Lamentations - The Sermon Depository

she says here, that she will not be able to rise again, the reference is made
to the outward state of things: in the meantime, the grace of God is not
taken to the account. and this goes beyond all human means. She then
says, that according, to the thoughts of the flesh, she had no hope, because
there appeared to be no means of rising. But yet she did not despair, but
that God would at length, by His almighty power, cause her to rise from
fatal ruin. And this is a mode of speaking that ought to be borne in mind;
for hope sees things which are hidden. But at the same time the faithful
speak according to the common appearance of things, and when they seem
to despair, they regard what falls under their own observation and
judgment. So then Jerusalem now says that she could not rise, except God
manifested his extraordinary power, which far exceeds all human means. It
follows, —
Lamentations 1:15
15. The Lord hath trodden
under foot all my mighty
men in the midst of me; he
hath called an assembly
against me to crush my
young men: the Lord hath
trodden the virgin, the
daughter of Judah, as in a
winepress.
15. Calcavit omnes fortes meos
Dominus in medio mei; vocavit super me
diem (hoc est, edixit statum diem, alii
vertunt congregationem; et d[wm, tam
coetum ipsum significat, quam condictum
tempus,) ad conterendos adolescentes
meos (vel, electos;) torcular calcavit Adonai
super virginem (vel, puellam,) filiam
Jehudah.
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 fallen on the
field of battle, if they had been taken in the fields by their enemies, such a
thing would not have been so grievous: but that they had been thus laid
prostrate, in the very bosom of the city, was indeed a token of vengeance
from above. We now see that this circumstance was not superfluous, that
all the valiant men of Jerusalem were laid prostrate in the midst of her.
It is then said that it was the fixed time, when God destroyed her chosen
men, or her youth. Should it seem preferable to take d[wm, muod, as
meaning a congregation, I do not object; yet I do not approve of this
meaning, for it seems forced. It agrees better with the context to regard it as
the fixed time, the time before appointed by God to destroy all the strong
men. F18
There is then another metaphor used, — that God had trodden the
winepress as to the daughter of Zion. This figure occurs elsewhere, as in
Isaiah 63:1,
“Who is this that cometh from Edom? and why are his garments red?”
For the Prophet wonders how God could come forth from Edom,
sprinkled with blood. God answers, “The winepress have I trod alone;”
that is, because he had avenged the wrongs done to his people. For we
know that the Idumeans had always been incensed against the miserable
Jews. Then God, in order to shew that lie was the defender of his Church,
says that he came from Edom, and was sprinkled and even made wet with
blood. As when any one is red with wine after having toiled in the
winepress, so also is the representation in this place. We have also seen in