Lamentations 1:3

3 GIMEL. Judea is gone into captivity by reason of her affliction, and by reason of the abundance of her servitude: she dwells among the nations, she has not found rest: all her pursuers have overtaken her between her oppressors.

Lamentations 1:3 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:3

Judah is gone into captivity
Not only Jerusalem the metropolis of Judea was destroyed, but the whole country was ravaged, and the inhabitants of it carried captive into Babylon: because of affliction, and because of great servitude;
because of their sins in oppressing and afflicting their poor brethren, and retaining them in a state of bondage after their seven years' servitude, contrary to the law of God; for which they were threatened with captivity, ( Jeremiah 34:13-22 ) ; so the Targum,

``the house of Judah went into captivity, because they afflicted the fatherless and the widows; and because of the multitude of service which they caused their brethren the children of Israel to serve, who were sold unto them; and they did not proclaim liberty to their servants and maidens, who were of the seed of Israel:''

or, "through affliction, and through great servitude" ^F12; that is, through the affliction and servitude they suffered by the Chaldeans, into whose hands they fell; though some understand it of the Jews, who, to escape the affliction and servitude of the Chaldeans, went into a kind of voluntary captivity, fleeing to the countries of Moab, Ammon, and Edom, during the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; see ( Jeremiah 40:11 Jeremiah 40:12 ) ; she dwelleth among the Heathen; the uncircumcised and the unclean;
and so was deprived of both her civil and religious liberties; having no opportunity of worshipping God, and enjoying him in his courts, as formerly; and which must be very uncomfortable living, especially to those who were truly gracious: she findeth no rest.
The Targum adds,

``because of the hard service to which they subjected her;''

she found no natural rest, being carried from place to place; nor civil rest, being kept in hard bondage; nor spiritual rest, being deprived of the worship and ordinances of God; and being conscious of her sins, which had brought all this misery on her: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits;
having hunted her as men hunt wild beasts, and get them into some strait and difficult place, and then seize on them. The Targum interprets it, between the borders; or between the hedges, as Ben Melech; and so Jarchi, of the borders of a field and vineyard; and of a ditch on the one side and the other, that there is no room to escape; and who makes mention of a Midrash, that explains it not of place, but time, between the seventeenth day of Tammuz, and the ninth of Ab; see ( Jeremiah 52:7 Jeremiah 52:8 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (ynem) "per afflictionem"; (j) "hic, non [prae], sed per significat", Grotius; "[vel] prae afflictione, [sub.] a Chaldaeis perpessa"; so some in Vatablus.

Lamentations 1:3 In-Context

1 And it came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem made desolate, Jeremias sat weeping, and lamented this lamentation over Jerusalem, and said, ALEPH. How does the city that was filled with people sit solitary! she is become as a widow: she that was magnified among the nations, princess among the provinces, has become tributary.

2 BETH. She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; and there is none of all her lovers to comfort her: all that were her friends have dealt deceitfully with her, they are become her enemies.

3 GIMEL. Judea is gone into captivity by reason of her affliction, and by reason of the abundance of her servitude: she dwells among the nations, she has not found rest: all her pursuers have overtaken her between her oppressors.

4 DALETH. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the feast: all her gates are ruined: her priests groan, her virgins are led captive, and she is in bitterness in herself.

5 HE. Her oppressors are become the head, and her enemies have prospered; for the Lord has afflicted her because of the multitude of her sins: her young children are gone into captivity before the face of the oppressor.