Bible Commentary

Lamentations 2:6

The Pulpit Commentary on Lamentations 2:6

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Violently taken away; rather, violently treated; i.e. broken up. His tabarnacle; rather, his booth. "Tent" and "dwelling" are interchangeable expressions (see ); and in the Psalms "booth" is used as a special poetic synonym for tent when God's earthly dwelling place, the sanctuary of the temple, is spoken of (so ; ; ).

The Authorized Version, indeed, presumes an allusion to the proper meaning of the Hebrew word, as if the poet compared the sanctuary of Jehovah to a pleasure booth in a garden. It is, however, more natural to continue, as a garden, the sense of which will be clear from , .

The Septuagint has, instead, "as a vine"—a reading which differs from the Massoretic by having one letter more (kaggefen instead of kaggan). This ancient reading is adopted by Ewald, and harmonizes well with , etc.

; (comp. ); but the received text gives a very good sense. "Garden" in the Bible means, of course, a plantation of trees rather than a flower garden. His places of the assembly; rather, his place of meeting (with God).

The word occurs in the same sense in . It is the temple which is meant, and the term is borrowed from the famous phrase, ōhel mō‛ēdh (; comp. ).

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