Lamentations 4:21

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) O daughter of Edom.—The triumph of Edom in the downfall of Zion was, as in Psalms 137, the crowning sorrow of the mourner. But with this sorrow there is a vision of judgment, which is also a vision of hope; the prophet returning to his favourite image of the wine-cup (Jeremiah 25:17). On the “Land of Uz” see Notes on Job 1:1, Jeremiah 25:20.

Shalt make thyself naked.—See Note on Lamentations 1:8, and comp. Nahum 3:5 for a bolder form of the same image.

Benson Commentary

Lamentations 4:21-22. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom — A sarcastical expression, as if the prophet had said, Rejoice while thou mayest, O Edom, over the calamities of the Jews; but thy joy shall not last long, for in a little time it shall come to thy turn to feel God’s afflicting hand; the cup of affliction shall pass unto thee: see Jeremiah 49:7, &c. The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion, &c. — It was usual for the prophets, when they denounced God’s judgments against any heathen nation, at the same time to give gracious promises to Israel; thereby importing that God would never cast off the Jewish people utterly, as he did other nations, but would in due time extend his mercy toward them. He — Namely, God; will no more carry thee away — Or, rather, suffer thee to be carried; into captivity — “These and such like expressions, if they be understood in a strict, literal sense, must relate to the final restoration of the Jews.” — Lowth. He will discover thy sins — He will manifest how great thine iniquities have been, by the remarkable judgments wherewith he will punish thee.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:21,22 Here it is foretold that an end should be put to Zion's troubles. Not the fulness of punishment deserved, but of what God has determined to inflict. An end shall be put to Edom's triumphs. All the troubles of the church and of the believer will soon be accomplished. And the doom of their enemies approaches. The Lord will bring their sins to light, and they shall lie down in eternal sorrow. Edom here represents all the enemies of the church. And the corruption, and sin of Israel, which the prophet has proved to be universal, justifies the judgments of the Lord. It shows the need of that grace in Christ Jesus, which the sin and corruption of all mankind make so necessary.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The prophet ends his elegy with the language of Messianic hope. The earthly king had fallen Lamentations 4:20; but Israel cannot really perish. First then Edom, the representative of the Church's foes, is ironically told to rejoice. Rejoice she did at the capture of Jerusalem Jeremiah 49:7-22; but her punishment is quickly to follow.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. Rejoice—at our calamities (Ps 137:7). This is a prophecy that Edom should exult over the fall of Jerusalem. At the same time it is implied, Edom's joy shall be short-lived. Ironically she is told, Rejoice while thou mayest (Ec 11:9).

cup—for this image of the confounding effects of God's wrath, see Jer 13:12; 25:15, 16, 21; as to Edom, Jer 49:7-22.

Tau.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The Edomites were descended from Esau the elder brother of Jacob, and dwelled in a part of Arabia that obtained the name of Uz, probably from Uz the son of Dishan, who descended from Seir, Genesis 36:20,28: they, out of their old hatred to the Jews, rejoiced at their ruin, as we learn from the prophecy of Obadiah, who upon this account was sent to prophesy against them: the prophet here ironically saith,

Rejoice, in the same sense as, Ecclesiastes 11:9, Solomon bids the young man rejoice. But their joy should be but for a little time, for God was dealing out the cup of his fury to more than the Jewish nation, and amongst others to the Edomites; and they should be filled. and intoxicated with it, and make themselves naked, as drunken men sometimes do in their debauches.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,.... The land of Idumea, and the inhabitants of it, who did indeed rejoice at the destruction of Jerusalem, Obadiah 1:12; and here, in an ironic manner, are bid to go on with their mirth, if they could, like the young man in Ecclesiastes 11:9, as Aben Ezra observes; for it would not last long, their note would soon be changed:

that dwellest in the land of Uz; not the country of Job, which had its name from Uz the son of Nahor, Job 1:1; but a country in Idumea, from whence the whole was so called, and that from Uz the son of Dishan, one of the sons of Seir: or else the sense is, that Edom or Idumea, and the inhabitants of it, dwelt upon the borders of Uz; and so agrees very well with the place of Job's residence, which was near the land of Edom. The Targum, according to R. Elias (o), is,

"rejoice, O wicked Rome;''

but, in the king of Spain's Bible, it is,

"rejoice and be glad, O Constantine (that is, Constantinople), the city of wicked Edom, which art built in the land of Armenia;''

and Jarchi says that Jeremiah prophesies concerning the destruction of the second temple, which the Romans destroyed; but in other copies, and according to Lyra, his words are, Jeremiah here prophesies concerning the destruction of the Roman empire, because that destroyed the temple; and it is usual with him, and other Rabbins, to interpret Edom of Rome;

the cup also shall pass through unto thee; the cup of God's wrath and vengeance; which, as it had come to the Jews, and was passing from one nation to another, in its turn would come to these Edomites; see Jeremiah 25:15;

thou shall be drunken, and shall make thyself naked; be overcome by it; as persons with wine, or any strong drink, reel to and fro, and fall; and be utterly destroyed, lie helpless and without strength: "and be made naked" (p), as it may be rendered; stripped of their riches and wealth; or they should strip themselves of their clothes, and behave indecently, and expose those parts which ought to be covered, as drunken persons the sense is, they should be exposed, or expose themselves, to shame and contempt. The Septuagint version is, "and thou shalt be drunken, and pour out" (q); that is, vomit, as drunken men do; and so Jarchi and Abendana interpret the word of vomiting; and the Targum is,

"and thou shalt be emptied.''

(o) In Tishbi, p. 227. (p) "nudaberis", V. L. (q) , Sept. "et eris vomens", Pagninus, Vatablus.

Geneva Study Bible

Rejoice and be glad, {n} O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through to thee: thou shalt be drunk, and shalt make thyself naked.

(n) This is spoken by derision.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. Rejoice and be glad] Enjoy thy shortlived triumph, while thou mayest.

that dwellest in the land of Uz] See on Jeremiah 25:20.

The cup] For this, as a figure for Jehovah’s wrath, cp. Jeremiah 25:15 ff.

thou shalt be drunken, etc.] a figurative way of saying, thou shalt be exposed in the eyes of the world to the contempt which attends upon disaster (cp. Lamentations 1:8 and Habakkuk 2:15 f.).

21, 22. For the fierce vengeance which is to come on Edom cp. Jeremiah 49:7-22; Psalm 137:7; Isaiah 34 specially Lamentations 4:5-17; Ezekiel 25:12 f., 35; Obadiah 1:10-15.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - Rejoice and be glad. An ironical address to Edom, who is bidden to enjoy her malicious triumph, but warned that it will be but short lived. How ungenerously the Edomites behaved at the fall of Jerusalem we are repeatedly told (see on Jeremiah 49:7). In the land of Uz. As to the situation of Uz, see on Jeremiah 25:20. The cup; one of Jeremiah's images (see Jeremiah 25:15). Lamentations 4:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

However, it is not yet all over with Israel. Let the enemy triumph; the guilt of the daughter of Zion will come to an end, and then the guilt of the daughter of Edom will be punished. With this "Messianic hope," as Ewald rightly characterizes the contents of these verses, the lamentation resolves itself into joyous faith and hope regarding the future of Israel. There is no external sign to mark the transition from the depths of lamentation over the hopeless condition of Judah, to new and hopeful confidence, just as in the Psalms there is frequently a sudden change from the deepest lamentation to joyful confidence of final victory. But these transitions have their origin in the firm conviction that Israel has most assuredly been chosen as the nation with whom the Lord has made His covenant, which He cannot break. This truth has already been clearly and distinctly expressed in the threatenings and promises of the law, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, and is reiterated by all the prophets. The Lord will assuredly visit His ever-rebellious people with the heaviest punishments, until they come to acknowledge their sin and repent of their apostasy; but He will afterwards again take pity on the penitent remnant, gather them from among the heathen, and fulfil all His promises to them. The words "exult and rejoice" are ironical, and signify: "Rejoice as much as you please; you will not, for all that, escape the punishment for your sins." "The daughter of Edom," i.e., the people of Edom, is named as the representative of the enemies of God's people, on account of their implacable hatred against Israel; see on Jeremiah 49:7. From the designation, "dwelling in the land of Uz," it does not follow that the Edomite had at that time spread themselves widely over their original territory; for the land of Uz, according to Jeremiah 25:20, lay on the confines of Idumea. As to the form יושׁבתּי, see on Jeremiah 10:17. גּם עליך, "towards thee also (sc., as now to Judah) shall the cup pass." On this figure, cf. Jeremiah 25:15. התערה, to make oneself naked, or to become naked in consequence of drunkenness (Genesis 9:22), is a figurative expression indicative of the disgrace that will befall Edom; cf. Lamentations 1:8; Nahum 3:5. תּם עונך, "Thy guilt is ended." The perfect is prophetic. The guilt is ended when it is atoned for; the punishment for it has reached its end, or grace begins. That this will take place in the Messianic times (as was pointed out long ago in the Chaldee paraphrase, et liberaberis per manum Messiae), is not indeed implied in the word תּם, but it is a necessary product of the Messianic hope of Israel; cf, for instance, Jeremiah 50:20. To this it cannot be objected (with Gerlach), that it is inadmissible to transfer into the Messianic time also the punishment of Edom threatened in the second member: for, according to the prophetic mode of viewing things, the judgment on the heathen world falls, as a matter of course, in the Messianic age; and to refer the words to the chastisement of the Edomites by Nebuchadnezzar is against the context of both verses. "To reveal (discover) sins" means to punish them; for God uncovers the sins in order to punish them, quemadmodum Deus peccata tegere dicitur, cum eorum paenam remittit (Rosenmller); cf. Psalm 32:1, Psalm 32:5; Psalm 85:3, etc.