The sight of God's ruined city evokes profound shock among the nations, who stand paralyzed by the incomprehensible gap between its past glory and its present desolation. The involvement of passersby and merchants in this scene is not accidental. Jerusalem once stood as a global center of trade, and its sudden destruction caused direct financial ruin to these traveling merchants [לחם דמעה]. As they look upon the rubble, their reaction captures the devastating reality of the collapse.
The physical response to the destruction is expressed through acts of mourning and distress: striking hands, hissing, and shaking heads [לחם דמעה, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The hissing, a sharp exhalation of air, is a natural human reaction to witnessing the complete loss of something deeply precious [רש״י]. However, some commentators interpret these gestures not merely as expressions of sorrow, but as acts of laughter, mockery, and derision directed at the humiliated nation [לחם דמעה בשם רבו]. The specific act of striking or clapping hands carries a hidden rebuke from the foreign nations. While they could not hypocritically condemn the Israelites for idolatry or immorality, being guilty of those same offenses themselves, they specifically clapped their hands to highlight the sins of robbery and bloodshed, transgressions committed directly with the hands [אלון בכות].
As the onlookers gaze at the ruins, they cry out in astonishment, questioning how a place defined by absolute, perfect beauty could suffer such a fate. This perfection was not merely attractive; it represented a completeness that gathered all possible beauty into one location [אבן עזרא, רש״י, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Their bewilderment stems from realizing the sheer magnitude of the sins that must have stained such a magnificent place [פלגי מים]. Furthermore, their astonishment serves as a mockery of the false prophets who had consistently claimed the city was flawless while concealing its true iniquity. A city secretly filled with crime could never have been truly perfect before its sudden overthrow [לחם דמעה בשם הר״מ אלמושנינו].
The phrasing of the onlookers' amazement is cast in a future tense, speaking of what people will say rather than what they said in the past. The primary approach among commentators is that the destruction was so absolute and brutal that the nations wondered if the city could ever be rebuilt and once again be called perfectly beautiful [לחם דמעה]. Others see this future orientation as a hidden allusion to the ultimate redemption, pointing toward a time when people will return to learn Torah directly from God [נחל אשכול]. Additionally, this framing highlights a unique aspect of Jerusalem's greatness. Unlike other nations that boast of their own achievements, Jerusalem's true glory was that foreigners and outsiders would be the ones to testify to its beauty, proving that the highest form of praise comes from strangers rather than from oneself [תורה תמימה].
Ultimately, the city was known as the source of joy for the entire world. Human nature typically dictates that nations envy the success of their neighbors, yet everyone rejoiced in Jerusalem's peace because the entire world was nourished by it, both physically and spiritually [לחם דמעה]. Its beauty was not measured merely by grand architecture, as places like Rome boasted larger structures, but by its immense spiritual influence. Because the Divine Presence rests only in an atmosphere of joy, even foreigners who came to pray there were able to achieve profound spiritual inspiration [אלון בכות]. To preserve this pure, untainted joy within the city walls, all commercial business and anxiety-inducing financial calculations were deliberately moved to special buildings outside Jerusalem. This ensured that the city itself remained entirely dedicated to a life of spiritual pleasure and absolute tranquility [תורה תמימה].