From above has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them: he has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back: he has made me desolate and faint all the day.
All Commentaries on Lamentations 1:13 Go To Lamentations 1
Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
Here is considered the severity of a divine discipline, as the divine master teaches by hard lessons. This severity is done within corrections. As expressed: "From on high he sent fire." That is from a loftiness of counsel, "he sent fire": as an affliction, or by which a city is literally burnt.
Then,"into my bones": into our strengths, and fortifications. And, through heavy blows"he made it descend". As Isaiah declares: "and it will be sheer terror to understnad the message" (Is 28:19).
Second, this severity is displayed in the bewaring of future events. As said: "he spread a net for my feet". That is, as an impediment by which sin is prevented. As Hosea, the prophet, claims: "Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns" (Hos: 2:6).
Third is shown this severity by the taking away of the benefits within consolations. As said: "he turned me back; he has left me stunned, faint all the day long." Which states, as if: there is granted no consolation after blows, like a schoolmaster does after punishing school boys. For, as the prophet Baruch exclains: "God has brought great sorrow upon me" (Bar 4)
