(25-26) Thy men . . .(26) her gates . . .--The feminine pronoun in both verses points to the daughter of Zion as representing her many daughters. As in Lamentations 1:1, and as in the JUD'A CAPTA medals that commemorated the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, she is represented as sitting on the ground desolate and afflicted.
Verse 25. - Thy men; rather, thy people; i.e. the inhabitants of Jerusalem generally. Note here the first distinct statement that the coming visitation will be one of war.
3:16-26 The prophet reproves and warns the daughters of Zion of the sufferings coming upon them. Let them know that God notices the folly and vanity of proud women, even of their dress. The punishments threatened answered the sin. Loathsome diseases often are the just punishment of pride. It is not material to ask what sort of ornaments they wore; many of these things, if they had not been in fashion, would have been ridiculed then as now. Their fashions differed much from those of our times, but human nature is the same. Wasting time and money, to the neglect of piety, charity, and even of justice, displease the Lord. Many professors at the present day, seem to think there is no harm in worldly finery; but were it not a great evil, would the Holy Spirit have taught the prophet to expose it so fully? The Jews being overcome, Jerusalem would be levelled with the ground; which is represented under the idea of a desolate female seated upon the earth. And when the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem, they struck a medal, on which was represented a woman sitting on the ground in a posture of grief. If sin be harboured within the walls, lamentation and mourning are near the gates.
Thy men shall fall by the sword,.... Of the Romans; which would be a punishment to the women for their pride and luxury, being deprived thereby of their husbands:
and thy mighty in the war; of Vespasian and Titus, and which the Jews (i) call , "the war of Vespasian": in which great multitudes of men, even of mighty men, were slain.
and thy mighty in the war; of Vespasian and Titus, and which the Jews (i) call , "the war of Vespasian": in which great multitudes of men, even of mighty men, were slain.
(i) Misn. Sabbat, c. 6. sect. 3.