implies moral turpitude, e.g. ppm, ch. xiv. 14; while in Lam. ii. 14, a word is used implying only that the prophecy failed of its accomplishment, Nin, and it is this side of false prophecy upon which Ezekiel almost entirely dwells; but naturally in a Lamentation Jeremiah would not be thinking so much of the wickedness of the prophets as of the failure of the expectations they had aroused, and so would use the softer term. But the other word, rendered foolish things, instead of proving really disproves the idea that Ezekiel was in the writer's mind. For Ezekiel uses the word in the sense of mortar, Ezek. xiii. 10, whereas the writer of Lamentations employs it in the sense of insipidity, i.e. folly, for which his authority is found in Job vi. 6. We find also in the book of Jeremiah a slightly different form of the word used in the same sense in ch. xxiii. 13, where see note. It is true that in Lam. ii. 14 Nägelsb. translates "Thy prophets foretold to thee whitewash," but whitewash is not mortar, and to prophecy whitewash is a metaphor too extraordinary for acceptance. In the second of these passages, Lam. ii. 15, Jerusalem is called "The perfection of beauty." In Ezek. xxvii. 3, xxviii. 12, the same words are applied to Tyre. But a similar phrase, with the difference only of a participle for an adj., occurs in Ps. 1. 2, of Zion, and when we find that the next words in Lam. ii. 15, "the joy of the whole earth," are a quotation also from the description of Zion in Ps. xlviii. 2, the conclusion seems evident that in both places the writer was quoting from the Psalms. As the objections then are so devoid of weight, and the internal evidence upon the whole so strongly favours the idea of Jeremiah being the author, we conclude that the assertion of the LXX. is to be received as highly probable. Date. The time of the composition of these poems is certainly the period immediately after the capture of Jerusalem. Ewald indeed thinks that they may not have been written till after the descent into Egypt, but Bleek ('Introd.' 503, sq.) more probably ascribes them to the month which intervened between the capture of Jerusalem and its destruction. We know that the prophet spent this month in Jerusalem in comparative security, ch. xxxix. 14, and the extreme vividness of his descriptions, and the poignancy of his grief, both shew that the troubles he depicted were still recent. But the most convincing proof offered by Bleek is the fact that constantly famine and hunger are described as still raging in the city; see ch. i. 11, 19, ii. 19, 20, iv. 4, &c. Probably there would be great difficulty in obtaining supplies of food for some time after the city had surrendered itself, and the painful pictures of mothers unable to suckle their children, and of those delicately nurtured dying of hunger on the dunghills (ch. iv. 3, 5), seem plainly to point to the sufferings which still pressed heavily upon the community exhausted by a protracted siege, even after it had surrendered, Subject. The subject of these poems is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldæans. As we have seen above, Josephus imagined that what called forth the prophet's lamentations was the death of king Josiah; but this idea probably was not taken from the contents, but was based upon the assumption that the Lamentations spoken of in 2 Chro. xxxv, 25, must be identical with our present book. Such an opinion however can no longer be allowed to have much weight, now that attention has been called to the fact that many books are mentioned in Scripture, especially in the Chronicles, which, though written by prophets, had no place in the Canon, and have not been preserved. Looking at the contents we find that in the first of these poems the prophet dwells upon the miseries of hunger, of death in battle, of the profanation and plundering of the sanctuary, and of impending exile, oppressed by which the city sits solitary. In the second, we see these same sufferings, but described with more intense force, and in closer connection with the national sins which had caused them, and which had been aggravated by the faithlessness of the prophets. In the third, there is something of the old feeling put forward so strongly in ch. xii., but the spirit of the writer is more subdued and humbled, and no longer so impatient and rebellious as of old. As Jeremiah reflects upon the bitter experiences of his past life, he feels how hard it is that God's people should have to drink of the cup of chastisement almost more deeply than the wicked. Its contents are more bitter to them because they see whose is the hand that holds it to their lips. But he acknowledges that it is a Father's hand, and feels that chastisement is for the believer's good, and so he dwells more upon the spiritual aspect of sorrow, and the certainty that finally there must be the redeeming of life for God's people, and vengeance for His enemies. In the fourth, we again see that Judah's sorrows have been caused by her sins. Finally, in ch. v., Jeremiah prays that Zion's reproach may be taken away, and that Jehovah will grant repentance unto his people, and renew their days as of old. Many have thought that this prayer, in which the artificial structure of the rest is abandoned, was added by the prophet to his Lamentations in Egypt at a somewhat later time. Structure. Of the first four poems the structure is highly artificial. They are arranged in twenty-two portions, according to the number of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; but in the first three poems each portion is again subdivided into three double-clauses, the third differing from the first and second in that each also of these divisions begins with the same letter. In ch. iv., we have again twentytwo verses beginning with the letters of the alphabet in order, but each verse is divided into only two portions. In ch. v., though there are again twenty-two verses, the alphabetical initials are discontinued. It is remarkable that while the order of the alphabet is strictly followed in ch. i., it is departed from in the three other poems, the verse beginning with being always placed before that beginning with y As the idea of Grotius, that the order of the alphabet in the Chaldee as regards these letters was unsettled, has been shewn to be groundless, it is difficult to give a reason for this transposition. It is quite true that in some of the alphabetical Psalms we find similar deviations from the strict order of the alphabet, e.g. in Pss. xxxiv., cxlv.; but what is so remarkable here is that the same deviation is thrice repeated. But see on this subject the introduction to Pss. xxv., xxxiv., and cxi. It It has sometimes been objected to this method of arrangement that it is incompatible with real feeling. With equal truth it might be said that rhyme is inconsistent with real feeling. It is probable that to most Orientals the arrangement of words so as to end in similar sounds would seem trivial: the same objection has been brought by us in the West against their method of arranging their thoughts in alphabetical order. Really both methods depend upon the same law of our natures. is a distraction and relief to the mind in sorrow to have some slight external difficulty to contend with, and the feeling diffused before in vague generalities is thus concentrated, and assumes a definite form. What can seem at first sight more artificial than the lyrical poetry of the Greeks and Romans, in which throughout the whole ode the quantity of every syllable is fixed, and line answers to line with unvarying exactness? Yet how naturally do all the deeper emotions of the mind yield themselves to these restrictions. And so here. The sorrow of the prophet would have spread itself out in boundless generalities but for the limitations of form. According to Oriental habit these restrictions are at the beginning; with us chiefly at the end of each verse; with the Greeks and Romans all through. But it was the limitation which gave shape to the sorrow which otherwise was floating vaguely around him. Tersely and vividly thought after thought shaped itself round each letter of the alphabet in order, and in the effort the prophet found relief from his anguish. So with men now. The necessities of rhyme and rhythm are an aid-not a difficulty-in expressing their emotions at times when deeper feelings are stirred. The slight effort required enables the sufferer to concentrate his thoughts; it helps him in finding for them proper expression. And usually he deeper the sorrow the more complex is the structure of the poetry in which it is embodied, because the effort is itself a relief. Liturgical Use. The Book of Lamentations has always been much used in liturgical services as giving the spiritual aspect of sorrow. It is recited in the Jewish synagogues on the ninth of Ab, the day on which the Temple was destroyed. In the Roman Catholic Church it is sung at vespers in holy week. In our own Church the first, second, and third chapters were appointed in the first book of Edward VI. to be read on the Wednesday and Thursday before Easter. This use having been discontinued in the second book of Edward VI., and in all subsequent revisions of the Prayer-book, was restored in 1871, when the whole of ch. iii., and portions of chs. i., ii., and iv. were ordered to be read on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in holy week. For this choice two chief reasons may be given; the first, that in the wasted city people we see an image of the desolation and homeless wanderings of the chosen and ruin of the soul cast away from God's presence into the outer darkness because of sin; the second and chief, because the mournful words of the pro phet set Him before us who has borne the chastisement due to human sin, and of whom instinctively we think as we pronounce the words, Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by? If there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Wherewith Jehovah hath afflicted me In the day of His fierce anger? THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. CHAPTER I. 1 The miserable estate of Jerusalem by reason eous. OW doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and CHAP. I. This poem divides itself into two equal parts, in the first of which, vv. 1—11, the misery which has befallen the Jews is described, while in the second, vv. 12-22, Jerusalem laments over her sufferings. Twice, however, in the first part, in vv. 9 and 11, she breaks forth into ejaculations of distress, so preparing the mind for the more full outpouring of her grief which follows. 1, 2. In these two verses we have the same symbol of sorrow set before us as in Isai. xlvii. 1. Judæa, which in David's time had swayed subject kingdoms, and prided herself upon the populousness of her capital, now sits solitary, deprived alike of children and husband, neglected by her lovers, and betrayed by her friends. As Neumann points out, it is that same sad image which appears again in the well-known medal of Titus, struck to celebrate his triumph over Jerusalem. A woman sits weeping beneath a palm-tree, and below is the legend Judaa capta. As each verse of the poem is divided into three parts, it is necessary entirely to reject the Masoretic punctuation, which attempts here also to carry out their uniform system of cutting every verse of the Bible into halves. Omitting also the feeble repetition of the initial bow in the A. V., the first verse should be translated: was of personal labour, Josh. xvi. 10, and this is the meaning here, that the Jews must now render bondservice. 2. lovers.. friends] i.e. the states in alliance with Judæa, and generally all human helpers. In v. 1 she is as a widow, abandoned by God, Jer. iii. 14: here she is deserted by her earthly comforters. 3. because of affliction...] The A. V., with Ewald, &c., takes the preposition as a causal, and thus the exile does not mean the forcible removal of the people to Babylon, but their flight into Egypt and elsewhere voluntarily. The sense therefore is Judah, i.e. the people, not of Jerusalem only, but of the whole land, is gone into exile to escape from the affliction and laborious servitude, to which they are subject in their own land. Keil, on the contrary, understands it of the people being carried to Babylon against their will, and explains the prep. as meaning out of. Out of the misery and severe labour which they have had to endure at home since the days when PharaohNecho first imposed upon them a foreign yoke, they have now been dragged to worse things at Babylon. The first sense agrees best with what follows. Though thus the Jews abandon their own country, yet they find no rest. Voluntary exiles naturally might look for rest, How sitteth solitary the city that was full of in fact it was the object sought by them in people: She is become as a widow that was great among A princess among provinces she is become a vassal. On her widowhood, cp. Isai, liv. emigrating, but captives would expect to have to labour. And so too the last clause, all ber pursuers have overtaken her in the straits. The metaphor is taken from hunting. The Jews flee like deer to escape from the invading Chaldæans, but are driven by them into places whence there is no escape. See note on Ps. cxvi. 3. 4. The ways] i.e. the roads leading up to Jerusalem mourn because they are no longer trodden by the pilgrims coming in crowds to the three great festivals. Cp. Jer. xli. 5. And similarly her gates are desolate, because there are no longer people going in and out through them. Cp. Jer. xiv. 2, xvii. 25. Zion] Zion, as the holy city, the seat of the temple, is the symbol of the religious life of the people, just as Judah in the previous verse represents their national life. virgins] With the priests the virgins are mentioned because they took a prominent part in all religious festivals; Jer. xxxi. 13; Exod. xv. 20; Ps. lxviii. 25. 5. are the chief] Lit. have become the head, a fulfilment of Deut. xxviii. 44, and reversal of the promise, ibid. v. 13. prosper] Lit. are at rest. Judæa is so entirely crushed that her enemies need take no precautions against resistance on her part. See notes on Jer. xii. 1, where the same word is translated they are happy, and on Jer. xxii. 21. children] The word means young children, who are driven before the enemy, lit. the adversary, not as a flock of lambs which follow the shepherd, but for sale as slaves. In ancient sculptures such mournful processions of women and tender children are often engraved. 6. her princes are become like harts...] Jeremiah evidently had before his mind the thought of the sad flight of Zedekiah and his men of war, and their capture within a few miles of Jerusalem, Jer. xxxix. 4, 5. Exhausted by the long sufferings of the siege, they can neither fight nor flee, but resemble deer in time of drought, which have not strength even to run away from the hunter. 7. Jerusalem remembered] should be translated, This verse Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction, and of her homelessness, All her pleasant things which have been from the days of old: Now that her people fall by the band of the adversary, And she bath no helper; Her adversaries have seen her, They have mocked at her sabbath-keepings. Naturally in a time of sorrow Jerusalem calls to mind her past happiness. The word rendered homelessness occurs only here, and in ch. iii. 19, and Isai. lviii. 7, where see note. It properly means wanderings, and so describes the state of the Jews, cast forth from their homes and about to be dragged into exile. her sabbaths] The word occurs only here, and means her sabbath-keepings. Many translate, her cessations from all activity, and so her ruined condition. But its more literal meaning is sabbatisms, and the cessation from labour every seventh day by the Jews struck foreigners as something strange, and provoked their ridicule. Cp. Hor. 'Sat.' 1. ix. 69; Juvenal. 'Sat.' VI. 134; Ovid. ‘A. A.' I. 76; Pers. 'Sat.' v. 184. 8. therefore she is removed] Or, therefore she is become an abomination. This is the translation of the Syr., and is adopted by most modern commentators. The A. V., following the LXX. and Vulg., derive the word from an entirely different root. The meaning is that sin has made Jerusalem an object of horror, and therefore she is cast away. The bath sinned a sin, giving the idea of a persistent Hebrew of grievously sinned, lit. is, Jerusalem continuance in wickedness. Maintaining his metaphor of a woman exposed yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward] to public contumely, the prophet describes Jerusalem as groaning over the infamy of her deeds thus brought to open shame, and turn wan |