John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 1:22

"Let all their wickedness come before thee; And do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint." — Lamentations 1:22 (ASV)

Here, undoubtedly, the faithful regarded the judgment God would eventually execute on the ungodly as part of their comfort. There is also no doubt that this kind of imprecation had been suggested to God’s children by the Holy Spirit to sustain them when pressed down by heavy troubles.

This was not because God gave them such free rein to desire vengeance on their enemies. Rather, it was so that while those who indulged their malice perished, the faithful might derive from their ruin a hope of deliverance. For the vengeance of God on the reprobate brings with it a token of paternal favor towards the elect.

To better understand what this imprecation means, we must first bear in mind that we cannot complain of enemies unless they are also enemies of God.

For if I were to hurt someone, and that person, impelled by wrath, were to trouble me, my complaint could not reach God, and I could not justifiably seek shelter in this example.

Why is this? Because, as I have said, whenever we go before God, it is necessary that our enemies also be His enemies.

But, secondly, this would not be sufficient unless our zeal were also pure, for when we defend our own private cause, our prayers will inevitably contain something excessive. Let us, then, understand that we are not to pronounce an imprecation on our enemies, unless certain conditions are met:

1. First, they must be God’s enemies.
2. Secondly, we must set aside our own interests and not plead our own cause, but instead undertake the cause of public welfare, having set aside all turbulent feelings.
3. And especially, our fervor must arise from a desire to glorify God.

With these qualifications, then, we may adopt the form of prayer given to us here by the Prophet. But since this subject has been explained elsewhere, often and very fully, I will touch on it here only briefly.

He then says, Let all their wickedness come before You; do to them as You have done to me.

Here, again, the faithful take upon themselves the blame for all the evils they were suffering. They do not remonstrate with God, but pray only that He would become the judge of the whole world. Their prayer is that the ungodly might also eventually have their turn, when God would be pacified towards His children.

But they afterwards more clearly express that they had deserved all that they had suffered—for all my sins. Then they add, because my sighs are many and my heart is weak.

In short, we see that the faithful humbly lay their prayers before God. At the same time, they confess that what they deserved was rendered to them. They only set before God their extreme sorrow, distress, griefs, tears, and sighs.

Then the way of pacifying God is to confess sincerely that we are justly disciplined by His judgment. It also involves, as it were, lying down confounded, and at the same time daring to look up to Him and relying on His mercy with confidence.

Now follows the second elegy.