Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Lamentations 5:16

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 16. The crown is fallen from our head — At feasts, marriages, c., they used to crown themselves with garlands of flowers all festivity of this kind was now at an end. Or it may refer to their having lost all sovereignty, being made slaves.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

A prayer for mercy (5:1-22)

This poem was apparently written in Judah some time after the fall of Jerusalem. Only the people of no use to Babylon were left in the land, and this poem reflects the hardships they faced (cf. Jeremiah 52:16).

In a plea to God for mercy, the people remind him of their present shame (5:1). Death has broken up their families, and the invaders have taken over their houses and lands (2-3). They live and work like slaves in their own country, and have to buy water from their foreign overlords (4-5). Their ancestors tried to keep the nation alive by seeking help from Egypt and Assyria, but they actually brought the nation to ruin. Now the people have to submit to Babylonian guards who are little more than slaves (6-8).
Conditions in Judah are terrible. The people have to search the barren country regions for food, and in doing so they risk death from desert bandits (9-10). Judean women are raped, former leaders are tortured, and children are forced to work like slaves (11-13). The old way of life has gone, and with it has gone all celebration and rejoicing (14-15). People everywhere are unhappy, discouraged and ashamed. They acknowledge that their sin has brought all this upon them (16-18).
In a final desperate plea, the people cry to the sovereign ruler of the world not to reject them but to bring them back to himself. They ask that he will restore their nation and give them the happiness they once enjoyed. God is eternal and unchangeable, and they are his people; surely he will not forget them (19-22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

ALL GOD'S PEOPLE ARE HEARTBROKEN

"The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: Woe unto us! for we have sinned. For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim. For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate: The foxes walk upon it."

"The joy of our heart is ceased" "At last the community have come to realize the deep significance of her sin by its consequences."The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 858. Today if sinners walking in their own lustful ways in rebellion against the moral government of God Himself could only realize the eternal consequences of their sins, no doubt some of them, at least, would renounce the works of the flesh and obey the gospel of the Son of God. The failure of the modern pulpit to stress the true consequences of wickedness is part of the reason behind prevalent iniquity. The same reticence of the ancient prophets of the people of God to stress this same fact was also part of the reason for Israel's shameful apostasy.

"Woe unto us! for we have sinned" Osborne offered the following as a better translation: "Alas, that we ever sinned."Ibid.

"For this our heart is faint… our eyes dim, for the mountain of Zion… is desolate: the foxes walk upon it" The last clause here is better rendered, "The jackals prowl over it."From the Revised Standard Version. "These words are a transition to the final appeal. Although the thought of Zion's desolation is overwhelming, the prophet will lift himself up again when he recalls the sublime truth of the inviolable security of Israel's God."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 11b, p. 80.

"The mountain of Zion is desolate" This is the climax of all that is wrong in Israel. "Zion is the central symbol of God's presence, the visible sign of Israel's election, and it is deserted!The Anchor Bible Commentary (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1972), Vol. 7a, p. 165. This was the very ultimate of all the terrible things that had happened to Israel.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Literally, “The crown of our head is fallen,” i. e. what was our chief ornament and dignity is lost; the independence of the nation, and all that gave them rank and honor.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

By the crown of the head he no doubt understands all those ornaments by which that people had been adorned. They had a kingdom and a priesthood, which were like two luminaries or two precious jewels; they had also other things by which the Lord had adorned them. As, then, they were endued with such excellent things, they are said to have borne a crown on their head But a crown was not only taken for a diadem, — it was also a symbol of joy and of honor; for not only kings then wore crowns, but men were crowned at weddings and feasts, at games also, and theatres. The Prophet, in a word, complains, that though many ornaments did belong to the people, yet now they were denuded of them all: The crown, he says, has fallen from our head ⁽²³⁵⁾

He then exclaims, Woe to us now, for we have sinned! Here he sets forth an extreme misery, and at the same time shews that all hope of restoration was taken away. He, however, mentions the cause, because they had done wickedly By saying this he did not intend to exasperate their sorrow, so that they who were thus afflicted might murmur against God; but, on the contrary, his object was to humble the afflicted, so that they might perceive that they were justly punished. It is the same as though he had summoned them as guilty before the tribunal of God, and pronounced in one word that they justly suffered or sustained so grievous a punishment; for a just God is an avenger of wickedness.

We hence conclude, that when he said yesterday that the fathers who had sinned were dead, and their iniquity was borne by their children, he did not so speak as to exempt the living from all blame; for here he condemns them and includes himself in the number. But I explained yesterday the meaning of that verse; and here the Prophet ingenuously confesses that the people were justly punished, because they had by their sins provoked the wrath of God. And this doctrine ought to be carefully observed; because when we are pressed down by adversities, Satan will excite us to sorrow, and at the same time hurry us on to rage, except this doctrine comes to our minds, that we have to do with God, who is a righteous Judge. For the knowledge of our sins will tame our pride and also check all those clamorous complaints, which the unbelieving are wont to utter when they rise up against God. Our evils, then, ought to lead us to consider God’s judgment and to confess our sins; and this was the end which our Prophet had in view. It follows, —

(235) The words are, —

Fallen has the crown of our head.

Then the “woe” in the next line is only declarative, —

Woe is now to us, because we have sinned.

The particle “now” is omitted in our version. — Ed.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 5

Fifth lamentation:

Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans, fatherless, our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money ( Lamentations 5:1-4 );

We had to pay for a drink of water.

and our wood is sold to us. Our necks are under persecution: we labor, we have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. We got our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin was black like an oven, because of the terrible famine ( Lamentations 5:4-10 ).

As a result of the starvation that the skin just turning black and leathery.

They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah ( Lamentations 5:11 ).

The enemies had come in. It must have been a horrible thing. The fathers to see their wives and their young daughters ravished by the enemy, raped and all and then murdered.

Princes have been hung by their thumbs: the faces of elders were not honored. They took the young men to grind in bondage, and the children had to carry the wood. The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. Thou, O LORD, remains for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. Wherefore does thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long a time? Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old ( Lamentations 5:12-21 ).

Therein is the answer, "Oh God, turn our hearts to Thee. Renew that relationship that we once had with You." You remember Jesus said to the church of Ephesus, "I have this against thee, in that you have left your first love. Remember from whence you have fallen and repent and do thy first works over." Oh God, return us to that first love. Lord, return us unto thee. But he ends with a sad note of dejection.

But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very angry against us ( Lamentations 5:22 ).

What a sad, tragic book that never needed to be written had the people only hearkened unto the voice of God. This whole black period of history needed not to be. God warned them over and over and over again. He sent His prophets, warning them over and over of the destruction that was going to come, but they would not give heed to the word of God or to the warnings from God. But God is faithful, and that which God declared He did. And today God is warning this world of His judgment, which is going to fall. And that which happened to Jerusalem is going to happen to this whole godless world.

There is coming a devastation, a holocaust, such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again. Jesus in describing the days that are coming said, "And in that day, there shall be a Great Tribulation such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again." The only safe place for you to be is in Christ. If you are in Christ He will keep you from that hour that is coming upon the earth. But if you're outside of Christ, as in Hebrews, "There remains only that fearful looking forward to the fiery indignation of God's wrath which will devour His adversaries. For if he who despised Moses' law was put to death, of how much worse punishment do you suppose he is accounted worthy who has trodden under foot the Son of God? And is accounted the blood of His covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and has done despite to the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who has said, 'It is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living God'" ( Hebrews 10:27-31 ).

God has promised His judgment is going to come upon this wicked world. God is faithful and will keep His promise. But Jesus said, "Pray ye always that you'll be accounted worthy to escape all of these things and to stand before the Son of man" ( Luke 21:36 ). And I am praying and believing God to answer my prayer that I will escape this great time of tribulation when the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth, and I expect to be standing before the Son of man when it all happens.

Book of Revelation, chapter 5, "And there was in the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne, a scroll with writing within and without and sealed with seven seals. And I heard the angels say with a great voice, 'Who is worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals thereof?' And I, John began to weep, sob convulsively because no one was found worthy to take the scroll or to loose the seals. And the elder said unto me, 'Weep not, behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to take the scroll and to loose the seals.' And I turned and I saw Him as a Lamb that had been slaughtered. And He came forth and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne. And the twenty four elders brought forth their golden vials full of odors, which were the prayers of the saints. And they offered them before the throne of God and they sang a new song saying, 'Worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll and loose the seals, for He was slain and has redeemed us by His blood. Out of every nation and tribe, and tongue and people, and He has made us unto our God, kings and priests and we're going to reign with Him on the earth'" ( Revelation 5:1-10 ).

You see, that's where I plan to be. Standing before the Son of God, singing of the worthiness of the Lamb who died for me, who has redeemed me from among the families of the people on the earth. Only the redeemed church can sing that song. Angels can't sing that song; they haven't been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. That's not the song of Israel, because they come from all of the nations and family of people on the earth. That's the song of the redeemed church before the throne of God. Angels can sing the chorus. They do. A hundred million join in, plus millions of others, as they say, "Worthy is the Lamb to receive glory and honor and dominion and might and power and authority." They join the chorus, but they can't sing the verse, that's yours.

"And when He loosed the first seal, I heard a voice that said, 'Come,' and I saw a white horse and his rider going forth upon the earth, conquering and to conquer" ( Revelation 6:1-2 ). There begins the Great Tribulation. And he begins then from chapter 6 on through to chapter 18 describing the events that are going to take place upon the earth when God judges man for their wickedness and for their sin. God is faithful. He's going to do it. There is only one safe place for anyone to be. That's in Christ Jesus. I'm glad I'm there. I don't expect to be any place else. I don't want to be. Why should I be? I'm so happy here in Christ.

Shall we pray.

Father, we thank You for that secret place abiding in the presence of the Almighty, dwelling in Christ. Oh, Father, how we thank You that You have provided for us a place of refuge, safety in Christ. Lord, I pray for those that are here tonight who are not in Christ. Oh God, may they seriously consider the faithfulness of God, even as He kept His word and destroyed Jerusalem, so will He keep His word and judge this world. For God is faithful. Lord, may we turn from our sin, from our idolatries, from our wicked ways, and may we serve the Lord with our whole heart. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

If you're not sure that you're a child of God, I wouldn't leave this place tonight until I was. I mean, I'm serious. We're living in desperate days. And really as Jeremiah exhorts, it's time really that we just not cease in prayer unto God. For the people round about us, we will make intercession for our nation, for each other, for these are truly the last days, and Satan is going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And he's ripping off an awful lot of those from the church. Leading them into life, a life of sin. A life of self seeking, living after pleasure, and walking after the flesh. And the mind of the flesh is death. I wouldn't leave tonight until I had a deep assurance that things are square between God and me.

You can go back to the prayer room as soon as we're dismissed. Some of the pastors will go back there and pray with you.

God bless, God keep, and may God lay upon your heart the awareness of the day and the hour in which we live, and the need of an all out effort in our service for Jesus Christ. And may the Lord use you in a very special way, as His instrument to bring His love to this needy world. In Jesus' name. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

A. A plea for remembrance 5:1-18

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

God’s blessing and authority, symbolized by a crown, had departed from the head of the nation. All these characteristics marked the nation because it had sinned against Yahweh. She suffered under His judgment.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The crown is fallen [from] our head,.... Or, "the crown of our head is fallen" a; all their honour and glory as a nation were gone; the glory of their kingdom and priesthood, to both which a crown or mitre belonged; the glory of church and state. Aben Ezra interprets it of the temple, the place of the divine Majesty. Sanctius thinks there is an allusion to the crowns they wore upon their heads at their feasts and festivals; and so the words have a close connection with what goes before:

woe unto us that we have sinned! which had brought all these evils upon them: this is not to be considered as an imprecation or denunciation of misery; but as a commiseration of their case; calling upon others to it, and particularly God himself, to have mercy upon them; for, alas for them! they had sinned, and justly deserved what was come upon them; and therefore throw themselves at the feet of mercy, and implore divine compassion.

a נפלה עטרת ראשנו "cecidit corona capitis nostri", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.   2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.   3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.   4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.   5 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.   6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.   7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.   8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.   9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.   10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.   11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.   12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.   13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.   14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.   15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.   16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

      Is any afflicted? let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God, and make known before him his trouble. The people of God do so here; being overwhelmed with grief, they give vent to their sorrows at the footstool of the throne of grace, and so give themselves ease. They complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt: "Remember what has come upon us,Lamentations 5:1; Lamentations 5:1. What was of old threatened against us, and was long in the coming, has now at length come upon us, and we are ready to sink under it. Remember what is past, consider and behold what is present, and let not all the trouble we are in seem little to thee, and not worth taking notice of," Nehemiah 9:32. Note, As it is a great comfort to us, so it ought to be a sufficient one, in our troubles, that God sees, and considers, and remembers, all that has come upon us; and in our prayers we need only to recommend our case to his gracious and compassionate consideration. The one word in which all their grievances are summer up is reproach: Consider, and behold our reproach. The troubles they were in compared with their former dignity and plenty, were a greater reproach to them than they would have been to any other people, especially considering their relation to God and dependence upon him, and his former appearances for them; and therefore this they complain of very sensibly, because, as it was a reproach, it reflected upon the name and honour of that God who had owned them for his people. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

      I. They acknowledge the reproach of sin which they bear, the reproach of their youth (which Ephraim bemoans himself for, Jeremiah 31:19), of the early days of their nation. This comes in in the midst of their complaints (Lamentations 5:7; Lamentations 5:7), but may well be put in the front of them: Our fathers have sinned and are not; they are dead and gone, but we have borne their iniquities. This is not here a peevish complaint, nor an imputation of unrighteousness to God, like that which we have, Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 18:2. The fathers did eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge, and therefore the ways of the Lord are not equal. But it is a penitent confession of the sins of their ancestors, which they themselves also had persisted in, for which they now justly suffered; the judgments God brought upon them were so very great that it appeared that God had in them an eye to the sins of their ancestors (because they had not been remarkably punished in this world) as well as to their own sins; and thus God was justified both in his connivance at their ancestors (he laid up their iniquity for their children) and in his severity with them, on whom he visited that iniquity, Matthew 23:35; Matthew 23:36. Thus they do here, 1. Submit themselves to the divine justice: "Lord, thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for we are a seed of evil doers, children of wrath, and heirs of the curse; we are sinful, and we have it by kind." Note, The sins which God looks back upon in punishing we must look back upon in repenting, and must take notice of all that which will help to justify God in correcting us. 2. They refer themselves to the divine pity: "Lord, our fathers have sinned, and we justly smart for their sins; but they are not; they were taken away from the evil to come; they lived not to see and share in these miseries that have come upon us, and we are left to bear their iniquities. Now, though herein God is righteous, yet it must be owned that our case is pitiable, and worthy of compassion." Note, If we be penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of our fathers, we may expect that he who punishes will pity, and will soon return in mercy to us.

      II. They represent the reproach of trouble which they bear, in divers particulars, which tend much to their disgrace.

      1. They are disseised of that good land which God gave them, and their enemies have got possession of it, Lamentations 5:2; Lamentations 5:2. Canaan was their inheritance; it was theirs by promise. God gave it to them and their seed, and they held it by grant from his crown, (Psalms 136:21; Psalms 136:22); but now, "It is turned to strangers; those possess it who have no right to it, who are strangers to the commonwealth of Israel and aliens from the covenants of promise; they dwell in the houses that we built, and this is our reproach." It is the happiness of all God's spiritual Israel that the heavenly Canaan is an inheritance that they cannot be disseised of, that shall never be turned to strangers.

      2. Their state and nation are brought into a condition like that of widows and orphans (Lamentations 5:3; Lamentations 5:3): "We are fatherless (that is, helpless); we have none to protect us, to provide for us, to take any care of us. Our king, who is the father of the country, is cut off; nay, God our Father seems to have forsaken us and cast us off; our mothers, our cities, that were as fruitful mothers in Israel, are now as widows, are as wives whose husbands are dead, destitute of comfort, and exposed to wrong and injury, and this is our reproach; for we who made a figure are now looked on with contempt."

      3. They are put hard to it to provide necessaries for themselves and their families, whereas once they lived in abundance and had plenty of every thing. Water used to be free and easily come by, but now (Lamentations 5:4; Lamentations 5:4), We have drunk our water for money, and the saying is no longer true, Usus communis aquarum--Water is free to all. So hardly did their oppressors use them that they could not have a draught of fair water but they must purchase it either with money or with work. Formerly they had fuel too for the fetching; but now, "Our wood is sold to us, and we pay dearly for every faggot." Now were they punished for employing their children to gather wood for fire with which to bake cakes for the queen of heaven,Jeremiah 7:18. They were perfectly proscribed by their oppressors, were forbidden the use both of fire and water, according to the ancient form, Interdico tibi aqua et igni--I forbid thee the use of water and fire. But what must they do for bread? Truly that was as hard to come at as any thing, for (1.) Some of them sold their liberty for it (Lamentations 5:6; Lamentations 5:6): "We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, have made the best bargain we could with them, to serve them, that we might be satisfied with bread. We were glad to submit to the meanest employment, upon the hardest terms, to get a sorry livelihood; we have yielded ourselves to be their vassals, have parted with all to them, as the Egyptians did to Pharaoh in the years of famine, that we might have something for ourselves and families to subsist on." The neighbouring nations used to trade with Judah for wheat (Ezekiel 27:17), for it was a fruitful land; but now it eats up the inhabitants, and they are glad to make court to the Egyptians and Assyrians. (2.) Others of them ventured their lives for it (Lamentations 5:9; Lamentations 5:9): We got our bread with the peril of our lives; when, being straitened by the siege and all provisions cut off, they either sallied or stole out of the city, to fetch in some supply, they were in danger of falling into the hands of the besiegers and being put to the sword, the sword of the wilderness it is called, or of the plain (for so the word signifies), the besiegers lying dispersed every where in the plains that were about the city. Let us take occasion hence to bless God for the plenty that we enjoy, that we get our bread so easily, scarcely with the sweat of our face, much less with the peril of our lives; and for the peace we enjoy, that we can go out, and enjoy not only the necessary productions, but the pleasures of the country, without any fear of the sword of the wilderness.

      4. Those are brought into slavery who were a free people, and not only their own masters, but masters of all about them, and this is as much as any thing their reproach (Lamentations 5:5; Lamentations 5:5): Our necks are under the grievous and intolerable yoke of persecution (the iron yoke which Jeremiah foretold should be laid upon them, Jeremiah 28:14); we are used like beasts in the yoke, that wholly serve their owners, and are at the command of their drivers. That which aggravated the servitude was, (1.) That their labours were incessant, like those of Israel in Egypt, who were daily tasked, nay, overtasked: We labour and have no rest, neither leave nor leisure to rest. The oxen in the yoke are unyoked at night and have rest; so they have, by a particular provision of the law, on the sabbath day; but the poor captives in Babylon, who were compelled to work for their living, laboured and had no rest, no night's rest, no sabbath-rest; they were quite tired out with continual toil. (2.) That their masters were insufferable (Lamentations 5:8; Lamentations 5:8): Servants have ruled over us; and nothing is more vexatious than a servant when he reigns,Proverbs 30:22. They were not only the great men of the Chaldeans that commanded them, but even the meanest of their servants abused them at pleasure, and insulted over them; and they must be at their beck too. The curse of Canaan had now become the doom of Judah: A servant of servants shall he be. They would not be ruled by their God, and by his servants the prophets, whose rule was gentle and gracious, and therefore justly are they ruled with rigour by their enemies and their servants. (3.) That they saw no probable way for the redress of their grievances: "There is none that doth deliver us out of their hand; not only none to rescue us out of our captivity, but none to check and restrain the insolence of the servants that abuse us and trample upon us," which one would think their masters should have done, because it was a usurpation of their authority; but, it should seem, they connived at it and encouraged it, and, as if they were not worthy of the correction of gentlemen, they are turned over to the footmen to be spurned by them. Well might they pray, Lord, consider and behold our reproach.

      5. Those who used to be feasted are now famished (Lamentations 5:10; Lamentations 5:10): Our skin was black like an oven, dried and parched too, because of the terrible famine, the storms of famine (so the word is); for, though famine comes gradually upon a people, yet it comes violently, and bears down all before it, and there is no resisting it; and this also is their disgrace; hence we read of the reproach of famine, which in captivity their received among the heathen, Ezekiel 36:30.

      6. All sorts of people, even those whose persons and characters were most inviolable, were abused and dishonoured. (1.) The women were ravished, even the women in Zion, that holy mountain, Lamentations 5:11; Lamentations 5:11. The committing of such abominable wickednesses there is very justly and sadly complained of. (2.) The great men were not only put to death, but put to ignominious deaths. Princes were hanged, as if they had been slaves, by the hands of the Chaldeans (Lamentations 5:12; Lamentations 5:12), who took a pride in doing this barbarous execution with their own hands. Some think that the dead bodies of the princes, after they were slain with the sword, were hung up, as the bodies of Saul's sons, in disgrace to them, and as it were to expiate the nation's guilt. (3.) No respect was shown to magistrates and those in authority: The faces of elders, elders in age, elders in office, were not honoured. This will be particularly remembered against the Chaldeans another day. Isaiah 47:6, Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. (4.) The tenderness of youth was no more considered than the gravity of old age (Lamentations 5:13; Lamentations 5:13): They took the young men to grind at the hand-mills, nay, perhaps at the horse-mills. The young men have carried the grist (so some), have carried the mill, or mill-stones, so others. They loaded them as if they had been beasts of burden, and so broke their backs while they were young, and made the rest of their lives the more miserable. Nay, they made the little children carry their wood home for fuel, and laid such burdens upon them that they fell down under them, so very inhuman were these cruel taskmasters!

      7. An end was put to all their gladness, and their joy was quite extinguished (Lamentations 5:14; Lamentations 5:14): The young men, who used to be disposed to mirth, have ceased from their music, have hung their harps upon the willow-trees. It does indeed well become old men to cease from their music; it is time to lay it by with a gracious contempt when all the daughters of music are brought low; but it speaks some great calamity upon a people when their young men are made to cease from it. It was so with the body of the people (Lamentations 5:15; Lamentations 5:15): The joy of their heart ceased; they never knew what joy was since the enemy came in upon them like a flood, for ever since deep called unto deep, and one wave flowed in upon the neck of another, so that they were quite overwhelmed: Our dance is turned into mourning, instead of leaping for joy, as formerly, we sink and lie down in sorrow. This may refer especially to the joy of their solemn feasts, and the dancing used in them (Judges 21:21), which was not only modest, but sacred, dancing; this was turned into mourning, which was doubled on their festival days, in remembrance of their former pleasant things.

      8. An end was put to all their glory. (1.) The public administration of justice was their glory, but that was gone: The elders have ceased from the gate (Lamentations 5:14; Lamentations 5:14); the course of justice, which used to run down like a river, is now stopped; the courts of justice, which used to be kept with so much solemnity, are put down; for the judges are slain, or carried captive. (2.) The royal dignity was their glory, but that also was gone: The crown has fallen from our head, not only the king himself fallen into disgrace, but the crown; he has no successor; the regalia are all lost. Note, Earthly crowns are fading falling things; but, blessed be God, there is a crown of glory that fades not away, that never falls, a kingdom that cannot be moved. Upon this complaint, but with reference to all the foregoing complaints, they make that penitent acknowledgment, "Woe unto us that we have sinned! Alas for us! Our case is very deplorable, and it is all owing to ourselves; we are undone, and, which aggravates the matter, we are undone by our own hands. God is righteous, for we have sinned." Note, All our woes are owing to our own sin and folly. If the crown of our head be fallen (for so the words run), if we lose our excellency and become mean, we may thank ourselves, we have by our own iniquity profaned our crown and laid our honour in the dust.