Lamentations 2:1-10

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

A BROKEN PEOPLE

Lamentations 2:1-22

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 He has withdrawn His right hand in the face of the enemy.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 Hebrews 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).