Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 2:17

The LORD hath done [that] which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused [thine] enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.

17. fulfilled ] mg. finished. Cp. the same Heb. verb in Isa 10:12 “perform.”

in the days of old ] That which had happened was in fulfilment of the warnings of Lev 26:14 ff., Deu 28:15, as well as of the prophets.

He hath exalted the horn of thine adversaries ] See on Lam 2:3, and cp. 1Sa 2:1; 1Sa 2:10; also Psa 89:42.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

That which he had devised – Or, what he purposed. Zions ruin was the fulfillment of Gods determination, of which they had been forwarned from the days of old (see the margin reference).

Fulfilled – Or, finished.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 17. The Lord hath done that] This and the sixteenth verse should be interchanged, to follow the order of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet; as the sixteenth has phe for its acrostic letter, and the seventeenth has ain, which should precede the other in the order of the alphabet.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

God hath not surprised us by these providences, he gave us notice what he would do, and hath done no more than what he threatened long since, Lev 26:16, &c.; Deu 28:15, &c. It is true lie hath severely punished us, so as in his dispensation there appear no prints of pity, he hath set up our enemies, and hath made them to triumph over his people, but in all this he hath but justified his truth, and fulfilled his word.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

17. LordLet not the foe exultas if it was their doing. It was “the Lord” who thusfulfilled the threats uttered by His prophets for the guilt of Judea(Lev 26:16-25; Deu 28:36-48;Deu 28:53; Jer 19:9).

Tzaddi.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

The Lord hath done [that] which he had devised,…. It was not so much the Chaldeans that did it, though they ascribed it to themselves; but it was the Lord’s doing, and what he had deliberately thought of, purposed and designed within himself; all whose purposes and devices certainly come to pass:

he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old; not only by the mouth of Jeremiah, years ago, or in the times of Isaiah, long before him; but even in the days of Moses; see Le 26:17, c. De 28:20, c. So the Targum,

“which he commanded to Moses the prophet from ancient days, that if the children of Israel would not keep the commands of the Lord, he would take vengeance on them:”

he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied he hath thrown down, or caused to be thrown down, without any pity, the walls of Jerusalem and not only the houses and palaces in it, but also his own house, the temple:

and he hath caused [thine] enemy to rejoice over thee; giving thorn victory, and putting all into their hands; on which they insulted them, and gloried over them:

he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries; increased their strength and power, their kingdom and authority; and which swelled their pride, and made them more haughty and insolent.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

In this calamity, which Jahveh has ordained, it is only He who can bring comfort and help; [and this He will do], if earnest and incessant complaint be made to Him regarding the misery. In order to turn the thoughts of the people in this direction, the prophet lays emphasis on the fact that God has now executed this destruction which He has threatened long before, and has prepared for the triumph of the enemy. “Jahveh hath done what He hath purposed,” has now performed the word which He has commanded all along from the days of yore. Zechariah (Zec 1:6) also lays this truth before the heart of his contemporaries. , to cut off, is used metaphorically in the sense of finishing, completing, as in Isa 10:12; Zec 4:9. To fulfil a word that has been ordered, signifies to execute it. does not mean to announce, but to command, order; the word has been chosen, not merely with reference to the fact that the threatened rejection of Israel was announced in the law, but also with regard to the circumstance that the threat of punishment for sins is an evidence of the moral government of the world, and the holiness of the Lord and Ruler of the world demands the punishment of every act of rebellion against the government and decrees of God. “The days of old” are the times of Moses; for Jeremiah has before his mind the threatenings of the law, Lev 26:23., Deu 28:15. “Without sparing,” as Jeremiah (Jer 4:28) has announced to the people. In the following clause, “He hath made thine enemy rejoice over thee,” thoughts are reproduced from Psa 89:43. To “exalt the horn” means to grant power and victory; cf. 1Sa 21:1; Psa 75:5.

Lam 2:18

When it is seen that the Lord has appointed the terrible calamity, the people are driven to pray for mercy. Hence Lam 2:18 follows, yet not at once with the summons to prayer, but with the assertion of the fact that this actually takes place: “their heart cries out unto the Lord;” and it is not till after this that there follows the summons to entreat Him incessantly with tears. The perfect represents the crying as already begun, and reaching on to the present (cf. Ewald, 135, b), for which we use the present in German [and in English]. That the suffix in “their heart” does not point to the enemies mentioned at the close of Lam 2:17, but to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, is indubitably evident from what is substantially stated in the clause, viz., that crying to the Lord merely indicates the crying to God for help in distress. There is no sufficient reason for Ewald’s change of into , “outcries of thine heart,” i.e., let the cry of thine heart sound forth; still less ground is there for the conjecture of Thenius, that should be changed into , because this is opposed to the following summons to implore help: other more unnatural changes in the text it were needless to mention. The following clauses, “O wall of the daughter of Zion,” etc., do not state how her heart has cried and still cries to the Lord, but bid her constantly go on imploring. Several expositors have taken objection to the direct address, “O wall of the daughter of Zion,” and have sought to remove the difficulty by making conjectures. Hence, e.g., Thenius still holds that there is good ground for the objection, saying that there is a wide difference between the poetic expression, “the wall mourns” (Lam 2:8), and the summons, “O wall, let tears run down.” This difference cannot be denied, yet such personification is not without analogy. A similar summons is found in Isa 14:31: “Howl, O gate” ( porta ). It is self-evident that it is not the wall simply as such that is considered, but everything besides connected with it, so that the wall is named instead of the city with its inhabitants, just as in Isa 14:31 gate and city are synonymous. Hence, also, all the faculties of those residing within the wall (eyes, heart, hands) may be ascribed to it, inasmuch as the idea of the wall easily and naturally glides over into that of the daughter of Zion. The expression, “Let tears run down like a stream,” is a hyperbole used to indicate the exceeding greatness of the grief. “By day and night” is intensified by the clauses which follow: “give not,” i.e., grant not. , “torpidity (stagnation) to thyself.” The noun is . . , like , Lam 3:49; the verb , however, occurs in Gen 25:26 and Psa 77:3, where it is used of the torpidity of the vital spirits, stagnation of the heart. The expression in the text is a poetic one for : “do not permit thy numbness,” i.e., let not thy flood of tears dry up; cf. Ewald, 289, b. is the eyeball, not the tears (Pareau); cf. Psa 17:8. comes from , to be still, as in Jer 47:6. On the thought here presented, cf. Jer 14:17.

Lam 2:19

(prop. to raise a whining cry, but commonly “to shout for joy”) here means to weep aloud, lament. , at the beginning of the night-watches (cf. Jdg 7:19); not “in the first night-watch” (Kalkschmidt, following Bochart and Ngelsbach), but at the beginning of each night-watch, i.e., throughout the night; cf. Psa 63:7. “Pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord,” i.e., utter the sorrow of thine heart in tears to the Lord. The uplifting of the hands is a gesture indicative of prayer and entreaty (cf. Psa 28:2; Psa 63:5, etc.), not “of the deepest distress” (Thenius). does not mean pro vita parvulorum tuorum , that God may at least preserve them (Rosenmller, Gerlach), but “on account of the soul of thy children,” which is more distinctly stated, in the following relative sentence, to mean that they have breathed out their soul through hunger. On this matter, cf. Lam 2:11 and the exposition of that verse. Ewald has placed the last member of the verse within parentheses, as an interpolation, on the ground that a fourth member offends against the law observed in these verses; on the other hand, Thenius is of opinion that the words do not form a member of the verse by themselves, but are a mere prolongation of the third, “because the conclusion of the prophet’s address, begun in Lam 2:19, was certainly intended to be a complete finish.” But the deviation from the rule is not thereby accounted for. Inasmuch as the words are essential to the expression of the thought, we must simply acknowledge the irregularity, and not arbitrarily cast suspicion on the genuineness of the words.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Had the Prophet related only the boastings of enemies, the people would have probably become more hardened in their sorrow. But now, on the other hand, he assumes a different character. After having represented how insolently the enemies conducted themselves, he now says, Jehovah hath done what he had determined; and thus from the taunts of enemies he calls the attention of the people to the judgment of God. For when enemies insult us, we: indeed feel hurt, but afterwards grief in a manner blunts our feelings. Our best remedy then is, not to have our thoughts fixed on the insolence of men, but to know what the Scripture often reminds us, that the wicked are the scourges of God by which he chastises us. This, then, is the subject which the Prophet now handles. He says that God had done, etc.; as though he had said, that however enemies might exceed moderation, yet if the people attended to God there was a just cause why they should humble themselves.

He says, first, that Jehovah had done what he had determined: for the word to think is improperly applied to God, but yet it is often done, as we have before seen. He then says, that he had fulfilled the word which he had formerly commanded; for had the Prophet touched only on the secret counsel of God, the Jews might have been in doubt as to what it was. And certainly, as our minds cannot penetrate into that deep abyss, in vain would he have spoken of the hidden judgments of God. It was therefore necessary to come down to the doctrine, by which God, as far as it is expedient, manifests to us what would otherwise be not only hidden, but also incomprehensible; for were we to inquire into God’s judgments, we should sink into the deep. But when we direct our minds to what God has taught us, we find that he reveals to us whatever is necessary to be known; and though even by his word, we cannot perfectly know his hidden judgments. yet we may know them in part, and as I have said, as far as it is expedient for us. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet, after having spoken of God’s counsels and decrees, adds the word

Let us then hold to this rule, even to seek from the Law and the Prophets, and the Gospel, whatever we desire to know respecting the secret judgments of God; for, were we to turn aside, even in the smallest degree, from what is taught us, the immensity of God’s glory would immediately swallow up all our thoughts; and experience sufficiently teaches us, that nothing is more dangerous and even fatal than to allow ourselves more liberty in this respect than what behooves us. Let us then learn to bridle all curiosity when we speak of God’s secret judgments, and instantly to direct our minds to the word itself, that they may be in a manner enclosed there. Moreover, the Prophet was also able, in this manner, more easily to check whatever the Jews might have been otherwise ready to object: for we know that they were always wont to murmur, and that as soon as the prophets spake, they brought forward many exceptions, by which they attempted to confute their doctrine.

As, then, they were an unteachable people, Jeremiah did not only speak of God’s hidden judgments, of which some doubt might have been alleged; but, in order to cut off every occasion for disputes and contentions, he mentioned the word itself; and thus he held the Jews as it were convicted; for, as it is said by Moses, they could not have objected and said,

“

Who shall ascend into heaven? who shall descend into the deep? who shall pass over the sea?” (Deu 30:12😉

for in their mouth was God’s word, that is, God had sufficiently made known his judgments, so that they could not complain of obscurity. We now then perceive another reason why the Prophet joined the word to God’s judgments and decrees or counsel.

But he says that this word had been published from ancient days; and here he touches on the untameable obstinacy of the people; for had they been admonished a few days or a short time before, they might have expostulated with God; and there might have been some specious appearance that God had as it were made too great haste in his rigor. But as prophets had been sent, one after another, and as he had not ceased for many years, nay, for many ages, to exhort them to repentance, and to threaten them also that they might repent, hence their inveterate impiety more fully betrayed itself. This is the reason why the Prophet now mentions the ancient days, in which God had published his word.

He at length adds, he hath subverted and not spared. He does not here charge God with too much rigor, but rather he reproves the Jews, so that from the grievousness of their punishment they might know how intolerable had been their iniquity. He would then have them to judge of their sins by their punishment, for God does not act unjustly towards men. It hence follows, that when we are severely afflicted by his hand, it is a proof that we have been very wicked.

He then concludes that it was God who had exhilarated their enemies, and raised up their horn (168) By these words he confirms the doctrine, on which I have already touched, that we ought to turn our eyes to God, when men are insolent to us, and exult over our miseries; for such a reproach might otherwise wholly overwhelm us. But when we consider that we are chastised by God, and that the wicked, however petulantly they may treat us, are yet God’s scourges, then we resolve with calm and resigned minds to bear what would otherwise wear us out by its acerbity. It follows, —

(168) Literally it is, —

And he hath made to rejoice over thee the enemy, He hath exalted the horn of thine oppressors.

—

Ed

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

III. THE PROPHETS EXHORTATION TO HIS PEOPLE Lam. 2:17-19

TRANSLATION

(17) The LORD has done what He planned. He has fulfilled His word which He decreed in days of old. He has torn down without pity, made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the horn of your foes. (18) Their heart cried unto the Lord! O wall of the daughter of Zion! Let tears run down like a river both day and night! Give yourself not rest! Let not the pupils of your eyes cease! (19) Arise! Cry in the night at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord! Lift up your hands unto Him for the sake of your children who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

COMMENTS

In preparing to answer his own question, who can heal you, the prophet reminds the people of a basic fact. The destruction of Zion was not due to the power and cunning of Zions enemies but was in fact the fulfillment of threats made centuries earlier (cf. Deu. 28:15 ff.). By disobeying the commandments of God the people had violated the terms of the covenant and thus had incurred the penalties for disobedience specified therein. This is the real reason Israel had been brought so low and the horn or strength of their enemies had been exalted (Lam. 2:17). Because the Lord is responsible for the destruction of Zion He alone can restore her fortunes. In bold personification the prophet calls upon the broken wall of Jerusalem to cry unto the Lord in supplication day and night. Without respite those walls should continue their pleadings with the Lord for reconstruction (Lam. 2:18). The people must continue to pray right on through the night. The beginning of the three night watches, sunset, should find them still pouring out their heart like water before the Lord and lifting up their hands toward heaven in expectation of receiving divine blessing. If they become weary in the work of prayer they should remember the little children who are suffering immeasurably on every street of the ruined city (Lam. 2:19).

Jeremiah makes no promises but his exhortation implies that God will hear the agonizing cry of His penitent people just as he heard their cry when they suffered during the Egyptian bondage (cf. Exo. 3:7).

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(17) The Lord hath done . . .The writer points, in opposition to the boasts of the enemies, to the true author of the misery of the people. In that thought, terrible as it might at first seem, there was an element of hope. It was better to fall into the hands of God than into those of men (2Sa. 24:14). The suffering came as a chastisement for past transgressions, and might therefore be mitigated by repentance. The Destroyer was also the Healer, and would answer the prayers of those who called on Him.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

THE CALL TO PRAYER, Lam 2:17-19.

17. Devised Better, purposed. This calamity was no fortuitous event, neither was it a mere devise of Jehovah, but simply the moving forward of the chariot-wheels of the divine administration. The Jewish nation had persisted in placing themselves and their interests in the way of these, and so, of course, the inevitable result must be ruin.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments