“How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger! He cast down from heaven to the earth
the beauty of Israel, and did not remember His footstool In the day of His anger.
The Lord has swallowed up and has not pitied all the dwelling places of Jacob.
He has thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground; He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
He has cut off in fierce anger every horn of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand. From before the enemy.
He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire devouring all around.
Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow; With His right hand, like an adversary, He has slain all who were pleasing to His eye; On the tent of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His fury like fire.
The Lord was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, and has increased mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah.” (v1-5)
The Chapter starts by identifying God as the one who has been working against Israel and Judah because they rebelled against God and He poured His judgment upon them. We saw this in chapter 1 and we shall see that the word ‘anger’ appears five times in this chapter in verses 1, 3, 6, 21 and 22 and the word ‘wrath’ twice in verses 2 and 4. God’s wrath had been poured out on them because they had defied God’s will. These verses explain just what God had poured out on his wayward people, throwing down His wrath, bringing them down to the ground, cutting them off in fierce anger, even standing against them as an enemy, pouring out His fury like a fire.
God’s anger is said to come as a cloud (v1) indicates they were overwhelmed. They would recognise the word ‘cloud’ from their history because of God’s protection on their rescue from Egypt as they were led by a pillar of cloud. Now they are on the other side of the cloud. It was once a safe place but now it was not as they experienced God’s anger. Jerusalem would know all about the cloud of God’s glory, but now the glory had departed and been replaced by the cloud of God’s anger.
In 1 Samuel 4, after a disaster, a child was born named Ichabod, which means ‘the glory has departed from Israel’. The glory of God was used to describe God’s favour and blessing to his people, Israel. Jesus also referred to it in Matthew 23:37-39.
It is a terrible thing to experience the loss of God’s glory. History shows us that Israel’s ruin was temporary; it is sad that many churches have lost the glory of the Lord today. In Israel, it was sin, disobedience, and idolatry, and they are present in many of today’s churches.
“He has done violence to His tabernacle, as if it were a garden; He has destroyed His place of assembly; The LORD has caused the appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest. The Lord has spurned His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has given up the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy.
They have made a noise in the house of the LORD As on the day of a set feast. (v6,7)
Seems strange that God destroyed His own tabernacle, His own house! Leaving it like a neglected garden and broken-down shed. Solomon’s temple was not God’s original tabernacle. The Jews regarded it highly for their security, but God destroyed it so easily like a garden shed. One commentator describes it like the booths or shelters where workers sheltered from the sun. He even caused the appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten. The only noise was the shouts of heathen soldiers. The noise in the temple would us have been from the worshippers, but this was different, it was the profane or even obscene shouts of delight of the Chaldean soldiers as they destroyed the treasures of the temple. What a contrast from sound of the solemn feasts.
All was given over to the enemy. What a devastating situation to be in.
The people probably thought that their sinning was acceptable because they had the temple. God was with them and therefore God was fine with their sins. But we learn that we must never think that God is not wrathful against sin. God’s anger is his firm expression of real displeasure with our sins. God is not indifferent toward sin. Even though we experience the benefits of God’s patience (which is not to be confused as apathy or complete indifference), the restraint God shows will finally end when we refuse to change our ways.
Many would say that it was Babylon who caused all this devastation, but it was God using Babylon. This is made clear in following verses – “LORD has purposed to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has stretched out a line; He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying; Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament; They languished together.
Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars.” (v8,9)
Jerusalem’s wall, like other cities, was its security. With the wall in ruins, the city was open prey to its enemies. God’s work was precise and complete. This is why it was important for Nehemiah and his friends to rebuild the wall and its gates. An interesting phrase that her gates have sunk into the ground, rather than been knocked down. Way back in the book of Joshua when the walls of Jericho fell down, Jewish writers believe that they sunk into the ground (see my notes in Joshua 6).
“Her king and her princes are among the nations; The Law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground and keep silence; They throw dust on their heads and gird themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem Bow their heads to the ground.” (v9,10)
Even the king and princes have been taken to Babylon, all were in the same predicament. The law (priests) and prophets became totally ineffective. The leaders sit around in silence, throwing dust on their heads and dressing in sackcloth usually the actions of repentance and humility. One commentator suggests that from the oldest to the youngest were affected by this – elders and virgins bowing their heads to the ground.
Now we have the reaction of the prophet himself – “My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled; my bile is poured on the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the infants faint in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out in their mothers’ bosom.” (v11,12)
Jeremiah was completely overwhelmed by the situation and he is broken hearted. It showed his great affection for his people and these statements are not trivial and he is affected deeply. He was even more affected by the sight of children being hurt by the catastrophe. The whole scene was tragic.
I don’t know about you, but nothing is more tragic than seeing children being caught up in these devastating situations, especially where they are the consequences of evil behaviour. Young children can be influenced very easily and we are told by Jesus in Matthew 18:7 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
A few weeks ago, we were in town not realising that there was ‘Pride Celebration’ going on. We did our best to avoid it, but we were so sad to see children being influenced by what was going on. It was being portrayed as harmless fun, which it certainly is not.
The little ones in this context are not necessarily children or young people, but those who are true followers of Jesus, identified by childlike trust in God. Age is not important as anyone can receive The Lord Jesus Christ.
“How shall I console you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea; Who can heal you?
Your prophets have seen for your false and deceptive visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.” (v13,14)
There had been false prophets, very much like those who peddle prosperity gospel (so-called) today, saying we should be wealthy and well, and if we are not, we are lacking in faith. Jeremiah said that even though he wanted to, he couldn’t console them because their ruin had spread wide as the sea. All this was because of their disobedience and rebellion against God. Remember that what happened to them was God’s doing. God would rescue them in His time. He had not forgotten them and had not forsaken them.
“All who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and shake their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that is called ‘The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth’?”
All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; they hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day we have waited for; We have found it, we have seen it!” (v15,16)
Here we have their enemies mocking them. They were even in astonishment that God should do this to His own people. Mockingly, they recalled that Jerusalem was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth, and now look what their God has done to them. It should have been a warning to them that disobedience was serious, and that God was a righteous God and a just God. They thought that all this happened because of their strength and power, but they were disillusioned.
We still see this today that God’s people, even ourselves, are mocked and scorned and ridiculed. Let us learn from this and seek to obey our Lord in all we do. How often have you had it said to you, “I thought Christians didn’t do that.” They are always ready to pull us up, so we need to walk carefully and talk carefully.
“The LORD has done what He purposed; He has fulfilled His word which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied, And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.” (v17)
As we saw earlier in v8 this was all God’s doing. He purposed it and fulfilled what He said. They had been warned that their disobedience would bring this about, and sure enough, it did. They would not be in this condition if they had not rebelled.
“Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief; Give your eyes no rest.
“Arise, cry out in the night, At the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him For the life of your young children, Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.” (v18,19)
Remember, this is not a recount of history, it is Jeremiah’s lament over what has happened. It has grieved him and brought him to tears of a broken heart. Jeremiah is pleading with his people to cry out to God for mercy, especially for their children. It seemed, however, that they were still in rebellion and didn’t accept that it was their rebellion which had caused it.
Their enemies were quite happy to see Jerusalem weep as we have seen in their taunts.
The lament ends with these words, “See, O LORD, and consider! To whom have You done this? Should the women eat their offspring, the children they have cuddled? Should the priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? “Young and old lie on the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword; You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered and not pitied. “You have invited as to a feast day the terrors that surround me.
In the day of the LORD’s anger there was no refugee or survivor.
Those whom I have borne and brought up my enemies have destroyed.” (v20-22)
Some suggest that it is the city of Jerusalem asking the questions, but to me it seems that it is the man of God, Jeremiah asking why it had sunk to these depths – even women eating their own children, priests and prophets being slain in the sanctuary; the picture of God inviting their enemies to one of their solemn feast days; The slaughter of virgins and young men indicating the destruction of the next generation. If it was the city crying out to God, it seemed that it was too late to cry for mercy and that God would bring their deliverance about in His time. We know from history that they were in captivity in Babylon for seventy years, and God brought deliverance to a remnant. We see God’s faithfulness and mercy in the next lament in chapter 3. Thus, whilst God in his righteousness brought judgment upon them and it was deserved, and the whole city was in agony, He did not leave them altogether.
