College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Lamentations 5:1-18
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
A PENITENT NATION
The form of the fifth poem differs in at least two respects from the four which precede it. First, this poem is not in the acrostic form. But like Chapter s 1, 2 and 4 it does have twenty-two verses which indicates that these five poems belong together. Secondly, chapter 5 is a prayer and not a dirge. While the poem does contain a recital of the miseries recently suffered by the people, the purpose of the poet here is to appeal to the compassion of God so as to gain His help. The poem consists of two unequal parts. (1) In Lamentations 5:1-18 the poet describes the present reproach of Zion, and (2) in Lamentations 5:19-22 he requests the restoration or renewal of Zion.
I. THE REPROACH OF ZION DESCRIBED
TRANSLATION
(1) Remember, O LORD, what has come upon us! Take note and observe our reproach. (2) Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners. (3) We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. (4) We drink our water with silver, our wood comes to us for a price. (5) Our pursuers are upon our necks; we are weary, but we have no rest. (6) We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, in order to get bread. (7) Our fathers sinned but they are dead. We have borne their iniquities. (8) Slaves rule over us! There is no one to deliver us from their hand. (9) At the risk of our lives we bring our bread because of the sword of the wilderness. (10) Our skin is hot like an oven because of the fever of hunger: (11) Women were ravished in Zion, maidens in the streets of Judah. (12) Princes were hanged by their hands; elders were not respected. (13) Young men carried the mill and youths staggered with wood. (14) Elders have left the gate, young men their songs. (15) The joy of our heart has ceased, our dance has changed to mourning. (16) The crown of our head has fallen! Woe now to us, for we have sinned. (17) For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are darkened; (18) because of Mt. Zion which is desolate, jackals walk on it.
COMMENTS
That chapter 5is a prayer is indicated by the language of Lamentations 5:1: Remember, O LORD, what has come upon us! There is a sense of desperation and urgency in these words. Of course God has not forgotten His people. He is not oblivious of their suffering. But when God hesitates to deliver one from reproach and difficulty it often seems to the sufferer that He has forgotten. The words of Lamentations 5:1 also reflect the hope and faith of the poet. He stands as a petitioner before a judge to present his case. He is sure that if he can present a convincing picture of the desperation and repentance of Israel that the Judge of all the earth will intervene on their behalf. The prophet is pleading with God to demonstrate by divine intervention that He is aware of what has happened to His people.
The condition of Israel was truly pitiable. Their reproach was great. They had lost everything. Their inheritance (land) and their houses had been given to strangers probably as payment for aiding in the Chaldean conquest of Jerusalem (Lamentations 5:2). With the male population practically decimated, those who remained were virtually widows and orphans (Lamentations 5:3). Such essential items as water and wood were so scarce that they had to be purchased from the captors (Lamentations 5:4). They were cruelly oppressed. The Chaldean troops which occupied the land gave the people no rest. They were breathing down their neck all the time. The Jewish remnant was constantly forced to labor for the enemy and were given no time to rest (Lamentations 5:5). In order to obtain food they had been forced to give their hand in solemn pledge of surrender and servitude to Egyptian and Assyrian traders who passed through the land (Lamentations 5:6).
Lamentations 5:7 is not a complaint but a confession. The poet is not claiming that his generation has been punished unjustly for the people confess their guilt in Lamentations 5:16. Lamentations 5:7 is an acknowledgement of the principle that sin often has consequences which extend from one generation to another. Of course the Old Testament clearly teaches that every individual sinner is punished for his own sin (Jeremiah 31:30; Ezekiel 18:1 ff.); but if children continue to walk in the footsteps of their wicked fathers and even surpass their fathers in wickedness they may expect to be punished with ever increasing severity (see Jeremiah 16:11-12). The consequences of sin are cumulative. The passing of time gives more opportunity for hearing and obeying the word of God. Therefore, the generation of Jeremiah was even more guilty than previous generations because they had neglected more opportunities, more warnings, and ignored more judgments than their fathers. Lamentations 5:7, then, is not an excuse for the people but an explanation of the severity of their suffering.
In Lamentations 5:8-18 the prophet continues to picture the severity of God's judgment on Judah. Babylonian mercenaries, some of whom had been former slaves of the Jews, now ruled over the land (Lamentations 5:8). With no stable government to restrain them, marauding Bedouin tribes who lived on the fringes of the desert raided the valley farms. Only at great risk of life could the harvest be brought in (Lamentations 5:9). A virtual famine continued to exist in the land and the people suffered greatly because of it (Lamentations 5:10).
All sections of the population had suffered immeasurably. The women of Judah had been raped. It was unsafe for a maiden to walk the streets of Jerusalem (Lamentations 5:11). The princes of the land had been impaled and left to die a slow and shameful death. The cruel enemy had no respect for the older people of the land (Lamentations 5:12). What few young men survived the siege and capture of Jerusalem were forced to grind grain which was usually the work of women or slaves. Even the younger boys were compelled to serve the enemy by carrying huge loads of fire wood (Lamentations 5:13). Elders no longer assembled to conduct their business in the gates of the city. Young men could no longer get together to make merry (Lamentations 5:14). The once joyous people were now experiencing only bitter sorrow (Lamentations 5:15).
In Lamentations 5:16-18 the passage reaches its climax as the poet acknowledges the justice of the present sufferings. Like a crown toppling from the head of a deposed monarch, so the glory of Judah has suddenly and completely been removed. The nation experiences misery and woe because we have sinned against God (Lamentations 5:16). The heart of the people is sick with sorrow, their eyes darkened by tears because of the national loss (Lamentations 5:17). The sacred hill of Mt. Zion where once proudly stood the Temple of Solomon is now desolate. Jackals have made their home in the ruins of God's Temple (Lamentations 5:18). Sin always pays off in wages of death and destruction.