Lamentations 2:8

8 The LORD planned to destroy Daughter Zion's wall. He stretched out a measuring line, didn't stop himself from devouring. He made barricades and walls wither—together they wasted away.

Lamentations 2:8 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 2:8

The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of
Zion
Either the wall of the city, as Aben Ezra; or the wall that encompassed the temple, and all the outward courts of it, as Dr. Lightfoot ^F19 thinks; this the Lord had determined to destroy, and according to his purposes did destroy it, or suffer it to be demolished; and so all were laid open for the enemy to enter: he hath stretched out a line;
a line of destruction, to mark out how far the destruction should go, and bow much should be laid in ruins; all being as exactly done, according to the purpose and counsel of God, as if it was done by line and rule; see ( Isaiah 34:11 ) ; he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying;
till he made a full end of the city and temple, as he first designed: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament:
the "chel" and the wall; all that space between the courts of the temple and the wall that surrounded it was called the "chel"; and so the Targum, the circumference or enclosure; and these were laid waste together, and so said to lament: according to others they were two walls, a wall the son of a wall, as Jarchi interprets it; an outward and an inward wall, one higher than another; a low wall over against a high wall; which was as a rampart or bulwark, for the strength and support of it: they languished together;
or fell together, as persons in a fit faint away and full to the ground.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Prospect of the Temple, c. 17. p. 1089.

Lamentations 2:8 In-Context

6 He wrecked his own booth like a garden; he destroyed his place for festivals. The LORD made Zion forget both festival and sabbath; in his fierce rage, he scorned both monarch and priest.

7 My Lord rejected his altar, he abandoned his sanctuary; he handed Zion's palace walls over to enemies. They shouted in the LORD's own house as if it were a festival day.

8 The LORD planned to destroy Daughter Zion's wall. He stretched out a measuring line, didn't stop himself from devouring. He made barricades and walls wither—together they wasted away.

9 Zion's gates sank into the ground; he broke and shattered her bars; her king and her officials are now among the nations. There is no Instruction! Even her prophets couldn't find a vision from the LORD.

10 Daughter Zion's elders sit on the ground and mourn. They throw dust on their heads; they put on mourning clothes. Jerusalem's young women bow their heads all the way to the ground.