John Gill Commentary Lamentations 4

How is the gold become dim !
or "covered" ^F2 ; or hid with rust, dust, or dirt; so that it can scarcely be discerned: [how] is the most fine gold changed ! this may be literally true of the gold of the temple; and so the Targum calls it ``the gold of the house of the sanctuary;'' with which that was overlaid, and many things in it, (1 Kings 6:21 1 Kings 6:22) ; and was sadly sullied and tarnished with the burning of the temple, and the rubbish of it: its brightness was lost, and its colour changed; but though there may be an allusion to that, it is to be figuratively understood of the people of God; for what is here expressed in parabolical phrases, as Aben Ezra observes, is in (Lamentations 4:2) explained in proper and literal ones: godly and gracious men, there called the precious sons of Zion, are comparable to gold, even the most fine gold; partly because of their habit and dress; gold of Ophir; clothing of wrought gold; the rich robe of Christ's righteousness; which, for its brightness and splendour, is like the finest gold; and is as lasting and durable as that; and in which the saints look like a mass of pure gold, (Psalms 45:9Psalms 45:13) ; and partly because of the graces of the Spirit in them, which are like gold for their purity, especially when tried; for their value, and the enriching nature of them, and their duration; particularly the graces of faith, hope, love, humility, which are like rows of jewels, and chains of gold, and as ornamental as they; see (Song of Solomon 1:10Song of Solomon 1:11) (1 Peter 1:7) (Revelation 3:18) ; as also because of the doctrines of grace received by them, which are more to be desired than gold, than fine gold; and are better than thousands of gold and silver, by reason of their intrinsic worth and value; for their purity and brightness, being tried and purified, and because of their duration, (Psalms 19:10) (119:72) (1 Corinthians 3:12) ; as well as on account of the riches of grace and glory they are possessed of, and entitled to: now this, in either of the senses of it, cannot be lost as to substance, only become dim; may lose its brightness and glory, and like gold change its colour, but not its nature; and this may be the case of good men, comparable to it; when there is a decline in them, with respect to the exercise of grace; faith in Christ and his righteousness is low, hope not lively, and love waxen cold; when there is a veil drawn over the Gospel, a great opposition to it, and a departure from it; or the doctrines of it are not so clearly and consistently preached; and when there is a failure in a holy walk, and conversation becoming it; all which is matter of lamentation:

the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street ;
in the literal sense it may regard the costly stones of the temple, which, when that was destroyed, not only lay in heaps; but many of them, at least, were separated and scattered about, and carried into every corner of the city, and the streets of it, and there lay exposed, neglected, and trampled upon; see (1 Kings 5:17) (Mark 13:1Mark 13:2) ; but, in the figurative sense, it designs the people of God; who, though they are taken out of the common quarry and pit of mankind, and are by nature as common stones; yet by the Spirit and grace of God are made living and lively ones, and are hewn and fitted for the spiritual building the church; where they are laid, and are as the stones of a crown, as jewels and precious stones; but when there are animosities, contentions, and divisions among them, so that they disunite, and are scattered from one another, their case is like these stones of the sanctuary; and which is to be lamented. It is by some Jewish writers ^F3 interpreted of great personages, as princes, and great men of the earth.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: (Mewy) "rubigine obducetur", Montanus; "obtectum [vel] absconditum", Vatablus. So Ben Melech.
• F3: interpreted of great personages, as princes, and great men of the earth.

The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold
This explains what is meant in (Lamentations 4:1); by gold, fine gold, and stones of the sanctuary; not Josiah and his sons, as some Jewish interpreters; but all the sons of Zion, or children of God; not the inhabitants of Zion literally, but spiritually; see (Zechariah 9:13) (Psalms 149:2). Zion is the church; her sons are her spiritual seed and offspring that are born of her, she being the mother of them all, and born in her, by means of the word; and brought up by her, through the ordinances, and so are regenerate persons; and these the sons of God: and who are "precious", not in themselves, being of the fallen race of Adam; of the earth, earthly, as he was; of the same mass and lump with the rest of mankind; in no wise better than others, by nature; and have no intrinsic worth and value in them, but what comes by and from the grace of God; nor are they precious in their own esteem, and much less in the esteem of the men of the world; but in the eye of God, and of his son Jesus Christ, and of the blessed Spirit, and in the opinion of other saints; see (Psalms 16:3) (116:15) (Isaiah 43:4); in what sense these are comparable to fine gold, (See Gill on Lamentations 4:1);

how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the
potter !
they are indeed earthen vessels with respect to their bodies, frail, weak, and mortal; but they are the work of God's hands, even as creatures, and particularly as new creatures, and are a curious piece of his workmanship, and so valuable, and especially by him, who is as tender and as careful of them as the apple of his eye; and yet these are greatly disesteemed by carnal men, are reckoned as the faith of the world, and the offscouring of all things; as earthen vessels, fit for no use but common or dishonourable ones, or to be broke in pieces, and rendered useless and contemptible: see (Psalms 31:12).

Even the sea monsters draw out the breast
Which some interpret of dragons; others of seals, or sea calves; but it is best to understand it of whales, as the word is rendered in (Genesis 1:21) ; and elsewhere: and Bochart ^F4 has proved, out of various writers, that these have breasts and milk; but that their breasts, or however their paps, are not manifest, but are hid as in cases, and must be drawn out: and so Jarchi observes that they draw their breasts out of a case, for their breasts have a covering, which they uncover: so Ben Melech. Aristotle ^F5 says, that whales, as the dolphin, sea calf, and balaena, have breasts or paps, and milk, which he makes to be certain species of the whale; and each of these, he elsewhere says, have milk, and suckle their young: the dolphin and sturgeon, he observes ^F6 has milk, and are sucked; and so the sea calf, he says ^F7 , lets out milk as a sheep, and has two breasts, and is sucked by its young, as four footed beasts are. Agreeably to which Aelianus ^F8 relates, that the female dolphins have paps like women, and suckle their young, with great plenty of milk; and the balaena, he says ^F9 , is a creature like a dolphin, and has milk. And Pliny, speaking of the dolphins, observes ^F11 , that they bring forth their "whelps", and so the young of this creature are called here in the next clause in the Hebrew text ^F12 , and nourish them with their breasts, as the balaena; and of the sea calves the same writer says ^F13 they feed their young with their paps; but the paps of these creatures are not manifest, as those of four footed beasts, as Aristotle observes; but are like two channels or pipes, out of which the milk flows, and the young are suckled;

they give suck to their young ones ;
as they do, when they are hungry; which is mentioned, as an aggravation of the case of the Jewish women, with respect to their behaviour towards their children, by reason of the famine, during the siege of Jerusalem; which here, and in the following verses, is described in the sad effects of it; and which had a further accomplishment at the destruction of the same city by the Romans:

now, though the monsters suckled their young when hungry, yet these women did not suckle theirs; the daughter of my people [is become] cruel ;
or, is "unto a cruel one" {n}: that is, is changed unto a cruel one, or is like unto one, and behaves as such, though of force and necessity: the meaning is, that the Jewish women, though before tenderhearted mothers, yet, by reason of the famine, having no milk in their breasts, could give none to their children, and so acted as if they were cruel to them; nay, in fact, instead of feeding them, they fed upon them, (Lamentations 4:10) ;

like the ostriches in the wilderness ;
Which lay their eggs, and leave them in places easily to be crushed and broken; and when they have any young ones, they are hardened against them, as if they were none of theirs, (Job 39:13–17) ; and this seemed now to be the case of these women; or, "like the owls", as the word is sometimes rendered; and which also leave their eggs, and for want of food will eat their young, as those women did. So Ben Melech says, it is a bird which dwells in the wilderness, and causes a voice of hooping to be heard.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Hierozoic. l. 1. c. 7. p. 46.
• F5: Hist. Animal. l. 3. c. 20.
• F6: Ib. l. 6. c. 12.
• F7: lbid.
• F8: Hist. de Animal. 1. 10. c. 8.
• F9: Ib. l. 5. c. 4.
• F11: Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 8.
• F12: (Nhyrwg) "catulos suos", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.
• F13: Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 13.

The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst Through want of the milk of the breast, which is both food and drink unto it:

the young children ask bread ; of their parents as usual, not knowing how the case was, that there was a famine in the city; these are such as were more grown, were weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts, and lived on other food, and were capable of asking for it:

[and] no man breaketh [it] unto them : distributes unto them, or gives them a piece of bread; not father, friend, or any other person; it not being in their power to do it, they having none for themselves.

They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets
That were brought up in the king's palace, or in the houses of noblemen; or, however, born of parents rich and wealthy, and had been used to good living, and had fared sumptuously and deliciously every day, were now wandering about in the streets in the most forlorn and distressed condition, seeking for food of any sort, but could find none to satisfy their hunger; and so, as the Vulgate Latin version renders it, perished in the ways or streets: they that were brought up in scarlet :
in dyed garments, as Jarchi; clothed with scarlet coloured ones, as was the manner of the richer and better sort of people, (Proverbs 31:21) ; or, "brought up upon scarlet" ^F15 ; upon scarlet carpets, on which they used to sit and eat their food, as is the custom of the eastern people to this day:

these embrace dunghills ,
are glad of them, and with the greatest eagerness rake into them, in order to find something to feed upon, though ever so base and vile; or to sit and lie down upon. Aben Ezra interprets it of their being cast here when dead, and there was none to bury them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: (elwt yle) "super coccinum", Pagninus, Montanus; "super coccino", Piscator, Michaelis.