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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
1:1-22 How Lonely Sits the City. Lamentations begins with a description of Jerusalem's devastation (vv. 1-11) and reports of her calls for help (vv. 12-22). Jerusalem speaks in vv. 9b, 11b-16, and 18-22. A narrator speaks in vv. 1-9a, 10-11a, and 17.
1:1-11 Jerusalem's Devastation. Jerusalem lies in waste from invasion and conquest. This section depicts her reversals (vv. 1-3), emptiness (vv. 4-6), uncleanness and guilt (vv. 7-9), and groaning (vv. 10-11).
1:1 How (Hb. ’ekah). An exclamation often associated with funeral language for people or cities (cf. Isa. 1:21; Jer. 48:17). Note the contrasts: full of people/lonely; great/widow; princess/slave. Jerusalem's reversal of fortunes is total.
1:2 Jerusalem weeps bitterly in the night because of her losses (v. 1). lovers . . . friends. Her former allies (cf. vv. 9, 16, 17, 21; Jer. 22:20-22; 30:14; Ezek. 16:37-41; 23:22-29).
1:3 gone into exile. See Jer. 52:24-30. because of affliction and hard servitude. See Lam. 1:7, 9; 3:1, 19. Exiles were often forced to work unstintingly. Such labor evokes memories of Israel's Egyptian bondage (cf. Ex. 1:1-14; 2:23; 5:11; 6:6, 9). dwells now among the nations . . . no resting place. A reversal of God's own promises to Israel (e.g., Deut. 12:10). pursuers have all overtaken her. See Jer. 39:1-10 (cf. 52:1-11); 40:1-6.
1:4 Devastated Jerusalem lacks worshipers (cf. Jer. 41:4-5) to travel her roads, enter her gates, and attend any festival. The chief priests have been killed (Jer. 52:24-27), and the remaining priests groan. The virgins were women who participated in joyful processions (Ps. 68:24-25), rejoicings and dances (Jer. 31:4), and generally expressed joy. Now they suffer.
1:5 her enemies prosper. Babylon has conquered Jerusalem (Jer. 52:1-30) because of her transgressions, i.e., her willfully breaking God's law (cf. Lam. 1:5, 14, 22; Amos 1:3, 6, 9; etc.). Jerusalem's sins have affected her children, that is, her inhabitants.
1:6 daughter of Zion. A metaphor for Jerusalem, which rested on Mount Zion like a child on a parent's shoulder (cf. note on 3:48). her majesty has departed. Most likely God's glory (Ps. 96:6; 145:5) and kingship (Ps. 104:1; 111:3; 145:5, 12). Judah's princes were famished with hunger when they fled and were captured (cf. 2 Kings 25:3-5; Jer. 52:6-11).
1:7 In exile the people recall the days of David, Solomon, and Josiah (all the precious things) in days of old. These precious things have been replaced with worthless things like the gloating and mocking of enemies.
1:8 Jerusalem sinned grievously. See v. 5. filthy (lit., "impurity"; cf. v. 17). This may refer to menstrual discharge (Lev. 12:2, 5) but could refer to a willing display of her nakedness. By becoming naked for her lovers (Lam. 1:2) she has become impure to her covenant husband (see Jer. 31:32).
1:9 Her uncleanness. The sins she committed (v. 8) were in her skirts, i.e., they clung to her. She took no thought of her future in the sense that she did not expect things to turn out as they had, despite God's warnings in Lev. 26:14-46, Deut. 28:15-68, and the Prophetic Books. no comforter. Neither God nor her allies (Lam. 1:2) comfort her. O Lord, behold my affliction. Jerusalem speaks for the first time, asking God to take note of what the enemy has done.
1:10 The narrator agrees that the enemy has succeeded; the enemy has taken her precious things, such as her children (v. 5). the nations enter her sanctuary. Babylon plundered the temple in (Jer. 28:1-3) and burned it in (Jer. 52:13). those whom you forbade. See Deut. 23:3-6.
1:11 they search for bread. Jerusalem's people sought bread during Babylon's siege (Jer. 37:21). Jerusalem asks God a second time (cf. Lam. 1:9) to see how the enemy treats her.
