Ezekiel 28

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Ezekiel 28:2

Introduction

Here the second lament begins, which also starts with the word “how” (cf. Lamentations 1:1). Again, what we have seen in the first lament applies: twenty-two verses of three lines each, with the first verse beginning with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and each subsequent verse with the next letter of it. Again we hear the great sorrow of Jeremiah who needs every letter to express his sorrow.

The first lament (Lamentations 1) is more about desolation, loneliness and disgrace as a result of the destruction of Jerusalem. In the lament in this chapter, we see more of the state of destruction with the destruction of the temple being the main issue. We also see emphatically here that the destruction is the result of the anger of God.

Lamentations 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai). 2. In Lamentations 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in Lamentations 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Lamentations 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. Lamentations 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and 6. in Lamentations 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Right at the beginning Jeremiah says that it is not the enemy, but that it is the Lord (Adonai) Who in His anger has covered Jerusalem with the darkness of mourning and grief (Lamentations 2:1). A cloud, the mourning and grief, covers Jerusalem; the city is immersed in them. In this darkness, no ray of light of God’s presence can be seen. There is no prayer that can reach the Lord.

“The glory of Israel”, which is the LORD’s own dwelling place, the temple, He has, by the hand of the enemies, “cast from heaven to earth” and razed to the ground. Zion went from the highest glory to the deepest disgrace (cf. Matthew 11:23). Although the enemies were used by Him in the execution of His anger, Jeremiah still attributes everything to the Lord. He has done it.

“His footstool”, the place of His rest, is the ark of His covenant (1 Chronicles 28:2). He has not been willing and able to keep it because the people have deprived Him of His rest because of their sins. He has not remembered to protect and keep it for His people. He had to leave the temple and therefore the temple and the objects in it no longer have any meaning. In the day when He had to exercise His anger, He gave everything into the hand of the enemies to destroy it or carry it away.

The Lord did not spare His own dwelling. Nor has He (Adonai) spared the dwellings of His people, but has thrown them all down (Lamentations 2:2). He swallowed them as if He were a great monster. It points to the completeness of the destruction.

His anger because of their sins is great. Therefore He wiped out from the face of the earth all the strongholds, all the fortified cities of Judah, on which they had relied as a protection against the enemy. The description is clear. The Lord dealt with the cities.

He has “brought [them] down to the ground”, that is, levelled them to the ground. By doing so, He desecrated the kingdom and its leadership, that is, deprived them of the special place they had before Him. Judah lost its independence. Zedekiah was taken to Babylon and his sons and princes were killed.

“All the strength of Israel”, literally “every horn of Israel”, He has cut off in His fierce anger (Lamentations 2:3). The horn is a picture of strength (1 Samuel 2:1; Jeremiah 48:25). Israel has been strong through the LORD. However, nothing is left of their strength because they have forsaken their strong God. They stand powerless in the midst of misery and ruin.

When the LORD acted, it was against His people. But even when He did not act, it was against His people. “His right hand”, which protected them and which fought for them and redeemed them (Exodus 15:12; Psalms 18:35; Psalms 20:6; Psalms 108:6), He has drown back from them (Psalms 74:11). Israel had to cope without His help. The enemy saw that and seized his opportunity.

The enemy has been given free rein because the LORD has burned in anger against Jacob. His anger is “like a flaming fire, consuming round about”. Nothing is spared. Every corner of the land is visited and falls prey to His judging fire.

He has become the adversary of His people (Lamentations 2:4). He has acted as an enemy of His people. In Lamentations 2:3, He has withdrawn His right hand from His people. Here His right hand reappears, but now “He has bent His bow” ready to approach and punish His people like “an enemy”. He has cocked the bow and slain all those who were pleasant to the eye, that is the fighting young men.

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psalms 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

The Lord (Adonai) has “become like an enemy” to His people, for He has given them into the hand of the king of Babylon, making this enemy His representative (Lamentations 2:5). If His people would obediently serve Him, He would be the enemy of the enemies of His people (Exodus 23:22). But now He, the Lord Himself, is the enemy of His people (cf. Isaiah 63:10). He has done it, His hand has brought this calamity upon them. We must also be well aware of this in what comes upon us or is said to us. No matter how hostile or carnal something may be that comes upon us, we must accept it from His hand.

Again the word “swallowed” is used (cf. Lamentations 2:2). Israel and all her palaces were swallowed by Him. All her strongholds have been “destroyed”. It causes an increasing lamentation among His people, the daughter Judah.

He has pulled down His temple as a temporary booth, “His tabernacle”, as if it were a temporary shelter that farmers build in the fields and tear down when they are finished in the fields (Lamentations 2:6). Nothing remains of the temple, for He has “violently treated” it, which also expresses His anger. He has done it thoroughly. The “garden” is His land. His people have sacrificed to idols in it. So why should He still maintain His temple? Therefore, He has taken away from them the privilege of worshiping Him.

“His appointed meeting place”, the place where the people gathered by and with Him, the temple, is gone. He Himself brought that place to ruin. He was forced to do so because of the behavior of His people. We see the same thing today, where places of gathering are disappearing because pride has made “His place” a place where people call the shots. If He is no longer given all authority in His place of meeting, He can no longer be in the midst there (cf. Matthew 18:20).

Everything that the people connected to the LORD (Yahweh) in a festive meeting is over. The people have forgotten because there is nothing left reminding of it. The cause of this lies with the LORD. He has also taken away “the appointed feast and sabbath” with the temple. He has made it impossible to meet Him on the occasion of the feasts in the temple. This is true in a double sense: He left the temple and He destroyed it.

With the temple, “king and priest” have also been rejected. The house of David is in captivity as is the priesthood. There is a close connection between the Davidic kingship and the Levitical priesthood. David and his son Solomon were intimately involved with the temple, the priest’s field of activity. When the temple is gone and there is no place for the priest, there is no place for kingship either. The whole public religious life no longer has a reason to exist. This situation will exist until the true King-Priest, the Lord Jesus, will sit on His throne as Priest and reign (Zechariah 6:13).

In His majesty, the Lord (Adonai) “rejected His altar” and “abandoned His sanctuary” (Lamentations 2:7). He could no longer maintain it because they continued to sin. By doing so, they indicated that they did not value the altar as a symbol of atonement and His sanctuary as a symbol of His presence.

He has also given the walls of the palaces of princes into the hand of the enemy. What should humanly provide protection becomes an easy obstacle for the enemies to overcome because the Lord helps them.

The enemies themselves have no regard for that. They are in the temple instead of His people. They are not there to thank the LORD, but to sound their roaring voices in haughty joy of victory in that house. It is their day of an appointed feast. It is not a joy to the LORD and not a day of an appointed feast dedicated to Him.

The LORD did not act on a whim. He made a deliberate decision, after careful consideration. Because of their irredeemably sinful behavior, He had to decide to destroy Jerusalem (Lamentations 2:8). The wall is down. The enemy can walk right in.

That His decision is deliberate is also evident from “a line” that He “stretched out”. Such a thing is also done carefully. His hand worked this “destroying” and determined its precision as with a measuring line (cf. 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11). Usually a measuring line is used to do edifying work (Job 38:5; Zechariah 1:16), but here it is used to do a destructive work.

The devastation here concerns mainly the fortifications, walls and ramparts, which here are again presented as living persons lamenting what has happened to them. All the protection that was supposed to provide peace and security has collapsed with the result that they languish together.

The gates and bars are destroyed (Lamentations 2:9). When Nehemiah hears of the downed walls and the destroyed gates and bars, it brings him to humility, prayer and action (Nehemiah 1-3). Those who were supposed to protect and govern the city, “her king and her princes” – possibly Jehoiachin and his staff are meant here – have been carried away and are among the nations.

No one talks about the law anymore. The law was done away with and the false prophets have nothing to say anymore. The will of God was not asked. The priests were not asked to explain the law; nor were the prophets approached to hear what the LORD had shown them. None of it made sense either because God was silent. Everything that gave guidance to the people on God’s behalf disappeared. He had to take it away from them because of their unfaithfulness (cf. 1 Samuel 28:6). There was no message of comfort and support for them.

Ezekiel 28:3

Introduction

Lamentations 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai). 2. In Lamentations 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in Lamentations 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Lamentations 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. Lamentations 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and 6. in Lamentations 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psalms 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

Ezekiel 28:4

Introduction

Lamentations 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai). 2. In Lamentations 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in Lamentations 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Lamentations 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. Lamentations 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and 6. in Lamentations 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psalms 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

Ezekiel 28:5

Introduction

Lamentations 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai). 2. In Lamentations 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in Lamentations 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Lamentations 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. Lamentations 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and 6. in Lamentations 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psalms 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

Ezekiel 28:6

Introduction

Lamentations 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai). 2. In Lamentations 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in Lamentations 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Lamentations 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. Lamentations 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and 6. in Lamentations 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psalms 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

Ezekiel 28:7

Introduction

Lamentations 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai). 2. In Lamentations 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in Lamentations 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Lamentations 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. Lamentations 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and 6. in Lamentations 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psalms 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

Ezekiel 28:8

Introduction

Lamentations 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai). 2. In Lamentations 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in Lamentations 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Lamentations 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. Lamentations 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and 6. in Lamentations 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psalms 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

Ezekiel 28:9

Introduction

Lamentations 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai). 2. In Lamentations 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in Lamentations 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Lamentations 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. Lamentations 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and 6. in Lamentations 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psalms 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

Ezekiel 28:10

Introduction

Lamentations 2:1-9 describe the destruction of Jerusalem, where it is attributed to the Lord (Adonai). 2. In Lamentations 2:10 we see the condition of some of the survivors and 3. in Lamentations 2:11-12 we hear the personal distress of Jeremiah. 4. In Lamentations 2:13-17 Jerusalem is lamented; Jeremiah looks for something to comfort with, but does not find it. 5. Lamentations 2:18-19 contain a call to call on the Lord (Adonai) and 6. in Lamentations 2:20-22 we hear how the LORD (Yahweh) is called.

Jerusalem Destroyed – the Lord Has Done It

Now in the hiddenness of the tent, a place of security and fellowship (Psalms 27:5b), by which Jerusalem and especially the temple are meant, the fire of His anger rages.

Ezekiel 28:11

Response of Some Survivors

These verses no longer tell of the events, but of the condition that resulted. We see that condition especially in the reactions of survivors, from the elders to the youngest of the people. The elders have nothing more to say, they have no wise counsel (Lamentations 2:10). Powerless and distraught, they sit down in silence. They have lost their respectability. The natural shelter, the walls, have been pulled down. The spiritual shelter, the elders, has also been pulled down, as it were.

As the wall and the rampart mourn (Lamentations 2:8), so do the elders. They show signs of mourning, as if someone had died. In their appearance they show how much they mourn over the city’s situation (cf. Job 2:12-13; Jeremiah 4:8).

The young women, those who could provide progeny, have lost all hope for the future. The offspring they have brought into the world, they have eaten up in their boundless selfishness to survive at all costs. Now they can do nothing but stare at the ground.

In Lamentations 2:11, the prophet speaks of his intense sorrow and thus participates in the lament. He cannot help but weep incessantly. As a result, he can no longer use his eyes. He can no longer see anything. Inside, in his spirit, he is full of turmoil. His heart comes out, as if he must vomit, so overwhelmed is he by what has happened to the city. He is wreck about it.

He sees before him the heartbreaking scenes of hunger in the city. He observes how “little ones and infants” sink down in helplessness in the streets of the city, while there is no one to help them. In any war or conflict, the saddest spectacle is the suffering of children.

There is no more poignant picture than that of mothers watching their children die of want, when there is nothing they can give. Jeremiah hears the children lamenting and crying out for food to their mothers (Lamentations 2:12). Grain refers to necessary provisions and wine to more luxurious, not immediately necessary foods. It is a terrible picture where we hear children say this to their mothers. The children are slowly starving.

Mothers who still have some care for their children have taken them on their laps and feel desperate because they cannot give their children what they need. Babies die in their mothers’ arms. The womb, the place of life and security, is no longer a safe place and no longer offers protection from suffering.

Ezekiel 28:12

Response of Some Survivors

Ezekiel 28:13

Response of Some Survivors

Ezekiel 28:14

Jeremiah Laments Jerusalem

In Lamentations 2:13, the prophet speaks to the city. He does want to speak words of comfort and wonders what he should say as a message from the LORD. But he has difficulty finding words of comfort.

Nor can he refer to similar suffering. In suffering, sometimes the awareness that others are in similar suffering can help (cf. 1 Peter 5:8-9). But the suffering that afflicts Jerusalem is unprecedented. It knows no example. In this sense, too, there is no comfort to be found. The fragile defenselessness is reinforced by the double designation “daughter of Jerusalem” and “virgin daughter of Zion”.

The calamity is enormous, yes, as immeasurable as the sea. Is there anyone who can help here? Jeremiah is careful not to speak superficial words of comfort that might imply a vain hope of improvement. All the false prophets have always denied this suffering and healed the breach with the LORD because of their sins at the lightest by speaking of peace when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 8:11). Where are they now? Jeremiah announced this very suffering (Jeremiah 30:12) and is now suffering with them now that his words have come true.

The false prophets here are tellingly called “your prophets”. They are prophets as the people liked them, prophets who appeased them, who told them what they wanted to hear. They fooled the people with their false visions and proclaimed folly (Lamentations 2:14; Jeremiah 23:18-22; Ezekiel 13:10-16). The word for foolish is literally “lime”, “varnish”. They covered sins under a nice looking coat of varnish (Ezekiel 22:28). They did not want to make people feel guilty. They are soft healers who have caused stinking wounds. Not only do they not call the people back from their wrong ways, but they actually tempt and encourage the people to go wrong ways.

About the iniquity of the people they did not say a word. A true prophet does speak of the iniquity. False prophets speak what the people like to hear and thus drag the people along to destruction. That is how it went with the false prophets who spoke to Jerusalem.

They have not spoken the truth, but words that come from the darkness. The visions they have seen have not come from the LORD, but from the demons. It has been falsehood and deception. This is evident now, as Jerusalem has fallen. These false prophets led the people down a path that ended in this. The shock of the Babylonian captivity is needed to break the power and influence of the popular prophets and expose them as false prophets.

To the disasters of suffering is added the gloating of “all who pass along the way” who witness the suffering of Jerusalem (Lamentations 2:15). The various gestures – clap their hands, hissing, shaking their heads – indicate dismay, while the aspect of contempt is also present in them. Surrounding nations, seeing the misery in which Jerusalem is, rejoice and clap their hands for joy. They are also surprised that this is how things have gone with that magnificent city (Psalms 48:2).

The enemies also rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem (Lamentations 2:16). They put on a big mouth about what has happened to Jerusalem. Their gaping mouths are like those of tearing monsters. This is how they dealt with Jerusalem. With that, a long-held hatred has been satisfied. They hiss to express their disgust for the city. The gnashing of their teeth is an expression of great hatred and anger (Psalms 37:12; Acts 7:54).

They wanted to destroy Jerusalem for so long and now have finally succeeded. These words echo their effort that they have made and how satisfied they are now, because the city has finally fallen. This hubris and self-confidence of the enemy makes it difficult for Jerusalem to come to terms with her fate.

In Lamentations 2:15-16 we also see another picture that we can apply to the Lord Jesus. In it we see what people did when they saw Him in His misery on the cross (Psalms 22:7; 13; Psalms 35:21).

While the enemies in the previous verse boast of what they have done, here the poet speaks of Who actually did it (Lamentations 2:17). The “we” of the previous verse becomes “He” here. Yet the conclusion must not be drawn from the events that the LORD cannot help it all either, that He would have been powerless to prevent it. No, the horrors are God’s deliberate work. He has done what He had planned. He is fulfilling His word that He spoke through Jeremiah and other prophets based on what He said in the law (Leviticus 26:14-46; Deuteronomy 28:15-44). The LORD had often warned them in earlier days, but they would not listen.

Behind the merriment of the enemy lies the anger of the LORD Who has acted without sparing. He has exalted the might, literally horn, of the enemies, which means that He has given them the strength (cf. 1 Samuel 2:1) to battle against His city and overcome it.

We also should not be blinded by what people do to us, but realize that the Lord is in control of everything. He is behind everything and controls everything. Therefore, with Him alone we can find help in adversity, if it strikes us, and He alone can give relief. With Him are deliverances from all distress, even escapes from death (Psalms 68:20).

In Lamentations 2:16 and Lamentations 2:17 the letters have been switched in order. In the Hebrew alphabet, ain comes first and then pe. It seems that this happens because in Lamentations 2:16 the enemy is speaking first, then in Lamentations 2:17 we are pointed to the LORD. He is the real cause of the misery, not the enemy.

Ezekiel 28:15

Jeremiah Laments Jerusalem

In Lamentations 2:13, the prophet speaks to the city. He does want to speak words of comfort and wonders what he should say as a message from the LORD. But he has difficulty finding words of comfort.

In Lamentations 2:15-16 we also see another picture that we can apply to the Lord Jesus. In it we see what people did when they saw Him in His misery on the cross (Psalms 22:7; 13; Psalms 35:21).

Ezekiel 28:16

Jeremiah Laments Jerusalem

In Lamentations 2:13, the prophet speaks to the city. He does want to speak words of comfort and wonders what he should say as a message from the LORD. But he has difficulty finding words of comfort.

In Lamentations 2:15-16 we also see another picture that we can apply to the Lord Jesus. In it we see what people did when they saw Him in His misery on the cross (Psalms 22:7; 13; Psalms 35:21).

Ezekiel 28:17

Jeremiah Laments Jerusalem

In Lamentations 2:13, the prophet speaks to the city. He does want to speak words of comfort and wonders what he should say as a message from the LORD. But he has difficulty finding words of comfort.

In Lamentations 2:15-16 we also see another picture that we can apply to the Lord Jesus. In it we see what people did when they saw Him in His misery on the cross (Psalms 22:7; 13; Psalms 35:21).

Ezekiel 28:18

Jeremiah Laments Jerusalem

In Lamentations 2:13, the prophet speaks to the city. He does want to speak words of comfort and wonders what he should say as a message from the LORD. But he has difficulty finding words of comfort.

In Lamentations 2:15-16 we also see another picture that we can apply to the Lord Jesus. In it we see what people did when they saw Him in His misery on the cross (Psalms 22:7; 13; Psalms 35:21).

Ezekiel 28:19

Crying Out to the LORD

Jeremiah’s response about the situation he has seen and described comes in Lamentations 2:18. Although the destruction has come from the Lord (Adonai) and that destruction has taken place according to His purpose, there is no hope of relief other than from that same Lord. Therefore, the heart of the remnant cries out to the Lord (Adonai). Jeremiah expresses this crying out and addresses the “wall of the daughter of Zion”, by which is meant all the inhabitants within the wall. She must let her tears run down incessantly, day and night. She must allow herself no relief. From her eyes, tears must continually run down.

It is an exhortation to pray in the misery that has befallen them. Prayer is the only thing left in such a situation. It moves the LORD to remember them anyway and to rescue them from their misery. They must do this unceasingly, so that they prove that they expect salvation from Him alone (cf. Luke 18:1-8). They must also do it in full awareness of their sins, while constantly showing repentance for them, day and night.

When night comes into life, there can be begging to the Lord (Adonai) (Lamentations 2:19). There must be, as soon as the awareness of an invading darkness is there, begging for the children, for the young people. They must pour out their hearts like water before Him (Psalms 62:8), which means completely, without reserve. The hands must be lifted up in fervent prayer. Heart and hands go together and in this order: first the heart, then the hands. The stakes of prayer are the little children, the toddlers.

A whole generation is about to perish. We need to lift our hands more to God for the lives of our children, for our youth. Then the Lord can make a new beginning before He comes.

Ezekiel 28:20

Crying Out to the LORD

A whole generation is about to perish. We need to lift our hands more to God for the lives of our children, for our youth. Then the Lord can make a new beginning before He comes.

Ezekiel 28:21

The LORD Is Called Upon

Lamentations 2:18-19 are a call to prayer. In Lamentations 2:20-22 we have the prayer. The people here again say “see, O LORD” (Lamentations 2:20; Lamentations 1:9; 11; 20). Jeremiah reminds the LORD that He brought this misery upon the people of His election. Is it not so anymore, is the people no longer the people of His election? Will there be no outcome?

The misery has already reached the point where women, in desperation, have eaten their own children (Deuteronomy 28:53; cf. 2 Kings 6:24-31). Also the sanctuary of Him Who after all has all authority, the Lord (Adonai), has been desecrated in a terrible way. There lie the corpses of priest and prophet slain there by strangers. Should this not come to an end?

There is much lamenting in our day about so much that is wrong. To the extent that it is justified, we should not do that to one another, but speak about it to the Lord. What we cannot say to Him, we should not say to one another.

We may point out to the Lord the suffering that His own are undergoing, under which they are weighed down. We may remind Him of the value of His people to Him. Can He allow the children to fall prey to the despair of the parents? Can He allow the service of priest and prophet to disappear completely? We may beg Him to prevent that or to change it.

Jeremiah points out to the LORD the streets of the city (Lamentations 2:21). Those who walk through the city shudder at the sight of what the enemy has done. The enemy has killed young and old. They are lying in the streets. Those who are the strength and future of the people have fallen by the sword. Age and gender did not matter to the enemy. Without paying attention to anything, they have sown death and destruction with their sword in great ferocity.

Yet even here Jeremiah sees that they are not the prey of the enemy powers around them, but of the anger of the LORD. He has slaughtered them and could no longer spare them because they have persisted so much in their sins.

He utters it to the LORD that He has called the enemies together, as it were, to feast at the expense of the city (Lamentations 2:22). We see here again that interchange of feast and terror, or worse, that connection between feast and terror. What is a day of an appointed feast for the enemy, is for the pious a day of terrors by which he is completely surrounded. There is no escape from the terrors for anyone.

The “I” speaking here is Jeremiah. He is here interpreting the voice and feelings of the city, the remnant. Those he has carried on his hands and raised up are the children of Zion, the inhabitants of the city. They are those children who have been killed by the enemy.

The important lesson of this chapter is that the city expresses all its woes before the LORD. If we have reasons to lament, about ourselves, our family, the church, we may go to Him with our laments. We may give Him the opportunity to do with it what is pleasing to Him, to the glorification of His Name.

Ezekiel 28:22

The LORD Is Called Upon

Ezekiel 28:23

The LORD Is Called Upon

Ezekiel 28:25

The Man Who Has Seen Affliction

In Lamentations 3:1, there is a new ‘I’ person. In Lamentations 1, the ‘I’ person is the city speaking out about the suffering that has come upon her. In Lamentations 2, it is Jeremiah who speaks of and to the city, to voice her lament to the LORD. That chapter concludes with that as well. Now we come to a third “I”. The city has spoken in the female form. But now a man speaks. It is someone from among the people who has experienced suffering himself and now describes it as his own personal suffering. Who else could this be but Jeremiah?

“Seen” here implies not only observation, but also participation in it. Here it means an actual experiencing. Furthermore, it also appears that this man is innocent. He does make himself one with the guilty people and speaks of ’we’, but personally he can say in Lamentations 3:52 that he has enemies who pursue him without cause. The people in Lamentations 1 cannot say that. They are partly to blame. But here someone is speaking very personally, someone from the guilty people, but who himself is innocent.

We also hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking in the remnant from the time then. That is how it will be in the future. The faithful remnant will have to experience everything. They will suffer doubly: both at the hands of the enemies from outside and at the hands of the apostate people from inside.

This has been the part of the Lord Jesus, Who identifies Himself one with this remnant. We often hear this in the book of Psalms. His voice makes itself one with that of the remnant. We hear the Innocent speak: “I am the man.” The rod of God’s wrath comes down on Him.

The depth of Jeremiah’s suffering is reflected in the three complaints in Lamentations 3:1-3. He has “seen”, experienced, and witnessed misery 1. through the rod of the LORD’s wrath (Lamentations 3:1), 2. because the LORD drives him into darkness (Lamentations 3:2), and 3. because the LORD turns His hand against him again and again (Lamentations 3:3).

In contrast to the expectation of being led by God as his Shepherd into light and joy, he has been driven in darkness, which is affliction (Lamentations 3:2). The word for “driven” does not have the meaning of God’s gracious guidance, but of driving animals. He was driven harshly by the rod of God’s wrath.

The suffering he experiences as a result is without ceasing (Lamentations 3:3). It goes on and on, without a moment to be able to take a breath. We can think of the great tribulation for the remnant, but also of the Lord Jesus and His suffering on the cross.

In Lamentations 3:4-18 follow the evidence of His suffering. In them we hear how this suffering was experienced. The first evidence is the wasting away of His flesh and skin and the breaking of His bones (Lamentations 3:4). Flesh, skin and bones make up the whole body. The breaking down of the individual parts may be the result of a serious illness (cf. Psalms 38:3) or an aging process, where everything breaks down and wastes away. The breaking of the bones refers to the removal of all strength and an end to the ability to live (Isaiah 38:13).

In doing so, he indicates the severity of this illness. The removal of the strength to bear it shows the depth of his suffering. All his strength is failing him. We hear here the language of Psalm 22 and Psalms 69. We also hear someone like Job speaking in these verses (Job 7:5; Job 19:20; Job 30:30).

In Lamentations 3:5 we are confronted with suffering from the outside. Jeremiah uses the picture of a besieged city, against which the enemy is erecting a siege wall to attack the inhabitants of the city. His suffering feels, as if the LORD has thrown up a rampart of bitterness and hardship against him. He is surrounded by it, hemmed in. From all sides, destruction grins at him like a high, impregnable wall. Nebuchadnezzar has built against Jerusalem and surrounded the city (Jeremiah 52:4), but Jeremiah knows that the LORD is doing it.

He feels so hopeless and despairing that he already counts himself among those who have died (Lamentations 3:6; Psalms 143:3). His comparison with “those who have long been dead” also means that he is not only abandoned and alone, but also that he is forgotten, gone from memory. No one thinks of him anymore. That is how hopeless he feels. Inside wasting away, around him a wall, while he is in deadly darkness (Psalms 88:10-12). Is there a more tragic condition imaginable in which a human being can find himself?

Lamentations 3:7-9 are a climax and evaluation of the previous three verses, reflecting his feelings of total loss of freedom of movement. Jeremiah feels like someone who is completely walled in (Lamentations 3:7). He is encased in concrete that surrounds him like an armor. He feels surrounded by a wall of affliction inflicted upon him by the LORD. In his stone shell he is also bound with chains of bronze. The chains of bronze with which Zedekiah was brought to Babylon (Jeremiah 39:7; Jeremiah 52:11), he feels as if he was bound with them himself. This is hard on the prophet to whom the LORD promised that He would make him walls of bronze against the people (Jeremiah 1:18).

Jeremiah feels so hemmed in that he believes that even his prayer does not reach God’s ears (Lamentations 3:8; Lamentations 3:44). It is dramatic to experience that God does not hear, that He closes His ears to prayer (cf. Psalms 22:1b-2; Psalms 77:9). Also the way out upward seems closed.

Not only does he feel himself enclosed in a narrow, walled-off space, but he also sees that all his roads, if he could go them, are blocked with hewn stones (Lamentations 3:9; cf. Job 19:8). And if he could find a way, it turns out to be crooked. We cannot enter a road that is blocked (cf. Hosea 2:6b). If we go a crooked way, we won’t end up where we want to be. Here, to Jeremiah’s feelings, the LORD makes his path crooked. He is not coming out to Him. That is something to be distraught about. Balaam’s way is also blocked by the LORD (Numbers 22:26), but that is because this bad man is on his way to do a bad work.

In Lamentations 3:10 the picture changes again (cf. Hosea 13:7-8; Amos 5:19). Jeremiah experiences God “like a bear lying in wait” and “a lion in secret places”. A bear and a lion are tearing animals that know no compassion. They are out to attack and devour their prey unexpectedly. They lurk and hide and wait patiently until their unsuspecting prey is near them. Then they strike ruthlessly.

It is to him as if the LORD has so deflected his ways that he did have to fall into the claws of the bear and the lion (Lamentations 3:11). The LORD has allowed him to fall into a trap. In this way the LORD has torn his life apart and made him desolate. There is no life left in him and it cannot emerge from it.

The next picture of the LORD looms before Jeremiah: that of an archer (Lamentations 3:12). He feels himself the prey of God’s arrow on the bow that He has bent against him and aimed at him. He experiences that God is after him.

The arrows from the LORD’s quiver hit him in his inward parts, literally his kidneys (Lamentations 3:13; cf. Deuteronomy 32:23; Job 16:13). The kidneys are the seat of wisdom (Psalms 16:7; mind is literally kidneys). He has lost all his wisdom. He cannot understand or reconcile this with what he knows of God.

Besides feeling like the target of God’s arrows, he is also the target of jeers (Lamentations 3:14). It is not here as in Lamentations 1 where the people lament about their enemies, but here Jeremiah speaks as the innocent about what his own people do to him (Jeremiah 20:7b).

What Jeremiah says in Lamentations 3:15 is the experience of Job (Job 9:18; cf. Rth 1:20). The LORD has said that He will do this to Judah and the false prophets (Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 23:15), but now that fate befalls the faithful prophet. Instead of good food, he is given nothing but bitter food to eat. It is not even possible to refuse it, for it is administered to him. He has to eat it. He is satisfied with it and drenched in it.

Taking in that bitter food is like biting on gravel (Lamentations 3:16). Biting one’s teeth on gravel is the punishment for telling lies (Proverbs 20:17). When you have that experience, even though you have always spoken the truth, you feel being pressed down in dust or ashes (cf. Jeremiah 6:26). Then there is no more peace, nor is there any memory of the good (Lamentations 3:17).

Lamentations 3:18 is a kind of conclusion to the previous verses, in which Jeremiah expressed his feelings (cf. Lamentations 3:54b). Such a spiritual state of utter despair robs a person of all his strength. What is left when nothing remains of what was expected of the LORD? The lament ends in despair. Yet despair does not have the last word. Despair brings to prayer and prayer brings to hope. We see this in the following verses.

The question may well be asked what we do with our laments when we become despondent and think that the expectation of the Lord is gone. When that expectation is gone, what good is prayer? As a result, some have fallen away from the faith, showing that they had no living relationship with the Lord. But for the believer, precisely when there is despair, the way out is to pray again.

Ezekiel 28:26

The Man Who Has Seen Affliction

KingComments on the Whole Bible

Ger de Koning is a Dutch Bible teacher associated with the Plymouth Brethren whose KingComments provides a complete verse-by-verse commentary on every book of the Bible. Written in accessible language with a devotional, Christ-centered approach, KingComments is freely available online and has been …

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Old Testament

GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUT 1SA 2SA 1KI 2KI 1CH 2CH EZR NEH EST JOB PSA PRO ECC SOS ISA JER LAM EZK DAN HOS JOL AMO OBA JON MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL

New Testament

MAT MRK LUK JHN ACT ROM 1CO 2CO GAL EPH PHP COL 1TH 2TH 1TI 2TI TIT PHM HEB JAS 1PE 2PE 1JN 2JN 3JN JUD REV

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