This Lamentation focuses on the great suffering of Zion. It was as if the Lord were an enemy.
Lamentations 2:1-2
God's anger enveloped Judah and Jerusalem like a cloud of His anger. Men were brought to awe in the cloud of God's presence when he revealed his love for the people. It was likewise awesome when the cloud of God's anger enveloped the people.
The splendor of Israel was Jerusalem, and maybe more specifically the temple. While they thought of it as a stronghold and incapable of being destroyed, the Lord threw it down as if it were nothing. It was thought the Lord resided in heaven but the temple was where he rested his feet. It was symbolic of His presence among them. But this was forgotten now due to His anger.
The Lord swallowed the people up in this cloud of wrath; this was their destruction and suffering. All the strongholds once given to them were destroyed (Psalm 89:39-40; Micah 5:11).
Lamentations 2:3-4
The 'horn' was a symbol of strength and power; authority and pride. The horn that was cut off was to remove them as any threat, any worth. The right hand of God had been their provision, protection, power and presence; but that had changed. The right hand was withdrawn, they would face the enemy on their own. Not only that, but it was as if He were their enemy, drawing his bow and delivering the consuming arrow of fire.
Those 'pleasing to the eye' found no defense against the arrow. His wrath was poured out like fire delivered from this arrow. The Babylonians held the weapons, but they delivered the destruction by God's will, for His purpose.
Lamentations 2:5-6
It was as if the Lord were an enemy army that consumed Israel. All the fine palaces and strongholds that should have been secure were consumed in this judgment. The people had trusted in the wrong things. Their mourning was multiplied in seeing the destruction of the palaces who once held the princes they trusted and listened to. They mourned the strongholds that were supposed to withstand any attack. Two different words for lamentation were used. The first translated 'mourning' means heaviness and mourning; the other translated 'lamentation' meant groaning and sorrow; heaviness, mourning, groaning and sorrow.
The temple had been laid waste as if it were just a garden. The temple was revered, it was their place where they met God, but that reverence had slipped into complacency and they met God among the worship of other gods. The Lord won't take a backseat; He is a jealous God not willing to let His glory or worship go to another. The appointed feasts and festivals would not happen; this was better than happening for the wrong reason or worshiping incorrectly at the correct time. If they could not worship the right God in the right way at the right place, they would not worship at all. The Lord spurned the royal and religious institutions, they both failed miserably.
Lamentations 2:7-8
The rejection of the altar was the rejection the idolatrous sacrifices, or at the least idolaters bringing a sacrifice as if it were done with their heart. The religious institution they took for granted, along with the Lord, were now gone. This once holy and revered place was now defiled by these gentile enemies. Yet, those enemies had done nothing worse than what the Jews had done. The place where they once raised a shout to the Lord at the appointed festival now only heard the shout of the enemy.
The wall they felt safe behind would be taken down by the Lord. The measuring line is the plumb line, or level line; anything out of line was destroyed, unworthy to remain. The people would have struggled to believe the Lord would actually do this. Surely He would withhold His hand from His own temple, they thought.
Lamentations 2:9-10
The gate was an important place where business was conducted, where judgment was done and decisions were made. These gates were out of business though; they are sunken, broken, destroyed. The king and princes that once would been prominent and respected at the gate were now gone. The law once upheld and taught, gone. The prophets who once testified at the gate no longer hear from God.
Those who once sat at the gate now sit on the ground. They are shamed and mourn and lament in their loss. The young women also bow their heads. The bowing of the shamed and the women look like the sunken gates of verse 9.
Lamentations 2:11-12
This passage zeroes into the emotional response of an individual in this time of great suffering. We went from this overall, faceless view of Zion to the life of a person. The eye 'failure' is the inability to produce any more tears; this due to producing too many tears. The intensity of grief is seen. The 'torment' is inner churning and boiling up. This along with the 'heart being poured out' show the severe physiological affects of the despair. The Hebrew word for 'heart' actually means liver. This was all brought on by seeing the destruction of the people, particularly children.
The children were dying of starvation as they were killed in the streets. The picture of them dying in their mother's arms gives us the sense of the tremendous, gut-wrenching grief the city endured.
This individual, like many others, are the face of Zion. The heart of the city was the people who lived there. We might read this as ask, 'How can God do this?' When we see these things, we forget all that led up to it and go right to God with blame of fault. God warned repeatedly the affects of sin. He sought His people, sent them prophets and called for repentance for years to no avail. The people ignored God, trusted in their own sinful ways. God warned of the affects of sin on their lives. In a sense they chose this. They made choices of the affections of their heart in worship. They chose to turn from reverence and fear of God. These are the affects of idolatry and sin and turning from God. These are the affects of a sin-fallen world. The alternative is life in obedience, in pursuit and in the grip of the Lord. While all the affects are not removed, we are empowered to battle sin. The Lord guides, protects, sustains and provides.
Lamentations 2:13-14
No words were adequate, nothing could be said to bring comfort in this setting. What could be found comparable that you might say, "Others have survived, others coped in this way or that." There was no comparison. No similar situation existed at that time. We might see a similar situation in our time. The comparisons are significant. Must we wait to stand in the midst of judgment before we see our error? Their prophets lied to them making them and their message false and worthless. The words should have exposed their sin, moving them to repentance and drawing closer to the Lord and thereby avoiding their captivity. Instead, the prophets gave them words to tickle their ears, to make them feel better in their sin filled lives. They heard of peace, safety, comfort and love without hearing obedience, wrath, justice and unfaithfulness.
The wound is so deep it feels as if it could not be healed. There is only One who can bring this kind of healing.
Lamentations 2:15-16
This is the language of Deuteronomy 28:37;
You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.
We see these responses also in Jeremiah 18:16 and 19:18. To 'clap your hands' was to bring malicious glee, derision and mockery. The questions are part of the taunt, reminding of the painful fall. The pile of rubble was once called the perfection of beauty. In Psalm 48:2 and 50:2 it was called the 'joy of the whole earth'. Now, the enemies openly mock and taunt them saying they swallowed up this great city. It was a claim of superiority in the joy and beauty. They deliver a sing song idiom; we waited, we destroyed and we see.
Lamentations 2:17-18
The Lord punished them for the broken covenant as he promised in Leviticus and Deuteronomy as well as other places. His word will always be fulfilled and completed. What do the people cry out to the Lord? The only suitable cry at this point is mercy, repentance and restored love. However, todays faithfulness doesn't erase yesterday's sin (or a lifetime of sin).
The wall was called to bring forth tears day and night with no rest. The situation was dire for the city and the people. The city wall is urged to called to turn back to Yahweh.
Lamentations 2:19-20
The cry is desperate in the dead of night; it is complete, with all the heart, in His presence. They would lift their hands in pleading, like a child to a father asking for help as the children fall weak from hunger.
The appeal was to reconsider, no one had ever had to endure such things as far as they knew; women eating their children (Deut 28:53), priests and prophets killed in the temple. These were too extreme to imagine the Lord would allow.
Lamentations 2:21-22
No one would escape unaffected; sin had become prevalent and the covenant abandoned. They had forsaken Yahweh, he did not part from them as much as part from their sin. As the Lord called the faithful to a feast, he called the unfaithful to terrors. We've seen the warning of the wrath of God from the beginning. No one can escape it. Even the children reared by the adults could not escape the judgment.
©2018 Doug Ford
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