Lamentations 1

Chapter 1. A Heart-Cry Over What Has Happened to Jerusalem. Chapter 1 is a heart cry over what has happened to Jerusalem. It divides up into two equal sections. The first eleven verses depict the heart cry of the prophet as he looks at what has happened to Jerusalem. The next eleven verses depict the heart cry of the city itself as it contemplates what has happened to it, a passage opened with the immortal words, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by, look and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow’ (Lamentations 1:12). In neither section is there any positive request for YHWH to respond to their cry with deliverance, and the chapter ends rather with the plea that Jerusalem’s betrayers might suffer the same fate as she has. It is thus a cry for justice against her enemies so that they might share her fate, demonstrating the blackness of her despair.Noteworthy is the emphasis the chapter places on the fact that it is YHWH Who has brought it about.

It only comes out once in the first 11 verses which are spoken by the prophet, where it is related to her sins, ‘YHWH has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgression’ (Lamentations 1:5), but it is more prominent in the second 11 verses, which are spoken by Jerusalem, both as to ‘the Sovereign Lord’ (three times in Lamentations 1:14-15) and to ‘YHWH’ (Lamentations 1:12; Lamentations 1:17). Note that the specific interference in the state of things is by ‘the Sovereign Lord’ (delivering her into the hands of their enemies, setting at nought her prime warriors, treading her in a winepress). YHWH acts less specifically (He afflicts her, He commands concerning her). Appeal is also addressed to YHWH in both sections to ‘behold’ the situation (Lamentations 1:9; Lamentations 1:11; Lamentations 1:20) demonstrating that faith is not totally dead. And in the midst of all this Jerusalem acknowledges that YHWH is truly righteous in His dealings with her, because she has rebelled against what He has commanded (Lamentations 1:18).

Lamentations 1:1-11

The State Of The One-time Great City Of Jerusalem Is Described (Lamentations 1:1-11). The prophet here commences by bewailing the state of Jerusalem. He pines over what it has lost, and describes it in terms which bring out how much it has lost. From the political point of view it had lost its autonomy and was no longer semi-independently ruled, having become but part of a Babylonian province. From the religious point of view it had lost its status as the centre for the worship of YHWH.

Lamentations 1:8-11

What Jerusalem Has Become (Lamentations 1:8-11). Having outlined what Jerusalem had lost the prophet now turns his thoughts to what she has become. She has become like a menstrual woman whose situation is visibly revealed to the world, a suggestive picture that would have brought horror to men and women alike. Menstruation was seen as something to be kept hidden and to be ashamed of. And menstruation was seen as especially horrific in Judah/Israel for it was a means by which people were rendered ritually ‘unclean’ (Leviticus 15:19 ff). Furthermore, what was worse, as a result of her failure unqualified strangers had entered into God’s holy place, stealing its treasures and rendering it unclean by their presence. One uncleanness leads to another.

And meanwhile her people had had to trade their own personal treasures simply in order to obtain the food that enabled them to survive.Lamentations 1:8(Cheth) Jerusalem has grievously sinned,Therefore she is become as an unclean thing,All who honoured her despise her,Because they have seen her nakedness,Yes, she sighs,And turns backward.Note the emphasis on the fact that all this was because ‘Jerusalem has grievously sinned’. And by sin is meant breaches of the covenant, both ritual and moral.

They had played havoc with God’s covenant by murder, adultery, theft, perjury and covetousness, they had wallowed in idolatry (Jeremiah 7:9; Jeremiah 17:1-2), and all this had been exposed to the world, revealing her as a religious harlot. It was because of their sin that they had become like a menstrual woman whose nakedness was revealed. This would have literally occurred at the taking of Jerusalem with the enemy soldiers taking great delight in seizing menstruating women, ripping their clothes, and exposing them to the world. But it was also true metaphorically of Jerusalem as her sins and idolatry were also revealed to the world, causing her who had once been honoured, to be despised. She had defiled the religion of YHWH. She is then depicted as sighing deeply in her misery and shame at her exposure, and desperately and hopelessly trying to hide her condition by turning her back, hoping to hide herself from prying eyes, a totally useless enterprise, but it was all that she could do.

She was unable to remove her sin. Indeed her means for doing so (the Temple ritual) had been destroyed.Lamentations 1:9(Teth) Her filthiness was in her skirts,She did not remember what would follow for her later (her latter end/future),Therefore is she come down spectacularly (wonderfully),She has no comforter,Behold, O YHWH, my affliction,For the enemy has magnified himself.She had not been concerned about the fact that she was defiling herself, and so she had wallowed in her dirt, because she had failed to consider what the final result might be.

She had gloried in her uncleanness. Her collapse when it came was therefore both total and spectacular, with no one to turn to for comfort. Jerusalem now lay in ruins, with no one concerned about her of all her erstwhile allies, whilst her God also seemed far away.We live today in times when uncleanness and immorality are being openly exposed to the world with no sense of shame. We too should recognise that our nations are heading for a spectacular fall.The picture was so awful to the prophet’s mind that he cried out to YHWH even as he wrote. For he saw the affliction of Jerusalem as his own affliction. He shared in her misery. (We do not therefore need to choose between seeing this prayer as that of the prophet or that of a stricken Jerusalem.

It was both). And he sought to draw YHWH’s attention to how their enemy was magnifying himself, and that included magnifying his gods.

And by it the enemy were therefore deriding YHWH (‘the God of Israel’). Let God act therefore to defend His Name. It is a reminder that we too should identify ourselves with the sins of our nations, and should weep as the prophet wept, concerned for the honour of our God.Lamentations 1:10(Yod) The adversary has spread out his hand,On all her pleasant things,For she has seen that the nations,Are entered into her sanctuary,Concerning whom you commanded,That they should not enter into your assembly.The thought of the uncleanness of the nation now reminded the writer of what he saw as the most dreadful thing of all. The picture of the defiled, menstrual woman drew his attention to an even worse situation, the defilement of God’s sanctuary that had resulted from it. As always happens the defilement had spread to God’s house. The enemy had not hesitated to spread out his hands and gather in all Jerusalem’s treasures (Jeremiah 52:17-23), and in order to do so had trespassed on both the area of the sanctuary reserved only for the priests, and on the area especially which no man could enter because the Ark of YHWH was there.

Foreign feet, which should not even have been allowed to become a part of the festal gathering (assembly), had trampled God’s Holy Place, where none but the especially sanctified could enter. And they had even entered the Holiest of All.

And this was due to Jerusalem’s sins. The writer was horrified at the thought.We also need to remember that when we sin we defile God’s Name and, if it is unrepented of, we carry our sin with us into the gathering of God’s people. We do not therefore just defile ourselves, we defile God’s holy Temple, His people.Lamentations 1:11(Kaph) All her people sigh,They seek bread,They have given their pleasant things,For food to refresh the life within them (‘to cause life to return’),See, O YHWH, and behold,For I am become abject.One of the consequences of all that had happened was that the people were now in extreme poverty. They were sighing at the miseries that had come on them, and they were so desperate to obtain food for themselves and their families, that in order to obtain it they were selling off their last remaining treasured possessions, even their children (for a reminder of the shortage of food during the sieges see 2 Kings 6:25-29; Jeremiah 37:21; Jeremiah 38:9; Jeremiah 52:6, but their hapless condition would continue afterwards, for they would not be well looked after by their captors). For even the richest was poor now. They had truly become an object of pity.

And pity was what the writer felt as he looked on the situation. Once again it turns him to prayer as he identifies himself with his people and calls on YHWH to see his and their abject state.It is a reminder that we also should be aware of, and pray about, the miseries of others when they are caught up in catastrophe, entering into their experience with them.

Lamentations 1:12-22

Jerusalem Calls On The World, And Then On YHWH, To Behold Her Condition And Cries To Him For Vengeance (Lamentations 1:12-22). This passage can be divided up into two parts, the first in which Jerusalem calls on the world to behold her pitiable state (Lamentations 1:12-19), and the second in which she calls on YHWH to do the same and to avenge her in accordance with what He has promised (Lamentations 1:20-22). The cry for retribution has in mind YHWH’s declaration of His intentions as described, for example, in Jeremiah 50:15; Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:11. Initially of course it describes the prophet’s viewpoint speaking on behalf of Jerusalem, but the aim was that by participation in his thoughts through reading and reciting his words God’s wayward people too might enter into a similar experience.

Lamentations 1:20-22

Recognising The Depths Of Her Own Sin Jerusalem Calls On YHWH To Do The Same To Her Enemies Who Are Gloating Over Her As He Has Done To Her, For They Are Equally Sinful. And She Calls On Him To Avenge Her In Accordance With What He Has Promised Through Jeremiah (Lamentations 1:20-22). It is a sign of the depths of Jerusalem’s despair that her desire is not for mercy for herself, for she apparently sees that she does not warrant it, but that YHWH will also punish those who are gloating over her and yet are just as sinful in the same way as He has her. It is clear that their gloating has bitten deep into her soul. She wants equal justice for all, not mercy.Lamentations 1:20(Resh) Behold, O YHWH, for I am in distress,My heart is troubled,My heart is turned within me,For I have grievously rebelled (behaved obstinately).Abroad the sword bereaves,At home there is as death.She calls on YHWH to behold her in her present state. But this in itself is a recognition of her confidence that YHWH will still hear her. She does not feel totally forsaken. It is a dim glimmer of light in the darkness.But for the present she is in distress, her heart is troubled and torn within her, and she recognises the depths of her own sin.

She has ‘grievously rebelled’, a verb which means ‘to behave obstinately’ (Numbers 20:10; Numbers 20:24). That is why, both at home and abroad, her people are still dying. ‘Abroad’ simply indicates that those who venture out into the streets are slain by the sword, whilst those ‘at home’ are seen as dying of disease and hunger.

It brings home the nearness of the events in the prophet’s eyes.Lamentations 1:21(Shin) They have heard that I sigh,There is none to comfort me,All my enemies have heard of my trouble,They are glad that you have done it,You will bring the day that you have proclaimed,And they will be like to me.‘They’ is a general ‘they’ and includes her enemies among her neighbours. And what hurts worse than all else is that while she sighs with none to comfort her, her enemies are gloating over what has happened to her. They are glad that YHWH has done this to her. But even in her misery Jerusalem is confident that He will fulfil his prophecies against the nations in Jeremiah 46-49. He will bring the day that He has proclaimed, and in that day her enemies will find themselves in the same distressing conditions that she is suffering at the moment.We cannot see this as an attitude to be encouraged, it is contrary to the teaching of Christ, but it was at least an indication that Jerusalem had not lost her belief in the justice and fairness of God, and that she saw all that was happening as firmly within His control. She was trusting God in the dark, believing Him to be concerned about her even in her present situation.Lamentations 1:22(Tau) Let all their wickedness come before you,And do to them,As you have done to me,Because of all my transgressions,For my sighs are many,And my heart is faint.Her prayer does, however, arise from her consciousness that her enemies are as wicked as she is.

She is not calling for adversity to fall on the innocent. All are seen as equally deserving of punishment.

She is now suffering because of all her transgressions, and she sees it as right that those who have sinned as much as she has should be punished in the same way. ‘Do to them as You have done to me.’ God must at least reveal Himself as fair and just.She closes by summarising her position in the words, ‘my sighs are many and my heart is faint’. It is the cry of a burnt out shell of a city grieving over her condition whilst her sufferings are deeply imbedded in her mind, somehow clinging on to her faith in God (which is why she prays).