when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS that they could not turn either here or there and avoid uncleanness. 576
As to the words, polluted with blood, they refer to the ceremonial law. There were indeed various kinds of pollutions, but this was the chief. He accommodates his expressions to his own age, and follows what was prescribed by the law. He, however, alludes to the sins designated by blood. We, in short, see that the whole of Jerusalem was so polluted with defilements, that no one could go forth without falling on some uncleanness. A confirmation follows, which also interpreters have not understood, ---
Lamentations 4:15
15. They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there
15. Discedite, pollutus, clamavit illis; discedite, discedite, ne accedatis: quia evolarunt (aut, festinarunt,) etiam errarunt, dixerant in gentibus, Non adjicient ad
Labitandum
The Prophet confirms the former verse, as I have said, even that no part of the city was free from filth, because they cried everywhere, ``Depart, depart --- unclean!''
That what is said may be more evident to us, we must notice that the Prophet alludes
(which also has not been perceived) to Leviticus 13:45. For it is said there of the lepers, whose disease was incurable, that they were to go with rent garments, with a bare head, with covered lips, and cry, ``Unclean, unclean, {}טמא{ }טמא{ }יקרא thema, thema, ikora. God, then, would have the leprous to be driven from the assembly; and hence came into use the exclamation, Unclean, unclean, {,}טמא{ }טמא thema, thema. But here the Prophet says, ``Depart, depart --- unclean {}סורו{ }סורו,}טמא{suru suru thema; which is substantially the same as commanded in the law.
Now the Prophet speaks metaphorically when he says, that the city was infected with uncleanness, as though lepers were everywhere. We hence see how all these things agree together, ``They cried, Depart ye --- unclean; depart ye, depart;'' that is, no one can move a foot from his house, or go forth in public, but some uncleanness will appear to him, so that it might be rightly exclaimed, Unclean, depart ye, depart The
Prophet, after having thus spoken, Depart ye, come not nigh says, they have fled.
It is a striking allusion to the exile of the people, as though he had said, that they
576This clause has been variously explained. The whole passage from Lamentations 4:12-16 inclusive, ought to be considered. The taking of Jerusalem is said to have been incredible, even to heathens. Then the Prophet, in Lamentations 4:13, tells the cause — "the sins of the prophets and the iniquities of the priests;" and in Lamentations 4:14, 15, and 16, he describes their shame and their punishment at the siege, when the people found out by experience that they had be deceived by them, — 13. For the sins of her prophets, For the iniquities of her priests, Who had shed in the midst of her The blood of the righteous, — 14. They wandered frantic in the streets, They were (or, had been) polluted with blood: Inasmuch as they could not But touch their garments, 15. "Depart ye, uncleanness," they cried to them, "Depart, depart, touch not:" When they fled, yea, became fugitives, They said among the heathens, "They shall no more dwell there"; 16. The face of Jehovah, their portion, Shall no more look on them; The face of their priests they regard not, To their elders they shew no favor." The last five lines contain what the heathens said, when they observed that the prophets and the priests were pronounced unclean by the people, and were ordered to depart. They had shed blood, and were thus polluted, or in their frenzy they touched the slain and became thus polluted. Their retribution was just, and rendered to them by their own people, whom they had led astray: for instead of attending to the true prophets, they killed them, and flattered the people with falsehoods, and encouraged them in their idolatry and vices; and thus brought on the ruin of a city deemed impregnable. — Ed.