John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 5

This prayer should be read as unconnected with the Lamentations, because the initial letters of the verses are not written according to the order of the alphabet; yet it is a complaint rather than a prayer, for Jeremiah mentions what had happened to the people in their extreme calamity in order to turn God to compassion and mercy.

He says first, Remember what has happened to us; and then in the second part he explains himself, Look and see our reproach. Now these words, though brief and concise, yet contain a useful doctrine: that God is pleased to bring help to the miserable when their evils are brought before Him, especially when they are unjustly oppressed.

It is indeed certain that nothing is unknown to God, but this way of speaking is according to human perception; for we think that God disregards our miseries, or we imagine that His back is turned to us when He does not immediately help us. But as I have said, He is simply to be asked to look on our evils, for we know what He testifies of Himself. Since He claims for Himself the role of helping the miserable and the unjustly oppressed, we should rest in this consolation: that as soon as He is pleased to look on the evils we suffer, aid is at the same time prepared for us.

Special mention is made of reproach, so that the indignity might move God all the more. For it was for this purpose that He took the people under His protection, that they might be for His glory and honor, as Moses says. Since, then, it was God’s will that the riches of His glory should appear in that people, nothing could have been more inconsistent than that, instead of glory, they should have nothing but disgrace and reproach. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet makes special mention of the people’s reproach.

The Prophet now provides a catalogue of many calamities, and as I have reminded you, he does this so that he may obtain God’s favor for himself and for the whole people.

It was by no means right that the inheritance of the elect people should be given to foreigners; for we know that the land had been promised to Abraham four hundred years before his descendants possessed it. We also know that this promise had been often repeated: This land shall be to you for an inheritance.

For although God sustained all nations, He was still pleased to take special care of His people. In short, no land has ever been given to men in such a unique way as the land of Canaan was given to the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, since this inheritance had been possessed by the chosen people for so many ages, Jeremiah does not complain without reason that it was turned over to foreigners.

In the second clause, he repeats the same thing, but he shows that the Jews had not only been robbed of their fields but had also been cast out of their houses—a more grievous and disgraceful thing.

For it sometimes happens that when someone loses his farm, fields, and vineyards, his house remains untouched. But the Prophet here amplifies the misery of his own nation, showing that they were not only deprived of their fields and possessions but were also ejected from their own houses, and others took possession of them.

For it is a sight considered distressing even among pagans when someone unworthy of any honor succeeds to the place of another who is eminent in wealth and dignity. Well known are these words:

O house of Aucus!
How ruled by an unequal master!

Just as when Tarquinius had succeeded and taken possession of the kingdom, the pagan poet reproachfully said that the house of Ancus had passed to those who were at first exiles and fugitives but afterwards became proud and cruel tyrants. So also in this passage, Jeremiah says that foreigners lived in the houses of the people.

Here the Prophet not only speaks for the whole people, but also utters the groans and complaints of each one; for this could not have been suitable for the whole Church, as he speaks of fathers and mothers. We therefore see that this verse does not apply to the whole body, but to individual members, even though everyone might have said that widows and orphans were seen everywhere.

Now, this usually happens when a nation is consumed either by pestilence or by war; for in one battle, not all fall in such a manner that a whole country becomes full of orphans. But the Prophet sets forth here the orphanage and widowhood caused by the continued vengeance of God, for he had not ceased to afflict the people until they were gradually exhausted. It was, indeed, a sad spectacle to see among the chosen people so many widows, and also so many children deprived of their fathers.

The Prophet here relates that the people were stripped bare, that they suffered from a lack of water and wood. He does not say that they were only deprived of grain and wine; he does not complain that any of their luxuries were diminished. Instead, he mentions water and wood, the common necessities of life. For the use of water, as it is said, is common to all. No one is so poor, unless they live in a completely dry land, that they do not have enough water to drink.

For if there are no fountains, there are at least rivers and wells; nor do people perish from thirst, except in deserts and uninhabitable places. Since, then, water could be found everywhere, the Prophet here portrays the extreme misery of the people, because water was even sold to them. Water is sold in stony and high places, but this is very rare. The Prophet here means that the people were not only deprived of their wealth but reduced to such a state of need that they had no water without buying it.

At the same time, he seems to express something worse when he says, Our water we drink for money, and our wood is brought to us for a price. It is not strange that wood should be bought. However, the Prophet means that water which had been their own was sold to the Jews, and that they were also compelled to buy wood which had been their own. Thus, the possessive pronouns are to be considered emphatic. The Prophet means, in effect, 'Our own water we drink for money,' and so on. He calls them the waters of the people, which by right they could have claimed as their own; and he likewise refers to the wood as their own, to which the people had a legitimate right. He then says that all things had been so taken away by their enemies that they were forced to buy not only the wine taken from their cellars and the grain taken from their granaries, but also the water and the wood.

However, if anyone were inclined to take the words more simply, the complaint would still be fitting: that the people, who previously had an abundance of wine and all other things, were now forced to buy everything, even water and wood. For it is a severe change when anyone, who could once cut their own wood and gather their own wine and grain, is not able to get even a drop of water without buying it. This is a sad change. This passage can also be understood in this way.

Here he says that the people were oppressed with a grievous bondage. It is, indeed, a metaphorical expression when he says that people suffered persecution on their necks. Enemies may sometimes be troublesome to us, either in front of us, behind our backs, or by our sides; but when they so domineer as to ride on our necks, this kind of insult involves extreme degradation. Therefore, the Prophet here complains of the servile and even disgraceful oppression of the people when he says that the Jews suffered persecution on their necks.

The meaning is that the enemies so domineered at their pleasure that the Jews dared not raise their heads. They were, indeed, worthy of this reward—for we know that they had an iron neck; for when God wanted them to bear His yoke, they were wholly unbending; in fact, they were like untamable wild beasts. Since their hardness had been so great, God rendered to them a just reward for their pride and obstinacy when their enemies laid such a burden on their necks.

But the Prophet sets forth this indignity here so that he might turn God to mercy; that is, that the Chaldeans thus oppressed the chosen people as they pleased.

He adds that they labored and had no rest. By these words, he intimates that there were no limits or end to their miseries and troubles, for the phrase in Hebrew is, We have labored and there was no rest. It often happens that when someone is pressed down by evils for a short time, relief comes. But the Prophet says that there was no end to the miseries of the people.

Therefore, to labor without rest is the same as being pressed down with incessant afflictions from which there is no escape. Their obstinacy was also worthy of this reward, for they had fought against God not for only a few months or years, but for many years. We know how long the Prophet called to them without any success. Here, however, he seeks favor with God by saying that the people were miserable without limits or end.