The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

1 88 THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH
Here the poet breaks away from his imagery for a
second time to tell us that he has become an object of
derision to all his people, and the theme of their mocking
songs.-^ This is a striking statement. It shews
that the afflicted man is not simply one member of the
smitten nation of Israel, sharing the common hardships
of the race whose ** badge is servitude." He not merely
experiences exceptional sufferings. He meets with no
sympathy from his fellow-countrymen. On the contrary,
these people so far dissociate themselves from
his case that they can find amusement in his misery.
Thus, while even a misguided Don Quixote is a noble
character in the rare chivalry of his soul, and while
his very delusions are profoundly pathetic, many people
can only find material for laughter in them, and pride
themselves in their superior sanity for so doing, although
the truth is, their conduct proves them to be incapable
of understanding the lofty ideals that inspire the object
of their empty derision ; thus Jeremiah was mocked
by his unthinking contemporaries, when, whether in
error, as they supposed, or wisely, as the event shewed,
he preached an apparently absurd policy ; and thus a
greater than Jeremiah, One as supreme in reasonable-
ness as in goodness, was jeered at by men who thought
Him at best a Utopian dreamer, because they were
grovelling in earthly thoughts far out of reach of the
spiritual world in ^\\hich He moved.
Returning to imag^ery, the poet pictures himself as
a hardly used guest at a feast. He is fed, crammed,
sated ; but his food i'$ bitterness, the cup has been
forced to his lips, and ne has been made drunk—not
with pleasant wine, however, but with wormwood.^
' iii. 14.
^ iii. 15