dente (vel, dentibus;) dixerunt, Devorabimus; utique hic dies quem expectavimus;
JOHN CALVIN with them; for it was not enough for them to feel their miseries, except they also considered the cause of them.
He then says, All who have passed by clapped their hands and hissed and moved the head, either in token of mockery, or of abhorrence, which is more probable. He then says, that they moved or shook the head at the daughter of Jerusalem, 525
Is this the city of which they said, It is perfect in beauty, and the joy of the whole earth? I know not why some render {,}כלילתcalibat, a crown; it comes, as it is well known, from {}כללcalal, which means fullness, or anything solid. He then says, that
Jerusalem had been perfect in beauty, because God had adorned it with singular gifts; he had especially favored it with the incomparable honor of being called by his name. Hence Jerusalem was in a manner the earthly palace of God, that is, on account of the Temple; and further, it was there that the doctrine of salvation was to be found; and remarkable was this promise,
Sion shall go forth the law, and rite word of God from Jerusalem.'' (Isaiah 2:3.)
God had also promised to Ezekiel, that this city would be the fountain and origin of salvation to the whole world. (Ezekiel 47:1-12.) As, then, Jerusalem had been adorned with so remarkable gifts, the Prophet introduces here strangers, who ask,
it be that a city so celebrated for beauty had become a desolation?''
He calls it also the joy of the whole earth; for God had poured there his gifts so liberally, that it was a cause of joy to all. For we delight in beautiful things; and wherever God's gifts appear, we ought to have our hearts filled with joy. Some give a more refined explanation --- that Jerusalem had been the joy of the whole earth, because men have no peace except God be propitious to them; and there God had deposited the testimony and pledge of his favor: and thus Jerusalem made glad the whole world, because it invited all nations to God. This, at the first view, is plausible; but it seems to me more refined than solid. I am, therefore, content with this simple view, that Jerusalem was the joy of the whole earth, because God had designed that his favor should appear there, which might justly excite the whole world to rejoice. 526 It afterwards follows, ---
Lamentations 2:16
16. All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it
16. Aperuerunt 527 super te os suum cuncti hostes tui, sibilarunt et frenduerunt dente (vel, dentibus;) dixerunt, Devorabimus; utique hic dies quem expectavimus;
525Jeremiah relates what had taken place, the verbs being in the past tense. Our version is not correct in rendering the verbs in the present tense. The old versions follow the Hebrew. — Ed.
526The words may be rendered, "the joy of the whole land," i.e., the land of Israel; which was strictly true. — Ed.
527This verse begins with {,{פand the next with ;{}עthus the alphabetical order is deranged. The same thing occurs in the two next chapters, though in the first chapter the usual order of the letters is preserved. Many conjectures have been made on the subject, but no satisfactory reason has been assigned. The Targ. and the early versions, except the Syr., follow in the three places the present text; only the Sept., very strangely, prefix the letters in their alphabetical order, and yet give the verses as they now are. When, added to this, we find the meaning favors the present arrangement, we cannot but conclude that it was the original one, though the reason why Jeremiah changed, as to these two letters, even in three instances, the alphabetical order, cannot now be discovered. --- Ed