For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water for the comforter that should revive my soul is far from me; my children are desolate, for the enemy hath prevailed.
In Lamentations 1 the prophet grieves over a ruined Jerusalem. At verse 16 the grief breaks into open weeping, because no comforter is left. Three questions follow. Why is there no comfort? Who stood behind the enemy's victory? Does God feel any of it?
The weeping here is not a first reaction to bad news. One writer points out that the prophet had already wept over these events before they happened.
Because of these things the prophet weeps, as he had already wept before they happened, when he foretold them. There is no comforter; for Judah's children are desolate. Zion spreads out her hands, but there is no helper, nor anyone to sympathise.
The comforter who is far off is the one who should revive her soul. One writer sets that loss beside the comfort God has promised to bring.
The history of God's people on earth shows plainly what happened as they turned their backs on God. They came into a lonely, comfortless condition. "How lonely sits the city that was full of people! … she has none to comfort her" (Lamentations 1:1-2). "The comforter that should relieve (or revive) my soul is far from me" (v. 16). To this day they remain deprived and without comfort. But Isaiah, Zechariah and other Scriptures show that God has "good and comfortable words" in view for them. When their "day of salvation" (Isaiah 49) has come, brought by the "beautiful … feet of Him … that announces salvation" (Isaiah 52), then they will "break forth into joy," singing "the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem."
The older translation reads "relieve"; the ESV has "one to revive my spirit."
The verse ends with the enemy prevailing. One writer looks past the enemy to the hand behind him.
All still traces back to Jehovah's dealing with Jerusalem for her rebellious sins; and so He is morally vindicated.
If the suffering was deserved, why weep at all? One writer answers that the prophet knew the cause and still wept.
Nothing moves the heart more deeply than the conviction that God loves the one He afflicts. He loves what He must strike, and He must strike what He loves. As the prophet lays open Jerusalem's affliction, he admits that the people's own sin had caused it. Could that lessen the sorrow of his heart? It comforted him on one side; on the other it humbled him and made him hide his face.
The comforter is far off. One writer turns to what God Himself felt about the affliction.
When Israel suffered in Egypt the Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people" (Exodus 3:7). Lamentations shows the same blessed fact: Jehovah takes a loving, deep interest in the afflictions His people pass through because of their sins. He had to chastise His people, yet He is still moved with compassion for them. Yes, in their affliction He Himself is afflicted and He yearns over them. The Spirit of Christ produced those deep feelings of sorrow and humiliation in the prophet's heart, and Jeremiah, Jehovah's mouthpiece, gave them words.
One writer places these tears beside a later weeping over the same city.
Again the prophet breaks out in weeping; his eyes flow with tears. The desolation and judgment that have come affect him deeply. But centuries later One greater than Jeremiah stood before the same city, now restored from the ruin of Jeremiah's time. And as He looked at that city He wept, because His all-seeing eye saw a still more dreadful judgment for city and nation.
- Cause. The enemy prevailed, yet everything traces back to God's own dealing with Jerusalem for her rebellion. He is shown to be right; the enemy is not the real explanation.
- Cost. The comforter who should revive her soul is far off. The city that turned from God found no one to comfort her.
- Compassion. Even while He strikes, God is afflicted in their affliction. He loves what He must strike.
- Consistency. Knowing the suffering was deserved humbles the heart. It never dries the tears.
- Comfort coming. The tears look ahead. A greater One wept over the same city. And a day is coming when His people will sing that the Lord has comforted them and redeemed Jerusalem.
Zion spreadeth forth her hands; there is none to comfort her; Jehovah hath commanded concerning Jacob, [that] his adversaries [should be] round about him; Jerusalem is as an impurity among them.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.