lapidem super me.
JOHN CALVIN
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast hitherto spared us, we may not grow torpid in our vices, and that since thou hast already begun to deal more severely with thy
Church, we may be awakened by thy chastisements, and so humble ourselves under thy mighty hand, as yet not to doubt but that thou wilt be propitions to us, and that we may so loathe ourselves on account of our sins, as still to be fully persuaded that, provided we wait for thee, thou wilt at length be merciful to us, so as to afford us new reasons for joy and gratitude, through Christ Jesus our Lord. --- Amen.
Lecture thirteenth
Lamentations 3:52
52. Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
52. Venando venati sunt tanquam passerem (vel, avem) inimici mei sine causa.
We shall see to the end of the chapter the various complaints, by which the
Prophet deplored the miseries of his own nation, that he might at length obtain the mercy of God. He takes here the comparison of a bird or a sparrow. He says that the Chaldeans had been like fowlers, and the Jews like sparrows: and we know that there is neither prudence nor courage in birds. He, then, means that the Jews had been destitute of all help, having been exposed as a prey to their enemies, who were like fowlers.
And he seems to allude to the words of Solomon, when he says, that without a cause is the net spread for birds (Proverbs 1:17;) and he means that innocent men are circumvented by the wicked, when they spread for them their snares as it were on every side, while they are like the birds, who have no prudence to avoid them.
We now, then, understand the drift of what the Prophet says: he amplifies the indignity of their calamity by this comparison, --- that the Chaldeans at their pleasure plundered the miserable people, who were not able to resist them, who were indeed without any power to defend themselves. 561 It follows, ---
Lamentations 3:53
53. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
53. Succiderunt (vel potius, constrinxerunt) in puteo vitam meam, et projecerunt lapidem super me.
He now employs other comparisons. Some improperly confine this to Jeremiah himself, as though he explained here before God the wrongs done to himself: but there is no doubt but that he undertakes the cause of the whole people; and his object was to encourage by his own example the faithful to lament their state so that they might obtain pardon from God.
He then compares himself to a man half-dead, cast into a pit, and there left for lost. Then some improperly interpret the words, ``they cast stones;'' for stoning was not in the mind of the Prophet; but having said that he was fast bound in a pit or dungeon, he adds that a stone was laid over him, that lie might not come forth, as we know was the case with Daniel. (Daniel 6:16, 17.) Daniel was cast into the den of lions, and then a stone was put on the mouth of the den. So also the Prophet says,
561The words literally are, — Hunting hunted me like a bird have mine enemies without a cause. — Ed