EXEGETICAL NOTES.—
Lamentations 5:17. How depressing is the conviction of personal sin. For this our heart has become faint. Many sorrows had surged over them and exhausted the faculty of external and mental vision. For these things our eyes are darkened.
Lamentations 5:18. The depression of heart meets its most striking symbol in that which, once the glory of the land, is now its reproach. As to Mount Zion—regarded as embracing both the dwelling-place of Jehovah and the precincts of the sacred city, which is desolate; jackals roam in it. These animals live in waste places, and avoid man’s presence, so their wandering upon Zion proves that it has become a ruinous area, without inhabitant. The place of the tabernacle of thy glory, the hill and the watch-tower, are turned into dens for wild beasts.
HOMILETICS
RELIGIOUS DECLENSION
I. Evident in the desolation of the sanctuary. “The mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it” (Lamentations 5:18). The foxes or jackals were very likely attracted to the ruinous site of Zion by the bodies of the slain, which they devoured for food and, finding how completely the place was deserted, they remained in undisturbed possession. How different from the time when the Temple services were in full swing and the city crowded with happy worshippers! Religion is at a low ebb when the house of God is neglected and its services disregarded; it is lower still when the sanctuary is closed and its mouldering stones are covered with mosses and lichens; but it has got to the lowest depth when the building is demolished and scattered in ruins. To this pass had all the pretentious religionism of Judah now come.
II. Is a reason for depression and sorrow. “For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim” (Lamentations 5:17). The Jews of all ranks and classes would lament the national disasters—the loss of national honour in the fall of their king, the loss of wealth and influence, the loss of independence and liberty; but the pious Jews would lament most of all the loss of religion. They sorrowed till their hearts became faint and their eyes grew dim with tears. We may well grieve over the loss of property and friends, of worldly comforts and necessities, but the devout heart sorrows most of all over the decline of religion and the cessation of the worship of God.
III. Should lead to much heart-searching as to its cause. “For this—for these things—because of Zion which is desolate” (Lamentations 5:17-18). To the Jewish mind the Temple was the residence and throne of Jehovah, the symbol of worship, the embodiment of the national religious life. The destruction of the Temple carried with it the doom of religion: no Temple, no religion. It is true that genuine religion is independent of temples and buildings, but as a matter of fact it does not exist long without them. Individual piety may flourish without a material temple, but collective and organised religion can be maintained only by continued association and intercourse, and the sanctuary becomes a necessity of associated religious life. Those who talk so grandiosely about worshipping God in the temple of Nature rarely worship Him at all anywhere. Where there is no recognised sanctuary there is no rally-point for worshippers, and religion is disorganised and depressed. The same result ensues when the house of God is habitually neglected.
LESSONS.—
1. Religious declension is at the root of national decay.
2. The people of God should be always deeply concerned in religious extension.
3. Religious declension is sincerely lamented by the good.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Lamentations 5:17-18. The disasters of the Church:
1. Create profound concern in the hearts of the good.
2. Should be deplored by every member of the commonwealth.
3. Mean that there has been gross unfaithfulness somewhere.
Lamentations 5:18. A deserted sanctuary:
1. A pathetic and suggestive sight.
2. An evidence of indifference and sin
3. A reproach that should be promptly wiped away.
ILLUSTRATIONS.—Religious declension. The consequences which Moses foretold (Deuteronomy 29:24-25) as the result of the religious defection of the people were such as no human wisdom could foresee or experience suggest. The practice of idolatry did not prevent the aggrandisement of ancient Rome, nor any mere statesman ensure the accomplishment of a prophecy that military success should always attend the worship of the one true God, and that military discomfiture should always follow idolatry. It is evident that Moses derived his accurate knowledge of futurity from immediate inspiration of God.
Religious sham. A religion that does not take hold of the life that now is, is like a cloud that does not rain. A cloud may roll in grandeur and be an object of admiration, but if it does not rain, it is of little account so far as utility is concerned. And a religion that consists in the observance of magnificent ceremonies, but does not touch the duties of daily life, is a religion of show and of sham.
Church-going not the end of religion. I fear there are some who imagine that church-going is in itself the aim and end of all religion. No mistake can be more deplorable or pernicious. It is a blunder as egregious as it would be for a visitor to a manufactory to suppose that the machinery was all set in motion merely to be gazed at, and to keep employed the people who are engaged in tending it. The manufacturer who lays out his capital in such costly apparatus would find but an unsatisfactory return at the end of the year if there had not been a given quantity of finished goods for profitable sale in the market. So it is with church-going. It is wretched work if the worship of the house of God begins and ends with the prayers uttered there.—Hooper.
Mercenary religion. One of the causes that led to the overthrow of religion in Ephesus was the growing wealth attached to the Temple of Diana. The priesthood established deposit banks. Kings and private individuals intrusted their money to the care of the goddess, and the priests reinvested this for a profit. But gradually the idea of religious sanctity gave place to that of commercial enterprise, and the temple became fair game for attack and robbery.
Decay of religion. The most curious phenomenon in all Venetian history is the vitality of religion in private life, and its deadness in public policy. Amidst the enthusiasm, chivalry, or fanaticism of the other States of Europe, Venice stands from first to last like a masked statue; her coldness impenetrable, her exertion only aroused by the touches of a secret spring. That spring was her commercial interests—this the one motive of all her important political acts or enduring national animosities. She could forgive insults to her honour, but never rivalship in her commerce. She calculated the glory of her conquests by their value, and estimated their justice by their facility. While all Europe around her was wasted by the fire of its devotion, she first calculated the highest price she could exact from its piety for the armament she furnished, and then, for the advancement of her own private interests, at once broke her faith and betrayed her religion.—Ruskin.