Some passages from Lamentations of Jeremiah

“The cold ones were at his head,” that is, all those who wanted to do evil in Jerusalem came into power. “Her princes were laziness,” that is, they became timid like deer. “And she did not walk with strength in the face of him who persecuted” (Lam. 1:5–6). “I have seen the tongues enter into Your sanctuary” to plunder, burn and destroy. “Dasha is coveted for food, to convert the soul” (Lamentations 1:10–11); either because they devoured the flesh of their sons, or because they gave everything they had for food, just to keep their souls within themselves. “My sons perished” (Lamentations 1:16), “like forest figs,” that is, those who were displaced and exhausted in captivity became like wild figs, although before captivity they were like cedars. “I called my lovers to help me, and they deceived me” (Lamentations 1:19). Prophet means either idols and false prophets, or Edomites and other surrounding nations. “Thou hast brought the day which Thou hast called, and they shall be like me” (Lamentations 1:21), that is, the day which Thou hast kept for them has come, and all the nations who mocked me will become captives like me. “How has the Lord darkened His daughter Zion in His wrath!” that is, the Lord comprehended the daughter of Zion with His wrath, and darkened her brilliant glory. “And I will not remember the footstool of My feet” (Lam. 2:1). This is His holy church, the place on which the Angel’s feet stood. “The children of Jerusalem shouted in the house of the Lord as on the day of the feast” (Lam. 2:7). The prophet says this about the cry of the inhabitants of Jerusalem at the time when the persecutors came in to kill them. “Do women eat the fruit of their womb?” that is, children killed by their mothers during famine. And the prophet answers this with the following question: “Will you kill the priest and the prophet in the holiness of the Lord?” ( Lamentations 2:20 ). The Babylonians probably killed the priests and prophets in the sanctuary of the Lord. “With the renewal of the morning, faith has much” (Lam. 3:23), that is, at the time of salvation, which the prophet calls morning. “It is good for a husband to eat when he bears the yoke in his youth.” Here the prophet mysteriously shows that the pagans will be taught the teachings of the Lord, and allegorically calls holy life a yoke. “He will sit alone and be silent,” that is, in virginity and hermitage (Lam. 3:27–28). “He will lay his mouth in dust.” This is how the prophet mysteriously signifies abstinence from food. “What hope there will be,” that is, reward for the abstinent and the hope that the promised inheritance is in heaven and not on earth. “He will give his cheek to the one who strikes” (Lam. 3:29–30). This is similar to what was said: “If someone strikes your cheek on the right side, turn to him the other one too” (Matthew 5:39). You might be interested in: