Lamentations 2

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Read Lamentations 2

2 How the Lord has covered Daughter 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.

Without pity the Lord has swallowed up
    all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down
    the strongholds of Daughter Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
    down to the ground in dishonor.

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He has withdrawn his right hand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.

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 Daughter Zion.

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 Daughter Judah.

He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
    he has destroyed his place of meeting.
The Lord has made Zion forget
    her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;
in his fierce anger he has spurned
    both king and priest.

The Lord has rejected his altar
    and abandoned his sanctuary.
He has given the walls of her palaces
    into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of an appointed festival.

The Lord determined to tear down
    the wall around Daughter 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.

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 Daughter 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 the wounded
    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,
    Daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,
    that I may comfort you,
    Virgin Daughter 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 prophecies 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 Daughter 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 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.
You walls of Daughter 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 every street corner.

20 “Look, 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 young women
    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.”

Go Deeper

The text here is a continuation of Jeremiah’s expression of raw emotion. It is full of Jeremiah expressing the anger of God that is being expressed towards the city of Jerusalem. God has prepared His bow like an enemy. It doesn’t feel good to be on the other side of God’s anger, particularly when it is because of our unrepentant sin. God’s wrath is powerful and strong, but how do we grapple with this? How can we believe that our God, the King of Kings, is also recognized as a God of Anger in this passage?

This isn’t a matter of Old Testament God being angry and New Testament Jesus making it better—He is the same God. In seeing multiple sides of God, we are able to see the fullness of God. He is not partial in anything. Knowing of God’s anger over Jerusalem makes the fact that He empathizes with our pain so much greater. When we hurt and we say to others, “He hurts with us,” it feels a lot deeper. While in this passage we learn about God’s wrath for Jerusalem, we also learn His heart hurts deeply when we sin and turn from Him. He wants us near Him.

On the other hand, we can empathize with Jeremiah as he expresses his lack of knowledge in comforting the people. Jeremiah talks about how Jerusalem is without comfort, and he mentions how he doesn’t know how to comfort them. There are so many times where comforting someone else is hard because we don’t understand what this person is going through. In these moments, we can listen rather than understand. By the end of the chapter, Israel gets to respond. Jeremiah has to be willing to listen, just as we have to listen to others in their pain.

Questions

  1. How do you feel comforted by God?
  2. What is an attribute of God that you love that comes in fullness? What about an attribute that is hard for you to understand that comes in fullness?
  3. Is there a friend or family member that you can call or text and remind them that you are there to listen to their hurt? Pray for them, then call them.  

Did You Know?

In the beginning of the chapter, God “covers” the people like a cloud. It is interesting that God shows up in a manner of what the Israelites know, but with a different attribute. In the wandering of the Israelites, God would lead by cloud and now He is covering by cloud. God is showing different sides of Himself, yet is consistent in His state, so the Israelites can know it is Him.

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5 thoughts on “Lamentations 2”

  1. Ella Snodgrass

    Oh, the woe of ignoring and hardening our hearts against holy God. Just like Judah, we are guilty. There is no place so horrific as when God reigned down his judgement on man’s rebellion. He overshadowed, abandoned, swallowed up, demolished, defiled, cut off, withdrew, blazed, consumed, killed, destroyed, abolished, despised, rejected—Jeremiah would agree with Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” We treat sin casually, he takes it seriously. I can learn much from Jeremiah’s example. He called sin out, wept with compassion over his people, and never lost his trust in God. Our current society is much like Judah rift with moral decay. We have a faith in God which gives us a voice to speak the truth in love, but also weep over our collective sin. “For what shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36

  2. Audrey Andrews

    My prayer today is that we are captivated by His Word! Capture our hearts. This week I have truly been in literal lament for the ways of our world.

    Turn our anger to compassion. Help us have capacity to listen; know the need; then have the resources to act. Amen!

    This reading couples well with 2 Cor 5!!

  3. James 4:4 -8. 4You adulteresses [disloyal sinners—flirting with the world and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose [e]that the [human] spirit which He has made to dwell in us lusts with envy?(B) 6 But He gives us more and more grace [through the power of the Holy Spirit to defy sin and live an obedient life that reflects both our faith and our gratitude for our salvation]. Therefore, it says, “God is opposed to the proud and haughty, but [continually] gives [the gift of] grace to the humble [who turn away from self-righteousness].”(C) 7 So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people].
    We live in this crazy world and it is easy to get caught up in it. BUT GOD knew that and when we became His we no longer are of this world. So we(meaning I mostly) need to know how to fight the evil one with God’s word, verse 6 says He gives more and more grace to defy sin and live an obedient life!!!
    God thank you for your word!! Thank you for your grace!!! Thank you for my ability through your help to fight the evil one and to tell others about what an amazing God you are!!!! Thank you for the comfort of this word Hessed, it has been rolling around in my heart in such a WOW way. Unfailing love, steadfast love, loyal love, covenant love, faithful love, abounding love!!!!!!! Thank you in Jesus name amen
    WOOHOO I AM HESSED BY GOD!!!!

  4. My thoughts today are all over the place. Lisa Bevere made a powerful statement on ‘Becoming Something’ Monday that I have repeatedly played in my mind…”God will go after what unmakes us.” I’m so glad that JP asked her to explain that statement in reference to idols…”What I behold-is what I become”-Lisa. We have been studying idolatry for awhile now, but today we read the ramifications. God did not withhold his hand. (v8) If God doesn’t use His hand to break down strongholds, He will send someone in your life to help Him. (v.7) Even your enemy. Let that soak in…
    Idols of any kind —sports, social media, sex, job, houses, relationships, hobbies, etc—anything, that takes precedence over worshipping God is your god. What beholds you and me?
    Reading this poem clarifies to me that God will come to destruct by natural disasters or your enemies to get our attention. I wonder how many times we have casually thought of it as bad luck or a bad day when a storm or an attack from someone happens? We don’t like to think God will release wrath on His children He loves, but we read today He did…by His hand and the hands of others. We should be very afraid and attentive to how God pulls us back to Him.

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