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Commentary on Lamentations 5 verses 1–16
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, Lam 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," Neh 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, Jer 31:19), of the early days of their nation. This comes in in the midst of their complaints (Lam 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, Jer 31:29, Eze 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, Mat 23:35, Mat 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, Lam 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, (Psa 136:21, Psa 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 (Lam 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 (Lam 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, Jer 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 (Lam 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 (Eze 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 (Lam 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 (Lam 5:5): Our necks are under the grievous and intolerable yoke of persecution (the iron yoke which Jeremiah foretold should be laid upon them, Jer 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 (Lam 5:8): Servants have ruled over us; and nothing is more vexatious than a servant when he reigns, Pro 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 (Lam 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, Eze 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, Lam 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 (Lam 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. Isa 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 (Lam 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 (Lam 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 (Lam 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 (Jdg 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 (Lam 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.
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SUMMARY
Lamentations 5:12 poignantly captures the utter devastation and profound humiliation experienced by the people of Judah following the Babylonian conquest and the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. This verse, embedded within a desperate communal lament, vividly depicts the brutal public execution of the nation's political and military leaders and the shocking absence of respect for its revered elders, symbolizing a complete reversal of social order, dignity, and national identity, and serving as a visceral cry for divine intervention amidst overwhelming despair.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Lamentations 5:12 employs several powerful literary devices to convey the depth of Judah's suffering and the extent of its societal collapse. Parallelism is evident in the two clauses, where the humiliation of "princes" (political and military leaders) is mirrored by the dishonor of "elders" (social and moral authorities). This structural technique emphasizes the comprehensive nature of the societal breakdown, affecting all strata of leadership and community. Metonymy is present in the phrase "the faces of elders," where "faces" (Hebrew: pânîym) stands for the entire person, their public reputation, and their inherent dignity, highlighting the profound personal and public indignity inflicted upon them. The verse also utilizes Hyperbole to underscore the extreme nature of the suffering; while it's unlikely every single prince was hanged or every elder completely dishonored, the statement conveys the overwhelming and pervasive experience of degradation and the complete reversal of societal norms. Finally, there is a strong element of Irony, as those who were once at the pinnacle of power and respect are now subjected to the most abject forms of humiliation, a stark reversal of their former status and a testament to the devastating consequences of divine judgment.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Lamentations 5:12 stands as a stark testament to the devastating consequences of national disobedience and the profound suffering that can result from divine judgment. It underscores the fragility of human power and societal structures when a people turn away from God. The humiliation of princes and the dishonoring of elders reveal a complete dismantling of the established order, a direct outcome of a broken covenant relationship. Theologically, it reminds us that God is sovereign over nations and that persistent rebellion against His commands can lead to severe discipline, stripping away all that is held dear, including dignity, social cohesion, and national identity. This verse serves as a sober warning that true stability and honor come not from human institutions alone, but from a right relationship with the Creator, whose standards for justice and righteousness ultimately uphold or condemn a society.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Lamentations 5:12 offers a sobering mirror for contemporary societies and individual lives, compelling us to consider the foundational pillars of our own communities: the integrity of leadership and the respect accorded to wisdom and experience. When those in authority are corrupted, when justice is perverted, or when the wisdom of the aged is disregarded, the very fabric of society begins to unravel, leading to chaos, injustice, and profound suffering. This verse challenges us to examine whether we are building our lives and communities on fleeting earthly power and status, or on the enduring principles of God's Word. It calls us to humility, reminding us that all human authority is ultimately derived from and accountable to God. Furthermore, it serves as a powerful warning against moral decay and spiritual apathy, urging us to seek righteousness and justice, to honor those in authority, and to revere the wisdom that comes with age and experience, lest we face the devastating consequences of a society that has lost its way and forgotten its divine moorings.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "Princes are hanged up by their hand" signify culturally?
Answer: Culturally, this phrase signifies the ultimate act of humiliation, conquest, and public degradation. In the ancient Near East, hanging or impalement was not just an execution method but a public display designed to terrorize the conquered population and demonstrate the absolute power of the victorious empire. For "princes" (H8269, sar)—the nation's leaders and elite—to suffer such a fate meant the complete overthrow of their authority, dignity, and the very structure of their society. It was a visible, brutal assertion of dominance by the Babylonians, intended to crush any remaining hope or resistance among the Judahites and serve as a grim warning.
Why was the dishonoring of elders so significant in ancient Israelite society?
Answer: The dishonoring of elders (H2205, zâqên) was profoundly significant because elders were the bedrock of Israelite society. They were revered for their wisdom, experience, and moral authority, often serving as judges, counselors, and keepers of tradition in the city gates (e.g., Ruth 4:1-11). The phrase "the faces of elders were not honoured" (H6440, pânîym for faces; H1921, hâdar for honoured) indicates a complete breakdown of the social fabric and moral order. It meant that the very individuals who embodied the community's accumulated wisdom and provided stability were treated with contempt, signifying a society stripped of its values and plunged into chaos, where even fundamental respect had vanished. This was a clear sign of deep societal decay and God's severe judgment.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Lamentations 5:12, with its vivid portrayal of humiliated princes and dishonored elders, finds its ultimate and profound Christ-centered fulfillment not in the defeat of earthly rulers, but in the voluntary humiliation and suffering of the true Prince, Jesus Christ. While the princes of Judah were forcibly "hanged up by their hand" in shame, Christ, the Prince of Peace and King of Kings, willingly allowed Himself to be "lifted up" on a cross. This form of execution was both a public spectacle and a symbol of utter disgrace in the Roman world, fulfilling the prophecy that He would be numbered with the transgressors. The dishonoring of the elders in Lamentations reflects a society that had lost its moral compass and respect for wisdom. Yet, in Christ, we see the ultimate wisdom of God, though He was despised and rejected by men and considered a fool by the world (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). The world did "not honour" Him, but rather mocked and crucified Him, even though He was the Holy One of God. His suffering, however, was not a sign of defeat but the very means of our salvation, transforming the instrument of shame into a symbol of triumph. Through His voluntary humiliation and death, Christ reversed the curse of sin and restored true honor and dignity to humanity, offering a kingdom where the humble are exalted and the despised are made glorious, a stark contrast to the earthly princes and elders whose honor was so tragically lost. His ultimate exaltation, being seated at the right hand of God, demonstrates that true authority and honor belong to Him who endured the greatest dishonor for our sake, bringing redemption where there was only ruin.