John Gill Commentary Lamentations 5

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us This chapter is called, in some Greek copies, and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, "the prayer of Jeremiah". Cocceius interprets the whole of the state of the Christian church after the last destruction of Jerusalem; and of what happened to the disciples of Christ in the first times of the Gospel; and of what Christians have endured under antichrist down to the present times: but it is best to understand it of the Jews in Babylon; representing their sorrowful case, as represented by the prophet; entreating that the Lord would remember the affliction they were under, and deliver them out of it, that which he had determined should come upon them. So the Targum, ``remember, O Lord, what was decreed should be unto us;'' and what he had long threatened should come upon them; and which they had reason to fear would come, though they put away the evil day far from them; but now it was come, and it lay heavy upon them; and therefore they desire it might be taken off.

consider, and behold our reproach cast upon them by their enemies; and the rather the Lord is entreated to look upon and consider that, since his name was concerned in it, and it was for his sake, and because of the true religion they professed; also the disgrace they were in, being carried into a foreign country for their sins; and so were in contempt by all the nations around.

Our inheritance is turned to strangers
The land of Canaan in general, which was given to Abraham and his seed to be their inheritance; and their field, and vineyards in particular, which came to them by inheritance from their fathers, were now in the hands of the Chaldeans, strangers to God, and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, as all Gentiles were, (Ephesians 2:12) ;

our houses to aliens ;
which they had built or purchased, or their fathers had left them, were now inhabited by those of another country.

We are orphans and fatherless In every sense; in a natural sense, their fathers having been cut off by the sword, famine, or pestilence; in a civil sense, their king being taken from them; and in a religious sense, God having forsaken them for their sins: our mothers [are] as widows ; either really so, their husbands being dead; or were as if they had no husbands, they not being able to provide for them, protect and deferred them. The Targum adds, "whose husbands are gone to the cities of the sea, and it is doubtful whether they are alive." Some understand this politically, of their cities being desolate and defenceless.

We have drunk our water for money
They who in their own land, which was a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, had wells of water of their own, and water freely and in abundance, now were obliged to pay for it, for drink, and other uses: our wood is sold unto us ;
or, "comes to us by a price" ^F18 ; and a dear one; in their own land they could have wood out of the forest, for cutting down and bringing home; but now they were forced to give a large price for it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (waby ryxmb) "in pretio venerunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "caro nobis pretio veniunt", Michaelis.

Our necks [are] under persecution
A yoke of hard servitude and bondage was put upon their necks, as Jarchi interprets it; which they were forced to submit unto: or, "upon our necks we are pursued" ^F19 ; or, "suffer persecution": which Aben Ezra explains thus, in connection with the (Lamentations 5:4); if we carry water or wood upon our necks, the enemy pursues us; that is, to take it away from us.

The Targum relates a fable here, that when Nebuchadnezzar saw the ungodly rulers of the children of Israel, who went empty, he ordered to sow up the books of the law, and make bags or wallets of them, and fill them with the stones on the banks of the Euphrates, and loaded them on their necks:

we labour, [and] have no rest ;
night nor day, nor even on sabbath days; obliged to work continually till they were weary; and, when they were, were not allowed time to rest themselves, like their forefathers in Egypt.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: (wnpdrn wnrawu le) "super colla nostra persecutionem passi sumus", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin; "vel patimur", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.