John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 1:4

"The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly; All her gates are desolate, her priests do sigh: Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness." — Lamentations 1:4 (ASV)

Jeremiah refers here to another cause of sorrow: that the worship of God had ceased, having been interrupted; indeed, it seemed to have become extinct forever. He then says that the ways of Zion mourned because no one came to the feasts. These words are figurative, for we know that ways do not possess feelings; but the Prophet ascribes feeling to what is inanimate. And this sort of personification is more emphatic than if he had introduced the people as mourning.

But when the Jews saw that God’s worship had fallen, it was more grievous to them than to find themselves deprived of children or wives, or plundered of all their possessions. For the more precious God’s worship was to them, and the more highly religion was esteemed—in which the eternal salvation of their souls consisted—the more severe and mournful it was to see the Church so scattered that God could no longer be worshipped and invoked.

It is indeed true that God’s worship was not tied to ceremonies, for Daniel never ceased to pray, and he was heard in his exile just as much as if he had come to the sacrifices with great solemnity to make an offering in the Temple. This is undoubtedly true. However, since God had not instituted these duties and rites of religion in vain, the Prophet portrays the reality itself through its symbols. Therefore, as feasts were testimonies of God’s grace, it was as if the Jews were called together by a banner being raised, and as if God appeared in their midst. Hence, the Prophet, referring to these external symbols, shows that the worship of God had, in a sense, ceased.

Her gates are solitary, or desolate; her priests are in mourning, her virgins in afflictions; she is in bitterness. Now this passage reminds us that when God afflicts His Church, however grievous it may be to see innocent men slain, blood shed indiscriminately, both sexes—men and women—killed indiscriminately; and though it is a sad spectacle to see houses robbed and plundered, fields laid waste, and all things in confusion—yet when all these things are compared with the abolition of God’s worship, this passage reminds us that all these things ought to appear light to us.

Though David greatly deplored his condition because he was banished from the Temple and, as usual, did not lead the assembly there (even though he was not the only one expelled from God's sanctuary), yet when the sanctuary itself was destroyed, along with the altar, when there were no sacrifices, no thanksgiving, no praises—in short, no prayer—it was surely much more bitter.

This lamentation of the Prophet should then be carefully noted, when he says that the ways of Zion mourned, that no one went up to the feasts. What follows I pass over; I will dwell more on these things later as we advance towards the end of the narrative.