alone--The heathen applauded magnanimity, but they looked to display and the praise of men. The child of God, in the absence of any witness, "alone," silently submits to the will of God.
borne it upon him--that is, because he is used to bearing it on him. Rather, "because He (the Lord, [La 3:26]) hath laid it on him" [Vatablus].
31-33. True repentance is never without hope ([Psa 94:14]).
34-36. This triplet has an infinitive in the beginning of each verse, the governing finite verb being in the end of [La 3:36], "the Lord approveth not," which is to be repeated in each verse. Jeremiah here anticipates and answers the objections which the Jews might start, that it was by His connivance they were "crushed under the feet" of those who "turned aside the right of a man." God approves (literally, "seeth," [Ha 1:13]; so "behold," "look on," that is, look on with approval) not of such unrighteous acts; and so the Jews may look for deliverance and the punishment of their foes.
37-39. Who is it that can (as God, [Psa 33:9]) effect by a word anything, without the will of God?
40-42. us--Jeremiah and his fellow countrymen in their calamity.
search--as opposed to the torpor wherewith men rest only on their outward sufferings, without attending to the cause of them ([Psa 139:23], ).
43-45. covered--namely, thyself (so [La 3:44]), so as not to see and pity our calamities, for even the most cruel in seeing a sad spectacle are moved to pity. Compare as to God "hiding His face," [Psa 10:11]; .
46-48. Pe is put before Ain ([La 3:43], ), as in [La 2:16], ; , . ([La 2:16].)
49-51. without ... intermission--or else, "because there is no intermission" [Piscator], namely, of my miseries.
52-54. a bird--which is destitute of counsel and strength. The allusion seems to be to [Pr 1:17] [Calvin].
without cause--([Psa 69:4]; , ). Type of Messiah ([Joh 15:25]).
55-57. I called out of dungeon--Thus the spirit resists the flesh, and faith spurns the temptation [Calvin], ([Psa 130:1]; [Jon 2:2]).
58-60. Jeremiah cites God's gracious answers to his prayers as an encouragement to his fellow countrymen, to trust in Him.
pleaded--([Psa 35:1]; [Mi 7:9]).
61-63. their reproach--their reproachful language against me.
64-66. ([Jr 11:20]; [2Ti 4:14]).
Chapter (elegy) 4
La 4:1-22. The Sad Capture of Jerusalem, the Hope of Restoration, and the Retribution Awaiting Idumea for Joining Babylon against Judea
Aleph.
1. gold--the splendid adornment of the temple [Calvin] ([La 1:10]; [1Ki 6:22]; [Jr 52:19]); or, the principal men of Judea [Grotius] ([La 4:2]).
stones of ... sanctuary--the gems on the breastplate of the high priest; or, metaphorically, the priests and Levites.
Beth.
2. comparable to ... gold--([Job 28:16], ).
earthen pitchers--([Is 30:14]; [Jr 19:11]).
Gimel.
3. sea monsters ... breast--Whales and other cetaceous monsters are mammalian. Even they suckle their young; but the Jewish women in the siege, so desperate was their misery, ate theirs ([La 4:10]; [La 2:20]). Others translate, "jackals."
ostriches--see on [Job 39:14]; [Job 39:16], on their forsaking their young.
Daleth.
4. thirst--The mothers have no milk to give through the famine.
He.
5. delicately--on dainties.
are desolate--or, "perish."
in scarlet embrace dunghills--Instead of the scarlet couches on which the grandees were nursed, they must lie on dunghills.
embrace--They who once shrank sensitively from any soil, gladly cling close to heaps of filth as their only resting-place. Compare "embrace the rock" ([Job 24:8]).
Vau.
6. greater than ... Sodom--([Mt 11:23]). No prophets had been sent to Sodom, as there had been to Judea; therefore the punishment of the latter was heavier than that of the former.
overthrown ... in a moment--whereas the Jews had to endure the protracted and manifold hardships of a siege.
no hands stayed on her--No hostile force, as the Chaldeans in the case of Jerusalem, continually pressed on her before her overthrow. Jeremiah thus shows the greater severity of Jerusalem's punishment than that of Sodom.
Zain.
7. Nazarites--literally, "separated ones" ([Nu 6:2]). They were held once in the highest estimation, but now they are degraded. God's blessing formerly caused their body not to be the less fair and ruddy for their abstinence from strong drink. Compare the similar case of Daniel, &c. ([Da 1:8-15]). Also David ([1Sa 16:12]; ). Type of Messiah ([So 5:10]).
rubies--Gesenius translates, "corals," from a Hebrew root, "to divide into branches," from the branching form of corals.
polishing--They were like exquisitely cut and polished sapphires. The "sapphires" may represent the blue veins of a healthy person.
Cheth.
8. blacker than ... coal--or, "than blackness" itself ([Joe 2:6]; [Na 2:10]).