Lam 1:16 | KingComments | STEP | The strong men of the city are gone. They have been rejected by the Lord ( ). Jeremiah, or rather Jeremiah who identifies with Jerusalem, calls them “my strong men”. They have been rejected from the midst of the city. This is based on a decision of God. He has called an appointed time for that. It is a terrible appointed time. It is not an appointed time for the LORD, but for the enemies. The enemies have crushed the strength of the young men. In a picture of a virgin that immediately follows, the daughter of Judah is seen in a wine press being stepped on by the Lord. He judges her. Wine belongs to a feast. The joy of wine is obtained by the treading of the grapes in the winepress, which is a picture of judgment ( ; ; ). There is irony in the used pictures of feast and wine press. They arouse the thought of joy, jubilation, when it is a question of the judgment that has come in all its horror upon Jerusalem, “the virgin daughter of Judah”. All this misery causes the prophet intense grief and a flood of tears ( ). He feels without comfort. The LORD, Who is his only Comforter, is so far away. And if He doesn’t comfort, who will? His sons, who are the children of His people, are appalled at the power of the enemy who can exercise it undisturbed over the city. In , Jeremiah is again a spectator. He no longer speaks of ‘I’, but of ‘her’, which is Zion. He sees Zion stretching out her hands to heaven, but having no comforter. Heaven is silent. Throughout this book we hear no answer from God. Jeremiah expresses the certainty that whatever befalls the people is commanded by the LORD. All suffering comes from Him. He has caused the bystanders to become opponents and Jerusalem to find support in no one. She has been given up by the LORD, abandoned, because she has become “an unclean thing”. She owes this to her own unfaithfulness to Him.

‏ Lamentations 1:16

The People of Jerusalem

The strong men of the city are gone. They have been rejected by the Lord (Lam 1:15). Jeremiah, or rather Jeremiah who identifies with Jerusalem, calls them “my strong men”. They have been rejected from the midst of the city. This is based on a decision of God. He has called an appointed time for that. It is a terrible appointed time. It is not an appointed time for the LORD, but for the enemies. The enemies have crushed the strength of the young men. In a picture of a virgin that immediately follows, the daughter of Judah is seen in a wine press being stepped on by the Lord. He judges her.

Wine belongs to a feast. The joy of wine is obtained by the treading of the grapes in the winepress, which is a picture of judgment (Isa 63:3; Joel 3:13; Rev 14:19). There is irony in the used pictures of feast and wine press. They arouse the thought of joy, jubilation, when it is a question of the judgment that has come in all its horror upon Jerusalem, “the virgin daughter of Judah”.

All this misery causes the prophet intense grief and a flood of tears (Lam 1:16). He feels without comfort. The LORD, Who is his only Comforter, is so far away. And if He doesn’t comfort, who will? His sons, who are the children of His people, are appalled at the power of the enemy who can exercise it undisturbed over the city.

In Lam 1:17, Jeremiah is again a spectator. He no longer speaks of ‘I’, but of ‘her’, which is Zion. He sees Zion stretching out her hands to heaven, but having no comforter. Heaven is silent. Throughout this book we hear no answer from God. Jeremiah expresses the certainty that whatever befalls the people is commanded by the LORD. All suffering comes from Him. He has caused the bystanders to become opponents and Jerusalem to find support in no one. She has been given up by the LORD, abandoned, because she has become “an unclean thing”. She owes this to her own unfaithfulness to Him.