This is the first of five poems from Jeremiah, apart from his narrative history, reflecting on the wickedness and then fall of Judah.
The first four poems are acrostics, meaning each new verse starts with the next letter of alphabet, until they are all used. Some might see this as a creative tool of the poet; but in this time period with very little literacy, using this method become a memory aid for those who only hear it read by others. That's interesting to me. He didn't use this in the scrolls that make up the Book of Jeremiah. Of course I'm just guessing, but it seems like this was his distilled version for the masses.
And indeed, many Jews read this whole book once per year in remembrance of the fall of the Temple—the Temple of Jeremiah's time and the Temple of AD 70 when the Romans again destroyed it because of the Jews disobedience and lack of belief in their Savior. I don't say this as a criticism. They are blessed to be the Royal priesthood Nation. Christians, grafted in as the Royal priesthood would be well served to remember God's love for his people and what that means for us and our nation.
Ok...now to the text.
How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
She has become like a widow
Who was once great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
Has become a forced laborer! Lamentations 1:1
Excellent opener. It immediately sets the melancholy tone and describes where Jeremiah is sitting. He is immediately adjacent to the destruction, as he saw it first hand.
The other introductory note is that Jeremiah is grieving for the people; but he is also grieving the city itself. As I understand it, he will be personifying Jerusalem throughout the poems as a woman. We see her in this verse as a widow, a former princess, and a current slave. And truly, Israel had golden eras of prosperity and power only to be captives in Babylon and scattered completely by Assyria.
Starting in verse 2 further personification of Jerusalem or Israel as:
- weeping bitterly, no comfort from her multiple lovers, and betrayed by friends, who are now her enemies (v.2)
- exiled under affliction, hard labor, captive in a foreign land with no rest (v. 3)
- even the roads mourn because no one can come to the annual festivals, her gates are empty, and she suffers with even priests and virgin being afflicted (v. 4)
- she suffers indignity being led by foes, watching enemies prosper, losing her children as captives because of a multitude of transgressions—she is the cause of her own suffering (v. 5)
- She was royalty and now has no majesty—even her princes are deer being hunted (v. 6)
In the days of her affliction and homelessness
Jerusalem remembers all her precious things
That were from the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
And no one helped her.
The adversaries saw her,
They mocked at her ruin. Lamentations 1:7
With all of the devastation around them, they still remembered the precious things they lost. And then back to grieving the devastation. If you've ever suffered a loss or a tragedy you know this PTSD cycle. You look back fondly on the time before the tragedy or loss and try to think of a way to get back to that. There's a reason the idea of a time machine is so prominent in our culture. What we often do instead is try to just wipe the memories through alcohol, weed, shopping, or some other idol. Rather than facing why it happened and crying out to God.
We see Jeremiah refocus on why it happened in verse 8-9.
- she sinned grievously
- she became filthy
- she traded honor for being despised
- she showed her nakedness and now turns away in humiliation.
- her clothes were dirty
- she took no thought for the future
- she has no comforter.
- she complains to the Lord that her enemy triumphed
The line about "no thought for the future" really struck me. It is so very easy to succumb to our weaknesses in the moment. We are all gifted in erasing what we know to be true when we are hot for what we want. And then we cry to God that we're facing consequences. Sometimes I feel a deep and bitter grief when I pray to God about something, but my spirit reminds me that I had no respect for Him when I was digging the hole I'm in. Don't get me wrong. Many things happen to us that are not our fault. they happen to us simply because it is a fallen world. However, I have to posit this claim: most of the bad things in our life DO trace back to choices we made. And not neutral choices...the road less traveled and all of that. But choices of subjecting our volition to the world in order to pursue something our spirit or conscience warns us not to.
The adversary has stretched out his hand
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they should not enter into Your congregation. Lamentations 1:10
What an image. God uses sexual imagery often for the love of a husband and wife and the brutality of an enemy on women. It's such a primal and universal reference. This verse is an example of that. God commands that we hold our precious things from those who should not enter; but Jerusalem has to watch as all the unclean barbarian tramp through her.
Starting in verse 11 the people cry our in despair.
- They cannot find bread and trade their precious things for bread just to live.
- They know they are despised.
- They complain to those who pass by that the Lord afflicted them. (They were warned.)
- He set fire to my bones
- trapped my feet in a net
- left me stunned and faint
- The complaining continues, but at least the speaker actually acknowledge their portion in the trouble.
- "My transgressions were bound into a yoke."
- He had my hands bound
- They attacked my neck
- He caused my strength to fail
- The Lord gave me into their hands.
- The Lord rejected my mighty men, who were crushed by the ones the lord sent.
- The lord trod on Judah's virgins like a winepress.
- Wine and wine in a cup are often used as a symbol of God's wrath.
“For these things I weep;
My eyes run down with water;
Because far from me is a comforter,
One who restores my soul.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy has prevailed.” Lamentations 1: 16
That's quite a summary of the situation. When we head off down a road of sin and rebellion, we have to harden our heart to the voice of the Spirit and our conscience. Sadly, it takes deep grief to bring us back, which often comes with weeping and discomfort. It looks like the enemy prevailed, but he couldn't have done it without our consent.
Verse 17 paints the picture of Zion stretching out her hand for help and no one reaches back. By the Lord's will, her neighbors are against her and Jerusalem has become filthy.
Verse 18 shows some sign of genuine repentance, not just sadness for her own loss:
“The Lord is righteous;
For I have rebelled against His command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my pain;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity. Lamentations 1:18
In verse 19 she calls to her lovers, but they deceive her. The priests and elders perish as they look for food.
The truth continues to dawn on speaker, with true repentance showing through:
“The Lord is righteous;
For I have rebelled against His command;
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my pain;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity. Lamentation 1:20
The speaker has now tied their own sin to the results.
No one is comforting the speaker. Her enemies are gloating. Then she admits that she was warned about this day. And then she admits she prays the same destruction onto her attackers. (Which we know does happen, see the final chapters of Jeremiah.)
God is patient and long suffering; but not forever. We should all remember that. Maybe we are committing the overt sins of this age, but we EACH have plenty of our own.