Lamentations 1:10

10 IOTH manum suam misit hostis ad omnia desiderabilia eius quia vidit gentes ingressas sanctuarium suum de quibus praeceperas ne intrarent in ecclesiam tuam

Lamentations 1:10 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:10

The enemy hath spread out his hands on all her pleasant
things
Meaning not the wealth and riches, the goods and substance, or the rich furniture in their own houses; but the precious things in the house of God, the ark, the table, the altar, the priests garments, and vessels of the sanctuary, and the gifts of the temple, and everything valuable in it; these the enemy stretched out his hands and seized upon, and claimed them as his own; took them as a booty, prey, and plunder. Jarchi F23 interprets the enemy of the Moabites and Ammonites, who seized upon the books of the law, in which are things more desirable than gold and silver, and burnt them; because there was a law in them that forbid them entering into the congregation of Israel; but the Targum better explains it of Nebuchadnezzar the wicked; for he and the Chaldean army are doubtless meant; who plundered and ransacked the temple of all its pleasant, precious, and valuable things: for she hath seen [that] the Heathen entered into her sanctuary;
not into the land of Israel only, the holy land; but into the temple, the sanctuary of the Lord; but called hers, because it was built for her use, that the congregation of Israel might worship the Lord in it; into this with her own eyes, though forced to it, and sore against her will, and to her great grief and trouble, she saw the Chaldeans enter, and ravage and spoil it: whom thou didst command [that] they should not enter into thy
congregation;
these Jarchi interprets of the Moabites and Ammonites again; and so does the Targum here; paraphrasing them thus,

``whom thou didst command by the hand of Moses the prophet, concerning Ammon and Moab, that they were not worthy to enter into thy congregation;''
and concerning whom there is an express law forbidding it, ( Deuteronomy 23:1-3 ) ; and it may be there were Moabites and Ammonites in the Chaldean army, assisting in the taking of Jerusalem; and who entered into the temple when it was taken.
FOOTNOTES:

F23 E Talmud. Bab. Yebamot, fol 16. 2.

Lamentations 1:10 In-Context

8 HETH peccatum peccavit Hierusalem propterea instabilis facta est omnes qui glorificabant eam spreverunt illam quia viderunt ignominiam eius ipsa autem gemens et conversa retrorsum
9 TETH sordes eius in pedibus eius nec recordata est finis sui deposita est vehementer non habens consolatorem vide Domine adflictionem meam quoniam erectus est inimicus
10 IOTH manum suam misit hostis ad omnia desiderabilia eius quia vidit gentes ingressas sanctuarium suum de quibus praeceperas ne intrarent in ecclesiam tuam
11 CAPH omnis populus eius gemens et quaerens panem dederunt pretiosa quaeque pro cibo ad refocilandam animam vide Domine considera quoniam facta sum vilis
12 LAMED o vos omnes qui transitis per viam adtendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus quoniam vindemiavit me ut locutus est Dominus in die irae furoris sui
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.