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Lamentation Over Judah's Chastisement
v. 8. Therefore, on account of the calamity which would strike Samaria and Judah, I will wail and howl, in a most bitter and mournful cry, I will go stripped and naked, robbed by the enemies and deprived of his upper garment, that is, in the condition of a captive; I will make a wailing like the dragons, like the jackals of the desert, and mourning as the owls, like ostriches crying in pain. Cf Job_30:29.
v. 9. For her wound is incurable, deadly her strokes, for it is come unto Judah, the territory which harbored the Sanctuary of the Lord being included in the general ruin; he is come unto the gate of My people, to the place where the solemn assemblies of Jehovah were held, even to Jerusalem.
v. 10. Declare ye it not in Gath, one of the chief cities of the Philistines, weep ye not at all, lest the message cause these enemies to rejoice; in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust, literally, "in Beth-leaphra I wallow in the dust," for such scattering of dust was a sign of deep grief. Throughout this paragraph the prophet, in the Hebrew, uses puns, for Gath means "announcement" and Ophra "dust-house. "
v. 11. Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir (fair-view), having thy shame naked, in shameful nakedness, also robbed by the enemy; the inhabitant of Zaanan (outlet). came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel; he shall receive of you his standing, rather, "not has gone out the inhabitant of Zaanan," since she did not have the courage to face the enemy in the open field, "the mourning of Beth-haezel [house of separation] takes you away from its standing-place"; for its inhabitants would not permit the Jews to seek shelter behind its walls.
v. 12. For the inhabitants of Maroth (bitterness). waited carefully for good, being anxiously and bitterly concerned about it, writhing in grief and pain on account of her lost prosperity; but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem. But while all these towns were in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, the prophet next shows that the punishment would not be confined to the immediate neighborhood of the capital.
v. 13. O thou inhabitant of Lachish, a fortified city in the plain toward the southwest, bind the chariot to the swift beast, to the fastest horses, namely, to escape the impending punishment; she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee, she was the first city of Judah to introduce the idol-worship of the northern kingdom.
v. 14. Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-gath (the betrothed of Gath), the daughter of Zion being obliged to dismiss or release this city to the enemy, like the gift of a marriage portion; the houses of Achzib (deception). shall be a lie to the kings of Israel, a deceitful brook, which offers no refreshment to the thirsty wanderer; just so the city would slip from the grasp of the kings of Judah (the southern kingdom being meant in this instance), so that it would no longer be in their possession.
v. 15. Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah (town of inheritance), for Israel had been the heir obtaining it from the Canaanites, and the enemy would now be the heir receiving it from the people of Judah; he shall come unto Adullam, the glory of Israel, rather, "even unto Adullam will the nobility of Israel come," to hide themselves in the cave in which David once sought refuge from Saul. Cf 1Sa_22:1.
v. 16. Make thee bald, Zion as the mother of the nation being addressed, and poll thee, shearing her head, for thy delicate children, in deep grief and sorrowful lamentation; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, the griffin vulture of the Orient, the entire forepart of whose head is without feathers; for they are gone into captivity from thee. The entire paragraph is a powerful and vivid description of the overthrow of the land by the armies of the invaders, which would be sent to punish the transgression of Judah.