THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS – PART 6 – ENEMIES REJOICE – WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND – CHAPTER 1:21-2:1
This world thinks there are no consequences and it’s a bonus when you get away with it, or don’t get caught. Bad news! Everything is on record. We are going to look at some serious matters today especially in our current world. What happened to Judah long ago has ramifications for us today. No one can walk over the Jewish people and be guiltless. Those who rejoice over Israel's suffering will be held accountable.
PART [A]. ENEMIES REJOICE OVER JUDAH’S DESTRUCTION
{{Lamentations 1:21 “They have heard that I groan. THERE IS NO ONE TO COMFORT ME. All MY ENEMIES HAVE HEARD OF MY CALAMITY. They are glad that You have done it. Oh, that You would bring the day which You proclaimed, that they may become like me.”}}
EIGHTH VERSE OF LAMENT:
The “They” that begins the verse relates to Babylon, but in context, the application is wider than just that one nation, and goes to all Judah’s enemies. As I write this, the whole world is turning against Israel because of what happened in the Middle East. It is august 2024. The United Nations has a satanic hate for Israel and would love to see nothing better than Israel destroyed, but it will not happen. They have passed dozens of condemnation of Israel in the UN Assembly with only a dozen or so nations supporting Israel, mainly the United States. For that reason God will bless the USA even though much of it is corrupt within.
The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court and all United Nations Organisations hate Israel. The ICC declared the Prime Minister of Israel a war criminal, a man defending his nation against barbaric Islam. They themselves will be destroyed in Zechariah 12 and 14 and Revelation 19. Anti-Semitism has burst out in the past 10 years in the world.
We have here again a short series of statements in the translation. The sorrows come pouring out, mainly about the behaviour of the enemy. The verse opens with, “They have heard that I groan,” and the enemies are happy for the suffering in Judah. This is a disgusting attitude but it is common in many people these days – and through history. They love to see and delight in the suffering of others. Not all that were present at Calvary were sympathisers. In fact many came to mock with a sadistic glee for the suffering of those upon the crosses.
This is how it was for the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross – {{Psalm 69:19-21 “You know my reproach and MY SHAME AND MY DISHONOUR. ALL MY ADVERSARIES ARE BEFORE YOU. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am so sick, and I LOOKED FOR SYMPATHY, BUT THERE WAS NONE, AND FOR COMFORTERS, BUT I FOUND NONE. They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”}} The Lord identified with His nation. (Lamentations 1:21). They were surrounded by enemies; so was He. They groaned because of the suffering; so did He. They had no comforters; neither did He. The nation looked for sympathy and found none; neither did He. The enemies were glad that Israel was afflicted; so were the enemies and authorities glad when Jesus was afflicted.
The ruthless Babylonians loved to see that suffering in Jerusalem. The cruel Romans did it in the arenas when Christians and criminals were broken, mauled and eaten by wild animals. The crowds loved it and cheered. The evil French did it when heads were severed by the guillotine in the French Revolution. Massive crows gathered and cheered. The demonic Catholic priests and cardinals did it when up to 100,000 Huguenot Christians were slaughtered in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 in France. Satanic Hamas did it in Israel in 2023.
Again the lament is that there is no comforter. How lonely that is! Many of us live sheltered lives and are not aware of the suffering of others; not aware of those bowed down by problems and despair overcoming them. Suicides are increasing. If only these could find Christ who is the Comforting One, and being indwelt by the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Judah knew just utter despair with no comfort from anyone. That is what sin does to people.
The ending of the verse is, “Oh, that You would bring THE DAY which You proclaimed, that they may become like me.”
That statement is prophetic. All Israel's enemies will fall one day. Israel has suffered right through the history of the world more than any other nation/people but the Lord is not only aware of that, but has all these atrocities on His account.
THE DAY spoken of here in verse 21 can be none other than that day God will punish those who have lifted up their hands against Israel. There is nothing replacement here; nothing allegorical. It is a reality.
The culmination of “on that day” (a very common term in the prophets) begins with the summons to the world to gather its armies – {{Revelation 16:12-14 “The sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphrates, and its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the east. I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs, for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which GO OUT TO THE KINGS OF THE WHOLE WORLD, TO GATHER THEM TOGETHER FOR THE WAR OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD, THE ALMIGHTY.”}}
That war is the great one of the Battle of Armageddon immediately before the Second Coming. The prophet Zechariah describes tiny facets of this great battle in these two passages:-
Zechariah 12:2-4 “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. And it will come about IN THAT DAY that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured, and ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH WILL BE GATHERED AGAINST IT. “In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment, and his rider with madness, but I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.”}}
{{Zechariah 14:1-4 “Behold, A DAY IS COMING for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I WILL GATHER ALL THE NATIONS AGAINST JERUSALEM TO BATTLE, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. And IN THAT DAY HIS FEET WILL STAND ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”}}
Then all the misery brought against Israel will return on the heads of the nations. The LORD is very jealous for His earthly people even though they have sinned grievously against their God. After that they come into the fullest of blessing, but that is getting off track.
PART [B]. WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
{{Lamentations 1:22 “Let all their wickedness come before Thee, and DEAL WITH THEM AS YOU HAVE DEALT WITH ME FOR ALL MY TRANSGRESSIONS, for MY GROANS ARE MANY, and my heart is faint.”}}
THE NINTH LAMENT:
This last verse in the chapter brings the totality of suffering together, caused by Babylon, and described as wickedness with the request for the LORD to deal with them (enemies) as they have dealt with His people. That request/prayer would be out of place in the Church age, but not wrong in the functioning under the Law. It was correct for them to say that. Many verses in the Psalms bear that out. God will judge Israel's enemies.
In any case, long before that, God had decreed what would happen to those who dare lift up their hand against Israel – God promised Abraham – {{Genesis 12:2-3 “and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and THE ONE WHO CURSES YOU I WILL CURSE. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed,”}}
There is nothing joyful in this chapter but overwhelming sadness and suffering. Jeremiah saw it all, but the nation rejected his preaching and went the way of its sin when God’s protecting hand was lifted from them.
The nation that is engrossed in wickedness will not escape judgement. The United States is ripe for divine justice. The sins are great for any honest person to see who will look beyond the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC and The Guardian. The wickedness there has spread to the whole world so the whole of it is ripe for the picking. That is how close the Day of wrath is that is coming on the world, but Jesus will deliver us who know Him from THE WRATH TO COME. 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10
The fallen nation laments, “My groans are many,” with the recognition all this has transpired from their transgressions. The request to deal with them as God dealt with Judah (in its overthrow) is a legitimate one in line with Genesis 12:2-3. There is no partiality with God, but there is that added justice that anyone who touches Israel, the apple of God’s eye, will come to certain grief, and as mentioned just earlier, much of that is stored up for Armageddon.
PART [C]. CAST OUT IN REJECTION
{{Lamentations 2:1 “How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud IN HIS ANGER. He has cast the glory of Israel from heaven to earth, and has not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger.”}}
Who has caused all this destruction? There are two answers to this. Both are true. Firstly, let us attribute the blame, and that certainly lies with Judah who blatantly rejected the constant appeals and ministry of the prophets. The prophets warned of destruction over and over, and their last Prophet, Jeremiah, constantly appealed to nation and king but he was persecuted and abused.
God’s patience has a limit; it always does even though it extends for hundreds or thousands of years. Because of the accumulated sinfulness that has been stored on account, the final breaking of the dam wall can be very dramatic. It was this way in Jerusalem. The judgement was severe, even greater than should have been the case but Babylon was cruel and ruthless, and itself, came under the avenging hand of God for the intensity of its merciless attitude.
Even though Nebuchadnezzar was the servant of the LORD, all those who lift up their hand against Israel will be punished/destroyed. That was Babylon's fate as the following verses clearly set out -
(a). Isaiah 13:1-2 “The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. Lift up a standard on the bare hill. Raise your voice to them. Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.”
(b). Isaiah 13:19 “Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”
(c). Jeremiah 25:12-13 ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I WILL PUNISH THE KING OF BABYLON AND THAT NATION,’ DECLARES THE LORD, ‘FOR THEIR INIQUITY, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. ‘AND I WILL BRING UPON THAT LAND ALL MY WORDS WHICH I HAVE PRONOUNCED AGAINST IT, ALL THAT IS WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK, WHICH JEREMIAH has prophesied against all the nations.”
(d). Jeremiah 51:2 “And I shall dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her and may devastate her land, for on every side they will be opposed to her in the day of her calamity.”
(e). Jeremiah 51:11 “Sharpen the arrows. Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because HIS PURPOSE IS AGAINST BABYLON TO DESTROY IT, FOR IT IS THE VENGEANCE OF THE LORD, VENGEANCE FOR HIS TEMPLE.”
Judah’s fate was of its own making and it deserved what it got (so much sadness, but what could be any other outcome?)
The second cause of Judah’s destruction is attributed to the LORD and in the first nine verses of chapter 2, verse after verse states the LORD is the cause of the destruction. A nation can not sin with impunity for all sin has consequences. They do not go unpunished. Our world today thinks it’s immune from any accountability but it lives in false ignorance. The hand of God is so close to falling in devastating judgement in the Tribulation once the Church is removed in the Rapture.
Verse 1 says the LORD acted in three ways. His anger was like a cloud that covered the land, like a pall of darkness and defeat. Then, the glory of Israel/Judah that reached to heaven, was thrown out to the ground, shattered and lost. The third act is more difficult and declared the LORD did not remember His footstool. What does that mean?
Without going into great detail which you can pursue yourselves, I will quote one commentator who gives the briefest of summaries, for that is all we need for this – [[“His footstool; i.e. the ark (Psalm 132:7), or perhaps the temple as containing the ark (1 Chronicles 28:2; Psalm 99:5).]]” The Temple was the glory of God in Israel but had become meaningless for the nation was drenched in sin that fell under severe judgement.
We continue next time in seeing more of the LORD’S actions in Judah’s destruction.
