, when it is fpiritual, in it a foul pants after God, and communion with him, and falvation by him. Some render it, at my ga/ping *; or panting, for breath; juft ready to expire, unlefs immediate fuccour is given: or elfe the whole of this refers to the prefent time, when the Lord heard and anfwered, not only the firft claufe, but this alfo; which may be rendered, not by way of petition, but affirmation, thou didjt not hide thine ear at my breathing, at my cry‘; and this agrees both with what goes before, and with what is exprefled in the next verfe.. ¥. 57. Thou dreweft near in the day that I called upon thee, &c.} When perfons draw nigh to God in a way of duty, and particularly in this of prayer, and calling on his name; he draws nigh to them in a way of grace and mercy, and manifefts himfelf to them, and works falvation for them. The Targum is, *‘ thou didft caufe an angel to draw ‘* near to deliver me in the day that I prayed unto * thee:” thou faidf, fear not; any of thine enemies; or that thou fhouldeft not be delivered from them; fee Jf xli. 10. ¥. 58. O Lord, thou haft pleaded the caufe of my foul, &c.] Or, caufes of my foul, or life"; fach as concerned his foul and life; not one only, but many of them’; and this refpects not Yeremiah only, and the Lord’s pleading his caufe againft Zedekiab and his nobles; but the people of the Jews in former times, when in Egypt, and in the times of the judges: thou haft redeemed my life; by delivering out of the pit and dungeon, where it was in danger; and not only him, but the whole body of the people of old out of Egypt, and out of the hands of their enemies, the Phi/i/tines and others. ¥.59..O Lord, thou haft feen my wrong, &c.] Or, my perverfene/s*“; not that he, or they had been guilty of; but the wrong that was done to him and them by their enemies; how perverfe and l-natured they had been to them;, how badly they had ufed them; what injuries they had done them; none of which efcaped the omnifcience of God, to which the appeal is made; and upon this follows a petition: judge thou my caufe; the prefent one; as thou haft pleaded and judged many already, do me juttice, right my wrongs, and fave me from mine enemies; and let it appear to all the world, my caufe is juft, and they are in the wrong. ¥. 60. Thou hajft feen all their vengeance, &c.} The fpirit of revenge in them; their wrath and fury, and how they burn with a defire of doing mifchief; as well as their revengeful. actions, carriage and behaviour: and all their imaginations agdanjt me; their fecret contrivances of mifchief, their plots and fchemes they devife to do hurt unto me. ¥. 61. Thou haft heard their reproach, 8c. |. Their reproachful words uttered againft the prophet and his people, againft God himfelf; their fpiteful Ian~!

guage, their taunts, and fcoffs and jeers; and ai

\ pDoyn by non avertifti, Grotius.

their imagination againft me; thofe he not only faw, as they appeared in their actions; but heard then, as they were expreffed by their words; yea, they were manifeft to him, whilft they only were in filent thought forming in the mind.©)

¥. 62. The lips of thofe that rofe up againgt me,

&c.] This is to be conneéted with the p words; and exprefies the fame thing in different language. ‘The fenfe is, that the Lord heard the words which dropped from the lips of his ene* - mies; their farcafims, flouts and jeers s¢theirdsitter reflections, fevere invectives, and {cornful language: and their device againft me all the days or, their meditation of ill againft me, or, their /peech, "or difcourfe *; which all turned upon the fame topic. Schultens * derives the word from the Aralic word, which fignifies to mock and {feoff, or puriue any one with ironical and fatyrical expreflions, and io may intend here contumelious and reproachful language.: AR SES ¥. 63. Behold, their fitting down, and their rifing up, &c.] All their actions, the whole courfe of their lives; all which fell under the divine omnifcience, Pf. cxxxix. 2. but that is not barely here meant; but that he would take particular notice hereof, and punish for the fame. It may have re- {pect both to their lying down at night, and rifing in the morning; and to their fitting down at meals, and rifing from them; at which times they were always meditating mifchief againft the people of God, or fpeaking opprobrioufly of them; when they made {port of them, as follows: J am ther mufick, or mufick maker *, as Sampfon was to the Philiftines, the matter of their mirth, the fubject of their fong; and the object of their derifion. ¥. 64. Render unto them a recompence, O Lords according to the work of their hands.| The Septum gint and Vulgate Latin verfions render this, and the following verfes, not as petitions, but as pre? phecies of what fhould be; but they feem rather to be exprefled by way of requeft; and’ here, that God would deal with them according to the law oF retaliation, and requite them according to what they had done; that he would do to them, as they had done to the Lord’s people, and others; and this is ordered to be done particularly to the Chaldeans or Babylonians, Fer. \. 15, 290 ° BOF ¥. 65. Give them forrow of heart, 8c.) That which will caufe forrow of heart; fuch judgments and punifhments, as will be grievous to then Some have obferved a likenefs between the word here ufed, and that tranflated mujfick, ¥. 62. and think fome refpect: may be had to.its that whereas the people of God had been matter of mirth and

-mufick to them, God would give them muficky but of another fort; a fong, but a doleful one.

The Septuagint verfion renders it, a covering of the heart; the word * having the fignification of a fhield,» which covers; and may fignify blindnefs, hardnefs, and {tupidity of heart, that they might not fee the evils coming upon them, and how to efcape them. A modern learned interpreter, Chrijtiauus: Benediéius Michaelis, would have “it ‘¢ pared with the drabic word |, Ganan, which fies to be mad, and from whence is Maganak; ‘ow aia

nefs; and fo the fenfe be, give them diftra&tion mind; thy curfe unto them; and what greater curfe is there than to be. given up to judicial blindneis and hardnefs of heart, or to madnefs and diftraction? it may include all the curfes of the law deof; thou perfecute them; and never leave purfuing them, until thou haft made a full end of them, as the effect of vindictive wrath and vengeance: from under the heavens of the Lord, which are made by him, and in which he dwells; let them not nounced againft tranfgreffors.

have the benefit of them, nor fo much as the fight

¥. 66. Perfecute and defiroy them ia anger, &c.] of them; but let them -perifh from under ‘them,

As they have perfecuted the people of God, do! Yer. x. 11.

HE prophet begins this chapter with a complaint of the ill ufage of the dear children of God, and precious fons of Zion, y. 1,2. relates the dreadful effects of the famine during the fiege of Ferufalem, ¥. 3—10. the taking and deftruction of that city he imputes to the wrath of God; and reprefents it as incredible to the kings and inhabitants of the earth, ¥. 11, 12. the cautes of which were the fins of the prophets, priefts and people, ¥. 13—16. expreffes the vain hopes they once had, but now were given up entirely, their king being taken, ¥. 17—-20. and the chapter is concluded with a prophecy of the deftruction of the Edomites, and of the return of the ews from Captivity, ¥. 21, 22.

¥.1. How is-the gold become dim! &c.] Or covered ®; or hid with ruft, duft or dirt; fo that it can fcarcely be difcerned: how is the moft fine gold changed! this may be literally true of the gold of the temple; and fo the Targum calls it, ‘* the *¢ sold of the houfe of the fanctuary;” with which that was overlaid, and many things in it, 1 Kings vi. 21, 22. and was fadly fullied and tarnifhed with the burning of the temple, and the rubbifh of it its brightnefs was loft, and its colour changed; but tho’ there may be an allufion to that, it is to be figuratively underftood of the people of God; for what is here exprefied in parabolical phrafes, as Aben Ezra obferves, is in the next verfe explained in proper and literal ones: godly and gracious men, there called the precious fons of Zion, are comparable to gold, even the moft fine gold; partly becaufe of their habit and drefs; gold of Ophir, clothing of wrought gold; the rich robe of Chrift’s righteoufnefs; which, for its brightnefs and fplendor, is like the fineft gold; and is as lafting and durable as that; and in which the faints look like a mafs of pure gold, P/ xlv. 9,13. and partly becaufé of the graces of the Spirit in them, which are like gold for their purity, efpecially when tried; for their value, and the enriching nature of them, and their duration; particularly the graces of faith, hope, love, humility, &c. which are like rows.of jewels, and chains of gold, and as ornamental as they; fee Cant. i. 10, 11. 1 Pet. i. 7. Rev. iti. 18. as alfo becaufe of the doétrines of grace received by them, which are more to be defired than gold, than fine gold; and are better than thoufands of gold and filver, by reafon of their intrinfic worth and value; for their purity and brightnefs being tried and purified, and becaufe of their duration, P/. xix. 10. and cxix. 72. 1 Cor. iii. 12. as well as on account of the riches of grace and glory they are poffefled of, and entitled to:

now this, in either of the fenfes of it, cannot be > Toy rubigine obducetur, Montanus;

in the efteem of the men of the world; but obtectum wel abfconditum, Vatablus; fo Ben Melech.

loft as to fubftance, only become dim; may lofe its brightnefs and glory, and like gold change its colour, but not its nature; and this may be the cafe of good men, comparable to it; when there is a decline in them, with refpect to the exercife of grace; faith in Chrift and his righteoufnefs is low, hope not lively, and love waxen cold; when there is a veil drawn over the gofpel, a great oppofition to it, and a departure from it; or the doétrines of it are not fo clearly and confiftently preached; and when there is a failure in a holy walk, and converfation becoming it; all which is matter of lamentation: the flones of the fanétuary are poured out in the top of every ftreet; in the literal fenfe, it may regard the coftly ftones of the temple, which, when that was deftroyed, not only lay in heaps; but many of them, at leaft, were feparated and fcattered about, and carried into every corner of the city, and the ftreets of it, and there lay expofed, neglected and trampled upon; fee 1 Kings v. 17. Mark xiii. 1, 2. but in the figurative fenfe, ic de~ figns the people of God; who, tho’ they are taken out of the common quarry and pit of mankind, and are by nature as common ftones; yet by the {pirit and grace of God are made living and lively ones, and are hewn and fitted for the fpiritual building the church; where they are laid, and are as the ftones of a crown, as jewels and precious ftones; but when there are animofities, contentions. and divifions among them, fo that they difunite, and are fcattered from one another, their cafe is like thefe {tones of the fanétuary; and which is to be lamented. It is by fome Fews/h writers * interpreted of great perfonages, as princes, and great men of the earth.

¥. 2. The precious fons of Zion comparable to fine gold, &c.] This explains what is meant in the preceding verfe by gold, fine gold, and ftones of the fanctuary; not 7¢fab and his fons, as fome Fewifh intepreters; but all the fons of Zion, or children of God; not the inhabitants of Zio literally, but fpiritually; fee Zech. ix. 13. Pf. cxlix. 2. Zion is the church; her fons are her fpiritual feed and offspring that are born of her, fhe being the mother of them all, and born in her, by means of the word; and brought up by her, thro’ the ordinances, and fo are regenerate perfons; and. thefe the fons of God: and who are precious, not in themfelves, being of the fallen race of Adam; of the earth, earthly as he was; of the fame mafs and lump with the reft of mankind; in no wife better than others, by nature; and have no intrinfic worth and value in them, but what comes by, and from the, grace of God; nor are they pregious in their own efteem, and much lets in the ¢ Vid. R. Sol.

the eye of God; and of his Son Jefus Chrift, and of the bleffed Spirit, and in the opinion of other faints; fee Pf xvi. 3. and cxvi. 15. Jf. xiii. 4. m what fenfe thefe are comparable to fine gold, fee the note on ¥. 1. How are they efteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter? they are indeed earthen vefiels with refpeét to their bodies, frail, weak, and mortal; but they ‘are ‘the work of God’s hands, even as creatures, and particularly as new creatures, and are a curious piece of his workmanfhip, and fo valuable, and efpecially by him, who is as tender and as careful of them as the apple of his eye; and yet thefe are greatly difefteemed by carnal men, are reckoned as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things; as earthen vefiels, fit for no ufe but common or difhonourable ones, or to be broke in pieces, and rendered ufelefs and contemptible; fee PC ARREL ts y¥. 3. Even the fea-monfters draw out the breaft, &c.] Which fome interpret of dragons; others of feals, or fea-calves; but it is beft to underftand it of whales, as the word is rendered in Gew. i. 21. and elfewhere: and Bochart* has proved out of vatious writers, that thefe have breafts and milk; but that their breafts, or however théir paps, are not manifeft, but are hid as in cafes; and muft be drawn out: and fo Yarchi obferves, that they draw their breafts out of a cafe, for their breafts have a covering, which they uncover: fo Ben Melech. Ariftotle ° fays, that whales, as the dolphin, feacalf, and baleena, have breafts or paps, and milk, which he makes to be certain fpecies of the whale, and each of thefe, he elfewhere fays, have milk, and fuckle their young: the dolphin and fturgeon, he obferves ‘, have milk, and are fucked; and fo the fea-calf, he fays*, lets out milk as a fheep, and has two breafts, and is fucked by its young, as four-footed beafts are. Agreeable to which, @lianus* relates, that the female-dolphins have paps like women, and fuckle their young, with great plenty of milk; and the balaena, he fays'*, is a creature like a dolphin, and has milk. And Pliny, {peaking of the dolphins, obferves *, that they bring forth their whe/ps, and fo the young of this creature are called here in the next claufe in the Hebrew text ', and nourifh them with their breafts, as the balena; and of the fea-calves, the fame writer fays™, they feed their young with their paps; but the paps of thefe creatures are not manifeft, as thofe of four-footed beafts, as Ari fotle obferves; but are like two channels or pipes, out of which the milk flows, and the young are fuckled. They give fuck to their young ones as they do, when they are hungry; which is mentioned, as an aggravation of the cafe of the Fewi/b women, with refpect’ to their behaviour towards their children, by reafon of the famine, during the fiege of Ferufalem; which here, and in the following verfes, is ' defcribed in the fad effects of it; and which had a further accomplifhment, at the deftruétion of the fame city by the Romans: now, tho’ the montfters fuckled their young when hungry, yet thefe wo- _men did not fuckle theirs. The daughter of my people is become cruel; or, is unto a cruel one”; that is, is changed unto a cruel one, or is like unto one, famine, having no milk in their breafts, coul none to their children, and fo aéted as if. were cruel to them’; nay, in faét, inftead of ing them, they fed upon them, y. 10: -Ake the oftriches in the wildernefs; which lay their eggs, and leave them in places, eafily to be crufhed and - broken; and when they have any young ones, fore tender-hearted mothers, yet by reafon of none of theirs, Fob xxxix. 13—17, and this feemed now to be the cafe of thefe women: or, dike owls, as the word is fometimes rendered; “ which alfo leave their eggs, and for want of food will eat their young, as thofe women did. So Ben dernefs, and caufes a voice of hooping to be heard. ‘ile * y. 4. The tongue of the fucking child cleaveth to the roof of bis mouth for thir, &c.] Thro? want of the milk of the breaft, which is both food and drink unto it: the young children afk bread; of their parents as ufual, not knowing how the cafe was, that there was a famine in the city; thefe’ are fuch as were more grown, were weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breafts, and lived on other food, and were capable of afking for it: and xo man breaketh it unto them; diftributes unto them, or gives them a piece of bread; not father, friend, or any other perfon; it not being in their power to do it, they having none for themfelves. ‘

¥. 5. They that did feed delicately ase defolate in the fireets, 8cc:] That were brought up in the king’s palace, or in the houfes of noblémen; or however, born of parents rich and wealthy, and had been ufed to good living, and had fared fump-. tuoufly and delicioufly every day, were now wandring about in the ftreets in the moft forlorn anddiftrefied condition, feeking for food of any fort, but could find none to fatisfy their hunger; and fo, as the Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, perifhed in the ways or ftreets: they that were brought up in fcarlet; in died garments, as Farchi; cloathed with fcarlet-coloured ones, as was\the manner of tthe richer and better fort of people, Prov. xxxi. 21. or, brought up upon fcarlet °; wpon fearlet car- ‘pets, on which they ufed to fit and eat their food, as is the cuftom of the eaftern people to this day: thefe embrace dunghils; are glad of them, and with the greateft eagernefs rake into them, in order to find fomething to feed upon, tho’ ever fo bafe and vile; or to fit and lie down upon. Aben Ezra interprets it of their being caft here when dead, and there was none to bury them..

y. 6. For the punifoment of the iniquity. of the daughter of my people, &c.]. In the long fiege of their city, and the evils that attended it, efpecially the fore famine: is greater than the punifoment of the fin of Sodom which was deftroyed at once by fire from heaven: or it may be rendered, the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the - Jin of Sodom’; tho’ the men of Sodom were great finners, the Hews were greater, their fins being more aggravated; to this agrees the Targum, wl they are hardened againft them, as if they were -

Melech fays, it is a bird which dwells in the wil- ~

Chive. 7-9. LAMENTATIONS.

renders the word fz, and paraphrafes the words fol - lowing thus, ** and there dwelt not in her pro- “* phets to prophefy unto her, and turn her by re- ** pentance;” as the Fews had, and therefore their fin was the greater; both fenfes are true, and the one is the foundation of the other; but the firft feems beft to agree with what follows: shat was overthrown as in a moment; by a fhower of fire from heaven, which confumed it at once; whereas the deftruction of Ferufalem was-a lingering one, through a long and tedious fiege; the inhabitants were gradually wafted and confumed by famine, peftilence, and fword, and fo their punifhment greater than Sodom’s: and no hand ftayed on ber; that is, on Sodom; the hand of God was immediately upon her, and difpatched her at once, but not the hands of men; as the hands of the Cha/- deans were upon the Fews, afflicting and diftreffing them a long time, which made their cafe the worfe.

¥. 7. Her Nazxarites were purer than fiow, &c.] Such who feparated themfelves by a vow: to. the Lord, and abftained from drinking wine and {trong drink, and by a moderate diet, and often wafhing themfelves, as well as taking great care of their hair, appeared very neat and comely, like fnow, without any fpot or blemifh. Some think fuch as were feparated from others in dignity, very honourable perfons, the fons of nobles, are meant, fince the word has the fignification of a crown, and interpret it, her princes; ‘archi makes mention of this fenfe, and rejects it;. but it is received by many;:and the meaning is, that her young noblemen, who were well fed, and neatly dreffed, looked as pure and as beautiful as the driven fhow: they were whiter than milk; this intends the fame thing, exprefled by another metaphor: they were more ruddy in body than rubies; or rather, than precious Jtones; and particularly than pearls, which Bochart® proves at large are defigned by the word. ufed, which are white, and not.red; and the word fhould be rendered, clearer or whiter than pearls, as it is by Lyra and others‘; and the word in the Arabic language fignifies white and clear *, as pearls are; and fo the phrafe is expreflive of the beauty and comelinefs of thefe perfons.:: and Ludolfus ‘ fays, that in the Ethiopic language it fignifies beautiful; and he tranflates the whole, they were more beautiful than pearls, denoting the clearnefs of their fkins, and the goodnefs of their complexion: their polifhing was of Japphixe; or, their cutting, fapphire”; they were as beautiful as if they had been cut out of fapphire and polifhed; which is a very precious ftone, and looks very beautiful; fo f mooth were their fkins. TheZargum is, ‘‘ their face or coun- “«* tenance is as fapphire.” Braunius “ thinks, the word ufed fignifies the veins full of blood, which varioufly interfect the flefh like fapphirine rivers, and that the fenfe of the words is, ‘* their bodies «« were white like fnow and milk, yea fhining like ‘ pearls (or red in the cheeks, lips, &&c. like co- * ral*;) veins full of blood running between like ‘ fapphire, of a moft agreeable fky-colour 5 which ¢ is a true defcription of a moft fair and beautiful “© body.” See Cant. v. 14. All this is to be un- derftood of them before the famine, but wher tis came upon them, then they were as folow:

¥. 8. Their vifage is blacker than a coal, &c.]} Or, darker than blacknefs; or, dark through blacknefs’; by reafon of the famine, and becaufe of grief and trouble for themfelves and their friends, which changed their complexions, countenances, and fkins; they that looked. before as pure as fhow, as white as milk, as clear as pearls, as polithed as fapphire, now as black as charcoal, as blacknefs itfelf: they are not known in the ftreets; not taken notice of in a diftinguifhed manner; no refpect fhown them as they walk the ftreets, as ufed to be; nay, their countenances were fo altered, and their apparel fo fordid, as not to be known by their friends, when they met them in public: sheir fhin cleaveth to their bones; have nothing but fkin and bone, who ufed to be plump and fat: it zs withered, it is become like a ftick; the fkin wrinkled and fhrivelled up, the flefh being gone; and the bone became like a ftick, or a dry piece of wood, its moifture and marrow being dried up.: ¥. 9. Ihey that be flain with the fword, are better than they that be flain with hunger, &c.] Not that they are better with refpect to their ftate after death, but with refpeét to their manner of dying. They that were flain by the fword of the Chaldeans, as many were, either upon the walls, or in fallies out againft the enemy, thefe felt lefs pain, and had lefs terror of mind in dying, than thofe did who perifhed by famine; they died a lingering death, as it were by inches, and were in continual pain of body and uneafinefs of mind: for thefe pine away, ftricken thro’ for want of the fruits of the field; that is, thofe that died by famine, gradually wafted or flowed away, their fluid parts by degrees went off;. and tho’ they were. not run thro’ with the fword, they were {tabbed by famine, and were fo diftreffed in body and mind, as if.a fword had. pierced them; not having the fruits of the field, the corn and the wine, to fupport nature, and keep them alive. erchi’s note is, ** they that “¢ were flain with hunger, were inflated at the fmell ** of the fruits of the field, when the enemies were roafting their flefh upon the grafs without the wall; the fmell entered into thofe that fwelled by famine, and their bellies burft, and their excrements flowed out; and this is the death worfe than that of being flain with the fword.” And to this agrees the Targum, ‘* more happy are ‘* they that are flain with the fword, than they that are flain with famine; for they that are flain with the fword, flowed when their bellies were burft, by that which they eat of the fruits of the field; and thofe that were. inflated with famine, their bellies burft thro’ want of food,” Moft interpreters refer this claufe to thofe that died of famine: but Guffetius* interprets it of thofe that were killed with the {word; and renders and paraphrafes the words thus, for they being ftabbed, ent out, by the open wounds, @ flux, which arofe from the fruits of the field, their food and nourifhment being yet in their belly and veins, and fo did not. pine

‘Dp yD royy YO7N lucidiores corpore margaritis, Bochart 5 candidi 2 ed) camelis tributum, candidus perquam albus, Giggeits; she pine away thro’ penury and famine; and their mifery was fhort and light, in comparifon of others: and fo Abendana.

¥. 10. The hands of the pitiful women have fodden their own children, &c.] Such as were naturally, and agreeable to their fex, pitiful and compaftionate; merciful to the poor, as the Targum, and efpecially tender-hearted to their own offspring; yet by reafon of the forenefs of the famine, became fo cruel and hard-hearted, as to take their own children, and flay them with their own hands, cut them to pieces, put them into a pot of water, and make a fire and boil them, and then eat them, as follows: they were their meat in the deftruttion of the daughter of my people; at the time of the deftruction of Ferufalem. This ftrange and unnatural action was foretold by Mo/es, Deut. xxviii. 56, 57. and tho’ we have no particular inftance of it on record, as done at the fiege of Ferufalem by the Chaldeans, yet no doubt there was, as may be concluded from the words: and at the fiege of it by the Romans, when many things here fpoken of had a fuller accomplifhment, we have a remarkable inftance of it, which Yo/epbus * relates; an illuftrious woman, named Mary, prefied with the famine, flew her own fon, a fucking child, boiled him, and eat part of him, and laid up the reft; which was found by the feditious party that broke into her houfe, which ftruck them with the utmoft horror; fee the note on ch. ii. 20.

y. 11. The Lord hath accomplifbed his fury, 8c.] Which rofe up in his mind, and which he purpofed in himfelf to bring upon the finful people of the Fews: he bath poured out bis fierce anger; the vials of his wrath in great abundance, even all he meant to pour out upon them: and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof;

not in the ftrong-hold of Zion only, but in the | whole city of Ferufalem, which was fet on fire by the Chaldeans, as inftruments, according to the will of God and which not only confumed the houfes of it, but even the foundations of them; fo that it looked as if there was no hope of its ever being rebuilt. Aden Ezra interprets this fire of the famine.

y. 12. The kings of the earth, and all the inbabitants of the world, &c.] Not only the neighbouring nations, and the kings of them, but even fuch in all parts of the world that knew any thing of Feru alem: would not have believed, that the adversary and the enemy, would have entred into the gates of ‘Ferufalem, when it was befieging, they did not believe it would be taken; and when they heard it was, it was incredible to them; it being fo ftrongly fortified by art and nature, with mountains and hills, with walls and bulwarks, and had fuch a vaft number of people in it; and efpecially, was the city of the great God, who had fo often and fo fignally preferved and faved it: the adverfary and enemy are the fame, and defign the Chaldeans. The Targum diftinguifhes them, and makes Nebuchadnezzar the ungodly to be the adverfary; and Nebuzaradan the enemy, who entered to flay the people of the houfe of J/rael, in the gates of Ferufalen, this was a marvellous thing to the nations round about. Titus, when he took this city, acknowledged it was owing to God”; ** God, fays ** he, favouring us, we fought; God is he that

<¢ has drawn the Fews out of thefe fortreffes; “« human hands and machines could have done ‘© nothing againft'thefé towers.”

¥. 13. For the fins of ber prophets, and the ini-" quities of ber priefts, 8ec.] Aben Exra interprets this. of the prophets of Baa/, and the priefts of the: high-places; but tho? falfe prophets it priefts are meant, yet fuch as were among jews, made choice of, and approved of by th fee 2 Chron, xxxvi. 14. not that the people were’ faultlefs, but thefe were the principals, who bytheir examples led on and encouraged the common’ people in fin: that bave foed the blood of the juft im the midft of ber; not’ the blood of innocent chil~ dren, facrified to them by Moloch; but of good men in general, whom they perfecuted and flew and of the true prophets of the Lord in particular, whofe blood they fhed; and was the fin that broughe. on the deftruction of their city by the Romans, as well as of that by the Chaldeans; fee Matt, xxiii. 35—38. Fam. v. 6. we y. 14; They have wandred as blind menain the Streets, &c.] That is, the falfe prophets and wicked priefts; and may be underftood either literally, that when the city was taken, and they fled, they were like blind men, and knew not which way to go to make their efcape, but wandered from place to place, and could find no way out; or dpiritually, tho’ they pretended to great light and knowledge, yet were as blind men, furrounded with the darknefg of ignorance and error; and were blind leaders of the blind: they have polluted themfelves with blood, fo that men could not touch their garments 3 or, could not but touch it with their garments ©; or, might not *; it was not lawful for them to do its the fenfe is either that which way foever thefe men took to make their efcape, they found fo many dead carcafes in the ftreets, and fuch a profufion of blood by them, that they could not but touch it with their garments; or being befimeared with it, were fo defiled, thar others might not touch them, even their garments; or thele men had defiled themfelves with the fhedding of the blood of righteous perfons; fo that they were odious to men, and they fhunned them, as they would do any thing that by the law rendered them in a ceremonious fenfe unclean, and therefore faid as follows:;

¥. 15. They cried unto them, depart ye, it is‘unclean, &c.|] Or, O ye unclean *; that is, the people faid fo to the priefts, being polluted with blood; they abhorred them, did not care they fhould come nigh them, but bid them keep at a diftance; they that cleanfed others of leprofy, were treated as leprous perfons themfelves, and proclaimed unclean, and fhunned as fuch: and to fhew their vehement abhorrence of them, repeated the words, depart, depart, touch not; that is, touch us not; they who had ufed to fay to others, and by yourfelves, we are more holy than you, being the Lord’s priefts and prophets, are treated after the fame manner themielves: when they fled away, and wandered; fled from the city, and wandered among the nations; or when they were fwiftly carried away captives, and became vagabonds in oth countries: they feid among the heathens, they no more fojourn, there being among the ns, they took notice of them as very wicked

C19. Gite 4 Tangebant ewm (nempe fanguit

Ch.iv. 16-20 LAMENTATIONS.

faid concerning them, now they are carried out of their own land, they fhall never return there any more, and dwell in Feru/alem, and officiate in the temple, as they had formerly done.,

¥. 16. The anger of the Lord bath divided them, &c.] Or, the face of the Lord‘; the anger that ap- _peared in his face, in the difpenfation of his providence, removed them out of their own land, and difperfed them among feveral countries and nations of the world, and as they now are: thefe are not the words of the heathens continued, but of the prophet: he will no more regard them, or, he will not add to look on them®; with a look of love, but continue his anger and refentment: they re- Spec not the perfons of the priefts, they favour not the elders; which is to be confidered either as the fin of the falfe prophets and priefts before: deferibed, which was the caufe of their punifhment; that they caft great contempt on the true prophets of the Lord, as Feremiab and others, and fhewed no regard to the elders of the people, or thofe godly magiftrates, who would have corrected and reftrained them: or elfe this is faid of the nations among whom they were difperfed, as the Targum, who would pay no refpect to their characters as priefts, or fhew any pity to them on account of their age.

¥.17. As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help, &c.].Or, while we were yet *; a nation, a people, a body politic, in our own land, before the city of Feru/alem was taken, we were looking for help, as was promifed us; but it proved a vain help, none was given us; for which we kept looking to the laft, till our eyes failed, and we could look no longer; no help appeared, nor was there any profpect or probability of it, and therefore gave all up: iz our watching we watched for a nation that could not fave us; not the Romans, as the Targum, but the Egyptians; thefe promifed them fuccour and relief, and therefore in their watching are the fwifteft of birds, and are fo to a proverb. Apuleius * reprefents the fwift purfuit of their prey, and fudden falling upon it, to be like thunder and lightning. Cicero * relates of a certain racer, that came to an interpreter of dreams, and told him, that in his dream he feemed to become an eagle; upon which, fays the interpreter, thou wilt be the conqueror; for no bird flies with fuch force and {wiftnefs as that. And this bird is alfo remarkable for its conftancy in flying; it is never weary, but keeps on flying to places the moft remote. ‘The poets have a fiction, that fupiter being defirous of knowing which was the middle of the world, fent out two eagles of equal fwiftnefs, the one from the eaft, and the other from the weft, at the fame moment; which {topped not till they came to Delphos, where they met, which fhewed that to be the fpot; in memory of which, two golden eagles were placed in the temple there *. The fwiftnefs and conftancy of thefe creatures in flying, are here intended to fet forth the {peed and afliduity of the enemies of the Hews, in their purfuit after them; who followed them clofely, and never ceafed till they had overtaken them. The Chaldeans are defigned, who purfued the Fews very hotly and eagerly, fuch as fled when the city was broke up; tho’ not fo much they themfelves, as being thus fwift of foot, as their horfes on which they rode; fee Fer. iv. 13. They purfued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderne s;

or plain™; there was no fafety in either; fuch as fled to the mountains, were purfued and overtaken there; and fuch who attempted to make their efcape thro’ the vallies, were intercepted there: the reference is to the flight of Zedekiah, his nobles, and his army with him, who were purfued by the Chaldeans, and taken in the plains of Ferzcho, Fer. lii. 7, 8, 9. hence it follows:

¥. 20. The breath of our noftrils, the anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits, &c.] Or the Mef-

they watched, or vehemently watched, and wifhfully fab, or the Chrift of the Lord", not Fofiab, as the

Jooked out for it, but all in vain; for tho’ thefe made an attempt to help them, they durft not proceed; were obliged to retire, not being a match tor the Chaldean army, and fo-could not fave them, or break up the fiege, and relieve them. _ y. 18. Lhey hunt our fleps, that we cannot go in our fireets, &c.] The Chaldeans, from their’ forts and batteries, as they could fee, they watched the people as they came out of their houfes, and walked about the ftreets, and fhot their arrows at them; fo that they were obliged to keep within doors, and not ftir out, which they could not do without great danger: our end is near, for our days are fulfilled, our end is come, either the end of their lives, the days, months, and years appointed for them being fulfilled; or the end of their commonwealth, the end of their civil and church-ftate, at leaft as they thought; the time appointed for their deftruction was not only near at hand, but was actually come; it was all over with them.

¥. 19. Our perfecutors axe fwifter than the eagles of the beavens, &c.] That fly in the heavens; and which, as they have a quick fight to difcern their prey afar off, are very f{wift to purfue it; they

Targum; and fo Farchi and others; for tho’ he was the Lord’s anointed, and the life of the people, being the head of them, as every king ‘is, efpecially a good one; yet he was flain, and not taken, and much lefs in their pits, and that not by the Chaldeans, but by the Egyptians; nor did the kingdom ceafe with him, or the end of the Fewifh {tate then come, which continued fome years after: but rather Zedekiab, as Aben Ezra and others, the laft of the kings of fudab, with whom all agrees; he was the Lord’s anointed as king, and the preferver of the lives and liberties of the people, at leaft as they hoped; but when the city was taken by the Chaldeans, and he fled for his life, they purfued him, and took him; he fell into their hands, their pits, fnares, and nets, as was foretold he fhould; and which are fometimes called the net and fnare of the Lord; fee Ezek. xii. 13. and xvii. 20. fee the note on ¥. 19. Many of the ancient chriftian writers apply this to Chrift,; and particularly Theodoret takes it to be a direct prophecy of him and his fufferings. Vatablus, who interprets it of Yofiah, makes him to be a type of Chrift; as Calvin does Zedekiab, of whom he ex- pounds the words; and the Targum, in the king of Spain’s bible, is, ** the king Meffiah, who was <¢ beloved by us, as the breath of the {pirit of life, «« which is in our noftrils.” What is here. faid, may be applied to Chrift; he is the life of men, he gives them life and breath, and in him they live and move; their fpiritual life is from him, and is maintained and preferved by him; he lives in his people, and they in him, and they can’t live without him, no more than a man without his breath: he is the Chrift of God, anointed with the Holy Ghoft, to the offices of prophet, prieft, and king; and from whom chriftians have their holy unction, and their name: he was taken, not by the Chaldeans, but by the wicked Fews; who Jooked upon him as a very mifchievous perfon, as if he had been an evil beaft, a beaft of prey, tho’ the pure fpotlefs Lamb of God; and they dug pits, laid fnares, and formed fchemes to take him, and at laft did, and with wicked hands crucified him, and flew him; tho’ not without his own and his Father’s will and knowledge, fs ii. 23. Of whom we faid, under his fhadow we fhall live among the heathen; in the midft of the nations round about them, unmolefted by them, none daring to meddle with them; at leaft fafe from being carried captive, as now they were. Tho’ Feconiab was taken and carried into Babylon, yet Zedekiah being placed upon the throne, the Hews hoped to live peaceable and quiet lives under his government, undifturbed by their neighbours; the wife ‘and good government of a prince, and protection under it, being fometimes compared in {cripture to the fhadow of a rock or tree, //. xxxii. 2. Ezek. xxxi. 6. Dan. iv. 12. but now it was all over with them; their hope was gone, he being taken. Something like this may be obferved in the difciples of Chrift,; they hoped he would have reftored the ‘kingdom to J/rae/, and they fhould have lived glorioufly under his government; they trufted that it was he that fhould have redeemed J/rael, but when he was taken and crucified, their hope was in a manner gone, Luke xxiv. 21. True believers in Chrift do live peaceably, comfortably, and fafely under him; they are among the heathen, among the men of the world, liable'to their reproaches, infults, and injuries; Chrift is a tree, to which he is often compared, one and another, that cafts a delightful, reviving, refrefhing, and fructifying fhadow, under which they fit with great delight, pleafure, and profit, Cant. ii. 3. Ho/. xiv. 7. he is a rock, the fhadow of which affords reft to weary fouls, and fhelters from the heat of divine wrath, the fiery law of God, and darts of fatan, and perfecutions of men, J/. xxxil..2. and xxv. 4, 5. and under his government, protection, and power, they dwell fafely, that fin cannot deftroy them, nor fatan devour’them, nor the world hurt them; here they live fpiritually, and fhall never die eternally, Fer xxii. 5, 6. Pf Xci-1: ¥. 21. Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter of Edom, &c.| The land of Jdumea, and the inhabitants of it, who’ did indeed rejoice at the deftruction of Fevujalem, Obad. y¥. 12. and here, in an ironical ‘manner, are bid to go on with their mirth, if they could, like the young man in Eccl. xi. g. as ben Ezra obferves; for it would not laft long, their note would foon be changed: that dwellef in the land of Uz; not the country of Yb, which

LAMENTATIONS. ‘Chiv.y.21, 22, had its name from Uz the fon of Nabor, Fob i. 1. Gen, xxii. 21. but a country in Jdumea, from whence the whole was fo called, and that from Uz the fon of Di/ban, one of the fons of Seir: or elfe the fenfe is, that Edom or Idumea, and the inhabitants of it, dwelt upon the borders of Uz; and fo agrees very well with the place of Fod’s refidence, which was near the land of Edom. The Targum, according to R. Ekas °, is, * rejoi

** O wicked Rome;” but, in the king of Spain’s

“ (i. e. Conftantinople) the city of wicked Edom, ‘“¢ which art built in the land of Armenia;” and Farchi fays, that Feremiab prophefies concerning the deftruction of the fecond temple, which the Romans deftroyed; but in other copies, and according to Lyre, his words are, ‘eremiah here prophefies concerning the deftruction of the Romar empire, becaufe that dettroyed the temple; and it is ufual with him, and other Rabdins, to interpret Edom of Rome. The cup alfo foall pafs thro unto thee; the cup of God’s wrath and vengeance; which as it had come to the Yews, and was paffing from one nation to another, in its turn would come to thefe Edomites; fee Fer. xxv. 15, 21. Thou foalt be drunken, and foalt make thyfelf naked; be overcome by it;- as perfons with wine, or any {trong drink, reel to and fro, and fall, and be utterly deftroyed, lie helplefs and ftrengthlefs: and be made naked ®, as it may be rendered; ftri of their riches and wealth; or they fhould ftrip themfelves of their cloaths, and behave indecently, and expofe thofe parts which ought to be covered, as drunken perfons do: the fenfe is, they fhould be expofed, or expofe themfelves, to fhame and con- — tempt. The Septuagint verfion is, and thou fbalt be drunken, and pour out, that is, vomit, as drunken men do; and fo archi and Abendana interpret the word of vomiting; and the Targum is, ** and thou fhalt be emptied.”

¥. 22. The punifhment of thine iniquity is accomplifhed, O daughter of Zion, &c.] In part in the feventy years captivity in Babylon, and more fully in their prefent captivity; for as has been obferved, there are fome things in the preceding account, which had a further accomplifhment in the deftruction of Ferufalem, and the diftrefs of the Fews by the Romans. The Targum is, “ and ‘* after thine iniquity is fulfilled, O congregation ‘“¢ of Zion, and thou fhalt-be delivered by the ‘* hands ‘of the Meffiah, and of Elias the high- “< prieft.”” He will no more carry thee away inta captivity; he, the enemy; or the Lord, as the Targum, that is, thou fhalt no more be carried captive: this feems to confirm the above obfervation, that this chapter is a prophecy of what would be, as well as a narrative of what had been; and includes the deftruction both of the firft and fecond temple, and of the ews both by the Chaldeans and Romans; for it is certain, that after their deliverance from the captivity of Babylon, they have been carried captive, and are now in captivity. He will vifit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; punifh the Edomites for their fins, as is elfewhere - threatened, Jer. xlix. 7—22. Ezek. xxv. 12. Amos i, 11. which was fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar as an_inftrument; and may have fome refpeét to the deftruction of the Romans, when the Jews thall be converted, and return to their own land. The gape TO 2 Kas amoxens, Sept. et eris vomens, Pagninus,

Targum, in the king of Spain’s bible, is, “ and “* at that time I will vifit thine iniquity, O wicked “ thee defolate;” and fo the copy ufed. by Munfer: be will difcover thy fins, by the punifhment

*¢ Rome, which art built in Jtaly,- and full of «¢ multitudes of the children of Edom; and the © Perfians fhall come and opprefs thee, and make

N this chapter are reckoned up the various ca- lamites and diftreffes of the Fews in Babylon, which the Lord is defired to remember and confider, ¥. 1—16. their great concern for the defo-, lation of the temple in particular, is expreffed, y¥. 17,18. and the chapter is concluded with a prayer, that God would fhew favour to them, and turn them to him, and renew their profperity as of old, tho’ he had rejected them, and been wroth with them, ¥. r9g—22.

¥.1. Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us, &c.] This chapter is called, in fome Greek copies, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Arabic verfions, the prayer of Feremiah. Cocceius interprets the whole, of the ftate of the chriftian church after the laft deftruction of Ferufalem, and of what happened to the difciples of Chrift in the firft times of the gofpel; and of what chriftians have endured under antichrift, down to the prefent times: but it is beft to underftand it of the Fews in Babylon, reprefenting their forrowful cafe, as perfonated by the prophet; intreating that the Lord would remember the affliction they were under, and deliver them out of it, that which he had determined fhould come upon them. So the Targum, “ remember, O Lord, what was decreed “* fhould be unto us;” and what he had long threatened fhould come upon them; and which they had reafon to fear would come, tho’ they put away the evil day far from them; but now it was come, and it lay heavy upon them; and therefore they defire it might be taken off: confer, and bebold our reproach, caft upon them by their enemies; and the rather the Lord is intreated to look upon and confider that, fince his name was concerned in it, and it was for his fake, and becaufe of the true religion they profefled; alfo the difgrace they were in, being carried into a foreign country for their fins; and fo were in contempt by all the nations around. y. 2. Our inberitance is turned to firangers, &c.] The land of Canaan in general, which was given to Abraham and his feed to be their inheritance; and their fields and vineyards in particular, which came to them by inheritance from their fathers, were now in the hands of the Chaldeans, ftrangers to God, and aliens from the commonwealth of J/- ‘yael, as all Gentiles were, Eph. ii. 12: our housfes to aliens; which they had built or purchafed, or their fathers had left them, were now inhabited by thofe of another country. yt, 3. We are orphans and fatherlefs, &c.] In every fenfe; ina natural fenfe, their fathers having been cut off by the fword, famine or peftilence, in a civil fenfe, their king being taken from them; -and in a religious fenfe, God having forfaken them for their fins: our mothers are as widows; either of them; as when God pardons fins, he is faid to cover them; fo when he, punifhes for them, he difcovers them; fee Yer. xlix. 10.

really fo, their hufbands being dead; or were as if they had no hufbands, they not being able to provide for them, proteét and defend them. The Targum adds, *‘ whofe hufbands are gone to the ** cities of the fea, and it is doubtful whether they ** are alive.” Some underftand this politically, of their cities being defolate and defencelefs.

¥.4. We have drunken our water for money, &c. | They who in their own land, which was a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, had wells of water of their own, and water freely and in abundance, now were obliged to pay for it, for drink, and other ufes: our wood is fold unto us; or, comes to us by a price’; anda dear one; in their own land they could have wood out of the foreft, for cutting down, and bringing home; but now they were forced to give a large price for it.

¥.5. Our necks are under perfecution, &c.] A yoke of hard fervitude and bondage was put upon their necks, as. Farchi interprets it; which they were forced to fubmit unto: or, upon our necks we are purfued *; or fuffer perfecution, which Aben Ezra explains thus, in connexion with the preceding verfe; if we carry water or wood upon our necks, the enemy purfues us; that is, to take it away from us. The Targum relates a fable here, thar when Nebuchadnezzar {aw the ungodly rulers of the children of J/rael, who went empty; he ordered to fow up the books of the law, and make bags or wallets of them, and fill them with the ftones on the banks of the Euphrates, and loaded them on their necks: we labour and have no ref, night nor day, nor even on fabbath-days; obliged to work continually, till they were weary; and when they were, were not allowed time to reft themfelves, like their forefathers in Egypt.

¥.6. We have given our hand to the Egyptians, &c.] Either by way of fupplication, to beg bread of them; or by way of covenant and agreement; or to teftify fubjection to them, in order to be fupplied with food: many of the Yews went into Egypt upon the taking of the city, Yer. xliii. s, 6,7: and to the Affyrians, to be fatisfied with bread; among whom many of the captives were difperfed; fince from hence they are faid to be returned, as well as from Egypt, Jf: xi. 16.

¥:7. Our fathers have finned, and are not, &c.] In the world, as the Targum adds; they were in being, but not on earth; they were departed from hence, and gone into another world; and fo were free from the miferies and calamities their children were attended with, and therefore more happy: and-we have borne their iniquities; the punifhment of them, or chaftifement for them: this is not faid by way of complaint, much lefs as charging God with injuftice, in punifhing them for their fathers fins, or to excufe theirs; for they were ready to own own that they had confented to them, and were guilty of the fame; but to obtain mercy and pity at the hands of God..

y. 8. Servants have ruled over us, &e.] The Targum is, “ the fons of Ham, who were given “« to be fervants to the fons of Shem; they have *¢ ruled over us;” referring to the prophecy of Noah, Gen. ix. 26,27. or fuch as had been tributary to the Jews, as the Edomites, {0 Aben Ezra, the Babylonians are meant; and not the nobles and principal inhabitants only, but even their fervants had power and authority over the Yews, and they were at their beck and command; which made their fervitude the more difagreeable and intolerable: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand, out of the hand of thefe fervants.

¥.9. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives, &c.] This feems to refer to the time of the fiege, when they privately went out of the city to get in fome provifion, but went in danger of their lives: decaufe of the fword of the wilderne/s or, of the plain*; becaufe of the fword of the Chaldean army, which lay in the plain about Feruzfalem, into whofe hand there was danger of falling, and of being cut to pieces.

¥. 10. Our fkin was black like an oven, becaufe of the terrible famine.| Or terrors and horrors of famine, which are very dreadful and diftreffing: or, the storms of famine; fee Pf xi. 6. and cxix. 53. or, burning winds*; fach as are frequent in Africa and Afia; to which the famine is compared that was in ‘erufelem, at the fiege of it, both by the Chaldeans and Romans; and as an oven, furnace or chimney, becomes black by the fmoke of the fire burnt in it, or under it; fo the fkins of the Fews became black thro’ thefe burning winds and ftorms, or burnings of famine; fee ch. iv. 8. So Farchi fays, the word has the fignification of burning; for famine as it were burns up the bodies of men when moft vehement.

¥. 11. They ravifbed the women in Zion, &c.]} Or humbled them”; an euphemifm; the women that were married to men in Zion, as the Targum, and if this wickednefs was committed in the holy mountain of Zion, it was {till more abominable and afflicting, and to be complained of; and if by the fervants before mentioned, as Aben Ezra interprets it, it is another aggravating circumftance of it: for this was done not in Badylon when captives there; but at the taking of the city of Ferufalem, and by the common foldiers, as is- too often practifed: and the maids in the cities of Judah, in all parts» of the country, where the Chaldean army ravaged, there they ravifhed the maids. The Targum is, ** the women that were “* married to men in Zion were humbled by ftran- “* gers; (the Targum in the king of Spain’s Bible ** is, by the Romans) and virgins in the cities of “* Fudab by the Chaldeans,” fuggefting that this account has reference to both deftructions of the city, and the concomitants and confequences thereof.

¥.12. Princes are hanged up by their hand, &c.] According to fome, as ben Ezra obferves, by the hand of the fervants before-mentioned; however, by the hand of the Chaldeans or Babylonians;

* INWI PMO CI M3 juvenes farinam pertaverunt; fo fome in Gataker; juvenes molam tulerunt, Coeee Y Paw fabbarizac. AR.

fee Fer. lit, 10. Some uncerftand jt, 0 hands, as if they laid violent hands felves, not being able to bear the hard difgrace they were fubjected to; but I th ther think this is to be underftood of hanging them, + not by the neck, but by the hand, could any inftance be given of fuch a kind of punifhment fo early ufed, and by this people; which has been in”

other nations, and in more modern times: she faces of elders were not honoured, no reverence or reipect”

} were fhewn to elders in age or officé, or on ac+ count of either; but were treated with rudenels and contempt. ’ '

¥. 13. They took the young men to grind, &e.} In the mill, which was laborious fervice x and which perfons were fometimes put to; by way of punifhment. and was the punifhment of fervants; fee Fudg. xvi. 21. Some render it, the young men bore the grift*; carried the corn, the meal ground, from place to place. ‘The Targum is, ‘* the young men ** carried the mill-ftones;” and fo Yarchi, they put mill-ftones upon their fhoulders, and burdens fo as to weary them. Ben Melech from their Rabe bins relates, that there were no mill-ftones in Babylon; wherefore the Chaldeans put them upon the young men of J/rael, to carry them thither. The Vulgate Latin verfion is, ‘* they abufed the young ‘* men in an unchafte manner;” fuggefting fomething obfcene intended by grinding; fee Fob xxxi. ro. but the context will not admit of fuch a fenfe: and the children fell under the wood; fach loads of wood were laid upon them, that they could not bear them, but fell under them. bem Ezra underftands it, of moving the wood of the mill, of turning the wooden handle of it; or the wooden poft, the rider or runner, by which the upper mill- {tone was turned: this their ftrength was not equal to, and fo failed. The Yargum interprets it, of a wooden gibbet or gallows; fome wooden engine feems to be had in view, ufed as a punifhment, which was put upon their necks, fomething like a pillory; which they were not able to ftand up under, but fell.

¥.14. The elders have ceafed from the gate, &c.] Of the Sanxhedrim, or court of judicature, as the Targum; from the gate of the city, where they ufed to fit and try caufes; but now there was nothing of this kind done: the young men from their mufic; vocal and inftrumental; the latter is more particularly fpecified, tho’ both may be intended; neither were any more heard; their harps were hung upon the willows on the banks of Euphrates, which ran thro’ the city of Babylon, Pf. cxxxvii.

32, ¥. 15. The joy of our heart is ceafed, &c.] Inward joy was gone, as well as the external figns of it: it fabbatized », as it may be rendered; alluding perhaps to the cordial joy exprefled formerly on their fabbaths and other feftivals, now not obferved; at leaft, not with that joy, inward and:

outward, they formerly were: our dance is turned — into mourning; which alfo was ufed at their folemn feafts, as well as at their common diverfions, Fudg xxi. 21. but now no more of that; but initead ¢ it, mourning at the calamities they were oppreflé with; and at the remembrance of mercies git ool