John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 4:9

"They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field." — Lamentations 4:9 (ASV)

The beginning of the verse is without any difficulty; for the Prophet says that it was better for those who immediately perished by the sword than for others who had to struggle with famine, according to what he had recently said, that the punishment of Sodom was more tolerable, because it was suddenly executed.

Sudden death is the easiest. And the Prophet, when complaining that the ungodly prospered, so that the faithful sometimes envied them, says that they die, as it were, in a moment, and are taken away from the world; but he says that the faithful are held, as it were, captive by the snares of death, and prolong life in ongoing weariness. For this reason the Prophet now says that the punishment of death would have been light for the Jews.

And yet we know that a violent death is regarded by us with horror. For the one who dies in his bed is said to yield to his fate, as he seems to pay what he owes to nature; but the one who is slain by the sword is violently snatched away, and, as it were, contrary to nature. Violent death, then, is always horrible. But the comparison used by the Prophet amplifies the atrocity of their punishment, because it would have been more desirable to have been killed at once than to remain alive to struggle with famine.

And he expresses himself more clearly by saying that they pined away, having been pierced through by the fruits of the earth. There is some obscurity here, but by the fruits of the earth, we are no doubt to understand all kinds of food. Some consider that “defect,” or failure, is to be understood.

But the Prophet speaks much more emphatically, specifically, that all the productions of the earth took vengeance on this wicked people by refusing the usual supply. The earth is the servant of God’s bounty and kindness; for it is as though He with His hand extended food to us when the earth opens its bowels. So also, the productions of the earth are evidences of God’s paternal love toward us.

Now, when the fruits of the earth withdraw themselves from us, they are, as it were, the weapons to execute God’s vengeance. So, then, the Prophet means that the Jews had been pierced through by the fruits of the earth, and thus had pined away; as though he had said that they had not been pierced by the sword, but had been wounded by famine, for the productions of the earth became, as it were, swords, even while they sustain, as we have said, human life.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You show by Your Prophet that, after having long borne with Your ancient people, Your wrath at length burned so fiercely as to make Your final judgment uniquely conspicuous — O grant that we may not at this day, by our obstinacy or by our sloth, provoke Your wrath, but be attentive to Your warnings, yes, and obey Your paternal invitations, and so willingly devote ourselves to Your service, that as You have until now favored us with Your blessings, so You may perpetuate them, until we at length enjoy the fullness of all good things in Your celestial kingdom, through Christ our Lord. — Amen.