Isaiah 3:26

“And her gates shall lament and mourn, &c.] These being utterly destroyed; or there being none to pass through them, meaning the gates of the city of Jerusalem: and she [being] desolate; clear of inhabitants, quite emptied, and exhausted of men; being laid even with the ground, and her children within her, (<421944>Luke 19:44) shall sit upon the ground; being levelled with it, and not one stone cast upon another; alluding to the posture of mourners, (<180213>Job 2:13 <250101> Lamentations 1:1 2:9,10). Our countryman, Mr. Gregoryf83, thinks that the device of the coin of the emperor Vespasian, in the reverse of it, upon taking Judea, which was a woman sitting on the ground, leaning back, to a…”

“gates--The place of concourse personified is represented mourning for the loss of those multitudes which once frequented it. desolate . . . sit upon . . . ground--the very figure under which Judea was represented on medals after the destruction by Titus: a female sitting under a palm tree in a posture of grief; the motto, JudÃ&brvbra capta (Job 2:13; Lam 2:10, where, as here primarily, the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar is alluded to). that day--the calamitous period described in previous chapter. seven--indefinite number among the Jews. So many men would be slain, that there would be very many more women than men; for example, seven women, contrary to their natural bashfulness, would sue to…”

“And her gates - Cities were surrounded with walls, and were entered through gates opening into the principal streets. Those gates became, of course, the places of chief confluence and of business; and the expression here means, that in all the places of confluence, or amidst the assembled people, there should be lamentation on account of the slain in battle, and the loss of their mighty men in war. And she - Jerusalem is often represented as a female distinguished for beauty. It is here represented as a female sitting in a posture of grief. Being desolate, shall sit upon the ground - To sit on the ground, or in the dust, was the usual posture of grief and mourning, denoting great depression…”

“Gates - The gates of Zion or Jerusalem, which, by a figure, are said to lament, to imply the great desolation of the place; that there would be no people to go out and come in by the gates, as they used to do. Shall sit - Like a mournful woman bewailing the loss of her husband and children. Next: Isaiah Chapter 4”

“her gates: Jer 14:2; Lam 1:4 desolate: or, emptied, Heb. cleansed shall sit: Isa 47:1; Job 2:8, Job 2:13; Lam 2:10; Eze 26:16; Luk 19:44 Isaiah 3:1”

“What the prophet here foretells to the daughter of Zion he sees in Isa 3:26 fulfilled upon her: "Then will her gates lament and mourn, and desolate is she, sits down upon the ground." The gates, where the husbands of the daughters of Zion, who have now fallen in war, sued at one time to gather together in such numbers, are turned into a state of desolation, in which they may, as it were, be heard complaining, and seen to mourn ( Isa 14:31; Jer 14:2; Lam 1:4); and the daughter of Zion herself is utterly vacated, thoroughly emptied, completely deprived of all her former population; and in this state of the most mournful widowhood or orphanage, brought down from her lofty seat ( Isa 47:1) and…”