Lamentations 2:4

2:1-9 A sad representation is here made of the state of God's church, of Jacob and Israel; but the notice seems mostly to refer to the hand of the Lord in their calamities. Yet God is not an enemy to his people, when he is angry with them and corrects them. And gates and bars stand in no stead when God withdraws his protection. It is just with God to cast down those by judgments, who debase themselves by sin; and to deprive those of the benefit and comfort of sabbaths and ordinances, who have not duly valued nor observed them. What should they do with Bibles, who make no improvement of them? Those who misuse God's prophets, justly lose them. It becomes necessary, though painful, to turn the thoughts of the afflicted to the hand of God lifted up against them, and to their sins as the source of their miseries.

He hath bent his bow like an enemy,.... God sometimes appears as if he was an enemy to his people, when he is not, by his conduct and behaviour; by the dispensations of his providence they take him to be so, as Job did, Job 16:9 ; he bends his bow, or treads it, for the bending or stretching the bow was done by the foot; and as the Targum, "and threw his arrows at me:'' he stood with his right hand as an adversary; with arrows in it, to put into his bow or with his sword drawn, as an adversary does. The Targum is, "he stood at the right hand of Nebuchadnezzar and helped him, when he distressed his people Israel:'' and slew all that were pleasant to the eye; princes and priests, husbands and wives, parents and children, young men and maids; desirable to their friends and relations, and to the commonwealth: in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion he poured out his fury like fire; that is, either in the temple, or in the city of Jerusalem, or both, which were burnt with fire, as the effect of divine wrath and fury; and which itself is comparable to fire; like a burning lamp of fire, as the Targum; or rather like a burning furnace or mountain; see Nahum 1:6.

4 . Jehovah is likened to an archer (cp. Job 16:13 ), aiming His bow with deadly effect against the goodliest of the people. The metre is incomplete, a part of the third line having apparently been lost. We should (with Löhr) read as the second line, “And hath slain … daughter of Zion.” with his right hand ] that which has hitherto been the symbol of His help.

Verse 4. - The beginning of the verse seems slightly out of order (see the Septuagint). And slew all that were pleasant , etc. The correct rendering is, And slew all that was pleasant to the eye: in the tent of the daughter of Zion he poured out his fury like fire. The Authorized Version (following the Targum) seems to have thought that the youth of the population alone was intended. But, though Ewald also adopts this view, it seems to limit unduly the meaning of the poet. By "tent" we should probably understand "dwelling," as Jeremiah 4:5 , and often; Isaiah 16:5 , "the tent of David;" Psalm 78:67 , "the tent of Joseph." Lamentations 2:4

(4) He stood with his right hand . . . —The point of the phrase is that the “right hand,” the natural symbol of divine power, which had been of old stretched forth to protect, was now seen shooting the arrows and wielding the sword of vengeance. Slew all that were pleasant . . .—Better, “Destroyed ail that was pleasant,” the destruction including not only warriors and youths, but everything dear and precious. The tabernacle . . .—Not the Temple, but the city itself as the habitation of the people, who are collectively represented as “the daughter of Zion.”

That is, God (whom by their sins they had provoked and made their enemy) behaved himself as an enemy, bending his bow, and stretching out his right hand, and slew their young men and maidens, who were pleasant to look upon; and had brought judgments upon them like fire, which devours without any discrimination.

He stood with his right hand ... - i. e. that right hand so often stretched out to help now grasped a weapon ready for Judah's destruction. Were pleasant - Or, was "pleasant." Put full stop after "eye." Begin the third distich thus: In the tabernacle - (or, tent) of the daughter of Zion.

He {f} hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire. (f) Showing that there is no remedy but destruction where God is the enemy.

4. (Isa 63:10). stood with … right hand—He took His stand so as to use His right hand as an adversary. Henderson makes the image to be that of an archer steadying his right hand to take aim. Not only did He withdraw His help, but also took arms against Israel. all … pleasant to … eye—(Eze 24:25). All that were conspicuous for youth, beauty, and rank. in … tabernacle—the dwellings of Jerusalem. He.

In Lamentations 2:3 and Lamentations 2:4 , the writer describes the hostile conduct of the Lord towards Israel, by which the kingdom of Judah was destroyed. Thenius utterly mistakes the poetic character of the description given, and evidently finds in it the several events that occurred up to the taking of the city, all mentioned in their natural order; according to this, the perfects would require to be translated as preterites. But this view can be made out only by giving an arbitrary meaning to the several figures used; e.g., it is alleged that "every horn" means the frontier fortresses, that the expression "before the enemy" refers to the time when the latter turned his face against Jerusalem, and so on. The three members of Lamentations 2:3 contain a climax: deprivation of the power to resist; the withdrawal of aid; the necessary consequence of which was the burning like a flame of fire. "To cut down the horn" means to take away offensive and defensive power; see on Jeremiah 48:25 . "Every horn" is not the same as "all horns," but means all that was a horn of Israel (Gerlach).

This included not merely the fortresses of Judah, but every means of defence and offence belonging to the kingdom, including men fit for war, who are neither to be excluded nor (with Le Clerc) to be all that is understood by "every horn." In the expression ימינו...השׁיב, the suffix, as in קשׁתּו, Lamentations 2:4 , refers to Jahveh, because the suffix joined to יד always points back to the subject of the verb השׁיב; cf. Psalm 74:11 . God drew back His hand before the enemy, i.e., He withdrew from the people His assistance in the struggle against the enemy. Such is the meaning given long ago by the Chaldee: nec auxiliatus est populo suo coram hoste. ויּבער בּיעקב does not mean "He consumed Jacob;" but He burned (i.e., made a conflagration) in Jacob; for, in every passage in which בּער is construed with בּ, it does not mean to "burn something," but to burn in or among, or to kindle a fire (cf. Job 1:16 , where the burning up is only expressed by ותּאכלם, Numbers 11:3 ; Psalm 106:18 ), or to set something on fire, Isaiah 42:25 . The burning represents devastation; hence the comparison of יבער with "like fire of flame ( equals flaming, brightly blazing fire, cf. Isaiah 4:5 ; Psalm 105:32 ) that devours round about." The subject of יבער is Jahveh, not ira Jovae (Rosenmller), or להבה (Neumann), or the enemy (Gerlach).