John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 4:15

"Depart ye, they cried unto them, Unclean! depart, depart, touch not! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall no more sojourn [here]." — Lamentations 4:15 (ASV)

The Prophet confirms the previous verse, as I have said, namely, that no part of the city was free from filth, because they cried everywhere, “Depart, depart—unclean!” So that what is said may be clearer to us, we should note that the Prophet alludes (a point that has also not been perceived) to Leviticus 13:45.

For it is said there of the lepers, whose disease was incurable, that they were to go with torn garments, a bare head, covered lips, and cry, “Unclean, unclean, טמא טמא יקרא thema, thema, ikora.” God, then, intended for the leprous to be driven from the assembly; and from this came into use the exclamation, “Unclean, unclean, טמא טמא, thema, thema.” But here the Prophet says, “Depart, depart—unclean סורו סורו טמא, suru suru thema;” which is substantially the same as commanded in the law.

Now the Prophet speaks metaphorically when he says that the city was infected with uncleanness, as though lepers were everywhere. Thus, we see how all these things agree together: They cried, Depart ye—unclean; depart ye, depart;

This means that no one could move a foot from his house, or go out in public, without some uncleanness appearing to him, so that it could be rightly exclaimed, Unclean, depart ye, depart. The Prophet, after having thus spoken, Depart ye, come not nigh, says, they have fled.

It is a striking allusion to the exile of the people, as though he had said that they were driven far away by their defilements. Since they were then removed to a distant land, he says that this happened through their own fault. How so? Because they could no longer endure these defilements of their sins; they had so contaminated the holy city that it was fetid with their filth.

Since, then, the city Jerusalem was so polluted, the citizens, he says, at last fled away. Thus, exile proceeded from themselves; that is, the cause of exile was their filth, because they contaminated the city. They have fled, he says, and have also wandered; This means that so great was their haste that they did not keep to the right way, but turned here and there, as those who hasten with trembling usually do.

For when anyone travels with a composed mind, he pays attention to the road so that he may not go astray; but he who trembles, or is filled with fear, forgets the way and wanders from the right course. So, then, our Prophet now says that the Jews fled and also wandered; for he uses the particle גם (gam), also; they also wandered, he says, because of the trepidation by which they were struck.

They have said among the nations, They shall not return to dwell; This means that they are scattered and driven among various nations without hope of returning.

We now see what the Prophet meant to show:

1. That the Jews had no reason to complain of their exile, because they had so infected the holy city with their vices that they were therefore driven by their own filth.
2. That so great was the mass of their evils that they were seized with fear, and thus they did not keep to the right way, but turned into devious paths and met darkness.
3. And that, in the last place (as a continuation of what he had said), there was no hope of a return.