Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
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).
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.
(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.
(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.
(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).