Lamentations 4:21

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Edom, you that live in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

Lamentations 4:21 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 4:21

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom
The land of Idumea, and the inhabitants of it, who did indeed rejoice at the destruction of Jerusalem, ( Obadiah 1:12 ) ; and here, in an ironic manner, are bid to go on with their mirth, if they could, like the young man in ( Ecclesiastes 11:9 ) , as Aben Ezra observes; for it would not last long, their note would soon be changed: that dwellest in the land of Uz;
not the country of Job, which had its name from Uz the son of Nahor, ( Job 1:1 ) ( Genesis 22:21 ) ; but a country in Idumea, from whence the whole was so called, and that from Uz the son of Dishan, one of the sons of Seir: or else the sense is, that Edom or Idumea, and the inhabitants of it, dwelt upon the borders of Uz; and so agrees very well with the place of Job's residence, which was near the land of Edom. The Targum, according to R. Elias ^F15, is,

``rejoice, O wicked Rome;''

but, in the king of Spain's Bible, it is,

``rejoice and be glad, O Constantine (that is, Constantinople), the city of wicked Edom, which art built in the land of Armenia;''

and Jarchi says that Jeremiah prophesies concerning the destruction of the second temple, which the Romans destroyed; but in other copies, and according to Lyra, his words are, Jeremiah here prophesies concerning the destruction of the Roman empire, because that destroyed the temple; and it is usual with him, and other Rabbins, to interpret Edom of Rome; the cup also shall pass through unto thee;
the cup of God's wrath and vengeance; which, as it had come to the Jews, and was passing from one nation to another, in its turn would come to these Edomites; see ( Jeremiah 25:15 Jeremiah 25:21 ) ; thou shall be drunken, and shall make thyself naked;
be overcome by it; as persons with wine, or any strong drink, reel to and fro, and fall; and be utterly destroyed, lie helpless and without strength: "and be made naked" ^F16, as it may be rendered; stripped of their riches and wealth; or they should strip themselves of their clothes, and behave indecently, and expose those parts which ought to be covered, as drunken persons the sense is, they should be exposed, or expose themselves, to shame and contempt. The Septuagint version is, "and thou shalt be drunken, and pour out" ^F17; that is, vomit, as drunken men do; and so Jarchi and Abendana interpret the word of vomiting; and the Targum is,

``and thou shalt be emptied.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 In Tishbi, p. 227.
F16 (yrettw) "nudaberis", V. L.
F17 (kai apoceeiv) , Sept. "et eris vomens", Pagninus, Vatablus.

Lamentations 4:21 In-Context

19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

20 The Lord's anointed, the breath of our life, was taken in their pits— the one of whom we said, "Under his shadow we shall live among the nations."

21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Edom, you that live in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

22 The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins.