Lecture 19

^1:19^ Coph. I called for my friends, but they deceived me: my priests and my ancients wasted away from hunger in the city: because they sought their food to revive their souls.

19. Here he laments the wasting away of those who have starved to death during the siege.

And first, he places the disappointment caused by friends, my friends, the Egyptians, because they have not helped, as I had hoped. For Egypt shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this (Isa 30:7).

Second, he sets forth the wasting away occasioned by this: priests, for whom it seems more unbecoming, wasted away from hunger. Their nobles have perished with famine (Isa 5:13).

Third, he gives the reason for this wasting away: because they sought simply to be revived, not to be filled, and they did not find it. Or he assigns here the reason for their fault: because they searched for themselves and not for the people. Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves (Ezek 34:2).