The Lord hath trodden under foot - Or, אדני 'ădonāy has made contemptible (i. e. put into the balance, made to go up as the lighter weight, and so made despicable) "my war-horses" (put metaphorically for heroes).

In the midst of me - They had not fallen gloriously in the battlefield, but remained ignominiously in the city.

Assembly - Or, "a solemn feast;" the word especially used of the great festivals Leviticus 23:2. אדני 'ădonāy has proclaimed a festival, not for me, but against me.

The Lord hath trodden ... - Or, "אדני 'ădonāy hath trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Judah." See Jeremiah 51:14 note. By slaying Judah's young men in battle, God is trampling for her the winepress of His indignation.

Called an assembly - The Chaldean army, composed of various nations, which God commissioned to destroy Jerusalem.

The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me,.... As a causeway is trodden; or as mire is trodden under foot in the streets; so were the mighty and valiant men, the soldiers and men of war, trodden under foot and destroyed by the Chaldeans in the streets of Jerusalem, and in the midst of Judea; the Lord so permitting it:

he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the army of the Chaldeans, which were brought against Jerusalem by a divine appointment and call; against whom the choicest and stoutest of them, even their young men, could not stand; but were crushed and broken to pieces by them. The word for "assembly" sometimes signifies an appointed time; a time fixed for solemn festivals, and for calling the people to them; and so the Targum here,

"he hath called or appointed a time to break the strength of my young men;''

the time of Jerusalem's destruction by the Babylonians:

the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress; in the winepress of his wrath; or however in the winepress of the Babylonians, who are compared to one; into whose hands the Jews falling, were like grapes cast into a winepress, and there trodden by men, in order to squeeze and get out the wine; and in like manner were their blood squeezed out of them and shed. The Targum interprets it of the blood of virginity being poured out, as wine in a press; the virgins of Judah being ravished and defiled by the enemy.

In Lamentations 1:15 this thought is further carried out. סלּה and סלה, "to lift up," is only used in poetry; in Psalm 119:118 it takes the Aramaic meaning vilipendere, as if in reference to things that can be lifted easily; here it means tollere, to lift up, take away (lxx ἐξῇρε, Vulgate abstulit), tear away forcibly, just as both meanings are combined in נשׂא: it does not mean to outweigh, or raise with a jerk, - the warriors being regarded as weighty things, that speedily were raised when the Chaldean power was thrown into the scale (Thenius, and Bttcher in his Aehrenl. S. 94). This meaning is not confirmed for the Piel by Job 28:16, Job 28:19. קתא מועד does not mean to summon an assembly, i.e., the multitude of foes (Raschi, Rosenmller, Gesenius, Neumann), but to proclaim a festival (cf. Lamentations 2:22), because in Lamentations 1:4 and Lamentations 2:6 (cf. Leviticus 23:4) מועד denotes the feast-day, and in Lamentations 1:21 קתא יום means to proclaim a day. עלי means "against me;" for those invited to the feast are the nations that God has invited to destroy the youths, i.e., the young troops of Jerusalem. These celebrate a feast like that of the vintage, at which Jahveh treads the wine-press for the daughter of Judah, because her young men are cut off like clusters of grapes (Jeremiah 6:9), and thrown into the wine-press (Joel 3:13). The last judgment also is set forth under this figure, Isaiah 63:2.; Revelation 14:19., Revelation 19:15. לבּתוּלת יהוּדה, "to (for) the virgin of Judah;" her young men are regarded as a mass of grapes, whose life-sap (blood) is trodden out in the wine-press. As to the expression 'בּתוּלת בּת י, see on Jeremiah 14:17. "The addition of the word 'virgin' brings out the contrast between this fate, brought on through the enemy, at God's command, and the peculiar privilege of Judah as the people of God, in being free from the attacks of enemies" (Gerlach).

The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a {q} winepress.

(q) He has trodden them underfoot as they tread grapes in the winepress.

1:15 An assembly - God had called an assembly of Chaldeans against the city, to crush the inhabitants of it. Trodden - God had trodden upon the Jews as men use to stamp grapes in a wine - press.

the virgin...: or, the winepress of the virgin, etc

15. trodden, &c.-Maurer, from Syriac root, translates, "cast away"; so 2Ki 23:27. But Ps 119:118, supports English Version.

in . midst of me-They fell not on the battlefield, but in the heart of the city; a sign of the divine wrath.

assembly-the collected forces of Babylon; a very different "assembly" from the solemn ones which once met at Jerusalem on the great feasts. The Hebrew means, literally, such a solemn "assembly" or feast (compare La 2:22).

trodden . virgin . in a wine-press-hath forced her blood to burst forth, as the red wine from the grapes trodden in the press (Isa 63:3; Re 14:19, 20; 19:15).

Ain.

1:12-22 Jerusalem, sitting dejected on the ground, calls on those that passed by, to consider whether her example did not concern them. Her outward sufferings were great, but her inward sufferings were harder to bear, through the sense of guilt. Sorrow for sin must be great sorrow, and must affect the soul. Here we see the evil of sin, and may take warning to flee from the wrath to come. Whatever may be learned from the sufferings of Jerusalem, far more may be learned from the sufferings of Christ. Does he not from the cross speak to every one of us? Does he not say, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Let all our sorrows lead us to the cross of Christ, lead us to mark his example, and cheerfully to follow him.