Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
The gates sunk into the ground show how Jerusalem's vaunted defenses crumbled to nothing; the people foolishly trusted in walls and bars as though they could resist when God stretched forth His hand to the Chaldeans. King, princes, law, prophets, all gone. When God acts, no barrier holds.
AI summary
The weight of these verses falls entirely on God's hand in the affliction. What cuts deepest is not that Jerusalem suffered, but that God made her suffer in His anger as an enemy. To those who prize His favor, His wrath is the true bitterness; His corrections in love wound most deeply because they come from Him.
AI summary
Commenting on Lamentations 2:1-9
The gates demolished and buried under rubble, that is the plain fact, whatever the Rabbins fable. God destroyed the bars and gave the enemy entry; He did it, or it would not have happened. King and princes now dwell among Gentiles ignorant of God; the law burnt, unread, unobserved; prophets almost extinct.
AI summary