Lecture 1

^2:1^ Aleph. How has the Lord covered with obscurity the daughter of Zion in his wrath! How has he cast down from heaven to the earth the glorious one of Israel, and has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger!

23. Here he weeps over the destruction of the city, the people, and the whole region.

And this is divided in two parts.

In the first, he deplores the destruction;

in the second, he excludes the despair of the people, at I am the man that sees my poverty (Lam 3:1).

The first is in two parts.

First, he weeps over the misery of destruction;

second, he turns himself to implore divine mercy, at their heart cried to the Lord (Lam 2:18).

Concerning the first, he does two things.

First, he weeps over the destruction in general;

second, in particular, at the Lord has cast down headlong (Lam 2:2).

Concerning the first point, he is astonished at the destruction because of the manifold glory that preceded.

And first of all, with regard to the prerogative of divine knowledge, of which, he has not done in like manner to every nation (Ps 147:9); and against this, he says: how has the Lord covered with obscurity, of ignorance or sadness. We have stumbled at noonday as in darkness, we are in dark places as dead men (Isa 59:10).

Second, with regard to the power of the royal dignity; against which, there have been powerful kings in Jerusalem, who have had dominion over all the country that is beyond the river (Ezra 4:20). Against this, he says: he has cast down from heaven, that is, from the summit of dignity and power, or from heavenly attendance. The stars of heaven fell from heaven (Rev 6:13).

Third, with regard to the worship of divine religion. Blessed is that people whose God is the Lord (Ps 143:15). Against which he says: he has not remembered, thought well of, his footstool, the temple, where he was worshiped, like a king at the footstool of his feet. The place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever (Ezek 43:7).