John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 4:16

"The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them; he will no more regard them: They respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders." — Lamentations 4:16 (ASV)

He explains himself by saying that they had been scattered from the face of Jehovah. He had said that they had fled into foreign lands and that they believed their exile to be perpetual; he now assigns the reason that God had thus banished them. But He had promised by Moses that, though they were dispersed through the four quarters of the world, He would yet be gracious to them, so as to gather them when dispersed, as it is said in the Psalms, He will gather the dispersed of Israel (Deuteronomy 30:4; Psalms 147:2). We know that the time of exile had been set beforehand, for the Prophet had often testified that God would eventually become a deliverer to His people, so as to again stretch out His hand and draw them out from Chaldea as He did from Egypt.

How then does he say that they had been scattered from the face of Jehovah, and then that they had been so rejected that He would not favor them in the future with His fatherly favor? The obvious answer is this: the Prophet here regards only the extremely dispersed state of the people. For though the promise of God concerning their return was certain and clear, yet, when anyone looked at the state of things at that time, he could not have hoped for such a thing. The desolation, the ground of despair, was immense: no name had remained for the people, the priesthood had been extinguished, the royal dignity had been degraded, and the city and the Temple had been completely overthrown. Therefore, since there was nothing remaining concerning the nation and the place, and also concerning God’s worship, how could they do anything but despair?

Then the Prophet, viewing the desolation, says that nothing else could be concluded except that the Jews would be perpetual exiles, that all paths were closed, preventing them from returning to their country, and also that the eyes of God were shut, so that He would never look on them. So now we perceive what he means by saying that they were scattered from the face of Jehovah, so that He should no longer look on them. And this way of speaking is often found in Scripture; for, on the one hand, it sets before us the wrath of God, which brings death; and then on the other, it sustains us, or when we have fallen it raises us up, by setting before us the favor of God even in death itself.

The Prophet, therefore, now only considers the dreadful calamity which was sufficient to sink the minds of all into the lowest abyss of despair.

He then adds that they respected not the face of the priests, and showed no pity to the elders. Some think that the reason is given why God had so severely punished the people, because they had despised the aged and the priests; but this is a forced interpretation. I, therefore, have no doubt that the Prophet here intimates that the Jews had been treated reproachfully, so that no regard was paid to the aged, and no respect shown to the priests.

It is, indeed, true that Daniel was held in high esteem; but the Prophet speaks here of the priests who had impiously despised all sound doctrine, and he speaks of the aged who were in authority when the kingdom was still standing. He then says that they had been, as it were, trodden underfoot. He therefore concludes that all hope of restoration was taken away from the Jews if they only considered their extreme calamity.