Albert Barnes Commentary Lamentations 2:6

Albert Barnes Commentary

Lamentations 2:6

1798–1870
Presbyterian
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes Commentary

Lamentations 2:6

1798–1870
Presbyterian
SCRIPTURE

"And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden; he hath destroyed his place of assembly: Jehovah hath caused solemn assembly and sabbath to be forgotten in Zion, And hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest." — Lamentations 2:6 (ASV)

tabernacle - Or, shelter (Jeremiah 25:38), that is, such a tent of boughs as was put up at the Feast of Tabernacles. The words mean, “the Lord hath (as) violently destroyed His booth, as a man might tear down a shed in “a garden.”” .

His places of the assembly - Or, “His great festivals” (Lamentations 1:15 note). It is the Word rendered “solemn feasts” in the next clause, and rightly joined there with “sabbaths,” the weekly, as the other were the annual festivals. It is no longer אדני 'ădonāy — but the Lord (Yahweh) who lets them pass into oblivion. He had once instituted them for His own honor, now He lets them lie forgotten.

Hath despised ... - Or, “hath rejected” king and priest. With the destruction of the city the royal authority fell: with the ruined temple and the cessation of the festivals the functions of the priest ceased.