Lamentations 2:1-22

There are certain scenes we find ourselves at a loss for words to describe.  Jeremiah attempts to overcome this loss of words in order to record the reality of what has happened in God’s judgment on Judah.  This description is important in order for future generations to understand the full consequences of God’s judgment and to what lengths He is willing to go in order to chastise the sins of men.  The reality is that the judgment Jeremiah describes here is only a small sampling of the future judgment of sin God has planned for the entire world.  It is important to gain an understanding of what God’s wrath looks like in hopes that we will be motivated to flee from the greater wrath that is soon to be revealed on the earth.

GOD’S DESTRUCTION OF JUDAH: One thing must be made absolutely clear: this judgment on Judah was not done by Babylonians; it was done by God.  He used Babylon as an instrument but Jeremiah makes it clear that God’s anger was the source of this judgment.  God has removed all defenses and strongholds of protection the nation once enjoyed.  This includes the physical structures that once protected the people but especially the protective hand of God over the nation.  God, who was once the protector and provider for Judah has now taken up weapons and become the enemy of the nation.  God is the one who inflected this destruction upon the nation.  Nothing was spared from the wrath of God.  The temple was made a pile of rubble and the religious rituals were all made to stop.  Kings and priests were all disregarded and the walls of protection were laid flat.  He turned His back on the people and they were brought to destruction.  God has done this before and He will do it again.  God has repeatedly demonstrated His commitment to judge sin and His willingness to bring about mass destruction as He does so.  Today’s generation must awaken to the reality of God’s wrath bearing down upon them.

JUDAH’S DEVASTATION BEFORE GOD: The result of this destruction is the absolute devastation of people who remain alive in the nation.  The leaders sit in the streets with their cloths torn and the women lie weeping with their faces in the dirt.  Jeremiah vomits due to the devastation he sees and the pain of watching children starving to death as their mothers are helpless to provide food for them.  He has no hope to offer these people.  He had tried to warn them but they preferred to listen to the false prophets who promised protection and prosperity to the people.  Judah has been made a spectacle for the nations to stand amazed at the contrast between the former delight of Judah now being utterly destroyed.  Judah’s enemies smack their lips as they devour the nation that was once invincible.  God had promised this day and it has now arrived.  There is nothing for the people to do but recognize their devastation and cry out to the Lord and plead for forgiveness and mercy.  They should lift their voices to the Lord and mourn there desperate condition.  Things have gotten so bad that women are eating their own dead children.  Men and women, young and old lay dead in the streets with nobody to bury them.  In times of devastation we can do nothing but cry out to the Lord.   We can, however, prevent this from happening in our own lives by repenting of our sin and trusting the Lord.  He will judge but He much prefers to forgive.