Lecture 2

^2:2^ Beth. The Lord has cast down headlong, and has not spared, all that was beautiful in Jacob: he has destroyed in his wrath the strongholds of the virgin of Judah, and brought them down to the ground: he has made the kingdom unclean, and the princes thereof.

24. Here he describes in particular what happened concerning the destruction.

And first, he weeps over the things connected to the destruction;

second, over what followed the destruction, at to what shall I compare you? (Lam 2:13).

Concerning the first, he does two things.

First, he weeps over the destruction of ordinary buildings;

second, of eminent buildings, at he has destroyed his tent as a garden (Lam 2:6).

Concerning the first, he does two things.

First, he weeps over the destruction of buildings relating to the strength of the king;

second, over the destruction of those pertaining to the use of the people, at he has bent his bow (Lam 2:4).

Concerning the first, he does two things.

First, he weeps over the destruction;

second, over the impotence of the defenders, at he has broken in his fierce anger (Lam 2:3).

Concerning the first, he does three things.

First, he weeps over the destruction of those things which are for beauty: all that was beautiful. Fire has devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness (Joel 1:19).

Second, over the destruction of those things pertaining to strength: he has destroyed the strongholds. And the bulwarks of your high walls shall fall and be brought low and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust (Isa 25:12). For thus says the Lord the God of Israel to the houses of this city, and to the houses of the king of Judah, which are destroyed (Jer 33:4).

Third, he concludes by weeping over the defilement of the kingdom: he has made the kingdom unclean. They shall defile your beauty. They shall kill you, and bring you down: and you shall die the death of them that are slain in the heart of the sea (Ezek 28:7–8).