Commentary on the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah by Dan Shute

Author:Dan Shute [Shute, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL006000 Religion / Biblical Studies / General
ISBN: 9781612480039
Publisher: TrumanStateUP
Published: 2016-07-18T05:00:00+00:00

{96} SAMEKH, OR VERSE 15

THEY CLAPPED HANDS OVER HER, THOSE WHO PASSED ALONG THE ROAD; THEY WHISTLED139 AND SHOOK THEIR HEAD OVER THE DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM; SAYING,140 “IS NOT THIS CITY THE PERFECTION OR CONSUMMATION141 OF BEAUTY AND THE DELIGHT OF THE ENTIRE EARTH?”

THEY CLAPPED HANDS OVER HER, THOSE WHO PASSED ALONG THE ROAD; THEY WHISTLED AND SHOOK THEIR HEAD OVER THE DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM. Those who stare at her distress are of two sorts.142 Some grieve, since they are moved by the atrocity of the matter. They cannot help feeling compassion and astonishment, when they contemplate such a great ruin as that. They shake their head, since they are moved by the human [68] spirit when they think of the vicissitudes of life.

IS NOT THIS CITY THE PERFECTION OR CONSUMMATION OF BEAUTY? Nothing was ever better, more carefully and diligently constituted on earth than that state of the Jews. As a consequence, God said that all nations would wonder at the wisdom by which its laws, ceremonies, and courts of justice were founded.143 What Paul when writing to the Corinthians144 required in the church—that nothing be done disorderly or unfittingly—was what the Israelite state had. Anything about {97}it mentioned in the Holy Scriptures as outstanding or extraordinary can and ought to be referred to the Church of Christ, because the synagogue and our people are in no way different.145 If a distinction must be made, it ought to be made with reference only to time. What we have as fact they were awaiting as future. Of course other things, but only here and there, differ by departure or by failure, more or less. These matters vary in such a way that, even so, the reckoning of essence and nature is kept the same on both sides. You have encomia of that holy city in truth and in many places, principally in David: “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised,” and “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem,” and “I was happy when they said unto me.”146

AND THE DELIGHT OF THE ENTIRE EARTH. Delight is drawn from God’s word. In Psalm 19, “The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; … sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”147 Besides this, joy is drawn from the Holy Spirit: whence he is deservedly called “the paraclete,”148 and the one who is “the comforter of orphans.”149 Nor does the soul of religious people exult more anywhere than in the Spirit. Now these two are available especially through the church: namely, the Word and the Spirit. Therefore in that place there is joy.

Furthermore, enjoyment or pleasure is of two kinds.150 There is one that follows a movement of the senses, that is to say, when one is affected by a matter suited and agreeable to oneself, as when the palate is stimulated by something sweet, the ear excited by a harmonious melody. This kind of enjoyment, however, which we have in common with cattle, should hardly be held in high esteem.151 The

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