Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Lamentations 5:9
We got our bread with [the peril of] our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
9. We get our bread ] The reference is to the bands of wild Arabs (Bedaween), who plundered them as they ventured from the shelter of the city to reap the harvest or to tend the cattle or sheep of their masters.
the sword of the wilderness ] a unique expression in O.T. For the sense see last note. A suggestion, involving only changes of vocalisation and of one consonant ( middeber instead of hammidbar), is to read for “of the wilderness” and because of pestilence. Cp. Jer 14:12; Jer 21:7; Jer 27:13; Jer 34:17 (Stade, ZATW, xv. p. 285). But pestilence has no proper place in this context. Enc. Bibl. (2700) suggests Arabian for “sword” ( ‘r b for ereb).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
We gat – Or, We get our bread at the peril of our lives. This verse apparently refers to those who were left in the land, and who in gathering in such fruits as remained, were exposed to incursions of the Bedouin, here called the sword of the desert.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives] They could not go into the wilderness to feed their cattle, or to get the necessaries of life, without being harassed and plundered by marauding parties, and by these were often exposed to the peril of their lives. This was predicted by Moses, De 28:31.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The enemies lay encamped in all the plains, so as they could stir out no way but the sword of the Chaldeans was upon them, and what victuals they got they adventured their lives for, during the time of the siege.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. We gat our bread with . . .perilthat is, those of us left in the city after its captureby the Chaldeans.
because of . . . sword of . .. wildernessbecause of the liability to attack by the robberArabs of the wilderness, through which the Jews had to pass to get”bread” from Egypt (compare La5:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
We gat our bread [with the peril of] our lives,…. This seems to refer to the time of the siege when they privately went out of the city to get in some provision, but went in danger of their lives:
because of the sword of the wilderness: or, “of the plain” t; because of the, word of the Chaldean army, which lay in the plain about Jerusalem into whose hand there was danger of falling, and of being cut to pieces.
t “propter gladium [in] deserto, [sive] plano”, Gataker.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The word חרב, chereb, means drought as well as sword. As the Prophet is speaking of famine and the desert,, I have no doubt but that dryness or drought is sword the word means here; and I wonder that the word sword had occurred to any; they could not have regarded the context.
He then says that the people sought bread with the soul, that is, at the hazard of their own life. If danger be preferred, I do not object. But as he simply says, with the soul, he seems to express this, that for food they hazarded their own life. Food, indeed, is the support of life, for why is bread sought but for sustaining life? But the hungry so rush headlong to procure food, that they expose themselves to thousand dangers, and they also weary themselves with many labors; and this is to seek bread with their soul, that is, when men not only anxiously labor to procure food, but pour forth as it were their own blood, as when one undertakes a long journey to get some support, lie is almost lifeless when he reaches the distant hospital. As, then, the Jews nowhere found food, the Prophet says that they sought bread with their life, that is, at the hazard of life. This is the view I prefer.
He then adds, For the dryness of the wilderness. What has the sword to do with wilderness? We see that this is wholly unsuitable; there was then no reason why interpreters should pervert this word. But what he calls the dryness of the wilderness was the want by which the people were distressed, as though they were in the wilderness. This is said by way of comparison, — that on account of the dryness of the desert, that is, on account of sterility, they were under the necessity of exposing their life to death, only that they might anywhere find bread. (230)
It may also be, that the Prophet meant, that they were fugitives, and thus went in hunger through woods and forest, when they dared not to go forth into the open country lest the enemy should meet them. But what I have said is most suitable, that is, that they were so famished as though they were in a vast desert, and far away from every hospital, so that bread could nowhere be found. We now, then, perceive the meaning of the Prophet. He adds, —
(230) The versions and the Targ. render the word, “sword;” and so do Gataker, Blayney, and Henderson. And by “the sword of the desert” are to be understood freebooters who carried swords and made incursions from desert places.
At the risk of our life we got our bread, On account of the sword of the desert
—
Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) The sword of the wilderness.Another element of suffering is hinted at. Those who were left in the land were attacked, as they gathered in their scanty harvest, by the nomad tribes of the wilderness. Amalekites, Midianites, and others. (Comp. Jer. 40:14.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Sword of the wilderness This alludes to the predatory Bedouins, who sometimes strip a whole district of its herds and its harvests in a single day.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
Because of the sword of the wilderness.
When they left the safety of their cities and went into the countryside, which was now bare and neglected, in order to grow their food, the Israelites were always in danger of Bedouin raiders, or local bandits who were waiting to swoop on them. The population was sparse and there was no organised defence against such raiders. The country was at the mercy of marauders. It made obtaining food a risky, and even fatal, business. ‘At the peril of our lives’ is more literally ‘for the price of our soul’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lam 5:9. With the peril of our lives, &c. I can no otherwise understand this, than that on account of their weak and defenceless state the people were continually exposed, while they followed their necessary business, to the incursions of the Arabian freebooters, who might not be improperly styled, “the sword of the wilderness.” See Harmer’s Observ. ch. 2: Obs. 5 and 6.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lam 5:9 We gat our bread with [the peril of] our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
Ver. 9. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives. ] So did our good ancestors the bread of life, while their preachers also were glad to do as Jotham did, Jdg 9:21 when they had delivered what they had to say, run away, and flee for their lives. See 2Sa 23:17 .
Because of the sword of the wilderness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
We gat our bread = We brought home our bread.
lives = souls. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13. Some codices, with one early printed edition, read “souls”.
sword of the wilderness. “The sword” is put, by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), for the raids and fightings of the inhabitants of the wilderness.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jdg 6:11, 2Sa 23:17, Jer 40:9-12, Jer 41:1-10, Jer 41:18, Jer 42:14, Jer 42:16, Eze 4:16, Eze 4:17, Eze 12:18, Eze 12:19
Reciprocal: Gen 47:19 – buy us Jdg 5:11 – the noise Job 15:23 – wandereth Psa 59:15 – for meat
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lam 5:9. After the city of Jerusalem had been overthrown by the siege it left the remaining inhabitants In a state of destitution. They bad to brave the wilderness in search of food and it was at the risk of the sword in the hands of the Arabs.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
5:9 We procured our bread with [the peril of] our lives because of the sword {e} of the wilderness.
(e) Because of the enemy that came from the wilderness and would not suffer us to go and seek our necessary food.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
It had become life-threatening for the Judahites even to acquire essential food, because their enemies tried to kill them when they traveled to obtain bread. Famine had resulted in fever, which had given the people’s skin a scorched appearance. [Note: Ellison, p. 731.]