John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 1:15

"The Lord hath set at nought all my mighty men in the midst of me; He hath called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men: The Lord hath trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah." — Lamentations 1:15 (ASV)

She first says that all her valiant men had been trodden underfoot. We know how much the Jews trusted in their men, even until the very time when they were completely subdued. Since they had shown so much insolence and pride towards the prophets, it therefore became a cause of greater sorrow when Jerusalem herself saw that she was lacking all protection, and that her valiant men were trodden underfoot.

She says, in the midst of me. This should be observed, for if they had fallen on the field of battle, or if they had been captured in the fields by their enemies, such a thing would not have been so grievous; but that they had been thus laid prostrate in the very heart of the city was indeed a sign of vengeance from above. We now see that this circumstance was not superfluous: that all the valiant men of Jerusalem were laid prostrate in the midst of her.

It is then said that it was the fixed time when God destroyed her chosen men, or her youth. If it seems preferable to take מועד, muod, as meaning a congregation, I do not object; yet I do not approve of this meaning, for it seems forced. It agrees better with the context to regard it as the fixed time, the time previously appointed by God to destroy all the strong men.

Then another metaphor is used—that God had trodden the winepress for the daughter of Zion. This figure occurs elsewhere, as in Isaiah 63:1: Who is this that cometh from Edom? and why are his garments red?

For the Prophet wonders how God could come from Edom, sprinkled with blood. God answers, The winepress have I trod alone; that is, because he had avenged the wrongs done to his people. We know that the Idumeans had always been incensed against the miserable Jews.

Then God, in order to show that he was the defender of his Church, says that he came from Edom, and was sprinkled and even made wet with blood. Just as anyone is red with wine after having toiled in the winepress, so also is the representation in this place.

We have also seen in Jeremiah 51:33 that Babylon was like a threshing floor. The metaphor, indeed, is different, but it is similar to the present one. For just as God is said to tread, or to thresh, when he afflicts any land, so he is said to tread the winepress, as here.