nibus seculis.)
JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS
Sion was reduced to desolation, so that foxes ran there hither and thither 596
For as it is the principal thing, and as it were the chief of all blessings, to be counted God's people, and to have a familiar access to him, so in adversities nothing is so sad as to be deprived of God's presence. When David testified his gratitude to
God, because he had been enriched by every kind of blessing, he added this,
shall dwell in the house of God.'' (Psalm 23:6.)
For though he had spoken of wealth and riches and of the abundance of all things, yet he saw that his chief happiness was to call on God together with the faithful, and to be deemed one of his people. So, also, on the other hand, the Prophet here shews that nothing can be sadder to the godly than when God leaves his dwelling and makes it desolate, in order to terrify all who may see it.
This had been predicted to them by Jeremiah himself, as we have seen in the seventh chapter of his prophecies, ``Go ye to Shiloh,'' he said, where the ark of the covenant had long been; though that place had been a long time the habitation of
God, yet it was afterwards rejected with great disdain. Jeremiah then declared to the
Jews, while they were yet in safety, that such would be the condition of Jerusalem; but his prophecy was not believed. He now, then, confirms, by the event, what he had predicted by God's command, when he says that mount Sion was become the den of foxes. It follows, ---
Lamentations 5:19
19. Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
19. Tu Jehova perpetuo sedebis, solium tuum in aetatem et aetatem (id est, omnibus seculis.)
The Prophet here raises up his eyes to God, and, by his example, he encourages all the godly, that they might not cease, notwithstanding their extreme calamities, to look to God, as we find in the hundred and second Psalm, where the Psalmist speaks of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. Indeed the subject of that psalm is similar to that of this chapter; nor is there a doubt but that it was composed when the people, as it clearly appears, were in exile in Babylon. There the Psalmist, after having spoken of the ruin of the city, and calamities of the people, says, that the heavens were growing old and wasting as it were with rottenness, together with the whole world; but he afterwards adds,
thou, O Lord, remainest perpetually.''
(Psalm 102:26-28.)
At the same time he speaks more clearly than Jeremiah, for he applies his doctrine to the consolation of the Church, ``Children's children,'' he says, ``shall inhabit it.''
Hence, from the perpetuity and immutability of God, he infers the perpetuity of the
Church. This is not done by Jeremiah, though it is implied; and for this reason, no
596Some connect this verse with the foregoing, as a special reason why their eyes were darkened, — 17. For this become faint did our heart; For these things darkened were our eyes, 18. Yea, for mount Sion, which is desolate; Foxes have walked through it. "This" was the "woe" which sin had brought; and "these things" were the various things which he had previously stated, but the desolation of mount Sion was the chief cause of sorrow. Others take this verse by itself, as it is done by the Sept., where {{עלis rendered ``on,'' and {}שfor ,{}אשרis translated ``because,''
--- On mount Sion, because it has become desolate, Foxes have walked in (or through) it. If {}עלbe rendered concerning, or, as to, or, with regard to, the best construction would be the following, --- As to mount Sion, which has become desolate, Foxes have walked in it (or, traversed it.) --- Ed