COMPLAINT AND APPEAL LAMENTATIONS 2:1-22

Transcription

1 1 COMPLAINT AND APPEAL LAMENTATIONS 2:1-22

2 2 Complaint and Appeal Text: Lamentations 2:1-22, 1. How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. 2. Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor. 3. In fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it. 4. Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion. 5. The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah. 6. He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest. 7. The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. He has handed over to the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.

3 3 8. The LORD determined to tear down the wall around the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away. 9. Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the LORD. 10. The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. 11. My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city. 12. They say to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away in their mothers' arms. 13. What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? 14. The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading. 15. All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?" 16. All your enemies open their mouths wide against you; they scoff and gnash their teeth and say, "We have swallowed her up. This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it." 17. The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you

4 4 without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes. 18. The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest. 19. Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street. 20. "Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21. "Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity. 22. "As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the LORD's anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared, my enemy has destroyed." (NIV) Introduction: I. This lament (Lamentations 2:1-22) presents the destruction of Jerusalem as strictly an act of divine wrath. (Willis). A. Jerusalem vents anger toward the Lord who had brought distress upon them. (Willis) B. However, Jerusalem maintained faith in God and hoped for a divine sympathetic response. (Willis)

5 5 1. Psalm 62:8, Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah II. This second lament (chapter 2) focuses on the anger of God as it relates to the tragic events of 586 B.C., Smith wrote. A. The first ten (10) verses of chapter 2 alone contain forty (40) descriptions of God s judgment and anger, Smith further wrote. B. God s anger is otherwise referenced in Lamentations. (Smith) 1. Lamentations 1:12, "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the LORD brought on me in the day of his fierce anger? (NIV) 2. Lamentations 3:1, 43, 66, I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD. (NIV) 3. Lamentations 4:11, The LORD has given full vent to his wrath;he has poured out his fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations. 4. Lamentations 5:22, unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure. (NIV)

6 6 III. Willis noted that this lament, poem, falls into four (4) parts: viz., A. Verses 1-10 describes the destruction the Lord has brought on his people. B. Verses presents an unidentified speaker who grieves the pitiable suffering endured by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. C. Verses calls for the sufferers to appeal to the Lord for mercy. D. Verses expresses grief over Jerusalem s misery and seeks the Lord s mercy. IV. AnBi, p. 103, via Coffman concurs with Willis, The main point of this chapter is that it was God himself who destroyed the people and their city; and the writer seldom strays very far from that main point. Commentary: Part 1: Verses 1-10 Lamentations 2:1, How the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger! He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. (NIV) I. How the Lord has covered (does cover) the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) with the cloud of his anger? A. God s destruction of Jerusalem was fierce, ferocious! (Willis)

7 7 1. Twenty-eight (28) times the Lord was identified as the author of Jerusalem s destruction. (Willis) 2. God (Willis observed): a. acted without pity (v. 2). b. acted in his fierce anger (v. 3, 6). c. poured out his wrath like fire (v. 4). d. consumed everything by fire (v. 3). e. swallowed the city (v. 5). f. laid waste the city (v. 6). g. destroyed the city (v. 6). h. rejected his people (v. 7). i. withdrew his right hand (v. 3). j. used his right hand to draw back the bowstring to shoot arrows at Jerusalem (v. 4). k. does not withdraw his hand from destroying Jerusalem (v. 8). B. Smith noted that figuratively speaking: 1. God covered Jerusalem with his anger as if it had been a cloud (reminding us of the dark side of the cloud

8 8 seen by the Egyptians as Israel crossed the Red Sea. Coffman) 2. God cast Israel s glory from heaven to earth as if it had been a falling star. 3. God regarded Judah as an insignificant footstool which had been forgotten in the day of divine wrath. C. Coffman observed that the word anger occurs in verses 1-10 three (3) times and the word wrath is found twice (2). 1. Coffman well said that the modern view of God does not agree with the Biblical God whose anger and wrath punish unrepentant sinners! 2. The God of love, mercy, forgiveness, grace and forbearance has another side and the wise will carefully consider this fact! (See Coffman.) 3. Behold the goodness and severity of God! D. Women in Palestine often covered their faces with veils and here Jerusalem is said to be covered with God s judgment, by a dark cloud. II. He has hurled down the (beauty) splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. A. Judah-Jerusalem had been God s chosen, dearly beloved people. 1. Finally, God had had enough of their sinful rebellion!

9 9 2. As a loving father, he punished his wayward children. B. Jerusalem had been God s footstool, his dwelling place, his place of meeting, his altar, his sanctuary, his house, Willis wrote. 1. House observed that footstool could not refer to the ark of the covenant because it was destroyed before 587 B.C. C. Clarke defined the splendor of Israel as the temple and his footstool as the ark of the covenant. 1. Psalm 132:7, "Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool- (NIV) 2. 1 Chronicles 28:2, King David rose to his feet and said: "Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. (NIV) 3. Psalm 99:5, Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy. (NIV) D. Cast down from heaven is found elsewhere in Scripture. (The Pulpit Commentary) 1. Matthew 11:23, And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (KJV)

10 10 2. Isaiah 14:12, 15, How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. (NIV) Lamentations 2:2, Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor. (NIV) I. Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings (habitations) of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah. A. Because of their sins this once chosen city was left in rubble at God s feet. (See Willis.) B. Swallowed up, a rather unusual figure according to Clarke, means God permitted them to be destroyed. II. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor. A. From the glory days of Solomon, to being slaves to the Gentiles, Judah and Jerusalem had fallen like a burning meteor falling from the sky to abject destruction. (Coffman) 1. Psalm 89:39, You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. (NIV) Lamentations 2:3, In fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the

11 11 enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it. (NIV) I. In fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. A. The horn was a well-known symbol of power, Coffman wrote. 1. God removed every sign of strength and power from Israel and destroyed all strongholds previously used as fortifications. a. 1 Samuel 2:1, Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. 2. They were left with no means of either offense or defense. II. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. A. God s strong right hand, a protective shield, was removed from Israel leaving them defenseless before their enemies. (See Clarke.)... and without divine assistance. (The Pulpit Commentary) III. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it. A. Hebrews 12:29, For our God is a consuming fire. (KJV)

12 12 B. Deuteronomy 4:24, For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (NIV) C. God burned against, burned up Jacob. (The Pulpit Commentary) Lamentations 2:4, Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion. (NIV) I. Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. A. God is here pictured as an archer ready to let fly his arrow on the enemy, here sinful Judah. II. Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent (dwelling) of the Daughter of Zion. A. This last phrase, House wrote, which is used to describe the best of one s household..., most likely refers to loved ones and precious items here Kings 20:6, But about this time tomorrow I am going to send my officials to search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value and carry it away.' " (NIV) 2. Ezekiel 24:16, "Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. (NIV)

13 13 3. Jeremiah 10:20, My tent is destroyed; all its ropes are snapped. My sons are gone from me and are no more; no one is left now to pitch my tent or to set up my shelter. (NIV) Lamentations 2:5, The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah. (NIV) I. The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. A. The Lord swallowed up Israel. 2. swallowed up all her palaces. 3. destroyed her strongholds. B. The Lord destroyed her strongholds. 2. multiplied mourning and lamentation. 3. laid waste his dwelling like a garden. 4. destroyed his place of meeting. II. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. A. God has now swallowed up, devoured, destroyed Judah s palaces and strongholds.

14 14 1. When Judah was faithful to God, the Lord protected the palaces and strongholds. III. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah. A. How sin changes things! B. God was opposed to Judah because Judah was opposed to God. Lamentations 2:6, He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest. (NIV) I. He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden (hut); he has destroyed his place of meeting (temple). A. God removed his temple as easily as a farmer removes a vintage booth (a tiny arbor), which had served its purpose, from a garden. (JRD, p. 484, via Coffman) 1. Psalm 27:5, For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. (NIV) 2. Psalm 31:20, In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues. (NIV)

15 15 3. Psalm 76:2, His tent is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. (NIV) 4. Psalm 80:12, 13, Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? Boars from the forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it. (NIV) 5. Exodus 27:21, In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the LORD from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come. (NIV) 6. Exodus 25:22, There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites. (NIV) II. The Lord has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and her Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priests. A. Sin led to destruction, captivity and the cessation of observance of appointed feasts and Sabbaths. 1. God has spurned both political and religious leaders, king and priest. B. Regarding Zion s appointed annual feasts, see Deuteronomy 16:1-17.

16 16 1. Deuteronomy 16:1-17, Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib he brought you out of Egypt by night. Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name. Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning. You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the LORD your God gives you except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. Roast it and eat it at the place the LORD your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the LORD your God and do no work. Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you. And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these

17 17 decrees. Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your Feast you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete. Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you. (NIV) C. Sabbaths refer to weekly Sabbaths and to special Sabbaths associated with the festivals, House wrote. Lamentations 2:7, The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. He has handed over to the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast. (NIV) I. The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. A. The altar and sanctuary had been polluted, violated, time and again by both Judah and heathens. 1. God had finally had enough and rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary.

18 18 2. Jeremiah 15:1-2, Then the LORD said to me: "Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! And if they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: " 'Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.' (NIV) 3. Psalm 107:11, for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. (NIV) 4. 1 Kings 9:1-9, When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The LORD said to him: "I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. "As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.' "But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a

19 19 byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.' " (NIV) 5. Isaiah 1:2-20, Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken:"i reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand." Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evil doers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil. Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. The Daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege. Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of

20 20 Gomorrah! "The multitude of your sacrifices what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (NIV) 6. Psalm 74:1, Why have you rejected us forever, O God? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? (NIV) B. God has disowned his holy place, House wrote.

21 21 II. He has handed over to the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have raised a shout (noise) in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed feast. A. This noise, shout, was the boisterous, profane and obscene cries of the Chaldean soldiers screaming and shouting their delight as they looted and destroyed the marvelous treasures of the Temple, Coffman wrote. 1. Psalm 74:3, Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary. (NIV) B. This was a horrible contrast with the... sweet songs of the temple and the solemn liturgies of the priesthood, Coffman further wrote and a monumental contrast with the sounds of the silver sanctuary trumpets. (See Clarke.) 2. Isaiah 30:29, And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. (NIV) 3. Amos 5:24, But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (NIV) Lamentations 2:8, The LORD determined to tear down the wall around the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away. (NIV)

22 22 I. The Lord determined to tear down the wall around the Daughter of Zion. A. God s destruction of Jerusalem was a conscious, calculated act, House wrote. II. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. A. The line of devastation specified what was to be pulled down and demolished. 1. Isaiah 34:11, The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation. (NIV) 2. Amos 7:7, This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. (NIV) 3. 2 Kings 21:13, I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. (NIV) III. He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away. 1. Total devastation befell Jerusalem and its people following many years of rebellion against God.

23 23 Lamentations 2:9, Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the LORD. (NIV) I. Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. A. Jerusalem s gates had sunk into the ground as a result of destruction and long neglect. 1. The Pulpit Commentary reads, The gates are broken down and buried in the dust. II. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations (Gentiles), the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord. A. In the foreign lands where they had been exiled there was no observance of God s law by Judah s captors. 1. Matthew 5:18, For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (KJV) 2. Translation of the law is no more leaves much to be desired. (See Coffman.) 3. The Anchor Bible reads, The king and the princes are among the heathen (where) there is no instruction. (See Coffman.) 4. The temple was no more and its worship observances were no more.

24 24 a. Ezekiel 7:26, Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. (NIV) B. Zedekiah and many of Judah s princes were in Babylonian captivity among the Gentiles. (Clarke) Lamentations 2:10, The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. (NIV) I. The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. A. Willis wrote, The splendor of Israel is gone (v. 1), every horn has been cut off (v. 3), all who were pleasing to the eye are no longer to be seen (v. 4),... festive holiday gatherings came to an end (v. 6). All dwellings, palaces, and strongholds have been demolished. Princes (vv. 2, 9), king and priest (vv. 6, 9), and prophets (v. 9) lie silent. The few remaining commoners (elders to young women) sit on the ground and mourn in silence (v. 10). Note: An animal uses its horns for both defense and attack. (Willis quoting Hillers) Judah and Jerusalem were no longer able to either defend themselves nor attack their enemies. B. The elders who were accustomed to announcing decisions sit silently, dumbfounded, not on respected judicial seats, but on the ground.

25 25 1. In stunned silence they sit in bereaved sorrow, unbearable grief! 2. Casting up dust and wearing sackcloth (similar to burlap or course material) were signs of mourning. a. Joshua 7:6, Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. (NIV) b. 2 Samuel 13:19, Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went. (NIV) c. Job 2:12, When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. (NIV) II. The young women (virgins) of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. A. Young women who should be happy and looking forward to full lives hang their heads despondently in hopeless depression. Part 2: Verses Lamentations 2:11, My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my

26 26 people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city. (NIV) I. My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground... A. The speaker in this section (verses 11-16) is uncertain, Willis wrote. 1. Possibilities include: a. The author of Lamentations speaking as an aggrieved citizen of Jerusalem. (Westermann via Willis) i. Isaiah 30:26, The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted. (NIV) ii. Jeremiah 6:14, They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace. (NIV) iii. Jeremiah 8:11, 21, They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace. Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. (NIV)

27 27 b. The speaker could be the Lord. (Gerstenberger via Willis) i. Deuteronomy 26:16-19, The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him. And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised. (NIV) ii. Jeremiah 30:22, " 'So you will be my people, and I will be your God.' " (NIV) iii. Jeremiah 31:1, 33, "At that time," declares the LORD, "I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people." "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (NIV)

28 28 iv. Hosea 2:23, I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one. ' I will say to those called 'Not my people, ' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.' " (NIV) v. Zechariah 13:9, This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' " (NIV) vi. This suggests that this punishment of his people was an act of love, that he is greatly grieved by his destroying Jerusalem, Willis stated. vii. Jeremiah 4:19-22, Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry. Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment. How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? "My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good." (NIV)

29 29 viii. Jeremiah 15:7, I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways. (NIV) c. Smith wrote, The prophet Jeremiah, who had labored so hard to avert the disaster of 586 B.C., now expressed his unrelenting sorrow over what had happened. i. House concurs with this view. B. Coffman describes this as one of the saddest pictures in the literature of mankind. 1. In verses 11 and 12 the Scriptures say of the captives: a. My eyes fail from weeping. b. I am in torment within. c. My heart is poured out on the ground. d. My people are destroyed. e. Children and infants faint in the streets. f. Children beg for food and drink. g. Children faint. h. Children s lives ebb away in their mother s arms.

30 30 II. because my people are destroyed, because children and infants (nursing children) faint in the streets of the city. A. The speaker is greatly grieved because Jerusalem s children are faint, dying in the streets, their lives ebb away, are motionless in their mother s arms. (Willis) 1. Infants could not be fed, cared for by their parents and were deserted in the city streets. (See Smith.) 2....children through the excess of the famine faint in the streets. (See Clarke.) B. This is evidently the account of an eyewitness who had watched these things occur during the horrible siege that ended in the destruction of Jerusalem, Coffman concluded. Lamentations 2:12, They say to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away in their mothers' arms. (NIV) I. They say to their mothers, Where is bread (corn, grain) and wine? A. Exodus 16:4, Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. (NIV) B. Psalm 105:40, They asked, and he brought them quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. (NIV)

31 31 C. Infants ask their mothers for food and drink, but their mothers could do nothing for them, House wrote. II. as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, A. Clarke wrote, When, in endeavoring to draw nourishment from the breasts of their exhausted mothers, they breathed their last in their bosoms! How dreadfully afflicting was this! III. as their lives ebb away in their mothers arms. A. This is heart rending beyond words, starving children dying in their mothers arms and their mothers have no food to give their dying babies! Lamentations 2:13, What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? (NIV) I. What can I say (testify) for you? With what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? A. Where is the equal to what has happened to Jerusalem? 1. With what can Jerusalem s condition be compared? 2. Isaiah 46:5, "To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared? (NIV)

32 32 B. House wrote, Sorrow and regret mark this passage. Their prophets had failed, their political friends had been treacherous and their enemies had boasted, House further said. 1. The writer seems at a loss for words and asks,... a. What can I say for you? b. With what can I compare you? c. To what can I liken you? 2. In any event, House stated, the writer appears confident God will deliver them if they will only faithfully return in penitence to his service. II. To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? A. We also, when visiting with bereaved friends or suffering patients, may be at a loss for words. B. Jerusalem s suffering was incomparably great! III. Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? A. The grief of Jerusalem is so severe that it is compared to the deepest thing known, the depth of the deepest ocean! (Willis) 1. You have a flood of afflictions, a sea of troubles, an ocean of miseries. (Clarke)

33 33 2. Ezekiel 37:11, Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' (NIV) B. Coffman quoting NBCR, p. 661, wrote, This simply means there is no end to it. 1. Even innocent infants suffer for the sins of their parents. 2. God is not responsible for the consequences of sinful acts of disobedience to his commands. (See NBCR, p. 661, W. F. Adeney, via Coffman.) 3. Judah and Jerusalem had become more sinful than Sodom! a. Ezekiel 16:43-63, " 'Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices? " 'Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter." You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was

34 34 Sodom. You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done. " 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done. Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous. " 'However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them, so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort. And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before. You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and

35 35 all her neighbors and the daughters of the Philistines all those around you who despise you. You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the LORD. " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you. So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD.' " (NIV) b. Their sins demanded punishment. Lamentations 2:14, The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading. (NIV) I. The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; A. False prophets, (of which there were many) are here said to be responsible for Jerusalem s terrible plight. (Willis)

36 36 1. False prophets, whitewashed Judah s sins! (House) 2. Jeremiah 5:30-31, "A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end? 3. Jeremiah 6:10-14, To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in. "Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years. Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land," declares the LORD. "From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace. (NIV) 4. Jeremiah 8:10-12, Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not

37 37 even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD. (NIV) 5. Jeremiah 12:16, And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the LORD lives'-even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal then they will be established among my people. (NIV) 6. 1 Kings 18:19, Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table." (NIV) 7. Jeremiah 14:13, 21-22, But I said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, the prophets keep telling them, 'You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.' " For the sake of your name do not despise us; do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it. Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, O LORD our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this. (NIV) 8. Jeremiah 23:14-40, And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah." Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the

38 38 prophets: "I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land." This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They keep saying to those who despise me, 'The LORD says: You will have peace.' And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, 'No harm will come to you.' But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD. "I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. Let

39 39 the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?" declares the LORD. "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? "Therefore," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. Yes," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The LORD declares.' Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," declares the LORD. "They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least," declares the LORD. "When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, 'What is the oracle of the LORD?' say to them, 'What oracle? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.' If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' I will punish that man and his household. This is what each of you keeps on saying to his friend or relative: 'What is the LORD's answer?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?' But you must not mention 'the oracle of the LORD ' again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God. This is what you keep saying to a prophet: 'What is the LORD's answer to you?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?' Although you claim, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' this is what the LORD says: You used the words, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' even though I told you that you must not claim, 'This is the oracle of the LORD.' Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my

40 40 presence along with the city I gave to you and your fathers. I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace everlasting shame that will not be forgotten." (NIV) B. Jerusalem, Judah and Israel listened to the lying false prophets who preached what the people wanted to hear rather than to God s faithful prophets such as Jeremiah who preached the truth of the Lord. 1. Much of today s preaching smoothes over the dreadful results of violating God s commandments. (Coffman) II. they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. A. The false prophets did not reprove the people for their sins; they flattered them in their transgressions; and instead of turning away (your) captivity, by turning (you) from (your) sins, they have pretended visions of good in (your favor, and false burdens for (your) enemies, Clarke wrote. 1. Ezekiel 13:1-19, The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: 'Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! Your prophets, O Israel, are like jackals among ruins. You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the LORD. Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. They say, "The LORD declares," when the LORD has not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled.