Lamentations 1:9

Lam 1:9 Her filthiness [is] in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified [himself].

Ver. 9. Her filthiness is in her skirts.] Taxat impudentiam insignem. {a} She rather glorieth in her wickedness, than is any whit abashed of it - a metaphor from a menstruous woman that is immodest. Oh quam Vulgatee hoc hodie malum. Oh how comon this present time of evil. See Isa 3:9. But whence this gracelessness

She remembereth not her last end,] i.e., What a black tail of plagues sin draweth after it, and that for all these things she must come to judgment. Memorare novissima is a good preservative from sin; but most men are of Otho the emperor’s mind, who thought it a piece of dastardy to speak or think much of death; {b} whereas Moses assureth us that by keeping out the thoughts of death, we keep our spirits void of true magnanimity, and that one of those that will consider their latter end would chase a thousand. {Deu 32:30}

Therefore she came down wonderfully.] Heb., With wonderments. Her incogitancy and inconsiderateness, together with the licentious wickedness following thereupon, being more heavy than a talent of lead, {Zec 5:7} brought her down with a powder, as we say, ita ut ad miraculum corruerit.

O Lord, behold mine affliction.] If not me, as utterly unworthy, yet mine affliction, as thou once didst Hagar’s; {Gen 16:13} and if I may obtain no favour, yet why should the enemy insult to thy dishonour {Deu 32:27 Psa 35:26; Psa 38:16 Jer 48:26; Jer 48:42 Zep 2:10}

{a} Paschasius.

{b} Plura de extremis loqui pars ignaviae est. - Tacit., lib. ii, Hist.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lam_1:9

She remembereth not her last end: therefore she came down wonderfully.

The wicked surprised by their own destruction

There are certain great principles in the Divine administration, the operation of which gives a degree of uniformity to the Divine proceedings. For instance, it is the manner of our God to visit with signal destruction those who have proudly set at naught His authority in a course of prosperous wickedness. Such was His treatment of Jerusalem. So it has been with individuals. Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, etc. Destruction came upon them, not only in a terrible form, but at an hour when they did not expect it. The same thing will hold true, in a greater or less degree, of all sinners, as it respects their final doom; while it will be especially true of those who have sinned against great light, and with a high hand. The destruction which will overtake sinners at last will be to them a matter of awful surprise. It will be at once unexpectedly dreadful, and dreadfully unexpected.

I. Gods wrath against the wicked is constantly accumulating. If the first sin you ever committed provoked God, do you think that the second provoked Him less; and that as He saw you become accustomed to sin, He came to think as little of it as yourself, and has not even charged your sin against you? Do you not remember that the Bible speaks of the sinner treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath?

II. The destruction which will come upon sinners will be to them a matter of fearful surprise, inasmuch as in the present life Gods wrath, for the most part, seems to slumber; at least they perceive no direct expression of it. It is true, indeed, that God is giving them warnings enough, both in His Word and providence; and if they did not close their ears against them, they could not fail to be alarmed; and they will never be able, in the day of their calamity, to charge God with having concealed from them their danger. Nevertheless, He treats them here as probationers for eternity; He sets life and death before them, but He does not unsheath His sword, and point it at the sinners heart. He does not find that the elements are armed for his destruction. The thundercloud rises, and rolls, and looks terrific, as if it were borne along by an avenging hand, but the lightning that blazes from it passes him by unhurt. In short, not one of the vials of Gods wrath can be said to be open upon him. There is nothing which he interprets as an indication of anything dreadful in the future. Now, must not all this be a preparation for a fearful surprise at last?

III. Not only have the wicked, during the present life, received no signal expressions of Divine vengeance, but they have been constantly receiving expressions of the Divine goodness; and this is another circumstance which will serve to increase the surprise that will be occasioned by their destruction. What a fearful transition will it be from this world, in which there are so many blessings, to a world in which existence itself becomes a curse! Oh, will not the sinner feel that he has come down wonderfully?

IV. God sometimes not only gives to the wicked a common share of temporal blessings, but distinguishes them by worldly prosperity; hence another reason of the surprise which they will experience at last. Think of the rich, and the great, and the noble of this world, who have been accustomed to receive a homage which has sometimes fallen little short of idolatry, finding themselves in the prison of despair, with no sound but the sound of their own wailing--with no society but the society of the reprobate! Have not these persons come down wonderfully?

V. The destruction which will finally overtake the wicked will be to them a matter of great surprise, inasmuch as they will, in some way or other, have made confident calculation foe escaping it. It will be found, no doubt, that many of them had flattered themselves with the hope that the doctrine of future punishment might turn out to be false; and some will have been left through their own perverseness to believe the lie, that the good and the bad will at last be equally happy. There will be others who will have wrought themselves into a conviction that destruction might be averted by some easier means than those which the Gospel prescribes, and may have chosen to trust to the orthodoxy of their creed, or the kindness of their temper, or the morality of their life. There will be others who will have intended ultimately to escape destruction by becoming true Christians, but who were looking out for some more convenient season. One thing will be certain in respect to all,--they will have intended to come out well at last. Not an individual among all the sufferers in hell but will have expected finally to be saved. Lessons.

1. How blinding is the influence of depravity.

2. It is a most awful calamity to relapse into a habit of carelessness after being awakened.

3. There is no class of men so much to be pitied as those who are perhaps most frequently the objects of envy, and none whose condition is so much to be envied as those whose circumstances are often looked upon as the most undesirable.

4. Who of you will turn a deaf ear to the warning which this subject suggests, to flee from the wrath to come? (W. B. Sprague, D. D.)

Sin unremembered

1. They that be hardened in sin by despising destruction, do grow to forget those things which continual experience and the light of reason daily call to remembrance.

(1) The daily custom of things, without grace to esteem them aright, breedeth contempt of them in our corrupt nature.

(2) Satan blindeth the children of disobedience, lest they should rightly regard good things and profit by them.

2. The forgetfulness of the reward of sin throweth men headlong into iniquity; but the remembrance of it stayeth us from many evils (Amo_6:3; Psa_16:8). (J. Udall.)

Forgetfulness of the end

I. Why is man so forgetful of his end?

(1) Not because he can have any doubt as to the importance of it.

(2) Not because he lacks reminders of the sad event.

(3) Not because he has the slightest hope of avoiding it. Why then?

1. His instinctive repugnance to it.

2. The difficulty of realising it.

3. The commonness of the occurrence of the event.

4. The prevalent expectation of long life.

5. The secular engrossments of life.

6. The systematic efforts to render man oblivious of the subject.

II. Why should man remember his end?

1. That we may duly estimate our sinful condition.

2. To moderate our attachments to this passing life.

3. To stimulate us to a right preparation for the event.

4. To enable us to welcome the event when it comes. (Homilist.)

The end in view should control conduct

If the lazy student would only bring clearly before his mind the examination room, and the unanswerable paper, and the bitter mortification when the pass list comes out and his name is not there, he would not trifle and dawdle and seek all manner of diversions as he does, but he would bind himself to his desk and his task. If the young man that begins to tamper with purity, and in the midst of the temptations of a great city to gratify the lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh, because he is away from the shelter of his fathers house, and the rebuke of his mothers purity, could see, as the older of us have seen, men with their bones full of the iniquity of their youth, or drifted away from their home to die down in the country like a rat in a hole, do you think the temptations of the streets and low places of amusement would not be stripped of their fascination? If the man beginning to drink was to say to himself, What am I to do in the end when the craving becomes physical, and volition is suspended, and anything is sacrificed in order to still the domineering devil within, do you think he would begin? I do not believe that all sin comes from ignorance, but sure I am that if the sinful man saw what the end is, he would, in nine cases out of ten, be held back. What will you do in the end? Use that question, dear friends, as the Ithuriel spear which will touch the squatting tempter at your ear, and there will start up, in its own shape, the fiend. (A. Maclaren.)

O Lord, behold my affliction.--

Refuge in distress

1. The only refuge in distress is to fly to the Lord by faithful and fervent prayer.

(1) He it is that smiteth, and none else can heal.

(2) He hath promised to hear and deliver us, calling upon Him in the day of our troubles (Psa_50:15).

2. This prayer being made by the prophet in the name of the people, teacheth us: it is a great blessing of God to that people that hath a minister who is both able and willing not only to teach them the truth, but also to be their mouth to direct them.

3. God so pitieth His people that the view of their miseries moveth Him to help them, even when all men are against them.

(1) He loveth them with an everlasting love.

(2) He will not suffer them to be trodden down of their enemies for ever. (J. Udall.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In Lam 1:9 the figure if uncleanness is further developed. Her uncleanness sticks to the hems or skirts of her garment. טמאה is the defilement caused by touching a person or thing Levitically unclean, Lev 5:3; Lev 7:21; here, therefore, it means defilement by sins and crimes. This has now been revealed by the judgment, because she did not think of her end. These words point to the warning given in the song of Moses, Deu 32:29 : "If they were wise, they would understand this (that apostasy from the Lord brings heavy punishment after it), they would think of their end," i.e., the evil issue of continued resistance to God's commands. But the words are especially a quotation from Isa 47:7, where they are used of Babylon, that thought she would always remain mistress, and did not think of the end of her pride; therefore on her also came the sentence, "Come down from thy glory, sit in the dust," Isa 47:1, cf. Jer 48:18.

Jerusalem has now experienced this also; she has come down wonderfully, or fallen from the height of her glory into the depths of misery and disgrace, where she has none to comfort her, and is constrained to sigh, "O Lord, behold my misery!" These words are to be taken as a sign from the daughter of Zion, deeply humbled through shame and repentance for her sins. This is required by the whole tenor of the words, and confirmed by a comparison with Lam 1:11 and Lam 1:20. פּלאים is used adverbially; cf. Ewald, 204, b [Gesenius, 100, 2, b.] There is no need for supplying anything after הגדּיל, cf. Jer 48:26, Jer 48:42; Dan 8:4, Dan 8:8,Dan 8:11, Dan 8:25, although לעשׂות originally stood with it, e.g., Joe 2:20; cf. Ewald, 122, c [and Gesenius' Lexicon, s.v. גּדל]. The clause כּי הגדּיל, which assigns the reason, refers not merely to the sighing of Jerusalem, but also to the words, "and she came down wonderfully." The boasting of the enemy shows itself in the regardless, arrogant treatment not merely of the people and their property, but also of their holy things.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

She is not ashamed of her sin, although it be manifest.

Hebrew, hath magnified himself.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Continuation of the image in Lam 1:8. Her ignominy and misery cannot be concealed but are apparent to all, as if a woman were suffering under such a flow as to reach the end of her skirts.

remembereth not . . . last end-- (Deu 32:29; Isa 47:7). She forgot how fatal must be the end of her iniquity. Or, as the words following imply: She, in despair, cannot lift herself up to lay hold of God's promises as to her "latter end" [CALVIN].

wonderfully--Hebrew, "wonders," that is, with amazing dejection.

O Lord, behold--Judah here breaks in, speaking for herself.

for the enemy hath magnified himself--What might seem ground for despair, the elated insulting of the enemy, is rather ground for good hope.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. She remembereth not her last end] Although evident marks of her pollution appeared about her, and the land was defiled by her sinfulness even to its utmost borders, she had no thought or consideration of what must be the consequence of all this at the last. - Blayney.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He continues here, as I think, the same subject; he had said at the end of the last verse that turpitude or baseness had been seen at Jerusalem; and now he says that it was on the very fringes or skirts. The Prophet seems to allude to menstruous women who hide their uncleanness as much as they can; but. such a thing is of no avail, as nature must have its course. In short, the Prophet intimates that the Jews had become filthy in no common degree, being so afflicted that their uncleanness appeared on their skirts. This seems to be the Prophet’s meaning. Interpreters think that Jeremiah speaks of the sins of the people, but they are mistaken; for I doubt not but that the reference is to their punishment. They say that filthiness was on the skirts, because the people had shamelessly prostituted themselves to all kinds of wickedness, and that they remembered not their end, because they had become altogether foolish, according to what is said in the song of Moses,

“O that they were wise, and would foresee their end? (Deuteronomy 32 29.)

But let any one duly consider the design of the Prophet, and he will readily agree with me that he speaks not of guilt, but on the contrary of punishment.

The Prophet then says that the reproach of the Jews was on their skirts, because they could not hide their disgrace, For shame often makes men to hide their evils and silently to bear them, because they are unwilling to expose themselves to the mockery of their enemies. But the Prophet says that the miseries of the people could not be kept hidden, but that they appeared to all, as the case is with women subject to an overflow — it issues forth to the extremities of their garments.

And when he says that she remembered not her end, I understand this to mean, that the Jews were so overwhelmed with despair, that they did not raise up their thoughts to God’s promises; for it is no ordinary source of comfort, and what even common sense dictates to us, to take breath in extreme evils, and to extend our thoughts farther, for misery will not always oppress us — some change for the better will happen. As then men are wont thus to sustain themselves in adversities, he says that the Jews remembered not their end; that is, they were so demented by their sorrow, that they became stupified, and entertained no hope as to the future. In short, by these words, he denotes extreme despair; for the Jews were so stupified that they could not raise up their minds to any hope.

And the reason is expressed, because they had come down wonderfully, that is, because they had been cast down in an extraordinary manner. A noun is here put instead of an adverb, and in the masculine gender, צפלאים pelaim; sometimes we have פלאות, pelaut, but in the same sense. He then says that the Jews had sunk as it were miraculously; but by a miracle he means a prodigy, the word being taken in a bad sense; then miraculously has Jerusalem come down. It hence followed that it succumbed under its miseries, so that it could not turn its thoughts to any hope, nor think of another end; but. became stupid in its miseries, as men usually become desperate, when they think that there is no deliverance for them. He repeats what he had said before, that there was no comforter

These things ought to be carefully observed, for Satan at this day uses various means to lead us to despair. In order to avert us from all confidence in the grace of God, he sets before us extreme calamities. And when sorrow lays such hold on our minds, that the hope of grace does not shine forth, from that immoderate sorrow arises impatience, which may drive us to madness. Hence it comes that we murmur, and then clamor against God. As, then, at this day Satan supplies materials to harass our minds, that we may succumb under our griefs, let us bear in mind what the Prophet says, that Jerusalem, which was then the only true Church of God in the world, was overwhelmed with so many and so great evils, that she remembered not her end. This, indeed, ought to be understood of external circumstances, for God no doubt sustained the minds of the godly, and always so mitigated their grief that they had regard to their end. But the reference is to the people in general, and also to the outward appearance of things, when the Prophet says that the Jews remembered not their end.

He now encourages them to pray, and suggests words to them, for he speaks as in the person of all: See, Jehovah, my affliction, for the enemy hath highly exalted himself. Though the Prophet here represents the Church, yet he exhorts them no doubt, according to the obligations of his office, to entertain good hope, and encourages them to pray, for true and earnest prayer cannot be offered without faith; for when the taste of God’s grace is lost, it cannot be that we can pray from the heart; and through the promises alone it is that we can have a taste of God’s paternal goodness. There is, then, no doubt but that the Prophet here promises a sure deliverance to the Jews, provided they turned to God, and believed and were fully persuaded that he would be their deliverer.

We now, then, see what is the right way of teaching, even that men are to be humbled, and that their just condemnation is to be set before them, and that they are also to be encouraged to entertain hope, and a hand is to be stretched out to them, that they may pray to God, and not hesitate in extreme evils not only to hope for but even to request aid from him. This is the order observed by the Prophet; we must learn in adversities ever to come down to ourselves, and to acknowledge our guilt; and then when we are sunk deep, we must learn to elevate our minds by faith that thence prayer may arise by which our salvation is to be attained.

One thing has escaped me; the Prophet, in order to obtain favor, says, that enemies had greatly exalted themselves. And this deserves a special notice; for what seems to occasion despair to us, ought, on the contrary, to encourage us to entertain good hope, that is, when enemies are insolent and carry themselves with great arrogance and insult us. The greater, then, is their pride and the less tolerable, with more confidence may we call on God, for the Holy Spirit has not in vain taught us this truth, that God will be propitious to us when enemies thus greatly exalt themselves, that is, when they become beyond measure proud, and immoderately indulge themselves in every kind of contempt. It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) Her filthiness.—The picture of pollution is pushed to its most loathsome extreme. The very skirts of the garment are defiled.

She remembereth not . . .—Better, she remembered not. It was her recklessness as to the future (comp. Deu_32:29, for the phrase) which brought her down to this “wonderful” and extreme prostration.

O Lord, behold my affliction.—The words are not those of the prophet, but of Zion, anticipating the dramatic personation which begins systematically at Lam_1:12.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. is she come down wonderfully] Cp. Isa_47:1.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Her filthiness is in her skirts,.... Her sin is manifest to all, being to be seen in her punishment. The allusion is to a menstruous woman, to whom she is compared, both before and after; whose blood flows down to the skirts of her garments, and there seen; by which it is known that she is in her separation. So the Targum,

"the filthiness of the blood of her separation is in her skirts; she is not cleansed from it, nor does she repent of her sins:''

she remembereth not her last end; she did not consider in the time of her prosperity what her sins would bring her to; what would be the issue of them; nay, though she was warned by the prophet, and was told what things would come to at last, yet she laid it not to heart; nor did she lay it up in her mind, or reflect upon it; but went on in her sinful courses:

therefore she came down wonderfully; or, "with wonders" (u); from a very exalted estate to a very low one; from the height of honour and prosperity to the depth of distress and misery; to the astonishment and wonder of all about her, that so flourishing a city and kingdom should be brought to ruin at once, in so strange a manner; see Dan 8:24;

she had no comforter; as none to help her against her enemies, Lam 1:7; and to prevent her ruin; so none to pity her, and have compassion upon her, and speak a comfortable word to her now she was in it:

O Lord, behold my affliction: not with his eye of omniscience only, which he did, and, of which she had no doubt; but with an eye of pity and compassion: thus Zion is at once and suddenly introduced, breaking out in this pathetic manner, being in great affliction and distress, having none else to apply to; and the enemy bearing hard upon her, and behaving in a very insolent and audacious manner, transgressing all bounds of humanity and decency; and therefore hoped the Lord would have compassion on her, though she had sinned against him:

for the enemy hath magnified himself; behaved haughtily both against God and his people; attributing great things to himself; magnifying his own power and wisdom.

(u) "mirabiliter", Montanus, Vatablus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Her filthiness is in her skirts - Her personal defilement is no longer concealed beneath the raiment Jer 13:22.

She came down wonderfully - Jerusalem once enthroned as a princess must sit on the ground as a slave.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

End in her prosperity, to avert this misfortune. (Haydock) --- Idolatry is a spiritual adultery, (Worthington) and one of the worst species of filth. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He persisteth in his comparison of the Jewish people, either to a sluttish, nasty woman, or to an impudent woman that is not ashamed to expose her nastiness or wickedness to the view of all.

She remembereth not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully; that is, the Jews never considered, or would not believe, what those degrees of sin would at last bring them to, and that hath been the cause of that prodigious calamity into which God had brought them.

O Lord, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself: the prophet turns himself to God, whom he desires to behold the affliction of this people, that is, with a pitiful, compassionate eye. It is a very usual thing in Holy Scripture to signify the acts. of the heart by the acts of the inward and outward senses, those especially of the memory, eye, and ear, because objects must be first brought in by the senses before they can affect the soul. Hence (the Scripture speaking of God after the manner of men) the servants of God desiring God to have compassion on them, show them favour, &c., desire him to behold and look upon their affliction.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. Skirts — More exactly, the train of the long flowing robe. And so the meaning is, that the personal defilement is no longer concealed, but revoltingly conspicuous.

Came down wonderfully — Sometimes the sad contrasts of human life are so startling that we instinctively accept them as judgments from God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

She remembereth not, etc.; rather, she thought not upon, etc. An allusion to Isa_47:7. O Lord, behold, etc. This is the language in which the "sigh" (ver. 8) finds expression.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Her uncleanliness is in her skirts This is an expression of disgrace. Her menstrual blood is visible in the skirts of her garments, i.e., her sins are conspicuous; she committed them flagrantly.

she was not mindful of her end When they would sin, they were not mindful of what their end would be. Therefore, “she fell astonishingly.” Her descent was astonishing, bringing about much bewilderment, for everyone was bewildered that this happened to her, something that did not happen to any other city.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.