Lamentations 5:1-22. Today we come to the end of the book of Lamentations and the writings by Jeremiah. If you read the “Intro to Lamentations” you know that the book contains five poems. You also might remember that Hebrew poets like structure and patterns in their poetry and not necessarily rhymes. The Hebrew alphabet contains 22 letters and the first four poems all have patterns that use the Hebrew alphabet, in order (basically). Notice that three of the first four poems all have 22 verses and one has 66 verses (3×22). For a more detailed description of the pattern check out the “Intro”. This last poem also has 22 verses but it does not use the “acrostic” pattern (the verses don’t follow use the Hebrew alphabet to create a pattern). Also if you were to read the first four poems in Hebrew you would notice a certain “meter” you might think of the “beat” of a song. This last poem doesn’t have that “beat” or “meter” either. Since the last poem has 22 verses it is obvious that Jeremiah was aware of the patterns he was following. The fact that this last poem is different probably has some meaning. One Bible expert suggested that it is “mixed up” to show the “chaos” in the lives of the people of Judah after God’s judgment. Let’s see if that is what we find in this poem.

In verse 1 we see that this poem is a prayer, Jeremiah is talking to God. In the prayer Jeremiah starts out by asking God to “remember” what has happened and see their “reproach, shame or disgrace”. What had happened to the Jewish people was very embarrassing.

In verse 2 Jeremiah talks about their inheritance. When we think of inheritance we might think of money or jewelry, maybe even a house. In the life of the Jewish people their inheritance was from God and it was the land promised to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12:1, 7, see also 15:7-18). The mention of houses in verse 2 doesn’t mean that they were thinking of just the houses it was a poetic way of referring to the land (technically it’s a figure of speech called synecdoche or sometimes merism where a part of something represents the whole thing).

In verse 3 the mention of widows and orphans may be an attempt to make God feel compassion for them. There were very specific rules in the Law that God gave to Moses for the Jews about how to treat widows and orphans. God wanted to make sure that they were not neglected. The funny thing is God doesn’t neglect anyone so it is kind of silly to try and “play” him this way. One time I was in a meeting where a representative of World Vision was speaking, looking for support. He talked a lot about women and children. I thought, “What about the men, dads and fathers? Don’t they need help too?” So I asked. The guy assured me they help men too, but people are more likely to give when they are thinking of starving women and children. Jeremiah was a man and was expressing things the way any human being would. It is interesting that in Jeremiah 5:28 we see that one of the ways the people of Judah were showing disrespect toward God was by mistreating widows and orphans. Now they were the ones being mistreated.

In verse 4 the Jews now had to pay for what was once free. While verse 2 sounds like it might be about the Jews in exile in Babylon, verse 3 may be about the ones left behind in Jerusalem. Although there would still be water and wood it was now controlled by the Babylonian government. Verse 5 would have to be about Jews living somewhere other than the city of Babylon, I’m sure Nebuchadnezzar kept tight control over his capital and the surrounding towns. The Jews in other parts of the empire, though, could very easily have been pushed from place to place finding no place to rest. What we see in these two verses is sad, constant struggle just to live, since the land that God gave them is described as a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Numbers 13:27) and evidently the produce was very abundant (Numbers 13:23).

There is one more little piece of irony in verse 6. When God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants in Genesis 15 he told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a land that was not theirs for four hundred years first (Genesis 15:13-14). That land was Egypt. It’s almost like they had become slaves to Egypt again. Since it seems unlikely that people in Babylon would buy food from Egypt, verse 6 is probably about Jews who were living in other parts of the empire near either Egypt or Assyria, though a few may have still been in the area abound Jerusalem.

In verse 7 Jeremiah brings up the disobedient actions of the “fathers”. This is a reference to ancestors of the Jewish people. They are dead but the effects of their sins (disobedience and rebellion) are being felt by the people living in Jeremiah’s day. We want to be careful to understand that God does not punish people for the sins of other people (Ezekiel 18:20) but the effects of a person’s sins can be felt by others some times for a long time (Deuteronomy 5:9, but even here it seems like the grandchildren and great grandchildren aren’t completely innocent. Jeremiah on the other had suffered greatly because of the sin of those around him).

In verses 8-10 Jeremiah returns to the troubles of living as a conquered people. People who had once been their slaves were now ruling over them (maybe a reference to the Edomites who had been slaves of Israel in the past and now had possession of their fields) and they had to travel to find food, travel was always risky especially through the wilderness or desert area around Judah. Evidently starvation brings unpleasant feeling and verse 10 expresses something that most of us can only read about. Starvation does more than give a person hunger pains and cause weight loss. As starvation progresses the lack of proper nutrition gives rise to a large number of horrible side affects. In verse 10 Jeremiah uses the Hebrew word “kamar” and says it is in some way “like an oven”. Some translations say the skin is “hot like an oven” others say “glowing like an over”, “heated like an oven” and many say “black like an oven”. It is interesting that one of the side affects of starvation is it’s effects on the nerves of our outer parts. Eventually it can cause some paralysis but it can also cause nerve pain. Another side effect of starvation is a condition called Pellagra. I have seen pictures of Pellagra, it is not pretty and the skin becomes reddish or even darker. Starvation can also cause itchy hot red rashes. What ever “kamar” means it seems like Jeremiah knew what he was talking about.

Verses 11-13 tell more of the story of being a people without a real country (The Babylonian Empire was a mashed up mixture of a bunch of different kingdoms or nations (usually ethnic groups, families) held together by the raw power of Nebuchadnezzar and his army). The women were raped and mistreated, princes were hung up by their hands and executed, leaders (elders) were shown no respect, and children were force to do hard labor as slaves.

Verses 14-15 show us the psychological effects of being conquered and exiled. Elders (older people in the community) used to sit in the city gates where they were available to give advise and settle disputes. Now they were not there and had become pretty useless. Young people full of strength and energy would do a lot of the physical work but they would also enjoy the product of their work and spend at least some time celebrating (the music and the dancing). But now they were forced to be slaves and others took the products of their work. What should have been a joy to them was now a time of great sadness.

In verse 7 Jeremiah mentioned the “sins of the fathers” and the fact that some of the trouble in their lives was the “fallout” from that. In verse 16 Jeremiah says the “crown has fallen from our heads” this may be a reference to the honored position and life of ease of a king, the Jews were “God’s people” and did have a favored position. In Psalm 103:1-5, though, David is praising God for his goodness and care. In those verses David tells us that Yahweh (LORD) forgives all iniquities (twistedness, sins), heals diseases, buys back our life from destruction, crowns us (the same word in v. 16) us with lovingkindness (hesed, faithfulness to his promise to care for us) and tender mercy; a word Jeremiah used earlier (Lamentations 3:22, 32) that relates to the love of a mother for her infant child and he “satisfies the mouth with good things so that the young can soar like eagles”. Although the crown of God “hesed” cannot be destroyed (Remember Lamentations 3:23 “Yahweh’s hesed never ceases his compassion never fails) but sometimes we move outside of his love and protection; we drop the ball (or crown rather). There are conditions and rules for his promises. Jeremiah tells us in the end of verse 16 what has caused the “crown to slip”, they had sinned.

In verses 17-18 Jeremiah tells God that the ultimate sadness relates to “Mount Zion”. The “darkened eyes” could mean that they were hiding their eyes in shame. Mount Zion could refer to the whole city or just the part where the Temple had been. In any case the city that was to be a monument to the goodness and reality of Yahweh had to display his faithfulness and purity in another way; in judgment. Now the city was the home for the desert creatures.

Verses 19-22 returns to the nature of God and contain both hope and respect. Jeremiah confesses that Yahweh is the undisputed ruler of the universe, his throne lasts forever. Earthly kings sit on a throne for their own generation and then someone else takes over, God’s throne is his forever. In verse 20 Jeremiah wants to know if God is going to forget them forever. This is poetic language asking if god has given up on them. The reason is the judgment has lasted so long (and in Jeremiah’s life it wasn’t even half over). Jeremiah asks god in a very personal way (using his personal name Yahweh) to fix them to make things like they had been.

Jeremiah ends the poem very respectfully. The problem had been rebellion; a total disregard for what God wanted. In verse 22 Jeremiah shows total respect and obedience by telling God that he wants to be fixed but understands if God has totally rejected the Jewish people and is completely displeased wit them. We might say “done with you”.

I think that Jeremiah didn’t use the “beat” or “meter” in this poem because the “music had died” to quote an old song from the 70’s (see verse 15). I think he didn’t follow the alphabetic structure because their world was completely mixed up. Everything was wrong and bad and it was because of sin. Jeremiah had hope, not much, but hope. Because he knew that Yahweh is a God who keeps his promises and his lovingkindness (hesed) to a thousand generations to those who love and obey him (Deuteronomy 7:9). So there it is God is there, loving, forgiving, waiting for us to turn back. But for those who don’t there is only darkness and complete sadness for all eternity. Doesn’t seem like a hard choice. What makes it hard is our stubborn self-loving will. I want to “do it my way”, to quote another old song. It can also be hard because those who love God do get caught up in the chaos that sin causes in our world. Jeremiah certainly suffered for loving and following God. And Jesus told his followers that they should expect trouble (Mark 13:13; John 16:2). People take risks all the time for all sorts of things, most of which don’t last. What does last is Jesus and the kingdom he is building, a kingdom of people who love him and want to be with him. We have the privilege of showing that kingdom to people through our obedient lives and with loving words. Do you want eternity with God, let him know, tell him so, and then show it by submitting your will to him. He will restore and renew like in the olden days; the days in the garden of Eden where we lived with him face to face. Jesus has vanquished the sting of death by paying the price for our sins, he will reversed the effects of and turn your mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11).

God I’m not much of a dancer but I’m sure you can teach me. I do know about joy and happiness and look forward to learning about how big they can be. I look forward to spending eternity with you; learning about you, being amazed each moment by your greatness. Thank you for your love and faithfulness and the opportunity to know you forever. Help me honor you today and find peace in the fact that you will lead me home to heaven.

Lamentations 4:13-22. Today we will read the second half of the third poem. If you read yesterday the first half of the poem described the situation of the people, we saw from the structure of the poem that the focus was verse 6, the people were living twisted lives, their sin (disobedience and disrespect toward God) was big and the punishment was bigger. In verse 12 even the surrounding nations were amazed.

I said yesterday that some Bible experts like to put verse 12 with 1-11 and others like to put it with 13-22. Remember this is one poem so it doesn’t necessarily have to go with one or the other and I think it connects to both. As I pointed out yesterday, poems are not essays, and they don’t necessarily have parts. This one does seem to have a clear section in verses 1-11 though(the chiasm, see yesterday’s post). Today’s reading goes deeper into the reason that Jerusalem fell. The destruction was ultimately from God but he used Nebuchadnezzar to accomplish it. The inhabitants of the earth were amazed that Jerusalem fell because it’s location was difficult to attack. Even the mighty Babylonian army took 18 months to get inside of the city. While verse 12 expresses the amazement of the world over the fall of Jerusalem (described in verses 1-11) they should not have been and verse 13 tells us why. The prophets and priests were not following God.

In verse 13 the sin (rebellion and disobedience toward God) of the priests and prophets included actually killing people who were honoring God (“the righteous”). If you read through the book of Jeremiah you might remember that the people turned to a false local god named Baal. Part of the “worship” (actions that are supposed to honor a “god”) of Baal involved burning your children alive, an “offering” to Baal. In Jeremiah 2:8 God condemns the prophets and priest through out Israel’s history of following Baal instead of Him. In Jeremiah 23 Jeremiah hints that the prophets of his day might have been doing the same thing. We know that the were offering the human sacrifices (Jeremiah 19:5; 32:35) and it is likely that the prophets and priests were involved (see Jeremiah 19:1 with Jeremiah 19:5 also Jeremiah 32:32 with Jeremiah 32:35). In Jeremiah 19:4 we are also told that innocent blood had been shed in Jerusalem the group there is similar to the group on chapter 32 and again it is likely that priests and prophets were involved.

In verses 14-15 we see that the priests and prophets were eventually rejected by the people who recognized that they had become evil. They wandered in the streets where the people declared that they were “unclean”. That is a term that means unacceptable to God. Evidently many of them fled to surrounding nations but were rejected there too. In verse 16 we see that it was God who scattered them. These men who once had been the most honored in the nation now received no honor. At the end of verse 16 we also see “elders’ mentioned, this is probably a reference to political leaders, the kings advisors. In Jeremiah 26:20-23 we read the story of another prophet who lived at the same time as Jeremiah, Uriah. Uriah made the same sort of predictions as Jeremiah about he destruction of Jerusalem and the need to submit to the Babylonian invaders. In his case then king Jehoiakim sent leaders to kill him. When he fled to Egypt he was hunted down and brought back to the palace where the king executed him personally. In verse 21 we learn that Jehoiakim’s leaders were in on the assassination with him.

In verses 17-20 we see people watching for help. Near the end Zedekiah’s reign he sent and requested help from Egypt. Although Egypt did send some troops they were no match for Nebuchadnezzar’s army. They never even got close to Jerusalem and were repelled back to Egypt. The people were watching “for a nation that could not save” them.

According to Jeremiah 39:3 Nebuchadnezzar’s army finally broke into the city and the leaders of the army set up a “court” at the “Middle Gate”. Gated of a city were where official business was carried out, they were like courthouses, sort of. According to Jeremiah 39:4 when King Zedekaih and his troops saw this they waited until evening and snuck out a different way. They didn’t get far (about 15 miles) and were captured by Nebuchadnezzar’s army in the desert (wilderness, v. 19) near Jericho.

One historian comments that Zedekiah was not well liked by the people. There is little evidence of this in the history contained in the Bible. He was appointed king by the hated Nebuchadnezzar and resisted the people’s push to revolt for a time. He eventually did revolt against Nebuchadnezzar but the result was the siege that took down Jerusalem. Also he ran once the city was taken. It would seem that he was a good candidate for the hatred of the people. Verse 20, though, seems to be talking about Zedekiah in a good light. He is called “the breath of our nostrils” (we might say something like, “You are the air I breathe!”) and “Yahweh’s chosen one” (LORD in all capitals in most English translations of the Old Testament indicates that the proper name of God is being used, Yahweh. The word translated “anointed” is “Messiah”. Anointing is the process of pouring or smearing something on someone. The action was used to show that the person was “chosen” for something. It’s like when a team dumps Gatorade on the coach, they are saying, “He’s the one!”). And according to the end of verse 20 the people had hoped he would be their leader as they lived as an independent nation among the nations. If the people didn’t like him very much it doesn’t show here, though they really had little choice at the time. But he too had fallen to Nebuchadnezzar.

Verse 21 seems to be a bit sarcastic. Edom was a neighboring country also under control of Nebuchadnezzar. In Jeremiah 27 we learned of a meeting early in the reign of Zedekiah when 5 surrounding countries sent representatives to Jerusalem to talk about a revolt against Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah warned all six (including Judah) not to revolt. Edom was one of these countries. The Edomites lived just south and east of the southern tip of the Dead Sea. In the desert canyons and hills. Edomites were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s (Israel’s, see “What’s in a Name”) twin brother. There had been bad blood between the descendants of these two brothers for centuries. Many Bible experts believe the book of Obadiah, a warning of judgment for the Edomites, was written after the fall of Jerusalem in response to their change in loyalty back to Nebuchadnezzar. Because of that loyalty Nebuchadnezzar gave the Edomites grazing land that had belonged to Judah. It is more likely though that the book of Obadiah was written after the Edomites assisted in another invasion 250 years earlier by the Arabs and Philistines (848-841 BC). As you can see, thought, the relationship between the two nations was not good. Edom might be laughing at their old enemy now (v. 21) but their day was coming.

In verse 21 we see that the punishment is compared to a cup of wine. The wrath of God is often described as being in a cup. We also see the picture of the Edomites being so drunk that they ran around naked. In the Old Testament the idea of being naked in public was a symbol of the greatest shame. We see that they had brought this on themselves (“make yourself naked”) by being enemies of the Israelites.

In verse 22 “the Daughter of Zion” (the people of Jerusalem and Judah) is told that her punishment is complete and that the exile will come to an end. Of course the exile wasn’t finished it had at about 50 years to go, but they were there in their exile finally after so many attempts to avoid it, and from God’s point of view it was a done deal. They were behind bars but only until their sentence was fulfilled them they would surely be released and restored. On the other hand Edom, who was celebrating the fall of their old foe, was just as certainly going to be punished for her iniquity (twisted lives) and God would expose their sin (the fact that they had missed God perfect target for their lives).

The people of Judah looked to so many people for leadership and help. Unfortunately they didn’t listen to the few who were giving them the right advise, guys like Jeremiah and Uriah. The false and bad leaders were held accountable for their bad leadership. But the people were still responsible for their disobedient lives, and they too suffered. Suffering for sin isn’t just for “God’s people” either. Edom was held responsible for her disobedience and twisted actions too. As was Nebuchadnezzar. In Romans 1-2 we are told that we are all responsible to see, seek, and serve God. In Romans 1:18 Paul tells the church at Rome that God going to judge all men for their “ungodliness” and “unrighteousness” who wrongly ignore the truth. He goes on in verse 19 that certain things are obvious to us both internally and externally. In verse 20 Paul tells us that God’s unlimited power and his divine nature (the things that make God different from everything else) are obvious as we look at the universe he created. We cannot look at the creation and deny God, not honestly anyway. So all men should be able to “see God”, at least to some extent.

In Romans 1:18-32 we see that mankind chose to reject the truth and go their own way. Because of this God would judge them (us)(v. 18). Paul makes it clear that all mankind is responsible to seek God, not look the other way and to serve God, follow his rules.

In Romans 2:9-16, 25-27 we see that we are all responsible to God, not just the Jewish people to whom he gave the written Law. All of us have at least some of God’s rules in our very conscience and our conscience shows us the reality and rules of God. That is probably what Paul meant in Romans 1:19 when he said God was obvious “within us”.

The bottom line is that God is real. His rules about life are real. There are consequences for breaking the rules. God will judge disobedience for real. But there is an up side, God will forgive, but not arbitrarily. God’s forgiveness will not go against his good and right and pure nature. We saw that he didn’t give the Israelites a pass, he wasn’t going to give the Moabites or the Babylonians a pass either; they would all suffer consequences for their disobedience, disrespect, and rebellion toward him; for breaking his rules.   His forgiveness is based on someone suffering the consequences for our sin. That someone was God himself in the person of Jesus Christ, the real “chosen one” (see Isaiah 53:6, 11). That same servant will one day rule the nations (Revelation 15:13). Today though he can rule in your heart; your life. Jesus promised all who would put their eternity in his hands that he would put in them the Holy Spirit to help them remember his teachings and live for him. Jesus compared this to fresh pure water, like from a spring in the mountains (John 4:14). At the end of the bible in Revelation 22:17 the Holy Spirit and the followers of Jesus invate all who are thirsty, those who want a relationship with God forever to come and drink this “water of life”. Do you want peace with God, come. Do you want eternity with him, come. Come to Jesus today if you already haven’t.

God make us thirsty for you. Help us not ignore the signs you have given us. Help us understand our conscience is a message from you encouraging us to look for more; the more that you have communicated to us in the Bible; the more you have provided through Jesus. I think we are all thirsty. Help many find the pure water that gives us an eternal relationship with you. Help us all find Jesus and turn to him. Thank you for helping me. Help me help others.