Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 1:8
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
8. is become (mg. is removed) as an unclean thing ] Targ. has become a wanderer, but the text is doubtless right.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
8, 9. These vv. in figurative language describe the Jewish people, as having brought upon itself through sin and consequent national humiliation the contempt of all its neighbours, while it is painfully conscious of its own ignominy (cp. Lam 4:21). The first two lines of Lam 1:9 are metrically irregular. Budde’s emendation (which, however, Lhr considers too drastic) is to take from Lam 1:8 the clause “she is thing” (omitting “therefore”) and place it after “skirts,” thus making “She remembered not wonderfully” to form the second portion of the tripartite arrangement, and omitting accordingly “she hath no comforter” (which would thus become hypermetrical) as an insertion suggested by Lam 1:2 ; Lam 1:17, or 21. Observe the sudden change of person in the last line of Lam 1:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Grievously sinned – literally, Jerusalem hath sinned a sin, giving the idea of a persistent continuance in wickedness.
Removed – Or, become an abomination. Sin has made Jerusalem an object of horror, and therefore she is cast away.
Yea, she sigheth … – Jerusalem groans over the infamy of her deeds thus brought to open shame, and turns her back upon the spectators in order to hide herself.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Lam 1:8-11
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed.
The captivity of Judah
The emphatic word is therefore. It rings with sad and solemn cadence through the most mournful of all the books of the Bible. It is the epitaph of the nation to which once the conquest of the world was possible, but whose persistent resistance to the will of God secured at last its complete destruction The processes by which it ruined itself are those by which individuals are destroyed. This therefore is the monumental inscription over a dead nation, which may serve as a warning and guide to every living soul.
I. The sins which brought about the downfall of Judah.
1. Unbelief. They refused to see God, and they gradually lost the power to see Him. When they found that their kings could not be trusted, could not take care of them they trusted, not to God, but to other nations. One day they were vassals of the king of Egypt; the next, of the king of Babylon Nothing but trust in God can make men free. As soon as we begin to doubt his word, and trust in human opinions, we expose ourselves to become the prey of untrustworthy powers. No confidence in our own learning or judgment, no trust in the boastful words of others, can ever take the place of confidence in the simple Word of God, and leave us sound and safe.
2. Pride. They could not accept Gods way. They could not wait for other nations to be uplifted and join them. They chose to join other nations. Doubtless they said it would more quickly bring the world to God; that to be singular would only repel men, and make God repulsive to them. They preferred their way to the way of God, ostensibly because They thought their way was wiser, really because they could not bear to lose esteem in the eyes of tree world Gods way is the same now. He still calls disciples a peculiar people. He still says, Come ye out from among them and be ye separate. He still finds only occasionally a hearty response. But to these who do respond with willing love, what wonderful rewards He gives!
3. Sensuality. Outward contamination soon resulted in inward corruption. Vice belongs with separation from God, and association with the world. In time it will as surely follow as it is sure that man is made subject to temptation.
4. Idolatry. When men or nations become polluted, they seek to make religion justify their wickedness. Often the most self-indulgent are those most devoted to their ideas of religion. They make their gods responsible for their sins, and therefore treat them with greatest care.
II. The consequences of Judahs sins.
1. Blindness. They could not see the ruin they were approaching. When we cease to lay bare our sins and call them by their real names, we cease to feel them. We enter into moral darkness. The light of the world shines as before, but there is nothing in us which answers to that light. All knowledge of what we ought to do rests on some knowledge of what God is and does. We speak of seeing God, and though He is not visible to the bodily eye, there is no other description which expresses our perception of His character and presence surrounding us in all our ways. Men have eyes which behold Him; eyes which He Himself has opened to that light which is not the light of the sun, but which is the light of the celestial city. But when men turn away from that light, His character becomes to them distorted and unreal.
2. Untrustworthiness. When they became false to God they became false to all trusts. They substituted forms for righteousness, and increased them in proportion as they lost the spirit of truth.
3. Misery. The consequences of sin were seen too late. They were not foreseen.
Lessons–
1. The captivity of Judah was the fault of her religious men. Beware of seeking to justify what your conscience condemns by appeals to God in prayer, or by observing forms of worship.
2. Outward reformation but slightly arrests the progress of destruction. We cannot hope for much from the reform which aims only at self-protection. It is not deep, honest, hearty, unless we choose to renounce sins because we hate sin, and follow God because we love His ways.
3. Sin destroys the choicest qualities of human character.
4. The one thing necessary is to keep the eye on God. (A. E. Dunning.)
Sins dire consequence
Sin produceth all temporal evil. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed. It is the Trojan horse; it hath sword and famine and pestilence within it. (T. Watson.)
Sin the cause of affliction
1. Their sins the cause of their afflictions being again mentioned unto them, teacheth this doctrine: that it is necessary whensoever we are afflicted, to recount often our sins to have procured the same to fall upon us.
(1) We are naturally unwilling to blame ourselves for anything, and ready to impute the cause of any evil to others.
(2) If we rightly charge ourselves and our sins, we shall be the better prepared thereby to true repentance and right humiliation.
2. It is peculiar to the godly to impute the cause of all their miseries unto their own sins. The wicked either lay the cause upon other things, or extenuate their fault, blaming God for rigour; or else break out into raging impatience or blasphemy.
3. It is our sin that depriveth us of any good thing we have heretofore enjoyed.
4. When we truly fear and serve the Lord, He honoureth us in the sight of men (1Sa 2:30).
(1) That it may appear that godliness is not without her reward even in this life.
(2) To give a taste unto the godly here, of that honour which they shall hereafter enjoy without measure or end.
5. It is our sin that maketh us odious and contemptible amongst men.
6. The estimation that the godly have among worldlings is only whilst they are in outward prosperity.
7. The wicked, that have no knowledge or consciousness of their own faults, can see the offences of the godly, and upbraid them with them.
8. There is nothing that maketh men so filthily naked as sin.
9. The godly do take to heart with earnest affection the crosses that the Lord layeth upon them.
10. The godly are sometimes brought into so hard estate as that they are in mens judgment utterly deprived of all the signs of Gods favour. (J. Udall.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
She is carried out of her own land into an enemys country, and made a hissing and scorn to those who before reverenced her, (in all this God is righteous, for all orders of men have grievously sinned,) because they have seen the Lord stripping her of all her blessings, and exposing her to the scorn and reproach of all men, as strumpets are exposed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. (1Ki8:46).
is removedas a womanseparated from the congregation of God for legal impurity, which is atype of moral impurity. So Lam 1:17;Lev 12:2; Lev 15:19,&c.
her nakednessThey havetreated her as contumeliously as courtesans from whom their clothesare stripped.
turneth backwardasmodest women do from shame, that is, she is cast down from all hopeof restoration [CALVIN].
Teth.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned,…. Or, “hath sinned a sin” r; a great sin, as the Targum; the sin of idolatry, according to some; or of covenant breaking, as others; though perhaps no particular sin is meant, but many grievous sins; since she was guilty of a multitude of them, as in La 1:5;
therefore she is removed; out of her own land, and carried captive into another: or, is “for commotion” s; for scorn and derision; the head being moved and shook at her by way of contempt: or rather, “for separation” t; she being like a menstruous woman, defiled and separate from society:
all that honoured her despise her; they that courted her friendship and alliance in the time of her prosperity, as the Egyptians, now neglected her, and treated her with the utmost contempt, being in adversity:
because they have seen her nakedness; being stripped of all her good things she before enjoyed; and both her weakness and her wickedness being exposed to public view. The allusion is either to harlots, or rather to modest women, when taken captive, whose nakedness is uncovered by the brutish and inhuman soldiers:
yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward; being covered with shame, because of the ill usage of her, as modest women will, being so used.
r “peccatum peccavit”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus. s “in commotionem”, Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin. t “Ut separata”, Grotius; “tanquam ex immunditia separata est”, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But Jerusalem has brought this unutterable misery on herself through her grievous sins. is intensified by the noun , instead of the inf. abs., as in Jer 46:5. Jerusalem has sinned grievously, and therefore has become an object of aversion. does not mean (lxx), or instabilis (Vulgate); nor is it, with the Chaldee, Raschi, and most of the ancient expositors, to be derived from : we must rather, with modern expositors, regard it as a lengthened form of , which indeed is the reading given in twenty codices of Kennicott. Regarding these forms, cf. Ewald, 84, a. ( prop. what one should flee from) signifies in particular the uncleanness of the menstrual discharge in women, Lev 12:2, Lev 12:5, etc.; then the uncleanness of a woman in this condition, Lev 15:19, etc.; here it is transferred to Jerusalem, personified as such an unclean woman, and therefore shunned. , the Hiphil of (as to the form, cf. Ewald, 114, c), occurs only in this passage, and signifies to esteem lightly, the opposite of , to esteem, value highly; hence , “despised,” Lam 1:11, as in Jer 15:19. Those who formerly esteemed her – her friends, and those who honoured her, i.e., her allies – now despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. The nakedness of Jerusalem means her sins and vices that have now come to the light. She herself also, through the judgment that has befallen her, has come to see the infamy of her deeds, sighs over them, and turns away for shame, i.e., withdraws from the people so that they may no longer look on her in her shame.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Vs. 8-11: HER RUIN THROUGH SIN
1. So grievous has been the sin of Jerusalem, who defiled herself in the demoralizing worship of Baal, that those who once honored her now despise her because they have seen her nakedness, (vs. 8; Isa 59:2-13; Jer 2:22-25); thus, she groans and turns her back.
2. While habitually indulging such filthiness, she gave no thoug t to the consequence of her actions, (vs. 9; Deu 32:28-29; Eze 24:13-14).
a. Thus, she has descended from the throne into abject slavery -where there is no rest, and no one to comfort her.
b. Cringing before the arrogance of the enemy, she calls upon the LORD, whose name she has desecrated by her fornications -asking Him to BEHOLD her afflictions!
c. Instead of castigating her for. her folly, wisdom dictates that we inquire concerning the reality of our own cleanliness, faithfulness, and thoughtfulness before God! both as individuals and as churches, (Mat 15:18; 1Co 3:16-17).
3. The heathen, who were not permitted to enter the temple for worship (because they were both morally and ceremonially unclean, Deu 13:1-14) have now entered to plunder its furniture, and the sacred vessels used in the worship of Jehovah, (vs. 10; Jer 51:51; Jer 52:17-20; Psa 74:4-8).
4. Having already sold their valuables, in an effort to obtain food, verse 11 pictures the inhabitants of Jerusalem as groaning in hunger, (Jer 38:9; Jer 52:6) – evidently just prior to the collapse of resistance in 587 B.C.
a. In misery, Jerusalem cries for Jehovah to behold how abject and despised she has become, (Jer 15:9).
b. Yet, if one listens closely throughout these dirges, he will, many times, hear the voice of the Messiah Himself – identifying Himself with His people in their sin, and suffering divine wrath as a consequence, that they may ultimately be identified with Him in His triumphant righteousness and radiant glory! (1Co 1:30-31; 2Co 5:21).
c. Let us carefully observe that He who was sent to call “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” to repentance; wept – over both her desolation and destruction! (Luk 13:34-35; Luk 19:41-44).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here the Prophet expresses more clearly and strongly what he had briefly referred to, even that all the evil which the Jews suffered proceeded from God’s vengeance, and that they were worthy of such a punishment, because they had not lightly offended, but had heaped up for themselves a dreadful judgment, since they had in all manner of ways abandoned themselves to impiety. This is the substance of what is said. We hence learn that the Prophet did not compose this song to lament the calamity of his own country as heathens were wont to do. An example of a heathen lamentation we have in Virgil: —
“
Come is the great day and the unavoidable time Of Dardania: we Trojans have been; Ilium has been, And the great glory of the Teuerians: cruel Jupiter has to Argos Transferred all things: the Danai rule in the burnt city.” (130)
He also repeats the same sentiment in other words: —
“
O country! O Ilium, the house of the gods! and the famous for war, The camp of the Dardanidans! cruel Jupiter has to Argos Transferred all things.” (131)
He thus mourns the destruction of Troy; but he complains of the cruelty of God, and calls Him cruel Jupiter, because he was himself enraged, and yet the speaker was Pantheus the priest of Apollo. We hence see how the unbelieving, when they lament their own calamities, vomit forth blasphemies against. God, for they are exasperated by sorrow. Very different is the complaint of the Prophet from that of the ungodly; for when he deplores the miseries of his people, he at the same time adds that God is a righteous avenger. He does not then accuse God of cruelty or of too much rigor, but reminds the people to humble themselves before God and to confess that they justly deserved all their evils.
The unbelieving do indeed sometimes mingle some words, by which they seem to give glory to God; but they are evanescent, for they soon return to their perverseness. They are sometimes moderate, “If thou art turned by any entreaties.” In that case they expostulate with God:, as though he were deaf to the prayers of his servants. At length they break out into open blasphemies, —
“
After it seemed good to the gods to subvert the affairs of Asia And the undeserved nation of Priam.” (132) —
They regarded the nation which had been cut off unworthy of such a punishment; they called it an undeserved nation. Now, then, we perceive what is the difference between the unbelieving and the children of God. For it is common to all to mourn in adversities; but the end of the mourning of the unbelieving is perverseness, which at length breaks out into rage, when they feel their evils, and they do not in the meantime humble themselves before God. But the faithful do not harden themselves in their mourning, but reflect on themselves and examine their own life, and of their own accord prostrate themselves before God, and willingly submit to the sentence of condemnation, and confess that God is just.
We hence now see how the calamity of the Church ought to be lamented by us, even that we are to return to this principle, that God is a just avenger, and does not punish common offenses only, but the greatest sins, and that when he reduces us to extremities, lie does so on account of the greatness of our sins, as also Daniel confessed. For it was not in few words that he declared that the people were worthy of exile and of the punishment which they suffered; but he accumulated words,
We have sinned, we have acted impiously, we have done wickedly, we have been transgressors.” (Dan 9:5.)
Nor was the Prophet satisfied without this enumeration, for he saw how great the impiety of the people had been, and how mad had been their obstinacy, not for a few years, but for that long time, during which they had been warned by the prophets, and yet they repented not, but always became worse and worse. Such, then, is the mode of speaking adopted here.
He says that she was made a commotion, that is, that she was removed from her country. There seems to be implied a contrast between the rest which had been promised to the Jews, and a wandering and vagrant exile; for, as we have seen, the Jews had not only been banished, but they had nowhere a quiet dwelling; it was even a commotion. This may at the same time be referred to the curse of the law, because they were to be for a commotion — for even the unbelieving shook their heads at them. But the word, נידה, nide, ought properly to be applied to their exile, when the Jews became unfixed and vagrant. (133) It is added, that she was despised and treated reproachfully by all who before esteemed and honored her. This also did not a little increase the grievousness of her calamity; she had been repudiated by her friends, by whom she had before been valued and honored. The reason is mentioned, because they saw her nakedness. But the word properly means turpitude or ignominy. It is at length added, that she even groaned and turned backward; that is, that she was so oppressed with grief, that there was no hope of a remedy; for to turn backward means the same as to be deprived of all hope of restoration. (134) It now follows, —
(130)
“
Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus Dardaniae: fuimus Troes; fuit Ilium et ingens Gloria Teucrorum: ferus omnia Jupiter Argos Transtulit: incensa Danai dominantur in urbe .” Virg. AEn. 2.
(131)
“
O patria! O divum domus Ilium! Et inclyta bello Moenia Dardanidum! Ferus omnia Jupiter Argos Transtulit .” — AEn 2.
(132)
“
Postquam res Asiae, Priamique everterre gentem Immeritam visum Superis .” — Virg. AEn. 3.
(133) “Fluctuation,” by the Sept. ; “instable,” by the Vulg. : “vagrant,” or wandering, by the Targ. ; and “horror”, by the Syr. The verb means to remove; and the reference here is evidently to banishment, and not to uncleanness, as some take it, because the noun is sometimes so taken, persons being removed from society on account of uncleanness. — Ed.
(134) “To turn back” or backward, is a phrase which some regard as expressive of shame, as those who feel shame recede from the public view and hide themselves. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
EXEGETICAL NOTES.
() Lam. 1:8. Jerusalem has sinned a sin, has broken the law of her God with determinate will, and bears the natural penalty; therefore she is become as an unclean one; not as one who has been removed (Authorised Version) as a captive from her native place, but as one set aside because of impurity. All who honoured her despise her, for they see her nakedness; her evil is laid bare; the very peoples who had respected her, and who had far less knowledge of what was right and true than she, are now alive to the real character of her procedure, and count it shamefully bad. Even Nebuzar-adan, captain of the Babylonian guard, could say, after her overthrow, Because ye have sinned against Jehovah and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing is come upon you (Jer. 40:3). There was still a sensitiveness of conscience in the ideal Jerusalem; Yea, she sighs and turns backward, moaning, as if conscious of spectators and mortified by her open shame, she is fain to screen herself, as those in such case would do that have any shamefacedness or spark of ingenuity at all in them.
() Lam. 1:9. Her evil is very obvious, her defilement is in her skirts, not below, but manifest on her long flowing robe; she remembers not her latter end; as she continued sinning, she paid no regard to the issue of it all, and, in consequence of this want of forethought, she is come down wonderfully, down to the lowest depth of misery, an astonishment to herself, and to all around her; there is no comforter for her. Her conviction of sin, and shame, and sorrow impels her to go to her God, and she cries, See, O Jehovah, my affliction, for the enemy doth magnify himself, the appeal is supported on two bases:
(1) Her humiliation; and,
(2) The arrogant pretensions of her foes; surely with some vague hope like that of the Psalm-writer, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me; thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of thine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me (Psa. 138:7).
() Lam. 1:10. His hand the adversary stretches out upon all her pleasant things, treasures of all sorts, thus described by Isaiah (Isa. 64:11-12), Thy holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion is become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste. The plundering of the Temple was the most aggravating of all, for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thine assembly; heathens, who were not admissible even into the congregation of the Lordinto religious communion with Israelhad trod the courts which were most holy to Jewish worshippers, and where only priests could legitimately go, and they had pillaged the pleasant vessels of the house of Jehovah, therewith to adorn the shrines of their idol deities.
() Lam. 1:11. In Lam. 1:4 the priests sigh; in Lam. 1:8 Jerusalem sighs, and here one and all, because in addition to the religious collapse, a terrible bodily hunger is universally felt, so all her people are sighing, are seeking bread. This use of participles signifies that both the past and present condition of the people is regarded by the writer. He saw that the scanty meals to which they were reduced when beleaguered by the Chaldean army had not ended after the Temple had been desecrated and despoiled; they had parted and were parting with ornaments, jewellery, every one of their valuables, merely to keep body and soul together; they give their pleasant things for food; after a close siege of eighteen months, preceded by the overrunning of the country, food-supplies must have been all but exhausted; to restore their soul, to bring back life, to those who are drawn unto death (1Ki. 17:21), and spiritually to restore the soul (Psa. 19:8). There is bread of which if any man eat he shall live for ever, given by Him who gave His flesh for the life of the world. Was there any undefinable longing for such bread in the following appeal, similar to that of Lam. 1:9, but somewhat intensified? See, O Jehovah, and behold, for I am become despised! Would He take away her reproach? Thus a transition is made to the lamentation and supplication of Jerusalem herself in the following half of this elegy.
HOMILETICS
THE TERRIBLE HAVOC OF SIN
(Lam. 1:8-11)
I. In its revolting defilement. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed. Her filthiness is in her skirts (Lam. 1:8-9). The expression grievously sinned gives the idea of persistent continuance in wickedness. This condition is not reached all at once. It began in trifling with the first enticements to evil. The entrance to the pathway of sin is gaily decked with flowers, but they are flowers that wither as soon as they are plucked. It is over-hung with tempting fruits, but they are fruits that turn to bitter ashes between the teeth. It is sprinkled with subtle and delicious perfumes, but they are perfumes that distil the poison of the deadliest drug. The air around palpitates with strains of bewitching music, but it is music that lures its charmed victim down the dizzy slopes of irreparable ruin. The allurement may be presented in the shape of a book, a picture, or a whispered word, that suggests more of evil than it actually expresses, and the soul is blotted with a moral stain that rivers of tears cannot wash away. Every act of sin increases the defilement, and it becomes the more exposed.
II. In sinking the soul to a state of abject degradation. Therefore she came down wonderfully; she had no comforter (Lam. 1:9). You have seen the little snowflakes flutter about the railway track like lovely bits of down shook from angelic wings, and you have seen with what ease the proud locomotive scatters the fleecy morsels in the early stages of the storm; but the falling atoms increase with such rapidity and accumulative force, that the panting engine is at length completely mastered, and, utterly exhausted, lies buried fathoms deep beneath the crystal drift. So in the early stages of transgression, the soul deems itself capable of throwing off every little temptation that beguiles, and, when it is too late, discovers itself so completely bound in their toils that all efforts to escape are ineffectual.
1. Sin dishonours the soul in the estimation of others. All that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness (Lam. 1:8). The first step downwards is to sink in the estimation of others. Their commendation sustained us and helped us to keep up to a certain standard of conduct. Others may see the tendency of our sins before we see it ourselves. When others show their disapproval and despise us for our folly, it is time to pause and reflect.
2. Sin dishonours the soul in its own estimation. Yea, she sigheth and turneth backward (Lam. 1:8). It is a lower depth when a man sinks in his own estimation, when he cannot courageously confront others, or even face up his better self. Sin saps the strength of our manhood. To be conscious of sin and ashamed of it are the first hopeful signs of repentance; but if the repentance is not prompt and genuine, the soul is in danger of becoming more thoroughly demoralised. Such a critical moment comes in most mens lives (Psa. 73:2).
III. In rendering the soul reckless as to consequences. She remembereth not her last endhad not thought of the sure end of her sins (Lam. 1:9). The down grade is steep, and every step increases the momentum of the terrible descent. One sin leads to another, and that to another in darker and deeper gradations, until the light of hope is quenched, and the helpless victim gropes about aimlessly in the ever-deepening gloom of despair. The soul is now and then haunted with the shadow of a coming reckoning day; but it seems a great way off, and may never come. The reckoning day does come.
IV. In its desecration of sacred things (Lam. 1:10). Even the Jew was prohibited from entering the innermost sanctuary, and now the prophet laments that the heathen conquerors force their way into the holy place and plunder Jehovahs Temple, that they may adorn with its sacred vessels the shrines of their false deities. It was desecration to enter the sanctuary, and high sacrilege to rob it of its pleasant things. Sin knows no respect of persons or places. It obtrudes with shameless effrontery into the holiest place, and is callous as to the havoc it works.
V. In reducing a people to distress and want. All her people sigh; they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul (Lam. 1:11). Famine follows in the train of war. A siege lasting a year and a half exhausted the surrounding country, and the Chaldean army would have difficulty in supplying its own commissariat. In the hope that the present scarcity will pass away, the people dispose of the wealth and precious jewels that remain to them for the merest trifles of food. Sin is the prolific cause of war, famine, and the acutest forms of personal and national suffering. Money is valueless when it can purchase nothing in exchangeit cannot prolong the life of the starving. The best things are capable of the worst abuse. The very abuse may test the value.
VI. Compels the soul to appeal to the Divine compassion. O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy hath magnified himself (Lam. 1:9). See, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile. I am despised (Lam. 1:11). It is not our vileness that can form a ground of appeal to the Divine consideration, but the abject misery into which our vileness has brought us. God does not pity our sins, but He does pity the distress they occasion, though that distress is the direct result of our obstinate violation of His laws and disregard of His repeated warnings. Suffering is a severe teacher. It is a mercy when the eyes of the sinner are at length opened, and, seeing that his sins are the cause of his trouble, he cries to God for help. Long and patiently does God wait for such a cry; and then with what gracious speed does He hasten to our rescue!
LESSONS.
1. Sin demoralises wherever it reigns.
2. Is the occasion of unspeakable suffering.
3. Can be cured only by Divine remedies.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Lam. 1:8. She sigheth and turneth backward. Conscious sin:
1. A painful humiliation.
2. The first step in genuine repentance.
3. Should induce the soul to seek immediate deliverance.
Lam. 1:9. She remembereth not her last end. The course of sin:
1. Delusive in its beginning.
2. Hardens the transgressor into reckless indifference.
3. Is certain to endin ruin.
Sin an implacable foe. I. Drags down the soul to comfortless depths. Wherefore she came down wonderfully; she had no comforter. II. Exults over the misery of its victims. The enemy hath magnified himself. See how proudly the foe deals with me (Geikie). III. Convinces the soul that its only resource is in the Divine pity. O Lord, behold my affliction.
Lam. 1:10. Heathenism a moral obliquity. I. Sees no sin in theft. The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things. II. Has no scruples in desecrating the holiest place. The heathen entered into her sanctuary. III. Disregards the Divine laws. Thou didst command that they should not enter into Thy congregation.
Lam. 1:11. The extremities of famine. I. A sorrowful craving for food. All her people sigh; they seek bread. II. Desperate efforts made to retain life. To relieve the soulto keep them alive. III. The dearest treasures readily sacrificed. They have given their pleasant things for meat.
ILLUSTRATIONS.Sin the danger of great cities. The spiritual destitution of London is something appalling. There are 10,000 prostitutesa procession a mile long, walking double fileall somebodys daughters. There are 20,000 thievestwo miles more of that dread procession, and there are 100,000 uncared for children, making the procession ten miles in length. These are what John Bright called the residuum, and Dr. Chalmers the lapsed classes. In their abodes every breath is poison; they are so crowded together that morality is impossible. Such a glimpse of spiritual destitution ought to arouse the heart, not only of every Christian, but of every patriot.
Sin stupifies. Oh, how difficult it is to awake some men to a sense of danger or duty. Happening to be lounging in the market-place of a little seaport town in France, I saw with some surprise several men in a caf inhaling the fumes of opium through a tobacco-pipe. By-and-by the wife of one of these men called for her husband to return home in their little market-cart. But he, being in a poisoned slumber, was unconscious of her existence, and oblivious of things about him. She lifted him up and shook him, but he would not awake till the honied-trance stupor was ended. So some of us are steeped in the opium-lethargy of sin, and will not awake. It is not that we cannot; we will not.
Sin a disease. A minister once met a man in the street who was afflicted with heart-disease, and said he could not sleep, and that the doctor could do nothing for him. Ah! said the minister, the worst form of heart-disease is sin. Yet people go about with the disease; they do not know it, and they sleep quite soundly. Now, it is my business to tell them how matters stand, and to try to disturb their sleep, for I can tell them of a physician who can cure them. Have you been to Christ with your sins? The man was silent, but went away deeply impressed.
Sin and individuality. I remember as though it were yesterday the moment when the idea of individual identity dawned upon my boyish mind. The thought appalled me, for I had been looking at a wretched little beggar-boy with a crutch, a dirty face, and miserable rags for garments, and it had just occurred to me that he was not to himself merely an unpleasant object, to be sent away out of sight with some dole of pennies or broken fragments of food, but just the I that I was to myself, as precious, as important; and I grew cold from head to foot, and felt as though I must do something to alter it all. After all these years the horror abides with me yet. I do not know whether others feel it as keenly, but it is to me worse than any ghost could be to remember the wretched people of the worldthe prisoners in their cells, convicts in their chains, men doomed to die upon the gallows at dawn, women who sell their souls for bread or jewels, beggars gnawing their crusts by the roadsides, sufferers whose every breath is agony, wives whose hearts are broken by the cruelty of the husbands who were once their lovers, men who are plotting murder and men who are committing it, lepers in the cities of lepers holding out their mouldering hands for alms as strangers flee by their gates. To remember these, and many, many more, wicked or accursed, crushed beneath loads of crime and sorrow too heavy to be borne, and to know when we clasp our hands or drop a tear, and say with a shudder, as we sometimes do, And it might have been I: that it actually is I to some one! It is a terrible thought, and yet we should not set it aside. Surely nothing could prompt us so strongly to do all we can for those who sin or suffer.
Sin a double defect. The verb used oftenest in the New Testament, sin, means literally to miss the mark. The corresponding nouns have, of course, similar meanings. The idea conveyed is deviation from a standard at which men ought to aim, and which they ought to reach. They may miss it by going beyond, as well as by falling short. The moral idea is the same as that of omission and transgression.The Scottish Pulpit.
The course of sin.
We are not worst at once. The course of evil
Begins so slowly and from such slight source,
An infants hand might stem its breach with clay;
But let the stream get deeper, and philosophy shall strive in vain
To turn the headlong current.
Sin a foe, but not invincible. It is said that the late Lord Ampthill, when on diplomatic service in Rome, possessed a boa-constrictor, and interested himself in watching its habits. One day the monster escaped from the box where he supposed it was asleep, quietly wound itself around his body, and began gradually to tighten its folds. His position became extremely perilous; but the consummate coolness and self-possession which had enabled him to win many a diplomatic triumph befriended him in this dangerous emergency. He remembered there was a bone in the throat of the serpent which, if he could find and break, he would save himself. He was aware that either he or the snake must perish. Not a moment must be lost in hesitation. He deliberately seized the head of the serpent, thrust his hand down its throat, and smashed the vital bone. The coils were relaxed, the victim fell dead at his feet, and he was free! So in all wickedness there is weakness, and it is a grand thing to discern the vulnerable spot, and be ready with the exact truth, fact, or promise which deals death to the foe. This insight and power are given to all who prayerfully study Gods Word.
Heathen worship a performance. Marcus Varro, the great Roman antiquarian, wrote forty-one books on the Pagan cultus. He speaks of three orders of godsthe certain gods, the uncertain gods, and the chief and select gods. Referring to the worship offered to these various deities, he arranges his material under four divisionswho perform, where they perform, when they perform, what they perform. How true it is that, apart from genuine spiritual religion, all worship, and especially heathen worship, is but a scenic, pantomimic performance!
Light for heathen darkness. The simile dark as a coal-pit will soon lose its meaning and become obsolete. A colliery company has abolished the miners lamp and lit up one of their pits with electric lamps, placed at intervals of fifteen yards apart. Indeed, the depths of earth and sea arc now to be illuminated. One of the difficulties of the deep-sea diver has been the comparative darkness in which he has had to go about his work at the bottom of the ocean. Now a French engineer has constructed a lamp, supplied with petroleum, which burns as well under water as in the open air. By an ingenious contrivance it can be lighted at the bottom of the sea, and with the aid of its friendly light the diver is enabled to discover his greatest treasures. So the earnest missionary penetrates the dark depths of heathenism, holding the lamp of Divine truth, flaming with the burning love of the worlds Redeemer, and picks up the most degraded victims of idolatry, who, penetrated and refined by the same Divine light that first found them out, shall shine with the lustre of the finest jewels.The Scottish Pulpit.
The horrors of famine. The besieged city of Leyden was at its last gasp. Bread, malt-cake, horse-flesh, had entirely disappeared; dogs, cats, rats, and other vermin were esteemed luxuries. A small number of cows, kept as long as possible for their milk, still remained; but a few were killed from day to day, and distributed in minute proportions, hardly sufficient to support life among the famishing population. Starving wretches swarmed daily around the shambles where these cattle were slaughtered, contending for any morsel which might fall, and eagerly lapping the blood as it ran along the pavement, while the hides, chopped and boiled, were greedily devoured. Women and children all day long were seen searching gutters and dunghills for morsels of food which they disputed fiercely with the famishing dogs. The green leaves were stripped from the trees, every living herb was converted into human food, but these expedients could not avert starvation. The daily mortality was frightfulinfants starved to death on the maternal breasts which famine had parched and withered, mothers dropped dead in the streets with their dead children in their arms. A disorder called the plague, naturally engendered of hardship and famine, now came, as if in kindness, to abridge the agony of the people. The pestilence stalked at noonday through the city, and the doomed inhabitants fell like grass beneath its scythe. From six to eight thousand human beings sank before this scourge alone; yet the people resolutely held out, women and men mutually encouraging each other to resist the entrance of their foreign foean evil more horrible than pest or famine.Motleys Dutch Republic.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
B. Explanation of the Present Condition of Zion
Lam. 1:8-9 a
TRANSLATION
(8) Jerusalem sinned grievously and therefore she has become filthy; all who once honored her now despise her, having seen her nakedness; even she herself sighs and turns away. (9) Her uncleanness was in her skirts! She did not remember her end and so her fall is terrible, she has no one to comfort her.
COMMENTS
Having hinted at the reason for Zions present misery in Lam. 1:5, the poet now develops that theme. The root of Jerusalems trouble lay in the fact that she had sinned grievously against her God. Those who once honored Zion now have no respect for her. As God began to strip Zion of her splendor only filth could be seen, the filth of blatant sins and vices. An individual or nation that commits iniquity forfeits the respect of others. Sin results ultimately in contempt. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people (Pro. 14:34). Even Zion herself moans and turns away in shame as her filthiness comes into public view (Lam. 1:8). When one begins to gain some insight into the true character of sin he is shocked and shamed. He cannot stand to face the gaze of others let alone the scrutiny of God. For a time Zion was able to conceal her filthiness beneath skirts of external prosperity. Her sin was an inward perversity. She was as morally unclean as a menstrous woman was ceremonially unclean under the law of Moses. Yet during the period of her prosperity she gave no thought to her latter end i.e., the ultimate consequences of her evil ways. She lived only for the present and deceived herself into believing that Gods repeated threats of national destruction simply could not come to pass. This is what made her final fall so shocking, so inconceivable, so terrible. That plus the fact that she had no one to comfort her or extend sympathy to her (Lam. 1:9). How much more bitter ones grief and loss when no one else really cares!
C. A Prayer Concerning the Present condition of Zion Lam. 1:9 b Lam. 1:11
TRANSLATION
(9) Behold, O LORD, my affliction, for the enemy has exalted himself. (10) The foe has spread forth his hand over her precious things. She has even seen the Gentiles entering her sanctuary, those whom You have forbidden to enter Your congregation. (11) All of her people are sighing as they seek bread; they trade their precious things for bread. Behold, O LORD, and observe! For I am dismayed.
COMMENTS
Keenly feeling Judahs affliction as his own Jeremiah cries out in desperation to God. In narrative prayer he summarizes the present plight of Zion. The enemy has become haughty and overbearing (Lam. 1:9). All of the precious things, the gracious gifts that God had given Judah, had fallen into the hand of the enemy. Gentiles had even desecrated the sacred precincts of the Temple (Lam. 1:10). The people of Jerusalem groveled for enough food to keep alive. They were forced to trade their most valuable possessions for their daily bread. As the spokesman for his people Jeremiah calls upon God to take note of the misery of His people and the dismay of His prophet (Lam. 1:11).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(8) Therefore she is removed.The verb is used technically for the separation of a woman under ceremonial defilement; and the daughter of Zion in her sin and shame is compared (as in Lam. 1:17) to such a woman. The figure is continued with a startling boldness. Like a woman exposed to the gaze of scorners, Jerusalem would fain turn her back upon those who exult in the twofold nakedness of her sin and of its punishment.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Is removed More correctly, is become an abomination; and so it expresses the key-thought of this verse and the following.
She sigheth, and turneth backward As a modest woman would do from shame.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
What Jerusalem Has Become ( Lam 1:8-11 ).
Having outlined what Jerusalem had lost the prophet now turns his thoughts to what she has become. She has become like a menstrual woman whose situation is visibly revealed to the world, a suggestive picture that would have brought horror to men and women alike. Menstruation was seen as something to be kept hidden and to be ashamed of. And menstruation was seen as especially horrific in Judah/Israel for it was a means by which people were rendered ritually ‘unclean’ (Lev 15:19 ff). Furthermore, what was worse, as a result of her failure unqualified strangers had entered into God’s holy place, stealing its treasures and rendering it unclean by their presence. One uncleanness leads to another. And meanwhile her people had had to trade their own personal treasures simply in order to obtain the food that enabled them to survive.
Lam 1:8
(Cheth) Jerusalem has grievously sinned,
Therefore she is become as an unclean thing,
All who honoured her despise her,
Because they have seen her nakedness,
Yes, she sighs,
And turns backward.
Note the emphasis on the fact that all this was because ‘Jerusalem has grievously sinned’. And by sin is meant breaches of the covenant, both ritual and moral. They had played havoc with God’s covenant by murder, adultery, theft, perjury and covetousness, they had wallowed in idolatry (Jer 7:9; Jer 17:1-2), and all this had been exposed to the world, revealing her as a religious harlot. It was because of their sin that they had become like a menstrual woman whose nakedness was revealed. This would have literally occurred at the taking of Jerusalem with the enemy soldiers taking great delight in seizing menstruating women, ripping their clothes, and exposing them to the world. But it was also true metaphorically of Jerusalem as her sins and idolatry were also revealed to the world, causing her who had once been honoured, to be despised. She had defiled the religion of YHWH. She is then depicted as sighing deeply in her misery and shame at her exposure, and desperately and hopelessly trying to hide her condition by turning her back, hoping to hide herself from prying eyes, a totally useless enterprise, but it was all that she could do. She was unable to remove her sin. Indeed her means for doing so (the Temple ritual) had been destroyed.
Lam 1:9
(Teth) Her filthiness was in her skirts,
She did not remember what would follow for her later (her latter end/future),
Therefore is she come down spectacularly (wonderfully),
She has no comforter,
Behold, O YHWH, my affliction,
For the enemy has magnified himself.
She had not been concerned about the fact that she was defiling herself, and so she had wallowed in her dirt, because she had failed to consider what the final result might be. She had gloried in her uncleanness. Her collapse when it came was therefore both total and spectacular, with no one to turn to for comfort. Jerusalem now lay in ruins, with no one concerned about her of all her erstwhile allies, whilst her God also seemed far away.
We live today in times when uncleanness and immorality are being openly exposed to the world with no sense of shame. We too should recognise that our nations are heading for a spectacular fall.
The picture was so awful to the prophet’s mind that he cried out to YHWH even as he wrote. For he saw the affliction of Jerusalem as his own affliction. He shared in her misery. (We do not therefore need to choose between seeing this prayer as that of the prophet or that of a stricken Jerusalem. It was both). And he sought to draw YHWH’s attention to how their enemy was magnifying himself, and that included magnifying his gods. And by it the enemy were therefore deriding YHWH (‘the God of Israel’). Let God act therefore to defend His Name. It is a reminder that we too should identify ourselves with the sins of our nations, and should weep as the prophet wept, concerned for the honour of our God.
Lam 1:10
(Yod) The adversary has spread out his hand,
On all her pleasant things,
For she has seen that the nations,
Are entered into her sanctuary,
Concerning whom you commanded,
That they should not enter into your assembly.
The thought of the uncleanness of the nation now reminded the writer of what he saw as the most dreadful thing of all. The picture of the defiled, menstrual woman drew his attention to an even worse situation, the defilement of God’s sanctuary that had resulted from it. As always happens the defilement had spread to God’s house. The enemy had not hesitated to spread out his hands and gather in all Jerusalem’s treasures (Jer 52:17-23), and in order to do so had trespassed on both the area of the sanctuary reserved only for the priests, and on the area especially which no man could enter because the Ark of YHWH was there. Foreign feet, which should not even have been allowed to become a part of the festal gathering (assembly), had trampled God’s Holy Place, where none but the especially sanctified could enter. And they had even entered the Holiest of All. And this was due to Jerusalem’s sins. The writer was horrified at the thought.
We also need to remember that when we sin we defile God’s Name and, if it is unrepented of, we carry our sin with us into the gathering of God’s people. We do not therefore just defile ourselves, we defile God’s holy Temple, His people.
Lam 1:11
(Kaph) All her people sigh,
They seek bread,
They have given their pleasant things,
For food to refresh the life within them (‘to cause life to return’),
See, O YHWH, and behold,
For I am become abject.
One of the consequences of all that had happened was that the people were now in extreme poverty. They were sighing at the miseries that had come on them, and they were so desperate to obtain food for themselves and their families, that in order to obtain it they were selling off their last remaining treasured possessions, even their children (for a reminder of the shortage of food during the sieges see 2Ki 6:25-29; Jer 37:21; Jer 38:9; Jer 52:6, but their hapless condition would continue afterwards, for they would not be well looked after by their captors). For even the richest was poor now. They had truly become an object of pity. And pity was what the writer felt as he looked on the situation. Once again it turns him to prayer as he identifies himself with his people and calls on YHWH to see his and their abject state.
It is a reminder that we also should be aware of, and pray about, the miseries of others when they are caught up in catastrophe, entering into their experience with them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lam 1:8. Because they have seen her nakedness That is to say, her disgrace. For, according to the idea of those times, nothing could be inflicted more ignominious or disgraceful than to strip them of their garments. There are others who give the passage a different turn.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself. The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation. All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile. Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
I again make a pause at the close of this memorable verse, and beg the Reader to judge for himself, whether without violence to the verse, and indeed to the general scope of the whole book of Lamentations, which this verse seems to become a clue to, in explaining, we may. but behold a greater than the mournful Prophet Jeremiah here. When we consider that Christ and his Church are one, and that from
everlasting; and that in all the Church’s affliction he was afflicted; surely we may look beyond the Prophet Jeremiah’s days, and contemplate Christ as thus speaking, when he stood forth the Church’s representative and surety in the days of his flesh. See in testimony to this opinion, Isa 53 throughout, and the Evangelists on the crucifixion.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore is she removed” Lam 1:8
God does not inflict the punishment without giving the reason. He has no need to explain to men why punishment is awarded, yet he is condescending enough to say that punishment is the counterpart of iniquity. If we want to explain the punishment we have only to look at the sin; the punishment is from above, but the cause is from within: in proportion as a man looks at himself, studies his own nature and fully acquaints himself with the quality of his own motives, will he understand why it is that his life is troubled and torn and pained exceedingly. Any facts to the contrary are not sufficient in number or in quality to justify another conclusion. These facts have been recognised by the religious observers of all ages, and they have always been associated with another series of facts, to the effect that the triumph of the wicked was short, and the fatness of the unrighteous was as the fatness of oxen prepared for the slaughter. All nature testifies that only to goodness is reward given, and only to righteousness can heaven be promised.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Lam 1:8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
Ver. 8. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned. ] Perpetuo, assidue, et graviter peccavit. Heb., Hath sinned sin, hath sinned sinningly, doing wickedly as she could, Jer 3:4 and having many transgressions wrapped up in her sins and their circumstances. Lev 16:21 And this is here acknowledged as the true cause of her calamity. Profane persons lay all the blame in this case upon God, as he in the poet –
“ O patria, O divum domus Ilium, et inclyta bello
Maenia Dardanidum: ferus omnia Iupiter Argos
Transtulit
Postquam res Asiae Priamique evertere gentem
Immeritam visum superis, ”& c. – Virg., Aeneid.,
Therefore she is removed.
All that honoured her.
Because they have seen her nakedness.
Yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward,
a Ad modum Cain fratricidae. – Piguier.
grievously sinned. Note the Figure of speech Polyptoton Hebrew = sinned a sin. Thus well rendered. See note on “weepeth sore” (Lam 1:2).
sinned. Hebrew. chata’. App-44.
is remove d = separated as unclean.
hath: Lam 1:5, Lam 1:20, 1Ki 8:46, 1Ki 8:47, 1Ki 9:7, 1Ki 9:9, Isa 59:2-13, Jer 6:28, Eze 14:13-21, Eze 22:2-15
removed: Heb. become a removing, or wandering, Jer 15:4, Jer 24:9, Jer 34:17, Eze 23:46, *marg.
all: Lam 4:15, Lam 4:16, Lam 5:12-16, 1Sa 2:30
they: Lam 4:21, Isa 47:3, Jer 13:22, Jer 13:26, Eze 16:37-39, Eze 23:29, Hos 2:3, Hos 2:10, Rev 3:18
she sigheth: Lam 1:4, Lam 1:11, Lam 1:21, Lam 1:22, Lam 2:10, Jer 4:31
Reciprocal: Lev 13:46 – without Lev 15:19 – and her issue Isa 1:21 – become Jer 4:17 – because Jer 32:23 – therefore Jer 32:31 – that I Jer 44:3 – of their Jer 44:23 – ye have burned Lam 2:15 – clap Lam 5:16 – woe Eze 5:14 – I will Eze 28:26 – despise Eze 39:23 – the heathen Dan 9:8 – because Dan 9:16 – Jerusalem Zep 1:17 – because Luk 19:44 – because
Lam 1:8. Jeremiah again admits that Ills people had sinned grievously and for that reason she had gone into captivity. To despise means to belittle or look upon with contempt. Jerusalem had heen so humiliated that her former admirers now considered her condition to be one of disgrace.
Lam 1:8-9. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned Hebrew, , in sinning hath sinned, or hath sinned sin: that is, sinned wilfully and deliberately; hath sinned that sin which of all others is the abominable thing which the Lord hates, the sin of idolatry. The sins of Jerusalem, which makes such a profession of worshipping and serving the true God, and therefore of obeying his will, and enjoys such privileges, are of all others the most grievous sins. Therefore she is removed The greatest part of her inhabitants are either carried away captive to Babylon, or are fled for refuge and safety to some of the neighbouring nations. Blaney translates this clause, Therefore hath she been as one set apart for unclean, instead of , a word that occurs nowhere else, reading , after nineteen MSS., which signifies a woman in her state of separation. All that honoured her, despise her She hath made herself vile, and therefore is justly vilified. Because they have seen her nakedness Have seen her deprived of all her strength and glory. As she had defiled herself with idolatry, (called spiritual adultery in Scripture,) so God has ordered her to be exposed to shame like a common harlot. Yea, she sigheth and turneth backward As ashamed to be seen in such a despicable condition, destitute of all those things which constituted her former glory. Her filthiness is in her skirts She carries the marks of her sins in the greatness of her punishments. She remembereth not her last end Reflects not on what is still further coming upon her. The plain meaning of this, says Blaney, taken out of metaphor, seems to be, that although evident marks of her pollution appeared about her, and the land was defiled by her sinfulness, even to its utmost borders, she had no thought or consideration of what must be the consequence of all this at the last. Therefore she came down wonderfully She was brought low, and humbled in an extraordinary manner having sinned grievously, Lam 1:8, she was degraded and punished wonderfully. Observe, reader, grievous sins bring wondrous ruin; there are some workers of iniquity for whom is prepared a strange and uncommon punishment.
2. The cause of the desolation 1:8-11
Jerusalem’s great sinning had resulted in her becoming unclean and despised, like an overexposed woman. She had embarrassed herself; her sins and vices had come to the light. Jeremiah began to explain why calamity had befallen Jerusalem.
"The theme of Jerusalem’s sin, introduced in Lam 1:5, is now examined more closely, and ultimately becomes one of the major theological emphases of the book." [Note: Harrison, Jeremiah and . . ., p. 209.]
SIN AND SUFFERING
Lam 1:8-11
THE doctrinaire rigour of Judaism in its uncompromising association of moral and physical evils has led to an unreasonable disregard for the solid truth which lies behind this mistake. It can scarcely be said that men are now perplexed by the problem that inspired the Book of Job. The fall of the tower of Siloam or the blindness of a man from his birth would not start among us the vexatious questions which were raised in the days of our Lord. We have not accepted the Jewish theory that the punishment of sin always overtakes the sinner in this life, much less have we assented to the by no means necessary corollary that all calamities are the direct penalties of the misconduct of the sufferers, and therefore sure signs of guilt. The modern tendency is in the opposite direction; it goes to ignore the existence of any connection whatever between the course of the universe and human conduct. No interference with the uniformity of the laws of nature for retributive or disciplinary purposes can be admitted. The machinery runs on in its grooves never deflected by any regard for our good or bad deserts. If we dash ourselves against its wheels they will tear us to pieces, grind us to powder; and we may reasonably consider this treatment to be the natural punishment of our folly. But here we are not beyond physical causation, and the drift of thought is towards holding the belief in anything more to be a simple survival from primitive anthropomorphic ideas of nature, a pure superstition. Is it a pure superstition? It is time we turned to another side of the question.
Every strong conviction that has obtained wide recognition, however erroneous and mischievous it may be, can be traced back to the abuse of some solid truth. It is not the case that the universe is constructed without any regard for moral laws. Even the natural punishment of the violation of natural laws contains a certain ethical element. Other considerations apart, clearly it is wrong to injure ones health or endanger ones life by rushing headlong against the constituted order of the universe; therefore the consequences of such conduct may be taken as signs of its condemnation. In the case of the sufferings of the Jews lamented by our poet the calamities were not primarily of a physical origin; they grew out of human acts-the accompaniments of the Chaldaean invasion. When we come to the evolution of history we are introduced to a whole world of moral forces that are not at work in the material universe.
Nebuchadnezzar did not know that he was the instrument of a Higher Power for the chastisement of Israel; but the corruptions of the Jews, so ruthlessly exposed by their prophets, had undermined the national vigour which is the chief safeguard of a state, as surely as at a later time the corruptions of Rome opened her gates to devastating hosts of Goths and Huns. May we not go further, and, passing beyond the region of common observation, discover richer indications of the ethical meanings of events in the application to them of a real faith in God? It was his profound theism that lay at the base of the Jews conception of temporal retribution, crude, hard, and narrow as this was. If we believe that God is supreme over nature and history as well as over individual lives, we must conclude that He will use every province of His vast dominion so as to further His righteous purposes. If the same Spirit reigns throughout there must be a certain harmony between all parts of His government. The mistake of the Jew was his claim to interpret the details of this Divine administration with a sole regard for the minute fraction of the universe that came under his own eyes, with blank indifference to the vast realm of facts and principles of which he could know nothing. His idea of Providence was too shortsighted, too parochial, in every respect too small; yet it was true in so far as it registered the conviction that there must be an ethical character in the government of the world by a righteous God, that the divinely ordered course of events cannot be out of all relation to conduct.
It does not fall in with the plan of the Lamentations for this subject to be treated so fully in these poems as it is in the stirring exhortations of the great prophets. Yet it comes to the surface repeatedly. In the fifth verse of the first elegy the poet attributes the affliction of Zion to “the multitude of her transgressions”; and he introduces the eighth verse with the clear declaration-
“Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she has become an unclean thing.”
The powerful Hebrew idiom according to which the cognate substantive follows the verb is here employed. Rendered literally, the opening phrase is, “sinned sin.” The experience of the chastisement leads to a keen perception of the guilt that precedes it. This is more than a consequence of the application of the accepted doctrine of the connection of sin with suffering to a particular case. No intellectual theory is strong enough by itself to awaken a slumbering conscience. The logic may be faultless; and yet even though the point of the syllogism is not evaded it will be coolly ignored. Trouble arouses a torpid conscience in a much more direct and effectual way. In the first place, it shatters the pride which is the chief hindrance to the confession of sin. Then it compels reflection; it calls a halt, and makes us look back over the path we may have been following too heedlessly. Sometimes it seems to exercise a distinctly illuminating influence. It is as though scales had fallen from the sufferers eyes; he sees all things in a new light, and some ugly facts which had been lying at his side for years disregarded suddenly glare upon him as horrible discoveries. Thus the “Prodigal Son” perceives that he has sinned both against Heaven and against his father when he is in the lowest depths of misery, not so much because he recognises a penal character in his troubles, but more on account of the fact that he has come to himself. This subjective, psychological connection between suffering and sin is independent of any dogma of retribution; for the ends of practical discipline it is the most important connection. We may waive all discussion of the ancient Jewish problem, and still be thankful to recognise the Elijah-like ministry of adversity. The immediate effect of this vision of sin is that a new colour is given to the picture of the desolation of Jerusalem. The image of a miserable woman is preserved, but the dignity of the earlier scene is missing here. Pathos and poetry gather round the picture of the forlorn widow weeping for the loss of her children. Neglected and humbled as she is in worldly estate, the tragic vastness of her sorrow has exalted her to an altitude of moral sublimity. Such suffering breaks through those barriers of conventional experience which make many lives look mean and trivial. It is so awful that we cannot but regard it with reverence. But all this is altered in the aspect of Jerusalem which follows the confession of her great sin. In the freedom of ancient language the poet ventures on an illustration that would be regarded as too gross for modern literature. The limits of our art exclude subjects which excite a sensation of disgust; but this is just the sensation the author of the elegy deliberately aims at producing. He paints a picture which is simply intended to sicken his readers. The utter humiliation of Jerusalem is exhibited in the unavoidable exposure of a condition which natural modesty would conceal at any cost. Another contrast between the reserve of our modern style and the rude bluntness of antiquity is here apparent. It is not only that we have grown more refined in language-a very superficial change which might be no better than the whitewashing of sepulchres; over and above this civilising of mere manners, the effect of Teutonic habits, strengthened by Christian sentiments, has been to develop a respect for woman undreamed of in the old Eastern world. It may be added that the scientific temper of recent times has taught us that there is nothing really dishonouring in purely natural processes. The ancient world could not distinguish between delicacy and shame. We should regard a poor suffering woman whose modesty had been grievously wounded with simple commiseration; the ancient Jews treated such a person with disgust as an unclean creature, quite unable to see that their conduct was simply brutal.
The new aspect of the misery of Jerusalem is thus set forth as one of degradation and ignominy. The vision of sin is immediately followed by a scene of shame. Commentators have been divided over the question whether this picture of the humiliated woman is intended to apply to the sin of the city or only to her misfortunes. In favour of the former view, it may be remarked that uncleanness is distinctly associated with moral corruption: the connection is the more appropriate here inasmuch as a confession of sin immediately precedes. On the other hand, the attendant circumstances point to the second interpretation. It is the humiliation of the condition of the sufferer, rather than that condition itself, which is dwelt upon. Jerusalem is despised, “she sigheth,” “is come down wonderfully,” “hath no comforter,” and is generally afflicted and oppressed by her enemies. But while we are led to regard the pitiable picture as a representation of the woful plight into which the proud city has fallen, we cannot conclude it to be an accident that this particular phase of her misery succeeds the mention of her great guilt. After all, it is only the underlying guilt that can justify a verdict which carries disgrace as well as suffering for its penalty. Even when the judgments of men are too confused to recognise this truth with regard to other people, it should be apparent to the conscience of the humiliated person himself. The humiliation which follows nothing worse than a fall into external misfortunes is but a superficial trouble, and the consciousness of innocence can enable one to submit to it without any sense of inward shame. The sting of contempt lies in the miserable consciousness that it is deserved.
Thus we see the punishment of sin consisting in exposure. The exposure which simply hurts natural modesty is acutely painful to a refined, sensitive spirit; and yet the very dignity which it outrages is a shield against the point of the insult. But where the exposure follows sin this shield is absent. In that case the degradation of it is without any mitigation. Nothing more may be necessary to constitute a very severe punishment. When the secrets of all hearts are revealed the very revelation will be a penal process. To lay bare the quivering nerves of memory to the searching sunlight must be to torture the guilty soul with inconceivable horrors. Nevertheless it is a matter for profound thankfulness that there is no question of a surprising revelation of the sinners guilt being made to God at some future time, some shocking discovery which might turn His lovingkindness into wrath or contempt. We cannot have a firmer ground of joy and hope than the fact that God knows everything about us, and yet loves us at our worst, patiently waiting for repentance with His offer of unlimited forgiveness. Exposure before God is like a surgical examination; the hope of a cure, if it does not dispel the sense of humiliation and that is impossible in the case of guilt, the disgrace of which to a healthy conscience is more intense before the holiness of God than before the eyes of fellow-sinners still encourages confidence.
The recognition of a moral lapse at the root of the shame of Jerusalem, though not perhaps in the shame itself, is confirmed by a phrase which reflects on the culpable heedlessness of the Jews. The elegy deplores how the city has “come down wonderfully” on account of the fact that “she remembered not her latter end.” It is quite confusing and incorrect to render this expression in the present tense as it stands in the Authorised English Version. The poet cannot mean that the Jews in exile and captivity have already forgotten the recent horrors of the siege of Jerusalem. This would be flatly contrary to the motive of the elegy, which is to give tongue to the sufferings of the Jews flowing out of that disaster. It would be impossible to say that the calamity that inspired the elegy was no longer even remembered by its victims. What an anti-climax this would be! Clearly the poet is bewailing the culpable folly of the people in not giving a thought to the certain consequences of such a course as they were following; a course that had been denounced by the faithful prophets of Jehovah, who, alas! had been but voices crying in the wilderness, unnoted, or even scouted and suppressed, like the stormy petrels hated by sailors as birds of ill-omen. In her ease and prosperity, her self-indulgence and sin, the doomed city had failed to recollect what must be the end of such things. The idea of remembrance is peculiarly apt and forcible in this connection, although it has a relation to the future, because the Jews had been through experiences which should have served as warnings if they had duly reflected on them. This was not a matter for wild guesses or vague apprehensions. Not only were there the distinct utterances of Jeremiah and his predecessors to rouse the thoughtless; events had been speaking louder than words. Jerusalem was already a city with a history, and that history had even by this time accumulated some tragic lessons. These were subjects for memory. Thus memory can become prophecy, because the laws which are revealed in the past will govern the future. We are none of us so wholly inexperienced but that in the knowledge of what we have already been through we may gain wisdom to anticipate the consequences of our present actions. The heedless person is one who forgets, or at all events one who will not attend to his own memories. Such recklessness is its own condemnation; it cannot plead the excuse of ignorance.
But now it may be objected that this reference to the mere thought of consequences suggests considerations that are too low to furnish the reasons for the ruin of Jerusalem. Would the city have been spared if only her inhabitants had been a little more foreseeing? It should be observed that though mere prudence is never a very lofty virtue, imprudence is sometimes a very serious fault. It cannot be right to be simply reckless, to ignore all lessons of the past and fling oneself blindly into the future. The hero who is sure that he is inspired by a lofty motive may walk straight into the very jaws of death, and be all the stronger for his noble indifference to his fate; but he who is no hero, he who is not influenced by any great or unselfish ideas, has no excuse for neglecting the warnings of common prudence. All wise actions must be more or less guided with a view to their issues in the future, although in the case of the best of them the aims will be pure and unselfish. It is our prerogative, to “look before and after”; and just in proportion as we take long views do our deeds acquire gravity and depth. Our Lord characterised the two ways by their ends. While the example of the careless Jews is followed on all sides – and who of us can deny that he has ever fallen into the negligence? – is it not a little superfluous to discuss abstract, unpractical problems about a remote altruism?
Intermingled with his painful picture of the humiliation and shame of the fallen city, the poet supplies indications of the effect of all this on the suffering citizens. Despised by all who had formerly honoured her, Jerusalem sighs and longs to retire into obscurity, away from the rude gaze of her oppressors.
In particular, two further signs of her distress are here given.
The first is spoliation. Her enemies have laid hands on “all her pleasant things.” It may strike us that, after the miseries just narrated, this is but a minor trouble. Jobs calamities began with the loss of his property, and rose from this by degrees to the climax of agony. If his first trouble had been the sudden death of all his children, stunned by that awful blow, he would have cared little about the fate of his flocks and herds. It is not according to the method of the Lamentations, however, to move on to any climax. The thoughts are set forth as they well up in the mind of the poet, now passionate and intense, then again of a milder cast, yet altogether combining to colour one picture of intolerable woe. But there is an aspect of this idea of the robbery of the “pleasant things” which heightens the sense of misery. It is another instance of the force of contrast so often manifested in these elegies. Jerusalem had been a home of wealth and luxury in the merry old days. But hoarded money, precious jewellery, family heirlooms, products of art and skill, accumulated during generations of prosperity and treated as necessaries of life-all had been swept away in the sack of the city, and scattered among strangers who could not prize them as they had been prized by their owners: and now these victims of spoliation, stripped of everything, were in want of daily bread. Even what little could be saved from the wreck they had to give up in exchange for common food, bought dearly in the market of necessity.
The second sign of the great distress here noted is desecration. Gentiles invade the sacred precincts of the temple. Considering that the sanctuary had been already much more effectually desecrated by the blood-stained hands and lustful hearts of impious worshippers, such as those “rulers of Sodom” denounced by Isaiah for “trampling” the courts of Jehovah with their “vain oblations,” {Isa 1:10-17} we do not find it easy to sympathise with this horror of a supposed defilement from the mere presence of heathen persons. Yet it would be unjust to accuse the shocked Israelites of hypocrisy. They ought to have been more conscious of the one real corruption of sin; but we cannot add that therefore their notions of external uncleanness were altogether foolish and wrong. To judge the Jews of the age of the Captivity by a standard of spirituality which few Christians have yet attained to would be a cruel anachronism. The Syrian invasion of the temple in the time of the Maccabees was called by a very late prophet an “abomination of desolation,” {Dan 11:31} and a similar insult to be offered to the sacred place by the Romans is described by our Lord in the same terms. {Mar 13:14} All of us must be conscious at times of the sacredness of associations. To botanise on his mothers grave may be a proof of a mans freedom from superstition, but it cannot be taken as an indication of the fineness of his feelings. The Israelite exclusiveness which shunned the intrusion of foreigners simply because they were foreigners was combined both with a patriotic anxiety to preserve the integrity of the nation, and in some cases with a religious dread of idolatry. It is true the nominal contamination of the mere presence of Gentiles was generally more dreaded than the real contagion of their corrupt examples. Still the very idea of desecration, even when it is superficial, together with a sense of pain at its presence, is higher than the materialism which despises it not because this materialism has the grace to sanctify everything, but for the opposite reason, because it counts nothing holy, because to it all things are common and unclean.
Before we pass from this portion of the elegy there is one curious characteristic of it which calls for notice. The poet suddenly drops the construction in the third person and writes in the first person. This he does twice-at the end of the ninth verse, and again at the end of the eleventh. He might be speaking in his own person, but the language points to the personified city. Yet in each case the outburst is quite abrupt, sprung upon us without any introductory formula. Possibly the explanation of this anomaly must be sought in the liturgical use for which the poem was designed. If it was to be sung antiphonally we may conjecture that at these places a second chorus would break in. The result would be a startling dramatic effect-as though the city had sat listening to the lament over her woes until the piteous tale bad compelled her to break her silence and cry aloud, in each case the cry is directed to heaven. It is an appeal to God; and it simply prays for His attention-“Behold, O Lord,” “See, O Lord, and behold.” In the first case the Divine attention is called to the insolence of the enemy, in the second to the degradation of Jerusalem. Still it is only an appeal for notice. Will God but look upon all this misery? That is sufficient.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary