SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:1
¶ (Compuestas por el orden alfabético Hebreo ) Alef : ¡Cómo está sentada sola la Ciudad antes populosa! La grande entre las naciones se ha vuelto como viuda, La señora de provincias es hecha tributaria.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Lamentations 1:1
Verse 1. How doth the city sit solitary] Sitting down, with the elbow on the knee, and the head supported by the hand, without any company, unless an oppressor near, - all these were signs of mourning and distress. The coin struck by Vespasian on the capture of Jerusalem, on the obverse of which there is a palm-tree, the emblem of Judea, and under it a woman, the emblem of Jerusalem, sitting, leaning as before described, with the legend Judea capta, illustrates this expression as well as that in Isa. xlvii. 1. See the note on Isa. iii. 26, where the subject is farther explained.
Become as a widow] Having lost her king. Cities are commonly described as the mothers of their inhabitants, the kings as husbands, and the princes as children. When therefore they are bereaved of these, they are represented as widows, and childless.
The Hindoo widow, as well as the Jewish, is considered the most destitute and wretched of all human beings. She has her hair cut short, throws off all ornaments, eats the coarsest food, fasts often, and is all but an outcast in the family of her late husband.
Is she become tributary!] Having no longer the political form of a nation; and the remnant that is left paying tribute to a foreign and heathen conqueror.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people ! etc.] These are the words of Jeremiah; so the Targum introduces them, “Jeremiah the prophet and high priest said;” and began thus, “how”; not inquiring the reasons of this distress and ruin; but as amazed and astonished at it; and commiserating the sad case of the city of Jerusalem, which a little time ago was exceeding populous; had thousands of inhabitants in it; besides those that came from other parts to see it, or trade with it: and especially when the king of Babylon had invaded the land, which drove vast numbers to Jerusalem for safety; and which was the case afterwards when besieged by the Romans; at which time, as Josephus relates, there were eleven hundred thousand persons; and very probably a like number was in it before the destruction of it by the Chaldeans, who all perished through famine, pestilence, and the sword; or were carried captive; or made their escape; so that the city, as was foretold it should, came to be without any inhabitant; and therefore is represented as “sitting”, which is the posture of mourners; and as “solitary”, or “alone” f7 , like a menstruous woman in her separation, to which it is compared, ( Lamentations 1:17); or as a leper removed from the society of men; so the Targum, “as a man that has the plague of leprosy on his flesh, that dwells alone;” or rather as a woman deprived of her husband and children; as follows: [how] is she become as a widow ! her king, that was her head and husband, being taken from her, and carried captive; and God, who was the husband also of the Jewish people, having departed from them, and so left in a state of widowhood. Jarchi observes, that it is not said a widow simply, but as a widow, because her husband would return again; and therefore only during this state of captivity she was like one; but Broughton takes the “caph” not to be a note of similitude, but of reality; and renders it, “she is become a very widow”. Vespasian, when he had conquered Judea, struck a medal, on one side of which was a woman sitting under a palm tree in a plaintive and pensive posture, with this inscription, “Judea Capta”, as Grotius observes: she [that was] great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, [how] is she become tributary ! that ruled over many nations, having subdued them, and to whom they paid tribute, as the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites, in the times of David and Solomon; but since obliged to pay tribute herself, first to Pharaohnecho, king of Egypt; then to the king of Babylon in the times of Jehoiakim; and last of all in the times of Zedekiah; so the Targum, “she that was great among the people, and ruled over the provinces that paid tribute to her, returns to be depressed; and after this to give tribute to them.”
Matthew Henry Commentary
The miserable state of Jerusalem, the just consequences of its sins (Lam. 1:1-11) Jerusalem represented as a captive female, lamenting, an seeking the mercy of God. (Lam. 1:12-22)
Lam. 1:1-11 The prophet sometimes speaks in his own person; at othe times Jerusalem, as a distressed female, is the speaker, or some of the Jews. The description shows the miseries of the Jewish nation Jerusalem became a captive and a slave, by reason of the greatness of her sins; and had no rest from suffering. If we allow sin, our greates adversary, to have dominion over us, justly will other enemies also be suffered to have dominion. The people endured the extremities of famin and distress. In this sad condition Jerusalem acknowledged her sin, an entreated the Lord to look upon her case. This is the only way to make ourselves easy under our burdens; for it is the just anger of the Lor for man's transgressions, that has filled the earth with sorrows lamentations, sickness, and death.
Lam. 1:12-22 Jerusalem, sitting dejected on the ground, calls on thos that passed by, to consider whether her example did not concern them Her outward sufferings were great, but her inward sufferings wer harder to bear, through the sense of guilt. Sorrow for sin must be great sorrow, and must affect the soul. Here we see the evil of sin and may take warning to flee from the wrath to come. Whatever may be learned from the sufferings of Jerusalem, far more may be learned from the sufferings of Christ. Does he not from the cross speak to every on of us? Does he not say, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Le all our sorrows lead us to the cross of Christ, lead us to mark his example, and cheerfully to follow him __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
איכה 349 ישׁבה 3427 בדד 910 העיר 5892 רבתי 7227 עם 5971 היתה 1961 כאלמנה 490 רבתי 7227 בגוים 1471 שׂרתי 8282 במדינות 4082 היתה 1961 למס׃ 4522
