Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, Vol. 11: Prolegomena (prefaces and canons)
Lamentations
I. Chap. i, ver. 14. “The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are folded together in his hand, and put upon my neck.” Sins are as a rope and chains, of which is made an entangled yoke, which is laid upon the neck of the sinner. This watches, because the eye of the watching God is always set against it, and urges him at the appointed time, when the measure of sins is full, to punish and avenge them. Hence follows:
II. Ver. 15. “He hath called against me the time (of vengeance); … the Lord hath trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Juda,” when in the destruction he pressed and oppressed her by the Chaldeans as in a winepress.
III. Chap. iii, ver. 63. “Behold their sitting down and their rising up; I am their song,” as if to say: See how in all places, acts and assemblies they mock me, sing of me, and cast jests at me. “Thou wilt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands: thou wilt give them a shield of heart, thy labour;” that with labor and sorrow as with a shield they may be covered and girt on every side.
I. Chap. iii, ver. 15. “Who hath found out her place (of wisdom and prudence)? and who hath gone in to her treasures?” It is an enigma of true wisdom, namely practical, which makes happy, not speculative, which puffs up: he asks her place and manner, and the way to attain her, and teaches that she dwells not with philosophers but with Angels; not on earth but in heaven; not with men but with God, and thence must be fetched. Hence he adds:
II. Ver. 16. “Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth, that take their diversion with the birds of the air, that hoard up silver and gold? they are cast off, and are gone down to hell: but the way of discipline they have not known. It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it been seen in Theman. The children also of Agar, that search after the wisdom that is of the earth, the merchants of Merra and of Theman, and the tellers of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding: but the way of wisdom they have not known.”
Ver. 26. “There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of tall stature, expert in war. The Lord chose not them. And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly.” He then adds that she is in heaven with God. “Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? There is none that can know her ways: but he that knoweth all things knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding. He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth, and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.”
Ver. 34. “And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced: they were called, and they said: Here we are; and with cheerfulness they have shined forth to him that made them. This is our God. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob (and the Jacobites, namely Moses and the Hebrews) his servant, and to Israel his beloved.”
III. Ver. 38. “Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.” And there he taught us with his own mouth true and perfect wisdom, and the way to heaven and blessedness. He then adds that wisdom consists in the observance of God’s commandments, when he says: “This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that is for ever: all they that keep it shall come to life; but they that have forsaken it, to death.”