The roads to Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
All Commentaries on Lamentations 1:4 Go To Lamentations 1
Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
Here in Verse 4 is loudly lamented the misery of persons remaining. First, regarding such persons who frequent pilgrimages. As expressed: "The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the appointed feasts". That is, while they arouse contentions during three feasts: (Psach, Pentecost, and Scenopegia). To such the prophet Isaiah 33:8 refers: "The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases. Covenants are broken, witnessess are despised, there is no regard for man".
Second, as to those persons remaining, like the leaders, or priests, the city honors. As said: "all her gates are desolate". And the propher Isaiah states: "And her gates shall lament and mourn; ravaged, she shall sit upon the ground." (Is 3:26)
Then: "her priests groan". As the minor propher Joel discloses: "Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep" (Jo 2:17).
Also, regarding maidens and virgins, Verse 4 says: "Their maidens have been dragged away". Namely, they are violated. As Job remarks: "Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry and desolate ground; they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of the broom" (Job: 30:3). And: I Maccabees l:11: "He gathered a very strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and princes, and they became tributary to him".
Third, is stated the people who comprise the city: "And she herself (Jerusalem) suffers bitterly". As the Book of Ruth 1:20 declares: Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me".
To Verse 4 is applied the Hebrew letter "Daleth", meaning "troubled". For, the destruction of the Temple (at Jerusalem) is loudly lamented. That is, due to its cedared and gold tablets. As recorded in I Kings, Chapter 6 (Building the House of the Lord") where is listed the eighth period of the people's captivity.
Allegorically, the word "roads" in Verse 4 connotes those ways leading to heaven. And: "to Zion". the place of prophets, and preachers.
Then: "to the appointed feasts". That is, as if within the celestial fatherland, heaven. And: "all her gates are desolate. Namely, the prelates of the Church.
Also: "her priests groan":those who administer sacred functions. And: "her maidens have been dragged away, and she herself suffers bitterly". Namely, those who obtain pre-eminent status within the Church.
All such persons are agitated through sin, as they unite their people together, subdued and filled with bitterness. Hence, the Book of Exodus claims: "And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain." (Ex: 32:19).
Morally, the word "roads" connotes the virtues or powers, of the human soul. And: "the appointed feasts": for contemplation. Also: "all her gates are desolate": morally, the (internal and external) senses.
Verse 4 then concludes: "her priests groan", Namely, those human souls with the sanctity of a divine religion. And: "her maidens have been dragged away, and she herself suffers bitterly". That is, morally, when purity of conscience is broken, leaving human soul troubled, filled with bitterness.
