The Most Devastating Event – Lamentations 1-2

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #240 and today we’ll read Lamentations 1-2 together.   The Babylon exile and the burning of their beloved Jerusalem was the most devastating event to happen to the Israelites.

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Introduction to Lamentations

Let me introduce you to the book of Lamentations.  You don’t have to go past the title to know what this book is all about.  We read how the Israelites lamented while wandering thru the desert.  We listened as they cried out to have a king like all the other nations.  But we don’t want to confuse whining with lamenting.  These are heart-felt, gut-wrenching, walls-falling-down cries out to God.  I think you’ll be reminded of Job in this book.  The gloves are off, they’re past being polite, and they’re laying everything out on the table before Him.  

As human beings, we must grieve. It’s a process and we’ve all heard the steps.  If we don’t grieve, we will either act out or go crazy.  Ironically, when we stop acting out, the grieving process is still waiting for us.  I learned about grieving in the ‘80s when my first baby suffered a circulatory collapse at four days old.  Unfortunately, I didn’t learn about grieving before I did the acting out.  And sure enough, there were the seven stages of grief, waiting patiently for me when I was done.  I have learned since that God’s shoulders are plenty broad to take anything I can dish out in my anguish.  And to avoid the sin that inherently goes along with acting out, dish it out to Him I will.

An Expression of Grief

Lamenting is an expression of grief.  And frankly, I don’t think we – as a society – are very good at lamenting.  We’ve been raised that we’re supposed to suck it up, put our big-girl panties on, deal with it.  

So, as we read Lamentations, I encourage you to revisit in your mind a really horrible time you went through.  Perhaps you didn’t lament the way God is teaching us to do here.  I hope we all commit to involving Him deeply in our next storm.  And as we know, there will always be another storm.

Lamentations Chapter 1

Lament over Jerusalem

א Aleph

How she sits alone,

the city once crowded with people!

She who was great among the nations

has become like a widow.

The princess among the provinces

has been put to forced labor.

ב Beth

She weeps bitterly during the night,

with tears on her cheeks.

There is no one to offer her comfort,

not one from all her lovers.

All her friends have betrayed her;

they have become her enemies.

ג Gimel

Judah has gone into exile

following affliction and harsh slavery;

she lives among the nations

but finds no place to rest.

All her pursuers have overtaken her

in narrow places.

ד Daleth

The roads to Zion mourn,

for no one comes to the appointed festivals.

All her gates are deserted;

her priests groan,

her young women grieve,

and she herself is bitter.

ה He

Her adversaries have become her masters;

her enemies are at ease,

for the Lord has made her suffer

because of her many transgressions.

Her children have gone away

as captives before the adversary.

ו Waw

All the splendor has vanished

from Daughter Zion.

Her leaders are like stags

that find no pasture;

they stumble away exhausted

before the hunter.

ז Zayin

During the days of her affliction and homelessness

Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings

that were hers in days of old.

When her people fell into the adversary’s hand,

she had no one to help.

The adversaries looked at her,

laughing over her downfall.

ח Cheth

Jerusalem has sinned grievously;

therefore, she has become an object of scorn.

All who honored her now despise her,

for they have seen her nakedness.

She herself groans and turns away.

ט Teth

Her uncleanness stains her skirts.

She never considered her end.

Her downfall was astonishing;

there was no one to comfort her.

Lord, look on my affliction,

for the enemy boasts.

י Yod

The adversary has seized

all her precious belongings.

She has even seen the nations

enter her sanctuary —

those you had forbidden

to enter your assembly.

כ Kaph

All her people groan

while they search for bread.

They have traded their precious belongings for food

in order to stay alive.

Lord, look and see

how I have become despised.

ל Lamed

Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look and see!

Is there any pain like mine,

which was dealt out to me,

which the Lord made me suffer

on the day of his burning anger?

מ Mem

He sent fire from on high into my bones;

he made it descend.

He spread a net for my feet

and turned me back.

He made me desolate,

sick all day long.

נ Nun

My transgressions have been formed into a yoke,

fastened together by his hand;

they have been placed on my neck,

and the Lord has broken my strength.

He has handed me over

to those I cannot withstand.

ס Samek

The Lord has rejected

all the mighty men within me.

He has summoned an army against me

to crush my young warriors.

The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah

like grapes in a winepress.

ע Ayin

I weep because of these things;

my eyes flow with tears.

For there is no one nearby to comfort me,

no one to keep me alive.

My children are desolate

because the enemy has prevailed.

פ Pe

Zion stretches out her hands;

there is no one to comfort her.

The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob

that his neighbors should be his adversaries.

Jerusalem has become

something impure among them.

צ Tsade

The Lord is just,

for I have rebelled against his command.

Listen, all you people;

look at my pain.

My young women and young men

have gone into captivity.

ק Qoph

I called to my lovers,

but they betrayed me.

My priests and elders

perished in the city

while searching for food

to keep themselves alive.

ר Resh

Lord, see how I am in distress.

I am churning within;

my heart is broken,

for I have been very rebellious.

Outside, the sword takes the children;

inside, there is death.

שׁ Shin

People have heard me groaning,

but there is no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my misfortune;

they are glad that you have caused it.

Bring on the day you have announced,

so that they may become like me.

ת Taw

Let all their wickedness come before you,

and deal with them

as you have dealt with me

because of all my transgressions.

For my groans are many,

and I am sick at heart.

Lamentations Chapter 2

Judgment on Jerusalem

א Aleph

How the Lord has overshadowed

Daughter Zion with his anger!

He has thrown down Israel’s glory

from heaven to earth.

He did not acknowledge his footstool

in the day of his anger.

ב Beth

Without compassion the Lord has swallowed up

all the dwellings of Jacob.

In his wrath he has demolished

the fortified cities of Daughter Judah.

He brought them to the ground

and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.

ג Gimel

He has cut off every horn of Israel

in his burning anger

and withdrawn his right hand

in the presence of the enemy.

He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire

that consumes everything.

ד Daleth

He has strung his bow like an enemy;

his right hand is positioned like an adversary.

He has killed everyone who was the delight to the eye,

pouring out his wrath like fire

on the tent of Daughter Zion.

ה He

The Lord is like an enemy;

he has swallowed up Israel.

He swallowed up all its palaces

and destroyed its fortified cities.

He has multiplied mourning and lamentation

within Daughter Judah.

ו Waw

He has wrecked his temple

as if it were merely a shack in a field,

destroying his place of meeting.

The Lord has abolished

appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion.

He has despised king and priest

in his fierce anger.

ז Zayin

The Lord has rejected his altar,

repudiated his sanctuary;

he has handed the walls of her palaces

over to the enemy.

They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord

as on the day of an appointed festival.

ח Cheth

The Lord determined to destroy

the wall of Daughter Zion.

He stretched out a measuring line

and did not restrain himself from destroying.

He made the ramparts and walls grieve;

together they waste away.

ט Teth

Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground;

he has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.

Her king and her leaders live among the nations,

instruction is no more,

and even her prophets receive

no vision from the Lord.

י Yod

The elders of Daughter Zion

sit on the ground in silence.

They have thrown dust on their heads

and put on sackcloth.

The young women of Jerusalem

have bowed their heads to the ground.

כ Kaph

My eyes are worn out from weeping;

I am churning within.

My heart is poured out in grief

because of the destruction of my dear people,

because infants and nursing babies faint

in the streets of the city.

ל Lamed

They cry out to their mothers,

“Where is the grain and wine?”

as they faint like the wounded

in the streets of the city,

as their life pours out

in the arms of their mothers.

מ Mem

What can I say on your behalf?

What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem?

What can I liken you to,

so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion?

For your ruin is as vast as the sea.

Who can heal you?

נ Nun

Your prophets saw visions for you

that were empty and deceptive;

they did not reveal your iniquity

and so restore your fortunes.

They saw pronouncements for you

that were empty and misleading.

ס Samek

All who pass by

scornfully clap their hands at you.

They hiss and shake their heads

at Daughter Jerusalem:

Is this the city that was called

the perfection of beauty,

the joy of the whole earth?

פ Pe

All your enemies

open their mouths against you.

They hiss and gnash their teeth,

saying, “We have swallowed her up.

This is the day we have waited for!

We have lived to see it.”

ע Ayin

The Lord has done what he planned;

he has accomplished his decree,

which he ordained in days of old.

He has demolished without compassion,

letting the enemy gloat over you

and exalting the horn of your adversaries.

צ Tsade

The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.

Wall of Daughter Zion,

let your tears run down like a river

day and night.

Give yourself no relief

and your eyes no rest.

ק Qoph

Arise, cry out in the night

from the first watch of the night.

Pour out your heart like water

before the Lord’s presence.

Lift up your hands to him

for the lives of your children

who are fainting from hunger

at the head of every street.

ר Resh

Lord, look and consider

to whom you have done this.

Should women eat their own children,

the infants they have nurtured?

Should priests and prophets

be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?

שׁ Shin

Both young and old

are lying on the ground in the streets.

My young women and young men

have fallen by the sword.

You have killed them in the day of your anger,

slaughtering without compassion.

ת Taw

You summon those who terrorize me on every side,

as if for an appointed festival day;

on the day of the Lord’s anger

no one escaped or survived.

My enemy has destroyed

those I nurtured and reared.

Close

We see some familiar imagery in Chapter 2, don’t we?  I can certainly see Job in this chapter, and we can learn a lot from Job about lamenting.  There was lots of tension; lots of going back and forth.  And that’s really how our grieving goes, isn’t it?  On the one hand, it would be really nice if God would forget His promises of cursing.  On the other hand, we know deep down that we deserve it all.  Not only that, but if God forgot His promise of cursing, what other promises could we not depend on?  That’s why He is a just and trustworthy God.  He is not fickle.  When He promises something, it will come to pass. 

I forgot to remind you to go to The Bible Project and watch the overview video for the book of Lamentations.  It is so good!  It will definitely help you navigate some of the imagery of these writings.  It also explains the acrostic structure and even explains the unresolved paradox at the end.  Finally, it is no longer assumed that Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations.  Who knew?  Modern scholars are suggesting it was written by five different poets among others.  The scholars at The Bible Project simply say it is anonymous.  

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See You Tomorrow!

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will be changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.