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John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 1:12

Verse 12 The beginning of the verse is variously explained. Some read it interrogatively, “Is it nothing to you who pass by the way?” Others more simply, “I see that I am not cared for by you; to you my sorrow is nothing.” Some again read thus, “Let it not be a sorrow to you;” and others, “Let not sorrow be upon you,” that is, let not what I have happen to you; so that it is a prayer expressive of benevolence. What I prefer is the interrogation, Is it nothing to you who pass by the way ? for... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 1:13

Verse 13 The Prophet proceeds with the same subject, that God’s vengeance had raged most dreadfully agsinst Jerusalem. But employing a metaphor she says, that fire had been sent to her bones. They who interpret bones of fortified places, weaken the meaning of the Prophet. I take bones in their proper sense, ss though it was said, that God’s fire had penetrated into the inmost parts. This way of speaking often occurs in Scripture. By bones is denoted strength or valor. Hence David sometimes... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 1:14

Verse 14 Here, again, Jerusalem confesses that God had been justly displeased. She had ascribed to God’s vengeance the evils which she suffered; but now she expresses the cause of that displeasure or wrath. Hence she says, that the yoke of her iniquities had been bound in God’s hand. Though interpreters explain the words, yet they touch not the meaning of the Prophet; for they consider not that there is a continued metaphor. We ought then to bear in mind the two clauses, — that God’s hand held... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 1:15

Verse 15 She first says, that all her valiant men had been trodden underfoot. Now we know how much the Jews trusted in their men even to the very time when they were wholly subdued. As then they had shewed so much insolence and pride towards the prophets, it hence became a cause of greater sorrow, when Jerusalem herself saw that she was destitute of every protection, and that her valiant men were trodden under foot. She says,in the midst of me. And this ought to be observed; for if they had... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 1:16

Verse 16 He describes at large the calamities of Jerusalem. But it is no wonder that the Prophet, thus lengthened his discourse; for we know that those who are heavily oppressed never satisfy themselves with mourning and lamentations. If, indeed, we duly consider how great the evils were, the Prophet will not appear to us wordy, nor will his prolixity be wearisome to us. For when any one compares the flourishing state of Jerusalem with that desolate ruin which the Prophet laments, it will... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 1:1

How . The characteristic introductory word of an elegy (comp. Isaiah 1:21 ; Isaiah 14:4 , Isaiah 14:12 ), and adopted by the early Jewish divines as the title of the Book of Lamentations. It is repeated at the opening of Lamentations 2:1-22 and Lamentations 4:1-22 . Sit solitary. Jerusalem is poetically personified and distinguished from the persons who accidentally compose her population. She is "solitary," not as having retired into solitude, but as deserted by her inhabitants... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 1:1

The solitary city. The first elegy on the desolation of Jerusalem opens with a lament over her solitariness, widowhood, and humiliation. I. THE SOLITARINESS . 1 . How it is to be measured. 2 . Why it is most sad . The loss of men is the great trouble. Fine buildings have been thrown down, marble statues broken, gold and precious stones stolen. But these are not the worst evils. Had all remained untouched, still the trouble would have been heart rending. The people are... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 1:1

Widowhood-the emblem of loneliness. I. THE FORCE OF THE EMBLEM . Another emblem might have been used. Or the statement as to loneliness might have been left in its simplicity without any comparison at all. Why, then, this particular emblem? Because it sets forth the separation between two parties to a peculiar connection—a connection intended to have all the permanence which anything in this earth can have. Of the husband and wife it is to be said that "they twain have become one... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 1:1-2

The fate of Jerusalem is described in language which resembles here and there that used in Isaiah of fallen Babylon ( Isaiah 47:1 , Isaiah 47:8 ). It is probably the finest passage in the whole bock, and has inspired some grand lines in Mr. Swinburne's picture of the republican mater dolorosa— "Who is she that sits by the way, by the wild wayside, In a rust-stained garment, the robes of a cast-off bride, In the dust, in the rainfall, sitting with soiled feet bare, With the night... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 1:1-2

The contrasts of adversity. The keynote of this strain of sorrow, this poetical and pathetic dirge, is struck in the opening words of the composition. The heart of the prophet laments over the captured and ruined city. How natural that the present should recall the past! Jerusalem, now in the hands of the Chaldeans, was once, in the days of David and of Solomon, the scene of glory and the seat of empire, the joy of the whole earth. So much the sadder is the contrast, the deeper the fall,... read more

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