Lamentations 5

Notes

Ver. 4. Our water. The primitive history of Israel is much connected with wells, as may be seen in the history of Abraham, some of whose chief movements are associated with their names. See Ge. 21. 25, 30; 24. 13; 26. 15, 18. And the bringing of water into Jerusalem by conduits has not been thought unworthy of a place in the history of Israel's kings, 2 Ki. 20. 20; 2 Ch. 32. 30. The buying of the water of their fathers' wells seemed, therefore, to Israel, a grievous act of usurpation and oppression. It is clear the reference must be to a Chaldean impost upon the water in Jerusalem; for when carried away, the captives 'sat by the streams of Babel,' and had water in abundance.—Our wood. The Jews allege an ordinance of Joshua rendering certain forests common property, where all might cut such wood as they required for fuel; and such a law or custom prevails in all woody and thinly peopled countries, where the export of timber is not a trade, and where the clearing of the land for pasture or tillage is a principal object of the owner. The invaders, however, took exclusive possession of the forests. See Ne. 2. 8. C.

Ver. 7. How does this accord with Eze. 18. 1-28? The persons reproved by Ezekiel justified themselves, and cast the blame of their sufferings back upon their fathers. The confession of Jeremiah justified God, ch. 1. 18-20; 3. 37-42, and acknowledged that the accumulating sins of former ages had now come to such a crisis that mercy could no longer delay the hand of judgment. See ver. 16. C.

Ver. 18. The foxes walk upon it. The Scottish Deputation to Palestine (for inquiring into the state, and taking measures for the enlightenment and conversion, of the Jews) witnessed this fact in 1840; where they also found 'Zion ploughed like a field,' Je. 26. 18; Mi. 3. 12, and brought with them specimens of the barley that grew on the site of her palaces and towers. C.

Reflections.—Alas! what hurt sin has done! through it this world is but a scene of awful changes! And peculiarly terrible is the misery of ravaged and conquered nations. But under all our trouble, it is a comfort to reflect that God sees all that comes upon us: and that, if we patiently and penitently suffer for the sins of our fathers, he will quickly return to us in mercy: yea, there is a Canaan above, of which none can deprive us; and though God frown, he will not forget us. If our earthly provision be scanty, our abundant spiritual provision can more than balance its defects; and if the Son has made us free, we shall be free indeed; yea, honoured, glad, and glorious for evermore. If the honour of his oracles and ordinances on earth go nearer our heart than our secular interests, he will quickly transport us to his sanctuary above, where we shall be ever with the Lord. His mercy may be hid, but it is not clean gone; and there is enough in it to redress all our grievances. If by his grace he renew our hearts, he will by his favour renew our days and restore our wonted prosperity. Let me therefore, under my afflictions, complain to, and plead with, my God; but never quarrel with his conduct, discredit his love, or despair of his favours.

Concluding Remarks on the Book of Lamentations.

For every possible circumstance of human life, the Scriptures seem to furnish, not merely a text, or a portion, but an entire book: Genesis furnishes genealogy; Exodus, emigration; Leviticus, religious rites; Numbers, organization; Deuteronomy, such repetition, explanation, and commentary, as the frailty of humanity requires; Joshua, conquest and government; Judges, a country often falling into sin and thraldom, but struggling for independence; Ruth, special providence; Samuel, the influence of a pious maternal education on the prophet and judge; the evil of an ungoverned temper in Saul; the blessing of self-restraint (not from himself arising, but from providence and grace) in David; Kings and Chronicles, a mirror for kings and nations; Ezra and Nehemiah, mirrors for patriotic reformers; Esther, a mirror for queens; Job, for men in adversity; Psalms, a mirror for hearts; Proverbs, a mirror for parents in the work of private education; Ecclesiastes, for preachers in the work of public instruction; the Song of Solomon, for husbands and wives; Isaiah, reproof and encouragement for the church; Jeremiah, warning to the state; Lamentations, the sorrows of God's people for both church and state overturned by national sins.

It were easy to pursue such specialities to 'Revelation,' of which the particular object is to place and preserve the church in her proper attitude of prayer and watchfulness until the coming of her Lord. But it is needful to forbear.

'Wicked men and seducers wax worse and worse.' And so do nations, when any evil principle or object, such as profanity, sabbath desecration, licentiousness, covetousness, hasting to be rich, or lust of power and conquest, take possession of rulers or people. And so likewise do churches degenerate, when, under the specious pretence of 'free inquiry,' a false philosophy supersedes revelation—when a partial morality is substituted for universal holiness—a cold formality, for fervent devotion—when a sordid worldliness controls liberality, and an indulgent luxury banishes self-denial—when the love of ease, and the lust of power, combine to 'lay heavy (ritual) burdens upon men's shoulders,' but 'refuse to touch them with one of their fingers'—when Christ is followed, not for the 'miracles' he has performed, but for the 'loaves and fishes' he owns and distributes—when profession is all, and practice nothing; and finally, when obedience to the church is substituted for allegiance to her King, then may God spare for a little, amidst many warnings—but such 'vessels of wrath' are fitting themselves for destruction, and judgment is whetting its sword to begin at the house of the Lord.

In all such melancholy cases of defection, there is generally, however, a remnant 'that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the land:' and who live to lament over the ruin they have foreseen, and against the coming of which they vainly lifted up the voice of expostulation or warning. Such was Jeremiah. In the midst of a demoralized state, he warned kings and nobles, and lived to see and weep over their fall. In the midst of a heretical and idolatrous priesthood, he continued to preach Jehovah, to denounce idolatry, and to exhort to repentance; and he lived to see the vessels of the holy temple, which its priests had profaned, transferred to the temple of Bel, and the temple of Jerusalem itself reduced to the ruin he had foretold. And his book of Lamentations remains as the manual of sorrows uttered over a state misgoverned, impoverished, and ruined, by self-sufficient, covetous, and oppressive rulers—and a church infected, misled, and betrayed, by an immoral, heretical, and time-serving ministry. C.