Matthew Henry on Lamentations 5:17–end
Here, I. The people of God express the deep concern they had for the ruins of the temple, more than for any other of their calamities; the interests of God's house lay nearer their hearts than those of their own (Lam 5:17, Lam 5:18): For this our heart is faint, and sinks under the load of its own heaviness; for these things our eyes are dim, and our sight is gone, as is usual in a deliquium, or fainting fit. "It is because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the holy mountain, and the temple built upon that mountain. For other desolations our hearts grieve and our eyes weep; but for this our hearts faint and our eyes are dim." Note, Nothing lies so heavily upon the spirits of good p…
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foxes--They frequent desolate places where they can freely and fearlessly roam.
Adam Clarke on Lamentations 5:18
The foxes walk upon it - Foxes are very numerous in Palestine, see on Jdg 15:4 (note). It was usual among the Hebrews to consider all desolated land to be the resort of wild beasts; which is, in fact, the case every where when the inhabitants are removed from a country.
John Gill on Lamentations 5:18
Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate,.... Meaning either the city of Jerusalem in general, or the temple in particular, which both lay in ruins: but the latter gave the truly godly the greatest concern; that the seat of divine Majesty should be in such a condition; that the public exercises of religion should cease, and there be no more opportunities of waiting upon God, and worshipping him as heretofore; their civil interest, and the loss of that did not so much affect them as the interest of religion, and what that suffered:
the foxes walk upon it: as they do in desolate places, shunning the company of men; but here they walked in common, and as freely as in the woods and de…
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