numeri, refertur quidem ad oss, sed perinde est ac Si diceret, dominatus est ignis
JOHN CALVIN verb, as before stated, from {,}הגהege; but it comes from {,}יגהige, as it is evident from the letter {,}וvau, being inserted. There is then no doubt but that the Church intimates that God was the author of that sorrow which she deplored.
And it is necessary to know this, lest men should be carried away into excesses in their mourning, as it frequently happens. For the majesty of God imposes a check, when we perceive that we have to do with him. Simple and bare knowledge of this is not, indeed, sufficient, for, as it has been said, the ungodly, while they know that their sorrows proceed from God, yet murmur against him: but it is nevertheless the beginning of patience and meekness when we have a regard to God. It was, then, for this reason that Jerusalem said that she had been afflicted by God.
And it is added, In the day of the indignation of his wrath. Here the Prophet wished to express the grievousness of God's vengeance, by mentioning the indignation of wrath. Some render {,}חרוםcherun, ``fury;'' but as the word ``fury'' is too harsh, the word ``indignation,'' or great heat (excandescentia) is not unsuitable. We must, however, bear in mind the design of the Prophet, which was to shew that God's vengeance had been so dreadful, as though his wrath had all been on a flame against
Jerusalem: and this is more fully confirmed in the following verse, ---
Lamentations 1:13
13. From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made desolate and faint all the day.
13. E sublimi misit ignem in ossa mea, et dominatus est in ipso (est mutatio numeri, refertur quidem ad oss, sed perinde est ac Si diceret, dominatus est ignis in unoquoque ossium;) extendit rete suum pedibus meis, convertet me retrorsum; dedit me (reddidit me, vel, posuit) vastam vel, desolatam) toto die dolentem (vel, infirmam.)
The Prophet proceeds with the same subject, that God's vengeance had raged most dreadfully agsinst Jerusalem. But employing a metaphor she says, that fire had been sent to her bones. They who interpret bones of fortified places, weaken the meaning of the Prophet. I take bones in their proper sense, ss though it was said, that God's fire had penetrated into the inmost parts. This way of speaking often occurs in Scripture. By bones is denoted strength or valor. Hence David sometimes deplored, that his bones were vexed or troubled. (Psalm 6:2.) And Hezekiah said in his song
a lion he hath broken my bones.'' (Isaiah 37:13.)
In the same sense the Prophet now says, that fire had been sent by God, which ruled in his bones, that is, which not only burnt the skin and the flesh, but also consumed the bones. {,}רדהrede, means also to take away or to receive: but as the former rendering is most commonly taken, I am disposed to follow it --- that fire ruled in his bones
There is another similitude added, that God had spread a net before her feet; and thus he had taken away every means of escape. She intimates (for it is Jerusalem who speaks) that she had been ensnared by God's judgments, so that she was bound over to ruin, as though she had fallen into toils or snares. It is stated in the third place,