And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
Her gates shall lament. The place of concourse personified is represented mourning for the loss of those multitudes which once frequented it.
She being desolate shall sit upon the ground - the very figure under which Judea was represented on medals after the destruction by Titus; a female sitting under a palm-tree in a posture of grief; the motto, Judea capta (Job 2:13; Lamentations 2:10), whereas here, primarily, the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar is alluded to, but ultimately that under the Roman Titus.
Remarks: When God takes away the earthly stays of men, they have nothing to fall back upon for help. Might, valour, and prudence avail only so long as God is not against a nation. These all fail the moment when the Lord wills it. "Jerusalem is ruined and Judah fallen, because their tongue and their doings were against the Lord, to provoke" Him before His "eyes." Herein we have a sample of God's principle of dealing with nations and individuals. Shameless sin brings on shameful punishment (Isaiah 3:9). Evil recoils on the evil-speaker and evil-doer as the only "reward" of his pains.