Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 4:15
They cried unto them, Depart ye; [it is] unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn [there].
15. Those who met these blood-stained priests and prophets in the street abhorred them, and warned them off with the cry which the leper was himself to raise, Unclean, unclean! (Lev 13:45). Theirs was a moral leprosy. The v., as it stands, is too long from the metrical point of view and so probably includes one or more glosses. Moreover the Heb. for “fled away” occurs here only. By the change of a consonant we get the root rendered (R.V.) “wanderer” in Gen 4:12. “The fate of Cain falls upon those who were guilty of his sin.” Pe.
When ] perhaps as mg. Yea.
they fled away and wandered, etc.] when they fled away, then they wandered. Abroad also men would have none of them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Men cried to these priests, Away! Unclean! Away! Away! Touch not. Unclean was the cry of the leper whenever he appeared in public: here it is the warning shout of those who meet the murderers.
When they fled away and wandered – These priests fled away from the city, but with uncertain steps, not knowing where to find refuge. They find themselves abhorred abroad as well as at home.
It is quite possible that this verse records a real occurrence, if not during the siege, at all events during the last years of Zedekiahs reign.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. When they fled away] These priests and prophets were so bad, that the very heathen did not like to permit them to sojourn among them. The prophet now resumes the history of the siege.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The various application of the pronoun they by interpreters makes them aa much divided in the sense of this as of the former verse. Either the Jews that made conscience of keeping to the law against touching dead bodies cried to the other Jews to leave the city as themselves did, the city being now so full of dead bodies that they could not stay in it without polluting themselves; or the priests called to them to that purpose; or their enemies spake in that language to them. For their enemies had resolved they should not stay in Jerusalem.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. They . . . them“They,”that is, “men” (La 4:14).Even the very Gentiles, regarded as unclean by the Jews,who were ordered most religiously to avoid all defilements, criedunto the latter, “depart,” as being unclean: souniversal was the defilement of the city by blood.
wanderedAs the falseprophets and their followers had “wandered” blind withinfatuated and idolatrous crime in the city (La4:14), so they must now “wander” among the heathen inblind consternation with calamity.
they saidthat is, theGentiles said: it was said among the heathen, “The Jewsshall no more sojourn in their own land” [GROTIUS];or, wheresoever they go in their wandering exile, “they shallnot stay long” [LUDOVICUSDE DIEU],(De 28:65).
Pe.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They cried unto them, depart ye, [it is] unclean,…. Or, O ye “unclean” e; that is, the people said so to the priests, being polluted with blood; they abhorred them, did not care they should come nigh them, but bid them keep at distance; they that cleansed others of leprosy were treated as leprous persons themselves, and proclaimed unclean, and shunned as such: and, to show their vehement abhorrence of them, repeated the words,
depart, depart, touch not: that is, touch us not; they who had used to say; to others, stand by yourselves, we are more holy than you, being the Lord’s priests and prophets, are treated after the same manner themselves:
when they fled away, and wandered; fled from the city, and wandered among the nations; or when they were swiftly carried away captives, and became vagabonds in other countries:
they said among the Heathens, they shall no more sojourn [there]; being among the Heathens, they took notice of them as very wicked men, and said concerning them, now they are carried out of their own land, they shall never return there any more, and dwell in Jerusalem, and officiate in the temple, as they had formerly done.
e “immunde”, Montanus; “immundi”, Strigelius. “gens polluta”, Vatablus; “discedite polluti”, Gataker.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet confirms the former verse, as I have said, even that no part of the city was free from filth, because they cried everywhere, “Depart, depart — unclean!” That what is said may be more evident to us, we must notice that the Prophet alludes (which also has not been perceived) to Lev 13:45. For it is said there of the lepers, whose disease was incurable, that they were to go with rent garments, with a bare head, with covered lips, and cry, “Unclean, unclean, טמא טמא יקרא thema, thema, ikora. God, then, would have the leprous to be driven from the assembly; and hence came into use the exclamation, Unclean, unclean, טמא טמא, thema, thema. But here the Prophet says, “Depart, depart — unclean סורו סורו טמא, suru suru thema; which is substantially the same as commanded in the law. Now the Prophet speaks metaphorically when he says, that the city was infected with uncleanness, as though lepers were everywhere. We hence see how all these things agree together, “They cried, Depart ye — unclean; depart ye, depart;” that is, no one can move a foot from his house, or go forth in public, but some uncleanness will appear to him, so that it might be rightly exclaimed, Unclean, depart ye, depart The Prophet, after having thus spoken, Depart ye, come not nigh says, they have fled. It is a striking allusion to the exile of the people, as though he had said, that they were driven afar off by their defilements. As then they were removed to a distant land, he says that this happened through their own fault; how so? because they could no longer endure these defilement’s of their sins; they had so contaminated the holy city, that it was foetid through their filth. As, then, the city Jerusalem was so polluted, the citizens, he says, at length fled away: and thus exile proceeded from themselves, that is, the cause of exile was their filth, because they contaminated the city. They have fled, he says, and have also wandered; that is, so great was their haste, that they kept not the right way, but turned here and there, as they usually do who hasten with trembling. For when any one travels, and his mind composed, he attends to the road that he may not go astray; but he who trembles, or is filled with fear, forgets the way, and wanders from the right course. So, then, our Prophet now says, that the Jews fled and also wandered; for he uses the particle גם, gam, also; they also wandered, he says, even through that trepidation by which they were smitten.
They have said among the nations, They shall not return to dwell; that is, they are scattered and driven among various nations without hope of returning.
We now see what the Prophet meant to show, even that the Jews had no reason to complain of their exile, because they had so infected the holy city with their vices, that they were hence driven by their own filth; this is one thing: and, then, that so great was the mass of their evils, that they were seized with fear; and thus they did not keep on the right way, but turned into devious paths and met darkness; and, in the last place, he adds, as a continuation of what he had said, that there was no hope of a return.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) They cried unto themi.e., these, as they passed, cried to the blood-stained priests. The cry unclean was that uttered by the leper as a warning to those he met (Lev. 13:45). Here it comes from those whom they meet, and who start back in their fear of defilement.
When they fled away.The words seem to refer to some lost facts, like those suggested by Lam. 4:14 : the murderers fleeing from their own countrymen, and finding themselves equally abhorred among the heathen.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. And so the people call out to them in the streets as to lepers.
Depart ye “Distance!”
Unclean Even among the heathen they are cast out and abhorred, for when they betake themselves thither it is only to meet the declaration, They shall no more sojourn there.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lam 4:15 They cried unto them, Depart ye; [it is] unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn [there].
Ver. 15. They cried unto them. ] The enemies in a mockery said aloud unto the Jews.
Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart.
They said among the heathen.
a A figure of speech, whereby the supposed words or actions of another are imitated
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Depart ye, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 18:46).
heathen = nations.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Reciprocal: Lev 13:45 – Unclean Lev 26:33 – General Isa 23:12 – there also Jer 9:19 – our Jer 33:24 – thus Lam 1:8 – all Lam 1:17 – Jerusalem Lam 2:9 – her king Lam 3:45 – as Zec 8:13 – a curse
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lam 4:15. They refers to men in general who observed the uncleanness of these murderers and bade them de-part. When they were exiled among the heathen (the Babylonians) the remark was made by those learning of the situation that these Jews were no longer permitted to sojourn in their own land because of their uncleanness.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Like lepers, they warned others to stay away from them (cf. Lev 13:45-46). They wandered away from their own people, and even the pagans did not want them living among them (cf. Deu 28:65-66). In Scripture, leprosy often illustrates the ravages of sin and death.
"As the false prophets and their followers had ’wandered’ blind with infatuated and idolatrous crime in the city (Lam 4:14), so they must now ’wander’ among the heathen in blind consternation with calamity." [Note: Jemieson, et al., p. 666.]