John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 4:3

"Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness." — Lamentations 4:3 (ASV)

This verse is harshly explained by many, for they think that the daughter of the people is called cruel because she acted toward her children as serpents do toward their young. But this interpretation is not suitable, for the word בת, beth, is well known to be feminine. He says that the daughter of the people had come to a savage or cruel one; the latter word is masculine.

Therefore, the Prophet seems to mean that the whelps (for that is the word) of serpents are more kindly treated than the Jews. Serpents are devoid of all humanity, yet they nourish their brood and give them the breast. Hence, the Prophet by this comparison amplifies the miseries of the people: their condition was worse than that of serpents, because the tender brood are nourished by their mothers, but the people were without any help, so that they vainly implored the protection of their mother and of others. We now see the real meaning of the Prophet.

The particle גם, gam, is emphatic; for if he had spoken of animals that are careful to nourish their young, it would not have been so remarkable. But the savageness and barbarity of serpents seem so great that they might be expected to cast away their brood. Now he says that even serpents draw out the breast. The Jews say that the breasts of serpents are covered with scales, as though they were hidden; but this is one of their fabrications.

It is a common phrase, taken from common practice; for a woman draws out the breast when she nurses her infant; so serpents are said to draw out the breast when they nurse their whelps. For גורים, gurim, are the whelps of lions or of bears, but in this place the word is applied to serpents.

The daughter, then, of my people has come to the cruel one, because the people had to do with nothing but cruelty, as there was no one to bring them help or to succor them in their miseries. He, then, does not accuse the people of cruelty—that they did not nourish their children—but on the contrary, he means that they were given up to cruel enemies.

As the ostriches, or the owls, he says, in the wilderness. If we understand the ostrich to be intended, we know that bird is very stupid, because as soon as it lays an egg, it forgets and leaves it.

The comparison, then, would be suitable if the daughter of the people were said to be cruel because she neglected her children. But the Prophet, as I think, means, on the contrary, that the Jews were so destitute of all help, as though they were banished into solitary places beyond the sight of humans, because birds in solitude vainly seek the help of others.

As, then, the ostrich or the owl in the desert has no one to bring it help and is without its own mother, so the Prophet intimates that there was no one to stretch out a hand to the distressed people to relieve their extreme miseries.