John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 2:1

"How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, And hath not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger." — Lamentations 2:1 (ASV)

The Prophet again exclaims in wonder that an incredible thing had happened, which was like a prodigy. For at first sight, it seemed very unreasonable that a people whom God had not only received into favor, but with whom He had made a perpetual covenant, should thus be forsaken by Him.

For though men were a hundred times faithless, yet God never changes, but remains unchangeable in His faithfulness; and we know that His covenant was not made to depend on the merits of men. Whatever, then, the people might be, yet it was fitting for God to continue in His purpose and not to annul the promise made to Abraham.

Now, when Jerusalem was reduced to desolation, there was, as it were, an abolition of God’s covenant. There is, then, no wonder that the Prophet here exclaims, as on account of some prodigy, How can it be that God has clouded or darkened.

We must, however, observe at the same time that the Prophet did not mean here to invalidate the fidelity or constancy of God, but thus to rouse the attention of his own nation, who had become numb in their idleness. For though they were pressed down under a load of evils, yet they had become hardened in their perverseness.

But it was impossible that anyone should really call on God, unless he was humbled in mind and brought the sacrifice of which we have spoken, even a humble and contrite spirit (Psalms 51:19). It was, then, the Prophet’s object to soften the hardness which he knew prevailed in almost the whole people. This was the reason why he exclaimed, in a kind of astonishment, How has God clouded.

Some render the words, “How has God raised up,” which may be allowed, provided it is not taken in a good sense, for it is said, in His wrath; but in this case the words “to raise up” and “to cast down” ought to be read conjointly. For when one wishes to break into pieces an earthen vessel, he not only casts it on the ground, but he raises it up, that it may be thrown down with greater force.

We may, then, take this meaning: that God, in order that He might with greater violence break into pieces His people, had raised them up, not to honor them, but in order to dash them more violently on the ground. However, as this sense seems perhaps too refined, I am content with the first explanation, that God had clouded the daughter of Zion in His wrath; and then follows an explanation, that He had cast her from heaven to the earth.

So then God covered His people with darkness when He drew them down from the high dignity which they had for a time enjoyed. He had, then, cast on the earth all the glory of Israel, and remembered not His footstool.

The Prophet seems here indirectly to contend with God, because He had not spared His own sanctuary. For God, as it has been just stated, had chosen Mount Zion for Himself, where He intended to be prayed to, because He had placed there the memorial of His name. Since, then, He had not spared His own sanctuary, it did not appear consistent with His constancy, and He also seemed thus to have disregarded His own glory.

But the design of the Prophet is rather to show to the people how much God’s wrath had been kindled, when He did not spare even His own sanctuary. For he takes this principle for granted, that God is never angry without reason, and never exceeds the due measure of punishment.

Since, then, God’s wrath was so great that He destroyed His own Temple, it was a token of dreadful wrath; and what was the cause but the sins of men? For God, as I have said, always preserves moderation in His judgments. He, then, could not have better expressed to the people the heinousness of their sins than by laying before them this fact, that God remembered not His footstool.

And the Temple, by a very suitable metaphor, is called the footstool of God. It is, indeed, called His habitation; for in Scripture the Temple is often said to be the house of God. It was then the house, the habitation, and the rest of God. But as men are ever inclined to superstition, in order to raise their thoughts above earthly elements, we are reminded, on the other hand, in Scripture, that the Temple was the footstool of God. So in the Psalms: Adore you before His footstool, (Psalms 99:5); and again, We shall adore in the place where His feet stand (Psalms 132:7).

We, then, see that the two expressions, apparently different, yet agree well: that the Temple was the house of God and His habitation, and yet it was only His footstool.

It was the house of God because the faithful found by experience that He was present there; since, then, God gave signs of His presence, the Temple was rightly called the house of God, His rest, and habitation.

But so that the faithful might not fix their minds on the visible sanctuary—and thus, by indulging a gross imagination, fall into superstition and put an idol in the place of God—the Temple was called the footstool of God.

For as it was a footstool, it was fitting for the faithful to rise higher and to know that God was truly sought only when they raised their thoughts above the world. We now perceive what was the purpose of this mode of speaking.

God is said not to have remembered His Temple, not because He had wholly disregarded it, but because the destruction of the Temple could produce no other opinion in men. All, then, who saw that the Temple had been burnt by profane hands, and torn down after it had been plundered, thought that the Temple was forsaken by God; and so also He speaks by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 10:18).

Then this oblivion, or not remembering, refers to the thoughts of men. For however God may have remembered the Temple, yet He seemed for a time to have disregarded it.

We must, at the same time, bear in mind what I have said: that the Prophet here did not intend to dispute with God, or to contend with Him, but, on the contrary, to show what the people deserved.

For God was so indignant on account of their sins that He allowed His own Temple to be profaned. The same thing also follows respecting the kingdom —