Lamentations 2:4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Lamentations 2:1-9

It is a very sad representation which is here made of the state of God's church, of Jacob and Israel, of Zion and Jerusalem; but the emphasis in these verses seems to be laid all along upon the hand of God in the calamities which they were groaning under. The grief is not so much that such and such things are done as that God has done them, that he appears angry with them; it is he that chastens them, and chastens them in wrath and in his hot displeasure; he has become their enemy, and fights... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:4

He hath bent his bow like an enemy ,.... God sometimes appears as if he was an enemy to his people, when he is not, by his conduct and behaviour; by the dispensations of his providence they take him to be so, as Job did, Job 16:9 ; he bends his bow, or treads it, for the bending or stretching the bow was done by the foot; and as the Targum, "and threw his arrows at me:' he stood with his right hand as an adversary ; with arrows in it, to put into his bow or with his sword drawn, as... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:4

He hath bent his bow - he stood with his right hand - This is the attitude of the archer. He first bends his bow; then sets his arrow upon the string; and, lastly, placing his right hand on the lower end of the arrow, in connection with the string, takes his aim, and prepares to let fly. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Lamentations 2:4

Verse 4 He employs now another metaphor, that God, who was wont to defend his people, now took up arms against them; for stating a part for the whole, he includes in the bow every other weapon. When, therefore, he says that God had bent his bow, it is the same as though he said that he was fully armed. The bow, then, as we have before seen, means every kind of weapon. He then adds, that his right hand stood as an adversary. Here he more plainly describes what he had before touched upon, even... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 2:4

The beginning of the verse seems slightly out of order. And slew all that were pleasant , etc. The correct rendering is, And slew all that was pleasant to the eye: in the tent of the daughter of Zion he poured out his fury like fire. The Authorized Version (following the Targum) seems to have thought that the youth of the population alone was intended. But, though Ewald also adopts this view, it seems to limit unduly the meaning of the poet. By "tent" we should probably understand... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Lamentations 2:4-5

The Lord as an enemy. I. THE LORD MAY BECOME TO US AS AN ENEMY . We must not suppose the relations of God to those who forsake him to be purely negative. He cannot simply leave them to their own devices. He is a King who must needs maintain order and restrain and punish rebellion, a Judge who cannot permit law to be trampled underfoot with impunity, a Father who cannot abandon his children, but must chastise them in their wrong doing just because he is so closely related... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Lamentations 2:4

He stood with his right hand ... - i. e. that right hand so often stretched out to help now grasped a weapon ready for Judah’s destruction.Were pleasant - Or, was “pleasant.” Put full stop after “eye.” Begin the third distich thus:In the tabernacle - (or, tent) of the daughter of Zion. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Lamentations 2:2-4

Lamentations 2:2-4. The Lord hath swallowed up the habitations, &c. Without showing any pity or concern for them. He hath thrown down the strong holds, &c. Hath suffered the enemies to batter down their fortifications to the ground. He hath polluted the kingdom, &c. “He hath shown no regard for the kingdom which himself had settled upon the family of David, but involved the royal family in one common destruction with the rest of the people. The expression is much the same... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Lamentations 2:1-22

Sufferings sent by God (2:1-22)In this poem the main theme is that the calamity that has befallen Judah has been the work of God. He has humbled the exalted nation; he has turned her glory into darkness (2:1). City and field, temple and fortress have been destroyed by him. They expected God to be the defender of his people, but he has been the attacker. Far from showing pity towards them, he has been angry with them (2-5).God has destroyed the temple and left it looking like an old broken-down... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Lamentations 2:4

His bow. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. all that were pleasant to the eye. Hebrew = all the desires of the eye; "eye" being put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of the Adjunct), for the things desired by it. eye. Transfer here the colon which is wrongly placed after Zion. tabernacle = tent. Hebrew. 'ohel. App-40 . Zion: place this colon after "eye" in preceding line, and connect Zion with the verb which follows. read more

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