The Book Of Lamentations – Part 45 – At Last The People Owned Their Sin But It Had Caused Such Physical Suffering - Lamentations 5:16-17 Series

THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS – PART 45 – AT LAST THE PEOPLE OWNED THEIR SIN BUT IT HAD CAUSED SUCH PHYSICAL SUFFERING - Lamentations 5:16-17

Lamentations chapter 5 is a whole set of laments from the people and possibly from Jeremiah himself. In the main they are quite unpleasant for most of the chapter but now there will come a change.

In the last message we saw that there were no more elders in the gates of the cities to administer justice and wisdom, and there were no men playing music because the whole social fabric had been ruptured and mourning prevailed. In the messages before that, we learn that the elderly were not respected and the women were raped and the youths stumbled under their loads and were slave labourers. Princes were hanged, food was scarce and dangerous to get, and the people showed great signs of starvation.

All that seems very cruel and the cynic would want to take issue with a God of love but the cynic is wise in his own deceits. God did not spring all that calamity on the people without an immense number of warnings and appeals over more than 200 years. Isaiah and Jeremiah preached their hearts out for the love of their people but not only did the people ignore the prophets’ messages, they severely persecuted them.

Isaiah was sawn alive in two by a demonic mob and Jeremiah was locked up in a filthy cistern. Men hate God’s messengers because they hate God’s message. It has never been any different since the time of Noah and probably even earlier. Unfortunately God’s truth is absolute and what man has sown, that he shall also reap. What we see in Judah’s defeat is the reaping of their godless and idolatrous sowing.

Let us look at this pivotal verse in this Chapter 5:-

[16]. AT LAST PROPER RECOGNITION OF SIN IS ACKNOWLEDGED

{{Lamentations 5:16 “The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, FOR WE HAVE SINNED.”}}

I see in the last 6 verses a section of “wrapping up”. Much has been covered in the book, a lot of it unpleasant, but now it is being drawn together with fact, prayer and doubt. We will see all that in the verses that will follow.

When a person comes to the end of his/her life and all has to be wrapped up, how will that be? It should be different for the Christian than it is for the non-Christian. The Christian has the hope of heaven, or could we say, more to the point, the hope of the Lord’s presence, the closeness that the disciples knew in their private times with Jesus on earth. The things and activities that have occupied the person’s life should take a back seat as the curtain is descending on his earthly life. There should be no regrets.

For the non-Christian, especially the denier and atheist and worldly sinner, it is not a pleasant time. He has remorse and regrets at what is being left behind and no hope for what lies ahead. In fact from second hand accounts there is even some apprehension and a fear. That is so sad because in God there is life and light. Outside of God all is despair and regret.

Verse 16 speaks of two things. The first is the crown falling from the head. This is a verse of conclusion, signing as it were, the lawyer’s statement. The crown no longer is prominent, as it has fallen. What is this crown?

In context this is not referring to the king of Judah as we understand and speak these days of “the crown” in the British Commonwealth meaning the administration under the monarch. Of course the kingship in Judah had fallen because the kings (sons of Josiah) were as wicked as the people and priests and prophets, as we saw many times in working through this book.

What it does mean is that the glory and honour of Judah has evaporated, and in fact is non-existent. The splendour and dignity have gone along with any respect the nation achieved when in self-rule. The great glory days of Solomon were but a past dream, now vanished in shame and remorse.

Since the time when I was young I was always intrigued by the verses from Solomon's time, ones of description of the majesty; the splendor of his kingdom. I found it amazing that all these things could be found and brought into Jerusalem.

{{1 Kings 10:22-23 “The king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.”}}