Lam 2:9 | KingComments | STEP | Here the second lament begins, which also starts with the word “how” (cf. ). Again, what we have seen in the first lament applies: twenty-two verses of three lines each, with the first verse beginning with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and each subsequent verse with the next letter of it. Again we hear the great sorrow of Jeremiah who needs every letter to express his sorrow. The first lament (Lamentations 1) is more about desolation, loneliness and disgrace as a result of the destruction of Jerusalem. In the lament in this chapter, we see more of the state of destruction with the destruction of the temple being the main issue. We also see emphatically here that the destruction is the result of the anger of God. 1. describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord ( Adonai ). 2. In we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. contain a call to call on the Lord ( Adonai ) and 6. in we hear how the LORD ( Yahweh ) is called. Right at the beginning Jeremiah says that it is not the enemy, but that it is the Lord ( Adonai ) Who in His anger has covered Jerusalem with the darkness of mourning and grief ( ). A cloud, the mourning and grief, covers Jerusalem; the city is immersed in them. In this darkness, no ray of light of God’s presence can be seen. There is no prayer that can reach the Lord. “The glory of Israel”, which is the LORD’s own dwelling place, the temple, He has, by the hand of the enemies, “cast from heaven to earth” and razed to the ground. Zion went from the highest glory to the deepest disgrace (cf. ). Although the enemies were used by Him in the execution of His anger, Jeremiah still attributes everything to the Lord. He has done it. “His footstool”, the place of His rest, is the ark of His covenant ( ). He has not been willing and able to keep it because the people have deprived Him of His rest because of their sins. He has not remembered to protect and keep it for His people. He had to leave the temple and therefore the temple and the objects in it no longer have any meaning. In the day when He had to exercise His anger, He gave everything into the hand of the enemies to destroy it or carry it away. The Lord did not spare His own dwelling. Nor has He ( Adonai ) spared the dwellings of His people, but has thrown them all down ( ). He swallowed them as if He were a great monster. It points to the completeness of the destruction. His anger because of their sins is great. Therefore He wiped out from the face of the earth all the strongholds, all the fortified cities of Judah, on which they had relied as a protection against the enemy. The description is clear. The Lord dealt with the cities. He has “brought [them] down to the ground”, that is, levelled them to the ground. By doing so, He desecrated the kingdom and its leadership, that is, deprived them of the special place they had before Him. Judah lost its independence. Zedekiah was taken to Babylon and his sons and princes were killed. “All the strength of Israel”, literally “every horn of Israel”, He has cut off in His fierce anger ( ). The horn is a picture of strength ( ; ). Israel has been strong through the LORD. However, nothing is left of their strength because they have forsaken their strong God. They stand powerless in the midst of misery and ruin. When the LORD acted, it was against His people. But even when He did not act, it was against His people. “His right hand”, which protected them and which fought for them and redeemed them ( ; ), He has drown back from them ( ). Israel had to cope without His help. The enemy saw that and seized his opportunity. The enemy has been given free rein because the LORD has burned in anger against Jacob. His anger is “like a flaming fire, consuming round about”. Nothing is spared. Every corner of the land is visited and falls prey to His judging fire. He has become the adversary of His people ( ). He has acted as an enemy of His people. In , He has withdrawn His right hand from His people. Here His right hand reappears, but now “He has bent His bow” ready to approach and punish His people like “an enemy”. He has cocked the bow and slain all those who were pleasant to the eye, that is the fighting young men. Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship ( ), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages. The Lord ( Adonai ) has “become like an enemy” to His people, for He has given them into the hand of the king of Babylon, making this enemy His representative ( ). If His people would obediently serve Him, He would be the enemy of the enemies of His people ( ). But now He, the Lord Himself, is the enemy of His people (cf. ). He has done it, His hand has brought this calamity upon them. We must also be well aware of this in what comes upon us or is said to us. No matter how hostile or carnal something may be that comes upon us, we must accept it from His hand. Again the word “swallowed” is used (cf. ). Israel and all her palaces were swallowed by Him. All her strongholds have been “destroyed”. It causes an increasing lamentation among His people, the daughter Judah. He has pulled down His temple as a temporary booth, “His tabernacle”, as if it were a temporary shelter that farmers build in the fields and tear down when they are finished in the fields ( ). Nothing remains of the temple, for He has “violently treated” it, which also expresses His anger. He has done it thoroughly. The “garden” is His land. His people have sacrificed to idols in it. So why should He still maintain His temple? Therefore, He has taken away from them the privilege of worshiping Him. “His appointed meeting place”, the place where the people gathered by and with Him, the temple, is gone. He Himself brought that place to ruin. He was forced to do so because of the behavior of His people. We see the same thing today, where places of gathering are disappearing because pride has made “His place” a place where people call the shots. If He is no longer given all authority in His place of meeting, He can no longer be in the midst there (cf. ). Everything that the people connected to the LORD ( Yahweh ) in a festive meeting is over. The people have forgotten because there is nothing left reminding of it. The cause of this lies with the LORD. He has also taken away “the appointed feast and sabbath” with the temple. He has made it impossible to meet Him on the occasion of the feasts in the temple. This is true in a double sense: He left the temple and He destroyed it. With the temple, “king and priest” have also been rejected. The house of David is in captivity as is the priesthood. There is a close connection between the Davidic kingship and the Levitical priesthood. David and his son Solomon were intimately involved with the temple, the priest’s field of activity. When the temple is gone and there is no place for the priest, there is no place for kingship either. The whole public religious life no longer has a reason to exist. This situation will exist until the true King-Priest, the Lord Jesus, will sit on His throne as Priest and reign ( ). In His majesty, the Lord ( Adonai ) “rejected His altar” and “abandoned His sanctuary” ( ). He could no longer maintain it because they continued to sin. By doing so, they indicated that they did not value the altar as a symbol of atonement and His sanctuary as a symbol of His presence. He has also given the walls of the palaces of princes into the hand of the enemy. What should humanly provide protection becomes an easy obstacle for the enemies to overcome because the Lord helps them. The enemies themselves have no regard for that. They are in the temple instead of His people. They are not there to thank the LORD, but to sound their roaring voices in haughty joy of victory in that house. It is their day of an appointed feast. It is not a joy to the LORD and not a day of an appointed feast dedicated to Him. The LORD did not act on a whim. He made a deliberate decision, after careful consideration. Because of their irredeemably sinful behavior, He had to decide to destroy Jerusalem ( ). The wall is down. The enemy can walk right in. That His decision is deliberate is also evident from “a line” that He “stretched out”. Such a thing is also done carefully. His hand worked this “destroying” and determined its precision as with a measuring line (cf. ; ). Usually a measuring line is used to do edifying work ( ; ), but here it is used to do a destructive work. The devastation here concerns mainly the fortifications, walls and ramparts, which here are again presented as living persons lamenting what has happened to them. All the protection that was supposed to provide peace and security has collapsed with the result that they languish together. The gates and bars are destroyed ( ). When Nehemiah hears of the downed walls and the destroyed gates and bars, it brings him to humility, prayer and action (Nehemiah 1-3). Those who were supposed to protect and govern the city, “her king and her princes” – possibly Jehoiachin and his staff are meant here – have been carried away and are among the nations. No one talks about the law anymore. The law was done away with and the false prophets have nothing to say anymore. The will of God was not asked. The priests were not asked to explain the law; nor were the prophets approached to hear what the LORD had shown them. None of it made sense either because God was silent. Everything that gave guidance to the people on God’s behalf disappeared. He had to take it away from them because of their unfaithfulness (cf. ). There was no message of comfort and support for them.

‏ Lamentations 2:9

Introduction

Here the second lament begins, which also starts with the word “how” (cf. Lam 1:1). Again, what we have seen in the first lament applies: twenty-two verses of three lines each, with the first verse beginning with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and each subsequent verse with the next letter of it. Again we hear the great sorrow of Jeremiah who needs every letter to express his sorrow.

The first lament (Lamentations 1) is more about desolation, loneliness and disgrace as a result of the destruction of Jerusalem. In the lament in this chapter, we see more of the state of destruction with the destruction of the temple being the main issue. We also see emphatically here that the destruction is the result of the anger of God.

1. Lam 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai).

2. In Lam 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and

3. in Lam 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah.

4. In Lam 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it.

5. Lam 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and

6. in Lam 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Right at the beginning Jeremiah says that it is not the enemy, but that it is the Lord (Adonai) Who in His anger has covered Jerusalem with the darkness of mourning and grief (Lam 2:1). A cloud, the mourning and grief, covers Jerusalem; the city is immersed in them. In this darkness, no ray of light of God’s presence can be seen. There is no prayer that can reach the Lord.

“The glory of Israel”, which is the LORD’s own dwelling place, the temple, He has, by the hand of the enemies, “cast from heaven to earth” and razed to the ground. Zion went from the highest glory to the deepest disgrace (cf. Mt 11:23). Although the enemies were used by Him in the execution of His anger, Jeremiah still attributes everything to the Lord. He has done it.

“His footstool”, the place of His rest, is the ark of His covenant (1Chr 28:2). He has not been willing and able to keep it because the people have deprived Him of His rest because of their sins. He has not remembered to protect and keep it for His people. He had to leave the temple and therefore the temple and the objects in it no longer have any meaning. In the day when He had to exercise His anger, He gave everything into the hand of the enemies to destroy it or carry it away.

The Lord did not spare His own dwelling. Nor has He (Adonai) spared the dwellings of His people, but has thrown them all down (Lam 2:2). He swallowed them as if He were a great monster. It points to the completeness of the destruction.

His anger because of their sins is great. Therefore He wiped out from the face of the earth all the strongholds, all the fortified cities of Judah, on which they had relied as a protection against the enemy. The description is clear. The Lord dealt with the cities.

He has “brought [them] down to the ground”, that is, levelled them to the ground. By doing so, He desecrated the kingdom and its leadership, that is, deprived them of the special place they had before Him. Judah lost its independence. Zedekiah was taken to Babylon and his sons and princes were killed.

“All the strength of Israel”, literally “every horn of Israel”, He has cut off in His fierce anger (Lam 2:3). The horn is a picture of strength (1Sam 2:1; Jer 48:25). Israel has been strong through the LORD. However, nothing is left of their strength because they have forsaken their strong God. They stand powerless in the midst of misery and ruin.

When the LORD acted, it was against His people. But even when He did not act, it was against His people. “His right hand”, which protected them and which fought for them and redeemed them (Exo 15:12; Psa 18:35 ; Psa 20:6 ; Psa 108:6), He has drown back from them (Psa 74:11). Israel had to cope without His help. The enemy saw that and seized his opportunity.

The enemy has been given free rein because the LORD has burned in anger against Jacob. His anger is “like a flaming fire, consuming round about”. Nothing is spared. Every corner of the land is visited and falls prey to His judging fire.

He has become the adversary of His people (Lam 2:4). He has acted as an enemy of His people. In Lam 2:3, He has withdrawn His right hand from His people. Here His right hand reappears, but now “He has bent His bow” ready to approach and punish His people like “an enemy”. He has cocked the bow and slain all those who were pleasant to the eye, that is the fighting young men.

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psa 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

The Lord (Adonai) has “become like an enemy” to His people, for He has given them into the hand of the king of Babylon, making this enemy His representative (Lam 2:5). If His people would obediently serve Him, He would be the enemy of the enemies of His people (Exo 23:22). But now He, the Lord Himself, is the enemy of His people (cf. Isa 63:10). He has done it, His hand has brought this calamity upon them. We must also be well aware of this in what comes upon us or is said to us. No matter how hostile or carnal something may be that comes upon us, we must accept it from His hand.

Again the word “swallowed” is used (cf. Lam 2:2). Israel and all her palaces were swallowed by Him. All her strongholds have been “destroyed”. It causes an increasing lamentation among His people, the daughter Judah.

He has pulled down His temple as a temporary booth, “His tabernacle”, as if it were a temporary shelter that farmers build in the fields and tear down when they are finished in the fields (Lam 2:6). Nothing remains of the temple, for He has “violently treated” it, which also expresses His anger. He has done it thoroughly. The “garden” is His land. His people have sacrificed to idols in it. So why should He still maintain His temple? Therefore, He has taken away from them the privilege of worshiping Him.

“His appointed meeting place”, the place where the people gathered by and with Him, the temple, is gone. He Himself brought that place to ruin. He was forced to do so because of the behavior of His people. We see the same thing today, where places of gathering are disappearing because pride has made “His place” a place where people call the shots. If He is no longer given all authority in His place of meeting, He can no longer be in the midst there (cf. Mt 18:20).

Everything that the people connected to the LORD (Yahweh) in a festive meeting is over. The people have forgotten because there is nothing left reminding of it. The cause of this lies with the LORD. He has also taken away “the appointed feast and sabbath” with the temple. He has made it impossible to meet Him on the occasion of the feasts in the temple. This is true in a double sense: He left the temple and He destroyed it.

With the temple, “king and priest” have also been rejected. The house of David is in captivity as is the priesthood. There is a close connection between the Davidic kingship and the Levitical priesthood. David and his son Solomon were intimately involved with the temple, the priest’s field of activity. When the temple is gone and there is no place for the priest, there is no place for kingship either. The whole public religious life no longer has a reason to exist. This situation will exist until the true King-Priest, the Lord Jesus, will sit on His throne as Priest and reign (Zec 6:13).

In His majesty, the Lord (Adonai) “rejected His altar” and “abandoned His sanctuary” (Lam 2:7). He could no longer maintain it because they continued to sin. By doing so, they indicated that they did not value the altar as a symbol of atonement and His sanctuary as a symbol of His presence.

He has also given the walls of the palaces of princes into the hand of the enemy. What should humanly provide protection becomes an easy obstacle for the enemies to overcome because the Lord helps them.

The enemies themselves have no regard for that. They are in the temple instead of His people. They are not there to thank the LORD, but to sound their roaring voices in haughty joy of victory in that house. It is their day of an appointed feast. It is not a joy to the LORD and not a day of an appointed feast dedicated to Him.

The LORD did not act on a whim. He made a deliberate decision, after careful consideration. Because of their irredeemably sinful behavior, He had to decide to destroy Jerusalem (Lam 2:8). The wall is down. The enemy can walk right in.

That His decision is deliberate is also evident from “a line” that He “stretched out”. Such a thing is also done carefully. His hand worked this “destroying” and determined its precision as with a measuring line (cf. 2Kgs 21:13; Isa 34:11). Usually a measuring line is used to do edifying work (Job 38:5; Zec 1:16), but here it is used to do a destructive work.

The devastation here concerns mainly the fortifications, walls and ramparts, which here are again presented as living persons lamenting what has happened to them. All the protection that was supposed to provide peace and security has collapsed with the result that they languish together.

The gates and bars are destroyed (Lam 2:9). When Nehemiah hears of the downed walls and the destroyed gates and bars, it brings him to humility, prayer and action (Nehemiah 1-3). Those who were supposed to protect and govern the city, “her king and her princes” – possibly Jehoiachin and his staff are meant here – have been carried away and are among the nations.

No one talks about the law anymore. The law was done away with and the false prophets have nothing to say anymore. The will of God was not asked. The priests were not asked to explain the law; nor were the prophets approached to hear what the LORD had shown them. None of it made sense either because God was silent. Everything that gave guidance to the people on God’s behalf disappeared. He had to take it away from them because of their unfaithfulness (cf. 1Sam 28:6). There was no message of comfort and support for them.