John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 4:22

"The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will uncover thy sins." — Lamentations 4:22 (ASV)

This verse, in my judgment, is incorrectly explained; and the Jews have toiled much, for there seems to be a kind of inconsistency, since it is certain that they were afterwards scattered into exile, not only once, but several times. Therefore, they interpret this passage as referring to the second dispersion by Titus, under the authority of his father Vespasian.

They then say that the iniquity of the people was then completed, because after that exile no change has followed. Otherwise, they do not think that this prediction of the Prophet accords with the reality or the event, for, as I have said, they have been driven into all lands. They had, indeed, previously been fugitives, as Moses had declared concerning them.

We know that Jews dwelt in Greece and in Macedonia; we know that many of the cities of Italy were full of this people, until by the edict of Claudius Caesar they were expelled from Italy. For he thought that Italy was infected by them, and he drove them far away, as though they were contagious. But the Jews grasp at these subtleties in vain, for the Prophet simply meant to say that such would be the punishment of the people that it would not be necessary then to repeat it.

When, therefore, he says that their iniquity, or the punishment of their iniquity, was completed, he implies that God had dealt so severely with them that there was nothing short of extreme rigor; and this manner of speaking occurs elsewhere. To the same purpose is what immediately follows: The enemy, or God (which is the same), will no more add to draw thee into exile.

Why? For what need was there of a second exile when the whole land had been reduced to solitude, since the poor who had been left in the land had eventually gone into Egypt, from where they were brought back to Chaldea? At that time, however, they were fugitives from the Holy Land. So the Prophet means that God’s judgment was, in all its parts, completed, and that nothing short of extreme calamity had happened to the Jews.

It subsequently follows in the second clause, He will visit, which is, indeed, in the past tense, he has visited, but he speaks of what was future. According to the usual manner of the prophets, to confirm the prediction, he speaks of the event as already past: He has visited the iniquity of the daughter of Edom, so that your wickedness has been uncovered. The meaning will be clearer if we add the particles of comparison: “As your punishment, daughter of Zion, has been completed, so your iniquity, daughter of Edom, shall be visited;” or if we render the words thus, by way of concession: “The punishment of your iniquity, daughter of Zion, has indeed been completed, but your sin, daughter of Edom, shall be uncovered.”

We see, in short, that the reason is explained why the Prophet, in the last verse, alleviated with comfort the sorrow of the people: though the Jews were very miserable, things would be no better for Edom when the time of visitation came. And in saying that the punishment of iniquity was completed, he refers not to their sin, but says that they had been chastised in this way, as God saw fit to execute all His rigor towards them. Nearly the same manner of speaking is found in Isaiah 40.

Therefore, the Prophet does not deny that the Jews might at a future time become exiles. Instead, he says that their present removal was complete, so that it was not necessary for Nebuchadnezzar to again strip the land of its inhabitants. This had been done, as it were, by a sudden whirlwind, for by one sweep they had been carried away. The land, indeed, was previously made desolate, but when Nebuchadnezzar took possession of the city, he only left behind the dregs of the people. He did this intentionally, so that he might have some people there as tributaries. Thus, that removal was complete.

But the Prophet does not mean here that God would not later banish and scatter the Jews as they deserved. There is then no inconsistency in the fact that the Jews later became fugitives and wanderers throughout the whole world, and yet that the enemy would not again draw them into captivity, for he speaks here only of the Chaldeans. This was said because Jeremiah wished to compare the Jews with the Idumeans and to show that, though the Idumeans insolently exulted over them, their own calamity was near, which would completely overwhelm them, as had previously been the case with the Jews. There is no time now to begin with the prayer of Jeremiah; I must therefore defer it until the next Lecture.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You see that at this day the mouths not only of our enemies, but of Yours also, are open to speak evil—O grant that no occasion may be given them, especially as their slanders are cast on Your holy name. But restrain their insolence, and so spare us that, though we deserve to be chastised, You may yet have regard for Your own glory, and thus gather us under Christ our head, and restore Your scattered Church, until we shall at last all be gathered into that celestial kingdom, which Your only-begotten Son our Lord has procured for us by His own blood.—Amen.