Lamentations 1:20-22

C. The Appeal to God Lamentations 1:20-22

TRANSLATION

(20) Behold, O LORD, for I am in distress, my inward parts are troubled, my heart is turned within me because I have grievously rebelled. In the streets the sword has caused loss of life, in the house there is death. (21) They hear that I sigh, that I have no comforter. All of my foes have heard of my misfortune; they rejoice that You have done it, have brought the day You announced. But they shall be like me. (22) Let all of their evil come before You! Deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions! For my sorrow is great and my heart is sick.

COMMENTS

Finally the weeping widow turns her face heavenward and presents a petition before the Lord. In the hearing of God she reviews her predicament and acknowledges her sin. Zion turns to the Lord with a contrite heart because she now realizes that there is no one else to whom she can turn. She makes no attempt to excuse her sin. She accepts her punishment as just. The ruthless enemy had slain men in the streets and houses and then had rejoiced over the ruin which the Lord had sent upon Jerusalem. Yet Zion still has confidence in divine justice. One day that enemy will experience a fate similar to that of Jerusalem (Lamentations 1:21). In a morally ordered universe no transgressor can go unpunished forever. The prayer Let all their evil come before You is a recognition of the fact that sin must be punished. Zion's prayer is in harmony with what God had previously stated He would do to the nations (Isaiah 10:12-21; Habakkuk 2:5-17; Jeremiah 25:12-14). The execution of God's wrath upon the enemies of Zion would in effect be an act of mercy on behalf of suffering Zion (Lamentations 1:22). Thus the appeal to God is not so much vindictive imprecation as a plea for mercy.