Lamentations 2
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Does this chapter reflect a bitterness toward God be cause He has allowed and permitted the destruction of Zion?
In what sense was God responsible for the calamity of 587 B.C.? Lamentations 2:1-10.
What is meant by the phrases daughter of Zion, glory of Israel, and his footstool? Lamentations 2:1.
From what sources would Zion not find healing? Lamentations 2:13-16.
What is the poet encouraging his people to do in Lamentations 2:17-19?
What arguments does the prophet present in Lamentations 2:20-22 to influence God to aid His distressed people?
Lamentations 2:1-10
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
A BROKEN PEOPLE
In content, form and theology chapter 2 is a continuation of chapter 1. Like chapter 1, the second chapter is also a national lament but the focus here is on the entire nation rather than just on the city of Jerusalem. The poem is in acrostic form which is almost identical to that used in the first chapter except that the sixteenth and seventeenth letters of the Hebrew alphabet are transposed. Since this transposition does not interrupt the train of thought it must be viewed as intentional rather than accidental as suggested by some commentators. The same phenomenon occurs again in Chapter s three and four. Theologically this chapter again emphasizes the fact that Judah’s punishment came as a result of sin and that the punishment was entirely justified. In Lamentations 2:1-10 the prophet describes the divine judgment upon his people. In Lamentations 2:11-16 he expresses his sincere sympathy for his people in their sufferings. He exhorts them to present their case before God (Lamentations 2:17-19) and sets the example for them by offering a model prayer on their behalf (Lamentations 2:20-22).
I. THE PROPHET’S DESCRIPTION OF THE JUDGMENT UPON HIS PEOPLE Lamentations 2:1-10
TRANSLATION
(1) How sad that the Lord in His anger has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel! He did not remember His footstool in the day of His anger. (2) The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the inhabitants of Jacob. He has cast down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah, bringing them to the ground. He defiled the kingdom and her princes. (3) He has cut off in His burning wrath all the horn of Israel. He has withdrawn His right hand in the face of the enemy. He has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob consuming all around. (4) He has bent his bow like an enemy, standing with His right hand like a foe. He has slain all that were pleasant to the eye. In the tents of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire. (5) The Lord has become like an enemy, swallowing up Israel. He has swallowed up her palaces, destroyed his strongholds. He has caused mourning and lamentation to increase in the daughter of Judah. (6) He has torn down His tabernacle like that of a garden, destroying His meeting place. The LORD has caused solemn assembly and sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. In His fierce indignation He has repudiated both king and priest. (7) The LORD has scorned His altar, disowned His sanctuary. He has given into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces. They made noise in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast. (8) The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He stretched out the measuring line; He did not withdraw His hand from devouring. He has caused the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together. (9) Her gates have sunk into the earth; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where there is no law; even her prophets have not been able to find a vision from the LORD. (10) The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they cast dust upon their heads having put on sackcloth. The maidens of Jerusalem have brought their heads down to the ground.
COMMENTS
It is striking the way the prophet emphasizes in Lamentations 2:1-10 that the destruction of his people was an act of divine judgment. In spite of the fact that God administered the stroke against Judah the prophet is not bitter. He knows that the judgment was proper and appropriate in view of the terrible sin of his countrymen. The detailed account of these verses points to the fact that the writer was an eyewitness to the catastrophe which he describes. The first ten verses of chapter two should be read with the warning of Heb 10:31 constantly before the reader: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Jeremiah almost exhausts the possibilities of human language in describing the burning wrath of a holy God against His apostate people. A great cloud of calamity settled down over the daughter of Zion in the day of His wrath. Like a star falling from the heavens so the glory of Israel fell to earth that day. God did not even spare His own footstool, the Temple or perhaps the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. It is possible that the phrases daughter of Zion, glory of Israel, and His footstool are to be regarded as progressive phrases designating the nation as a whole, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple or alternatively, Jerusalem, the Temple and the ark of the covenant. The Lord has consumed the dwelling places and destroyed the strongholds of His people. He has caused the princes of the land to be profaned i.e., captured, mutilated, and slain by ungodly forces (Lamentations 2:2). He has cut off the horn (power) of Israel by withdrawing His powerful right hand of defense as the enemy approached. He has caused the territory of Jacob to be put to the torch (Lamentations 2:3). After the capture of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. the city was burned to the ground (Jeremiah 52:13).
Judean resistance to the Chaldean onslaught of 587 B.C. was useless from the start because the real adversary was none other than God Himself. Through the instrumentality of Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers the divine archer drew His bow against Jerusalem and slew all that were pleasant to the eye i.e., the finest young men of the Judean army. Even in the tent of the daughter of Zion (the Temple) He poured out His fiery wrath (Lamentations 2:4). It is none other than the Lord who has caused all the destruction and death and resulting lamentation in the land (Lamentations 2:5). He has not hesitated in destroying His tabernacle, His meeting place, any more than a gardener might destroy a watchman’s booth when the harvest season was over. The mockery of Judah’s festivals and sabbaths He has brought to an abrupt halt. Even the kings and priests, normally spared the indignities of war, have felt the blast of divine indignation and judgment (Lamentations 2:6). How can the Lord allow the sacred city to be so humiliated? Because the Lord has scorned His altar and disowned His sanctuary. It takes more than outward ritual to prevent divine judgment. The Lord has turned the city over to the enemies of Judah. A shout has been heard in the precincts of the Templenot the shout of joyous worshipers but of looting enemy soldiers (Lamentations 2:7).
The destruction of Jerusalem was no afterthought; it had been predetermined by God. The Lord had marked off the city for destruction with a measuring line. The outer defenses of the city, the rampart and wall, had fallen to the enemy after incessant bombardment (Lamentations 2:8). The heavy gates of the city and the powerful beams which secured them during siege have been battered to the ground. Zion’s king and princes are in exile among the heathen who know not the law of God. The prophets are without vision (Lamentations 2:9). The sagacious elders of Jerusalem have no advice or counsel to offer. They sit silently with sackcloth about their loins and dust upon their head as a sign of bitter mourning. The bright young maidens of Judah hang their heads in remorse (Lamentations 2:10).
Lamentations 2:11-16
II. THE PROPHET’S SINCERE SYMPATHY FOR HIS PEOPLE Lamentations 2:11-16
TRANSLATION
(11) MY eyes are spent with weeping, my inward parts are troubled, my heart is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies have fainted in the streets of the city. (12) To their mothers they said, Where is the grain and wine? as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out upon the bosom of their mothers. (13) What shall I testify to you? To what shall I liken you in order to comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For vast as the sea is your destruction! Who shall heal you? (14) Your prophets have seen for you falsehood and foolishness; they have not exposed your iniquity in order to reverse your fortunes but have seen for you false and misleading oracles. (15) All who pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying is this the city which was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth? (16) All your enemies rail against you, hissing and gnashing their teeth. They have said, We have swallowed her up! Ah, this is the day we longed for; we have found it! We have seen it!
COMMENTS
In Lamentations 2:1-10 the prophet described what he saw when Jerusalem fell in 587 B.C. In Lamentations 2:11-16 he describes whet he felt as he looked upon the pathetic plight of his kinsmen. His eyes shed tears till they could shed no more. His inward parts (lit., bowels) and heart (lit., liver) were overwhelmed by anguish. The tender-hearted prophet is particularly upset as he recalls the agonizing death of starvation to which the innocent babes and infants were subjected (Lamentations 2:11). He hears their pitiful cry for food which had to remain unanswered. He sees them dying, some in the streets where they have been abandoned by their despairing mothers, others clutching to the breasts of their mothers who are helpless to do anything to preserve the young life (Lamentations 2:12). The prophet tries desperately to think of a word of instruction, edification or comfort which he can bring to those people who had to live through the horrible days of Jerusalem’s fall. He tries to think of some like catastrophe with which to compare the present plight of his people. Search as he may he cannot find any tragedy equaling the destruction of the daughter of Zion. Her ruin is as unlimited and unfathomable as the ocean itself.
The lament of the prophet reaches a climax with the question asked at the end of Lam 2:13, Who shall heal you? Certainly Zion’s wound, by human standards, is incurable. The prophets are certainly not able to help for they have never been able To correctly assess the situation in Zion. For a number of years they have actually encouraged the national hypocrisy and wickedness of their false and foolish visions. They have made no effort to expose iniquity, encourage repentance which would permit God to reverse the miserable condition of Zion. Their false and misleading oracles (lit., whitewash job) could not heal the wound of Zion (Lamentations 2:14). Much less could the caravaneers and travelers who passed along the busy highways do anything to aid Zion. They have actually joined in the mockery of the fallen city by contemptuously clapping their hands, hissing and wagging their heads. Having looked upon the city which had been renown for its beauty they jeer, Is this the city which was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth? (Lamentations 2:15). Still less would neighboring nations be able to heal the broken nation of Judah. They had actually been looking forward to the day when Jerusalem would fall and they would be able to swallow up the territory she once possessed (Lamentations 2:16). Who then can heal the wound of Zion?
Lamentations 2:17-19
III. THE PROPHET’S EXHORTATION TO HIS PEOPLE Lamentations 2:17-19
TRANSLATION
(17) The LORD has done what He planned. He has fulfilled His word which He decreed in days of old. He has torn down without pity, made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the horn of your foes. (18) Their heart cried unto the Lord! O wall of the daughter of Zion! Let tears run down like a river both day and night! Give yourself not rest! Let not the pupils of your eyes cease! (19) Arise! Cry in the night at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord! Lift up your hands unto Him for the sake of your children who faint for hunger at the head of every street.
COMMENTS
In preparing to answer his own question, who can heal you, the prophet reminds the people of a basic fact. The destruction of Zion was not due to the power and cunning of Zion’s enemies but was in fact the fulfillment of threats made centuries earlier (cf. Deuteronomy 28:15 ff.). By disobeying the commandments of God the people had violated the terms of the covenant and thus had incurred the penalties for disobedience specified therein. This is the real reason Israel had been brought so low and the horn or strength of their enemies had been exalted (Lamentations 2:17). Because the Lord is responsible for the destruction of Zion He alone can restore her fortunes. In bold personification the prophet calls upon the broken wall of Jerusalem to cry unto the Lord in supplication day and night. Without respite those walls should continue their pleadings with the Lord for reconstruction (Lamentations 2:18). The people must continue to pray right on through the night. The beginning of the three night watches, sunset, should find them still pouring out their heart like water before the Lord and lifting up their hands toward heaven in expectation of receiving divine blessing. If they become weary in the work of prayer they should remember the little children who are suffering immeasurably on every street of the ruined city (Lamentations 2:19).
Jeremiah makes no promises but his exhortation implies that God will hear the agonizing cry of His penitent people just as he heard their cry when they suffered during the Egyptian bondage (cf. Exodus 3:7).
Lamentations 2:20-22
IV. THE PROPHET’S PRAYER FOR HIS PEOPLE Lamentations 2:20-22
TRANSLATION
(20) Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom You have done this! Shall women eat their offspring, babes who are carried in the arms? Shall priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? (21) On the ground in the streets lie the young and old. My maidens and young men have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger, slaughtering without mercy. (22) You called, as in the days of a solemn assembly, my terrors round about. On the day of the anger of the LORD there was not one who escaped or survived. Those I carried in the arms and raised up my enemy has consumed.
COMMENTS
In Lamentations 2:20-22 the prophet prays the prayer he has been urging the nation to pray and in so doing teaches them how to properly approach the throne of God. These verses remind one of Jer 14:17-19. The prophet boldly presents all the cogent arguments of which he can think in his effort to influence God to aid the people of Judah. First, he asks God to consider that it is His own people who are suffering (cf. Exodus 32:11-13). Divine judgment has caused the people of Judah to sink into the lowest kind of human behavior, cannibalism. Surely God will intervene when men are driven to the point of consuming one another! Priests and prophets who have been anointed to the service of the Lord are being slain in the sacred precincts of the Temple (Lamentations 2:20). Surely God will intervene when religious massacre is taking place! Young and old, male and female, lie dead on the streets of Jerusalem, slain by the sword of the divinely appointed enemy of Zion (Lamentations 2:21). Surely God will intervene when outrage is committed in public without regard to sex or age. The terrors of warfamine, sword and pestilencehave been summoned by God against Judah just as He might summon His worshipers to a festival. In that day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived. The enemy has even consumed the babes in arms! (Lamentations 2:22). So the prayer ends as it began, with a reference to the slaughter of the innocents. This rehearsal of Judah’s tale of woe is an implied request for mercy and deliverance. The matter is left in the hands of the Lord in the firm belief that the Judge of all the earth will surely do what is right.