《Trapp ’s Complete Commentary - Lamentations》(John Trapp)
Commentator
John Trapp, (5 June 1601, Croome D'Abitot - 16 October 1669, Weston-on-Avon), was an English Anglican Bible commentator. His large five-volume commentary is still read today and is known for its pithy statements and quotable prose. His volumes are quoted frequently by other religious writers, including Charles Spurgeon (1834 -1892), Ruth Graham, the daughter of Ruth Bell Graham, said that John Trapp, along with C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald, was one of her mother's three favorite sources for quotations.
Trapp studied at the Free School in Worcester and then at Christ Church, Oxford (B.A., 1622; M.A., 1624). He became usher of the free school of Stratford-upon-Avon in 1622 and its headmaster in 1624, and was made preacher at Luddington, near Stratford, before becoming vicar of Weston-on-Avon in Gloucestershire. He sided with parliament in the English Civil War and was arrested for a short time. He took the covenant of 1643 and acted as chaplain to the parliamentary soldiers in Stratford for two years. He served as rector of Welford-on-Avon in Gloucestershire between 1646 and 1660 and again as vicar of Weston from 1660 until his death in 1669.
Quotes from John Trapp:
Be careful what books you read, for as water tastes of the soil it runs through, so does the soul taste of the authors that a man reads. – John Trapp
He who rides to be crowned will not mind a rainy day. – John Trapp
Unity without verity is no better than conspiracy – John Trapp
00 Introduction
Book Overview - Lamentations
The Author. (1) His name means "Exalted of Jehovah," and he is ranked second among the great Old Testament writers. (2) He lived the last of the sixth and the first of the fifth centuries before Christ. His ministry began in 626 B. C., the thirteenth year of Josiah (1:2), and lasted about forty years. He probably died in Babylon during the early years of the captivity. (3) He was of a sensitive nature, mild, timid, and inclined to melancholy. He was devoutly religious and naturally shrank from giving pain to others. (4) He was uncommonly bold and courageous in declaring the message of God, it was unpopular and subjected him to hatred and even to suffering wrong. He was unsparing in the denunciations and rebukes administered to his nation, not even sparing the prince. (5) He is called the weeping prophet. He was distressed both by the disobedience and apostasy of Israel and by the evil which he foresaw. Being very devoutly religious, he was pained by the impiety of his time.
Condition of the Nations. (1) Israel, the northern kingdom, had been carried into captivity and Judah stood alone against her enemies. (2) Judah had fallen into a bad state, but Josiah, who reigned when Jeremiah began his ministry, attempted to bring about reforms and restore the old order. After his death, however, wickedness grew more and more until, in the later part of the life of Jeremiah, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and Judah was led away in captivity. (3) The world powers of the time of Jeremiah's birth were Assyria and Egypt. They were contending for supremacy. But Jeremiah lived to see both of them subdued and Babylon mistress of the world. He foresaw also how Babylon would fall and how a kingdom greater than all would rise wherein there would be righteousness and peace.
Lamentations.
The name means elegies or mournful or plaintive poems. It was formerly a part of Jeremiah and represents the sorrows of Jeremiah when the calamities which he had predicted befell his people, who had often despised and rejected him for his messages. He chose to live with them in their suffering and out of his weeping pointed them to a star of hope. There are five independent poems in as many chapters. Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5 have each 22 verses or just the number of the Hebrew alphabet. Chapter 3 has 66 verses or just three times the number of the alphabet. The first four chapters are acrostic, that is each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In chapter three, each letter is used in order and is three times repeated as the initial letter of three successive lines.
Analysis.
I. The Misery of Jerusalem, Ch. 1.
II. The Cause of the People's Suffering, Ch. 2.
III. The Basis of Hope, Ch. 3.
IV. The Past and Present of Israel, Ch. 4.
V. The Final Appeal for Restoration, Ch. 5.
For Study and Discussion. (1) Make a list of the evils predicted against the people because of their sins. (Example 19:7-9). (2) Make a list of the different sins and vices of which Jeremiah accuses Israel. (Example 2:12; :3:20, etc.) (3) Point out all the prophesies of Divine judgment against other nations and analyze the punishment foretold. (Example 5:18-25). (4) Study the case of fidelity to parents given in Ch. 35. (5) Collect all passages in both books which tell of the Messiah and of Messianic times and make a study of each (as 23:5-6). (6) Select a few of the striking passages of Lamentations and show how they apply to the facts of history. (6) The sign and type of the destruction of the land. Chs. 13-14. (8) The potter an illustration of God's power over nations, Chs. 18-19. (9) The illustration of the return, seen in the figs, Ch. 24. (10) Jeremiah's letter to the captive, Ch. 29. (11) Jeremiah's love for Judah-it saw their faults, rebuked them for their sins, but did not desert them when they were in suffering, because they despised his advice.
01 Chapter 1
Verse 1
Lamentations 1:1 How doth the city sit solitary, [that was] full of people! [how] is she become as a widow! she [that was] great among the nations, [and] princess among the provinces, [how] is she become tributary!
Ver. 1. How doth the city sit solitary.] Some (a) tell us of Jeremiah’s cave, near to Aceldama, where he sat in sight of the city now destroyed, and made her this epitaph - not altogether unlike that which David once made for his dear Jonathan. [2 Samuel 1:17] There he hath his Echa admirantis et commiserantis, his wondering and condoling. How once, and again, and a third time. [2 Samuel 1:19; 2 Samuel 1:25; 2 Samuel 1:27] And our prophet hath the self-same, in sense at least, three different times in this one verse; whence the Hebrews call the whole book by the name of Echa (How), which is the first word in it, and beginneth with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. For it must be observed here that, for memory’s sake especially, this piece of Holy Writ is most of it made up in order of alphabet, viz., the four first chapters, and all of it with singular artifice in a poetic strain. Take that one passage for a taste, Lamentations 5:16 : Oi na lanu, chi chattanu, which soundeth rhythmically, i.e., woe to us that we have sinned. And whereas other poetry is the luxury of such learning as is in words restrained, in matter usually loose, here it is altogether otherwise; for the prophet or poet, whether id sibi negotii credidit solum dari, maketh it his whole business to set forth his people’s misery in the cause thereof, their sins and excesses, pressing therefore to patience, to repentance, to earnest prayer, and to a confident expectation of a gracious issue, together with a sanctified use of all their sufferings. He had himself been a man of many sorrows all along; and now had his share as deep as any in the common calamity. Besides which he could truly say with Cyprian, Cum singulis pectus meum copulo, maeroris et funeris pondera luctuosa participo: cum plangentibus plango, cum deflentibus defleo, i.e., in St Paul’s words, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? grieved, and I grieve not? offended, and I burn not?" [2 Corinthians 11:29] And this he expresseth in a stately style and figurative terms, full of passion and compassion, as to show his love to his country, so to work upon his hard hearted countrymen, and to excite them to repentance and better obedience.
How doth the city.] Lately a city, yea, the city, the most famous of all the cities of the East, saith Pliny; but now, alas! of a city become a heap. So true is that of Seneca, speaking of a great city burned to ashes, Una dies interest inter magnam civitatem et nullam, There was but one day between a city and no city.
Sit solitary.] Sit on the ground in a mourning posture, as Job did among the ashes, and as Vespasian, after the last destruction of Jerusalem by his son Titus, caused money to be coined, whereon was stamped the picture of Judea in form of a captive woman, sitting sorrowfully under a palm tree.
“How sits this city, late most populous,
Thus solitary! like a widow thus!
Empress of nations, queen of provinces
She was, that now thus tributary is.”
That was full of people.] Full indeed, at the three solemn anniversary feasts especially. Josephus testifieth that at the last destruction of this city by the Romans there were more than eleven hundred thousand people in it. And although Judea was not over two hundred miles long and fifty miles broad, nothing nearly as large as England, yet what huge armies brought they into the field in the days of David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, &c.! Augustine saith there were three million present at that passover, whereof one million one hundred thousand perished by the sword and famine, one hundred thousand were led to Rome in triumph. (b)
How is she become as a widow] Having lost her king, if not her God. Happy if in this last respect she be but quasi vidua, as a widow only, and no more. See 2 Corinthians 6:8. {See Trapp on "2 Corinthians 6:8"} If God at any time should say unto her, as Zechariah 10:6, "She shall be as if I had not cast her off, and I will hear her." Or if she could say of herself as that good widow in the story did, Sola relicta solum Deum sequor, Being left alone, I will follow after God alone.
She that was great among the nations.] So was Athens, once the glory of Greece, for both arts and arms, now a dog hole in comparison. Sparta also, that other eye of Greece, is now a small burrow called Misithra, having nothing to boast of but the fame and thoughts of its former greatness.
And princess among the provinces.] In David’s and Solomon’s days especially, when that state was in the flourish - i.e., the praise of the whole earth, and terror to all nations.
How is she become tributary!] And by that means melted and exhausted, as the Hebrew word importeth. So was England once, when the Pope’s ass. Oh the huge sums that he sucked hence, to the wasting and impoverishing of the land! Of one of his agents here it is recorded, that at his departure he left not so much money in the whole kingdom as he either carried with him or sent to Rome before him. Some of them derive their mass from the Hebrew word mas in the text, signifying tribute; and in some respects well they may - Per eam scilicet pietas omnis liquefacta est et dissoluta, saith Rivet - for it is the bane of men’s souls, and a purge to their purses
Verse 2
Lamentations 1:2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears [are] on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort [her]: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
Ver. 2. She weepeth sore.] Heb., Weeping she weepeth - i.e., sadly and soakingly, or as we say, savourly, seeking that way to ease her sorrow, which is so deep and downright.
“ Expletur lachrymis, egeriturque dolore. ”
In the night.] When grief may have its full forth, and when widows are most sensible of their solitary and forlorn condition. She weeps when she should sleep.
“ Iam iacet in viduo squallida facta toro. ”
And her tears are on her cheeks.] Haerent et perennant, seldom or never are they off. As hinds by calving, so she by weeping, cast out her sorrows. [Job 39:3]
Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her.] Optimum solarium sodalitium, saith one; and Affert solarium lugentibus suspiriorum societas, saith another father. It was no small aggravation of Jerusalem’s misery, that her confederates proved miserable comforters, and her allies kept aloof off, so that she had none to compassionate her. This is also none of the smallest torments of the damned ghosts, that they are unpitied of their best friends and nearest relations.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her.] The Edomites and Moabites. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, &c. Every sinner shall one day take up this lamentation. And why? "They have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out broken cisterns, that can hold no water." [Jeremiah 2:13]
Verse 3
Lamentations 1:3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.
Ver. 3. Judah is gone into captivity.] But with no goodwill. God hath driven them out for their cruel oppressions and hard usage of their poor brethren that served them; thus the Chaldee paraphrast, and not amiss. Others (a) thus: Judah, i.e., the inhabitants of the kingdom, goeth away, i.e., willingly leave their country, goods, and dwelling, sc., before the desolation of Jerusalem, because of affliction, i.e., extremity of trouble, and great slavery, &c.
She dwelleth among the heathen.] Where she can get nothing better than guilt or grief.
She findeth no rest.] No more than did the dove in the deluge. [Genesis 8:9]
All her persecutors took her in the straits,] i.e., At the most advantage to mischief her - a term taken from hunters or highwaymen. The Chaldees took the city when it had been first distressed with famine; and then the Jews that went down to Egypt for succour and shelter after Gedaliah’s death, they caught there, as mice in a trap, as this prophet had foretold them (Jeremiah 42:1-22; Jeremiah 43:1-13; Jeremiah 44:1-30), but they would not be warned. Mitsraim proved to be their Metsarim - i.e., Egypt their pound, or prison.