Lamentations 2:6 - Exposition

Violently taken away; rather, violently treated; i.e. broken up. His tabarnacle; rather, his booth. "Tent" and "dwelling" are interchangeable expressions (see Lamentations 2:4 ); and in the Psalms "booth" is used as a special poetic synonym for tent when God's earthly dwelling place, the sanctuary of the temple, is spoken of (so Psalms 27:5 ; Psalms 31:20 ; Psalms 76:2 ). The Authorized Version, indeed, presumes an allusion to the proper meaning of the Hebrew word, as if the poet compared the sanctuary of Jehovah to a pleasure booth in a garden. It is, however, more natural to continue, as a garden, the sense of which will be clear from Psalms 80:12 , Psalms 80:13 . The Septuagint has, instead, "as a vine"—a reading which differs from the Massoretic by having one letter more ( kaggefen instead of kaggan ) . This ancient reading is adopted by Ewald, and harmonizes well with Isaiah 5:1 , etc.; Jeremiah 2:21 (comp. Psalms 80:8 ); but the received text gives a very good sense. "Garden" in the Bible means, of course, a plantation of trees rather than a flower garden. His places of the assembly; rather, his place of meeting ( with God ) . The word occurs in the same sense in Psalms 74:3 . It is the temple which is meant, and the term is borrowed from the famous phrase, ōhel mō‛ēdh ( Exodus 27:21 ; comp. Exodus 25:22 ).