Lamentations 5
ZerrCBCA NATIONLam_5:1-22 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 chapters 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.
THE OF ZION Lamentations 5:1-18
(Lamentations 5:1) Remember, O LORD, what has come upon us! Take note and observe our reproach. (Lamentations 5:2) Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners. (Lamentations 5:3) We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. (Lamentations 5:4) We drink our water with silver, our wood comes to us for a price. (Lamentations 5:5) Our pursuers are upon our necks; we are weary, but we have no rest. (Lamentations 5:6) We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, in order to get bread. (Lamentations 5:7) Our fathers sinned but they are dead. We have borne their iniquities. (Lamentations 5:8) Slaves rule over us! There is no one to deliver us from their hand. (Lamentations 5:9) At the risk of our lives we bring our bread because of the sword of the wilderness. (Lamentations 5:10) Our skin is hot like an oven because of the fever of hunger: (Lamentations 5:11) Women were ravished in Zion, maidens in the streets of Judah. (Lamentations 5:12) Princes were hanged by their hands; elders were not respected. (Lamentations 5:13) Young men carried the mill and youths staggered with wood. (Lamentations 5:14) Elders have left the gate, young men their songs. (Lamentations 5:15) The joy of our heart has ceased, our dance has changed to mourning. (Lamentations 5:16) The crown of our head has fallen! Woe now to us, for we have sinned. (Lamentations 5:17) For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are darkened; (Lamentations 5:18) because of Mt. Zion which is desolate, jackals walk on it.
That chapter 5 is a prayer is indicated by the language of verse 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 verse 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 (v. 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).
Verse 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. Furthermore, 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 :lff.); 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.
THE OF ZION
Lamentations 5:19-22 (Lamentations 5:19) You, O LORD, are enthroned forever! Your throne is from generation to generation. (Lamentations 5:20) Why have You forgotten us forever, forsaken us for so many days? (Lamentations 5:21) Turn us, O LORD, unto You that we may return! Renew our days as of old. (Lamentations 5:22) Unless You have utterly rejected us, are angry with us exceedingly.
Having presented his case before the divine Judge Jeremiah enters his appeal. The appeal is first anchored securely in a basic theological truth: “you, O LORD, are enthroned forever” (Lamentations 5:19). The emphatic position of the pronoun suggests a contrast. The poet has described at length in Lamentations 5:1-18 the destruction and loss of all the temporal blessings which God had given His people. Earthly things may pass away but God remains. Though conditions of earth may seem to deteriorate, the Eternal is still on His throne. His Temple on earth may be destroyed but His heavenly throne cannot be overthrown. When the disillusioned and down-trodden recapture this basic truth they have laid the foundation upon which hope can be reconstructed and petition presented before God.
The appeal to God takes the form of a question: “Why have You forgotten us forever?” (Lamentations 5:20). To those who had recently come through the siege of Jerusalem the prospects of fifty more years of servitude to Babylon (Jeremiah 25:12) seemed like an eternity. It seemed to them that God had forgotten and forsaken them forever. In desperation and complete submission they call upon God to help and aid them to properly repent. The people realize that restoration and renewal are dependent upon complete return to God and they are most anxious that their repentance meet with divine approval. They ask God to restore Judah to its former state (Lamentations 5:21).
Unless He has utterly rejected them (Lamentations 5:22). An utter and complete rejection would not be in harmony with the promises which God had already made about the future of Israel (Jeremiah 27:19 ff; Jeremiah 29:10 ff.). If God still rules, if the people are willing to submit to Him, if He has not utterly rejected them, then God must intervene on behalf of His people. Thus the sad book of Lamentations closes with a fervent appeal for God’s aid and a confident expectation that He would indeed intervene on behalf of His people.
Questions For Lamentations Chapter Five
- In what respect is the fifth chapter of Lamentations different from the previous four chapters?
- What did the inhabitants of Zion have to do in order to secure the necessities of life? Lamentations 5:4-6.
- Is Lamentations 5:7 a complaint against the injustice of Zion’s punishment?
- What is meant by “the sword of the wilderness”? Lamentations 5:9.
- For what is the prophet praying in Lamentations 5:21?
THE OF THE GODLY (THE FIFTH LAMENT) Lamentations Chapter 5 This poem, like the one in chapter 3, contains verses of only two lines each (or one line in the Hebrew text). It is the only non-acrostic chapter in the book, though like chapters 1, 2, and 4, it consists of 22 verses, having been built around the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The doleful qinah meter is also absent in this chapter, giving it a somewhat more positive tone. However, 45 words end in the Hebrew letter ‘u’ (in all verses except 19), which gives the chapter a rather mournful tone when read aloud in Hebrew. The chapter is more of a prayer than a (communal) lament, though its content focuses on the pitiful condition of the Judahites because of Jerusalem’s fall. One person speaks throughout. “The absence of the usual prayer (see Lamentations 1:20-22; Lamentations 2:20-22; Lamentations 3:58-66) at the end of Lamentations 4 is now supplied by the fifth chapter as a whole.
It is this final touch that gives unity and completes the book for when all is said and done we rest our case for relief and healing from suffering when we commit it to God in prayer. The best fruit of anyone’s mourning is his praying to God. Jeremiah’s prayer, which he voiced for his people, contains two petitions, namely: that God would remember the plight of His people (Lamentations 5:1-18), and that He would restore them to their promised covenant blessings (Lamentations 5:19-22; cf. Deuteronomy 30:1-11). The chapter comprises a confession of sin [Lamentations 5:16] and a recognition of the abiding sovereignty of God [Lamentations 5:19].A PLEA TO YAHWEH FOR Lamentations 5:1-18 Lamentations 5:1–Jeremiah called on Yahweh to remember the calamity that had befallen His people, and to consider the reproach in which they now lived (cf. Lamentations 3:34-36). The humbled condition of the Judahites reflected poorly on the Lord, because the pagans would have concluded that He was unable to keep His people strong and free. Jeremiah implied that if Yahweh remembered His people, He would act to deliver them (cf. Exodus 2:24-25; Exodus 3:7-8). This verse has been called “perhaps the most insistent prayer found in the Old Testament.
The speaker called on God to “remember,” “look,” and “see,” the reproach of His people. Since God is fully aware of all things, these urgent pleas should be understood as requests that He act on behalf of His people. Lamentations 5:2-18 contains a list of complaints. Petitions in Lamentations 5:1 and Lamentations 5:21-22 frame this section, and so make it clear that the purpose of the list is to attract the Lord’s interest so that He will act. Lamentations 5:2-10 describes economic conditions, Lamentations 5:11-14 humiliations, and Lamentations 5:15-18 summarizes the community’s sorrow. Lamentations 5:2–The Promised Land, Yahweh’s inheritance to His people, had passed over to the control of non-Israelites (Jeremiah 40:10; Jeremiah 41:3). Their homes also had become the property of alien people (cf. Ezekiel 35:10). These conditions represented a larger breakdown of Israelite society in general, since occupying the land was foundational to the nation’s life. “The book speaks of the brutal violence of the nations against the Jews, and it is sobering for Gentile Christians to read the text, not from the position of suffering-Israel, but in the role of the oppressive nations. Lamentations 5:3 –Because the Lord no longer protected and provided for the people, they had become virtual orphans. They had lost their rights as well as their property. Jewish men had become defenseless, and Jewish mothers had become as vulnerable as widows having lost their protection. Social structures had broken down, and the people were vulnerable targets for exploitation. Lamentations 5:4-5 –The extent of their oppression was evident in their having to purchase water and firewood, commodities that were normally free. The Judahites’ enemies were trying to squeeze the life out of them (cf. Joshua 10:24; Isaiah 51:23). They had worn them out with their heavy demands and taxes (cf. Deuteronomy 28:65-67; Ezekiel 5:2; Ezekiel 5:12). The mention of rest, of course, reminds us, like the mention of ‘inheritance’ in v. 2, of the theological significance of what has happened. God had promised the Israelites that they would have rest in the promised land, especially rest from enemies (e.g. Deuteronomy 12:10). It is also, one suspects, intended to remind God of this. Lamentations 5:6 –Even to get enough food to live, the people had to appeal to Egypt and Assyria for help. This may refer to Judah’s earlier alliances with these nations that proved futile (cf. Ezekiel 16:26-28; Ezekiel 23:12; Ezekiel 23:21). Or perhaps the writer used Assyria as a surrogate for Babylonia (cf. Jeremiah 2:18). The point is that Judah could no longer provide for herself but had to beg for help from her Gentile enemies. Lamentations 5:7 –The present generation of Judeans was bearing the punishment for the sins that their fathers, who had long since died, had initiated. They had continued and increased the sins of their fathers. Jeremiah rejected the idea that God was punishing his generation solely because of the sins of former generations (Jeremiah 31:29-30). His contemporaries had brought the apostasy of earlier generations to its worst level, and now they were reaping its results. Lamentations 5:8 –Even slaves among the oppressors were dominating God’s people, and there was no one to deliver them. Only the poorest of the Judahites remained in the land following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., but even the lowest classes of Chaldeans were dominating them. Israel, once a ‘kingdom of priests’ (Exodus 19:6), is become like Canaan, ‘a servant of servants,’ according to the curse (Genesis 9:25). The Chaldeans were designed to be ‘servants’ of Shem, being descended from Ham (Genesis 9:26). Now through the Jews’ sin, their positions are reversed. Christian readers, often more interested in individual spirituality or ecclesial practices, regularly miss the significance of the political suffering in Lamentations.
But it is clear that Jerusalem’s political decimation is a major focus of the poetry. The poetry bears witness to the horror of political meltdown and, indirectly, to the goodness of political stability. It testifies to the real, concrete human suffering that follows social collapse. Lamentations also plays its role as a part of the wider biblical critique of empire. The biblical literature, both Old and New Testament, is very positive about nations, but it is mostly very negative about empires. Lamentations 5:9-10 –It had become life-threatening for the Judahites even to acquire essential food, because their enemies tried to kill them when they traveled to obtain bread. Famine had resulted in fever, which had given the people’s skin a scorched appearance. Lamentations 5:11-12 –The enemy had raped the women and girls in Jerusalem and Judah. This was a common way for soldiers in the ancient world to humiliate their enemies, as well as to hurt them physically. It showed that the defeated could not even defend their women. Respected princes had experienced the most humiliating deaths, and the enemy gave no respect to Judah’s elderly. Since Nebuchadnezzar evidently did not torture his victims (cf. Jeremiah 52:10-11; Jeremiah 52:24-27), it may be that the Chaldeans strung up the princes by their hands, or on stakes— after they had died— to dishonor them (cf. Deuteronomy 21:22-23). Lamentations 5:13-14 –Young men had to grind grain like animals or servant women (cf. Judges 16:21), and small children buckled under the loads of firewood that the enemy forced them to carry. Elders no longer sat at the town gates dispensing wisdom and justice, and young men no longer played music, bringing joy and happiness into the people’s lives. These were marks of the disappearance of peaceful and prosperous community living conditions. Lamentations 5:15 –Joy had left the hearts of the people, and they mourned so sadly that they could not bring themselves to dance. The eventual result of sin is the absence of joy. Lamentations 5:16 –A crown was a symbol of honor and glory. God’s blessing and authority, also symbolized by a crown, had departed from the head of the nation. The crown may also allude to Israel’s king. All these conditions marked the nation because it had sinned against Yahweh. She suffered under His judgment. But she acknowledged that these conditions were the consequences of her sins, and she bewailed her calamity: “Woe to us.” Lamentations 5:17-18 –Divine judgment had demoralized and devastated the people. The climactic reason for grief was the desolation and abandonment of “Mount Zion.” Wild foxes (or unclean jackals) prowled on the now-desolate holy place, which formerly had been the site of God’s throne on earth, full of people, and the venue of many joyful celebrations. No wonder the Israelites’ heart were “faint” (sapped of vitality) and their eyes “dim” from weeping. A PLEA TO YAHWEH FOR Lamentations 5:19-22 The writer now turned from reviewing the plight of the people to consider the greatness of their God and to appeal to Him. In Lamentations 5:19-20 the writer carefully chose his words to summarize the teaching of the entire book by using the split alphabet to convey it. Lamentations 5:19 embraces the first half of the alphabet by using the aleph word (. . . ‘you’) to start the first half of the verse, and the kaph word (. . . ’throne’) to start the second half. This verse reiterates the theology of God’s sovereignty expressed throughout the book. He had the right to do as He chooses, humans have no right to carp at what He does. Wisdom teaching grappled with this concept and God’s speech at the end of the Book of Job, which does not really answer Job’s many sometimes querulous questions, simply avers that the God of the whirlwind cannot be gainsaid (Job 38— 41).
Job must accept who God is without criticism. Then Job bowed to this very concept (Job 42:1-6). Now the writer of Lamentations also bowed before the throne of God accepting the implications of such sovereignty. . . . One reason there is no full acrostic in chapter 5 may be that the writer wanted the emphasis to fall on these two verses near the conclusion of the book. In so doing, he has adroitly drawn attention to the only hope for people in despair. Lamentations 5:19 –Jeremiah acknowledged the eternal sovereignty of Yahweh, and praised Israel’s true king. Judah was not suffering because her God was inferior to the gods of Babylon, but because sovereign Yahweh had permitted, even orchestrated, her overthrow. “The historical Kingdom of God in Israel may be interrupted; the nation may abide for many days without a mediatorial king; but there is nevertheless a Kingdom of God which continues without any hiatus or diminution.” Without a doubt verse 19 is the central point around which the circle of the content of this chapter was drawn . Lamentations 5:20 –In view of God’s sovereignty, the prophet could not understand why the Lord waited so long to show His people mercy and restore them. It seemed as though He had forgotten all about them (cf. Lamentations 5:1). Verses 21 and 22 amplify the creedal statement in verses 19 and 20. Lamentations 5:21 –Jeremiah prayed for Yahweh’s restoration of the nation to Himself. Only His action would result in restoration. The prophet cried out for renewal of the nation to its former condition of strength and blessing. But primarily, he asked for a restored relationship with Yahweh. “God is the only source of true revival.” Lamentations 5:22 –The only reason the Lord might not restore Israel was if He had fully and permanently rejected His people because He was so angry with them. By mentioning this possibility at the very end of the book, Jeremiah led his readers to recall God’s promises that He would never completely abandon His chosen people. When our great nation was founded during the period from 1775 to 1787, the following statement by Benjamin Franklin was still widely accepted: ‘The longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of the truth that God governs in the affairs of men.’ Unless a marked change takes place in the United States of America, it’s doomed just as sure as was ancient Babylon. Because this last verse of the book is so negative, many Hebrew manuscripts of Lamentations end by repeating verse 21 after verse 22. It also became customary, when the Jews read the book in synagogue worship, for them to repeat verse 21 at the end. They also did this when they read other books that end on a negative note (i.e., Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, and Malachi).
In view of God’s promises to Israel, He would not abandon the nation completely. He would bless them in the future (cf. Leviticus 26:44; Jeremiah 31:31-37; Romans 11:1-2; 2 Timothy 2:13). Nevertheless the focus of this book is on the misery that sin produces, not the hope of future deliverance. The theological message of Lamentations may be summarized as follows: God’s angry disciplinary judgment of His people, while severe and deserved, was not final.
Lamentations Chapter Five
Verse 1
A Final Plea for God’s Remembrance
Many scholars have mentioned the differences of this chapter from the preceding four. Although it has exactly twenty two verses in the same pattern as the others, it is not an acrostic. Furthermore, it is not primarily a dirge, but a national prayer, most probably written by Jeremiah upon behalf of the beleaguered people of God. In its conclusion, it rises above all the sorrows in the magnificent appeal to Him whose throne is forever and ever. The final appeal for God to “turn Israel” unto himself should be the prayer of the Church in every generation. May God “turn us all” unto Him, who alone is our hope of eternal life.
Lamentations 5:1“Remember, O Jehovah, what has come upon us:Behold and see our reproach.”
In faithful submission to God’s will, this lays the profound burden of the people’s anguish before the Lord, pleading merely for him to look upon it and to behold the manifold wretchedness of their condition. Their king Hezekiah, when Sennacherib threatened the city, did a similar thing, when he spread the insulting message of the Assyrian king before the presence of God in the Temple (2 Kings 19:14). Price called this chapter, “A national prayer to Jehovah, Zion’s only hope and help."[1] “It is not a dirge, but a nation’s prayer for compassion."[2] Nevertheless, the Douay Version heads this chapter as, “The Prayer of Jeremiah.” It was the prophet’s prayer for the suffering nation.
Verse 2
THEY ARE BARELY ABLE TO SURVIVE"Our inheritance is turned unto strangers,Our houses unto aliens.
We are orphans and fatherless;
Our mothers are as widows.
We have drunken our water for money;
Our wood is sold unto us.”
The rest of the Bible does not give a very graphic picture of the oppression of Israel during their captivity; but in these lines, the stark ugliness, injustice, greed and sadistic cruelty of it are plainly visible. The conquerors had taken over everything. Note the expressions, our water,' and our wood.’ Without limit these necessities had once belonged to Israel; now they could use such things only by buying them from their enemies.
Verse 5
THE PEOPLE WERE “Our pursuers are upon our necks;We are weary, and have no rest.
We have given the land to the Egyptians,
And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
Our fathers sinned, and are not;
And we have borne their iniquities.
Servants rule over us:
There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
Because of the sword of the wilderness.”
These verses describe the condition of the poorest people of the land who had been left behind by the Chaldean conquerors. The land owners were not these poor Israelites but the Assyrians and Egyptians who also laid heavy tribute upon them. In addition to that the Babylonian servants' (governors) over them also exacted heavy taxes to be forwarded to Babylon. The people were not allowed any rest, for they were essentially slaves. "The Egyptians ... and the Assyrians" (<a href="/bible/parallel/LAM/5/6" class="green-link">Lamentations 5:6</a>). "These are mentioned here as indications of the geographical areas to which some of the people had gone in order to survive."[3]"Servants rule over us" (<a href="/bible/parallel/LAM/5/8" class="green-link">Lamentations 5:8</a>). "Babylonian satraps were often the promoted slaves of the king's household."[4]Price's description of this is accurate: "They lack the necessities of life; homes and loved ones are gone; they must pay black market prices even for wood and water; they work incessantly; they beg bread from their enemies; they are enslaved and ruled over by former servants."[5]"Because of the sword of the wilderness" (<a href="/bible/parallel/LAM/5/9" class="green-link">Lamentations 5:9</a>). Cook accurately understood the sword of the wilderness’ here to be that of Bedouin marauders. “Those who had been left in the land, in their attempt to gather such fruits as might have remained, were exposed to incursions by the Bedouin."[6] Ash noted that, “The captivity was terrible, but the fate of those left in the land was no less so."[7]Verse 10
FURTHER OF GOD’S PEOPLE"Our skin is black like an oven,Because of the burning heat of famine.
They ravished the women in Zion,
The virgins in the cities of Judah.
Princes were hanged by their hand:
The faces of elders were not honored.
The young men bare the mill;
And the children stumbled under the wood.
The elders have ceased from the gate,
The young men from their music.”
“They ravished the women … the virgins of the cities of Judah” (Lamentations 5:11). This is an accompanying vice of warfare that is just as much a part of modern wars as it was in antiquity. Nothing is more terrible and disgusting than the wholesale rape of the women (all of them) by an army of enemies. The bestiality of wicked men unrestrained by any outside force is the utmost in depravity.
“Princes were hanged up by their hand” (Lamentations 5:12). Recent translations read, “Princes were hung up by their hands,"[8] and, “Our leaders have been taken and hanged."[9] The clause was also translated, “Princes were hanged by the hand of the enemy."[10] Evidently, there is some uncertainty as to the exact meaning. Hanging a victim by his hands was a form of crucifixion. Dummelow also mentioned a custom of those times in which, “They impaled bodies after death in order to expose them to the most utter contempt possible."[11]“Young men bare the mill … children stumbled under the wood” (Lamentations 5:13). What we have here is, “The disgrace of young men being compelled to do the work usually assigned to women or slaves (grinding at the mill)."[12] Also, we see the abuse of the children in their being compelled to carry burdens too heavy for a child.
“Elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.” (Lamentations 5:14). “Under the pressure of their circumstances, all public meetings and amusements had ceased."[13] The gates of ancient cities were places where public meetings, trials and rallies of all kinds were held. “The mention of young men and their instrumental music here indicates that the city gates were also places of amusement and entertainment."[14] All such things were impossible under the conditions imposed upon Israel by their conquerors.
Verse 15
ALL GOD’S PEOPLE ARE “The joy of our heart is ceased;Our dance is turned into mourning.
The crown is fallen from our head:
Woe unto us! for we have sinned.
For this our heart is faint;
For these things our eyes are dim.
For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate:
The foxes walk upon it.”
“The joy of our heart is ceased” (Lamentations 5:15). “At last the community have come to realize the deep significance of her sin by its consequences."[15] Today if sinners walking in their own lustful ways in rebellion against the moral government of God Himself could only realize the eternal consequences of their sins, no doubt some of them, at least, would renounce the works of the flesh and obey the gospel of the Son of God. The failure of the modern pulpit to stress the true consequences of wickedness is part of the reason behind prevalent iniquity. The same reticence of the ancient prophets of the people of God to stress this same fact was also part of the reason for Israel’s shameful apostasy.
“Woe unto us! for we have sinned” (Lamentations 5:16) Osborne offered the following as a better translation: “Alas, that we ever sinned."[16]“For this our heart is faint … our eyes dim, for the mountain of Zion … is desolate: the foxes walk upon it” (Lamentations 5:17-18). The last clause here is better rendered, “The jackals prowl over it."[17]“These words are a transition to the final appeal. Although the thought of Zion’s desolation is overwhelming, the prophet will lift himself up again when he recalls the sublime truth of the inviolable security of Israel’s God."[18]“The mountain of Zion is desolate” (Lamentations 5:18). This is the climax of all that is wrong in Israel. “Zion is the central symbol of God’s presence, the visible sign of Israel’s election, and it is deserted![19] This was the very ultimate of all the terrible things that had happened to Israel.
Verse 19
THE FINAL APPEAL TO GOD"Thou, O Jehovah, abidest forever;Thy throne is from generation to generation.
Wherefore dost thou forget us forever,
And forsake us so long time?
Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned.
Renew our days as of old.
But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.”
“Thy throne is from generation to generation” (Lamentations 5:19). “Although the crown has fallen from the head of David’s dynasty (Lamentations 5:16), which has been sent crashing to the earth, the throne of God still abides."[20]“A noble faith is awakened here, finding its expression in the wonderful words from Psalms 80, Turn us again, O Jehovah,' thus laying upon Jehovah the task of initiating Israel's restoration: Thou must give us the compelling spirit, else we can do nothing."[21]"Wherefore dost thou forget us forever" (<a href="/bible/parallel/LAM/5/20" class="green-link">Lamentations 5:20</a>)? Adam Clarke agreed that these words should be read interrogatively, "Wilt thou be angry with us for ever"?[22] The words carry the thought, "Surely, O God, thou wilt not be angry with the people for ever." "Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah" (<a href="/bible/parallel/LAM/5/21" class="green-link">Lamentations 5:21</a>). This is important. Paul may plant, Apollos may water, but "only God can give the increase." (<a href="/bible/parallel/1CO/3/6" class="green-link">1 Corinthians 3:6</a>). Men cannot stir up’ a revival. Only God must inspire men to turn from wickedness unto the God of all creation.
Lamentations 5:1
Lamentations 5:1. The prophet is still lamenting the distressful conditions of his people in the siege. According to 2 Kings 25:1-3 the siege lasted two years and threw the city of Jerusalem Into the horrors of famine and pestilence. These forms of distress had been predicted as a warning more than once (Isaiah 14:30; Jeremiah 14:12); now the people cry unto the Lord for mercy.
Lamentations 5:2
Lamentations 5:2. Their property had been taken over by strangers which means those from the outside, and their houses were being occupied by aliens or foreigners.
Lamentations 5:3
Lamentations 5:3. These complaints were lit-eral, for the men had been slain in tbe conflict.
Lamentations 5:4
Lamentations 5:4. In a siege all necessities of life are always rationed and often then they are not obtainable. Under such conditions the prices of the important items are increased by those taking advantage of the emergency.
Lamentations 5:5
Lamentations 5:5. Neck is from a word that Strong defines, “The back of the neck (as that on which burdens are bound).” The verse refers to the hardships imposed on them.
Lamentations 5:7
Lamentations 5:7. This generation is con-fessing the sins of the preceding one. Borne their iniquities means they were suffering the results of the iniquities of the fathers.
Lamentations 5:8
Lamentations 5:8. An instance of the sub-jugation to servants is recorded in Nehemiah 5:15, and it shows the state of humiliation to which they were reduced.
Lamentations 5:9
Lamentations 5:9. After the city of Jerusalem had been overthrown by the siege it left the remaining inhabitants In a state of destitution. They bad to brave the wilderness in search of food and it was at the risk of the sword in the hands of the Arabs.
Lamentations 5:10
Lamentations 5:10. The ravages of famine on the conditions of health can scarcely be imagined. It will cause a form of Irritating heat that will be reflected from the skin. That is why the comparison is made to an oven.
Lamentations 5:11
Lamentations 5:11. It is an almost universal rule that where undue power is obtained. the commission of sex crimes takes place. The women of Judah were sacrificed to the lust of the Babylonian invaders.
Lamentations 5:12
Lamentations 5:12. Cruel tortures were inflicted upon the leading men, and no respect was paid to old age. the invaders being interested only in themselves.
Lamentations 5:13
Lamentations 5:13. To grind is from TECHOWM which Strong defines, “ A hand mill; hence a millstone.’’ Tills was what the young men had to work, and others had to carry such heavy loads of wood that they fell (staggered) under the load.
Lamentations 5:14
Lamentations 5:14. The gates of cities were the places of communication between them, and the elders or older men were the ones who occupied that position (Job 29:7-8). But that setup was absent, for the elders had been carried into captivity. Under these conditions the musicians would have no inclination to play.
Lamentations 5:15
Lamentations 5:15. This verse is somewhat general and refers to the same sadness of heart the other verses describe concerning their situation after the invasion.
Lamentations 5:16
Lamentations 5:16. This verse was true literally and figuratively. The king on the throne in Jerusalem was taken off to the land of Babylon. Also, the crown or glory of the nation had been removed by the humiliation of the exile.
Lamentations 5:17
Lamentations 5:17. The people of Judah had a prostrated feeling from both physical and mental causes. Their eyes had become dJm through much weeping.
Lamentations 5:18
Lamentations 5:18. Mountain is sometimes used figuratively; It is so used here. Zion was the capital of Judah and it had been made so desolate that wild creatures ran over it.
Lamentations 5:19
Lamentations 5:19. The mourning people of Judah could not refrain from noting the great contrast between the throne of God and those of men. The Changing from one generation to another does not alfect the throne of God, for he is infinite and perpetual in power.
Lamentations 5:20
Lamentations 5:20. The disconsolate people of Judah are stinging under the thoughts of their fallen state. Wherefore is from mah which Strong defines, “Properly in interrogation. What? how? why? when? Also an exclamation, what!” The Jews seemed to be astonished that their fortunes had fallen so low in view of the power of God. The term for ever is explained to mean so long time. Human experience tells one that a few years seem like many when he is in discomfort.
Lamentations 5:21
Lamentations 5:21. This verse may properly be regarded both as prophecy and present, desire. The unfortunate citizens of Judah were then in a state of complete dejection; those especially who were in the land of Babylon. They did not have the heart to sing religious songs, but instead they hanged their harps on the willows of the streams and sat down on the banks to meditate. This was also prophesied hundreds of years before by David in the 137th Psalm.
Lamentations 5:22
Lamentations 5:22. The book and chapter closes with a repetition of the terrible state of mind possessed by the cast-off nation of God. The expressions rep-resent the personal feelings of the righteous Jeremiah, a faithful prophet, and also those of the sinful nation who were suffering the just chastisement for their evil conduct.