Lamentations 2 - Introduction

Chapter 2. A Lament Over What Has Happened To Jerusalem Due To The Lord's Anger.

This chapter also divides up into sections. In the first 9 verses the prophet describes in forceful detail what ‘the Sovereign Lord' (adonai) has done against Jerusalem and Judah, and he follows this up in Lamentations 2:10 with a picture of Jerusalem's inhabitants (elders, virgins, young children) revealing how all this has affected them (they keep silence and mourn, they hang their heads, the children complain of hunger). Then in Lamentations 2:13 he addresses the inhabitants of Jerusalem directly, outlining what has come upon them and calling on them to seek to YHWH for help, finishing it all off in Lamentations 2:20 with a direct appeal to YHWH to see what the situation is.

Note the emphasis in the first six verses on the wrath, fury and anger of the Lord/YHWH (specifically drawn attention to in Lamentations 2:1 (twice), 2, 3, 4, 6), something again emphasised in the final verse (Lamentations 2:22). His people had defied Him and disregarded His loving covenant for too long. They had rejected the pleas of His prophets. And there comes a time when even God's patience is at an end and He becomes relentless. The results of that anger were plain to see in the ruined Temple, the destroyed city, and the relatively empty and devastated land. (It should, however, be noted from the human point of view that it was not YHWH Himself Who had done this, but the Babylonian contingents. God works through history and the sinfulness of man. He had simply withdrawn His hand of protection because of His antipathy towards His people's sin, letting men loose in their viciousness - see Lamentations 2:3).

Once again we see a variation between ‘Sovereign Lord' (adonai) and YHWH. In Lamentations 2:1 it is the Sovereign Lord Who has acted against Jerusalem and Judah/Israel in a variety of ways, whilst in Lamentations 2:6 it is YHWH Who has caused the solemn gathering of the people and the sabbath to be ‘forgotten', that is, not maintained because of Judah's condition. In Lamentations 2:7 it is the Sovereign Lord Who has cast off her altar and sanctuary, whilst in Lamentations 2:8 it is YHWH Who has purposed to destroy the walls of Zion and has given the prophets no vision. From that point there is then no mention of either until Lamentations 2:17 where it is YHWH Who has devised against Jerusalem and thrown her down, causing her enemies to rejoice and exalting them, whilst it is to the Sovereign Lord that the prayers of the women for their hungry children are addressed and are to be addressed (Lamentations 2:18). On the other hand the Prophet's appeal for God to consider the situation being prayed about is addressed to YHWH (Lamentations 2:20), whilst in the same verse reference is made to ‘the sanctuary of the Lord'. It is clear that the names are being used interchangeably. The final reference is to ‘the day of YHWH's anger' in Lamentations 2:22.

Interesting also are the names used of Judah/Jerusalem in the first few verses. It is ‘the daughter of Zion' (Lamentations 2:1; Lamentations 2:4; Lamentations 2:8; Lamentations 2:10), ‘Israel' (Lamentations 2:1; Lamentations 2:3; Lamentations 2:5), ‘Jacob' (Lamentations 2:2), ‘the daughter of Judah' (Lamentations 2:5), ‘Zion' (Lamentations 2:6).