The Book Of Lamentations – Part 7 – The Lord Destroyed Judah Permissively – Sin Reaps Judgement - Chapter 2:2-5 Series

THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS – PART 7 – THE LORD DESTROYED JUDAH PERMISSIVELY – SIN REAPS JUDGEMENT - CHAPTER 2:2-5

[1]. THE LORD HAS WROUGHT A COMPLETE DESTRUCTION

{{Lamentations 2:2 “The Lord HAS SWALLOWED up. He HAS NOT SPARED ALL the habitations of Jacob. In His wrath HE HAS THROWN down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. HE HAS BROUGHT them down to the ground. HE HAS PROFANED the kingdom and its princes.”}}

This verse contains 5 statements aimed at the LORD emphatically stating that HE HAS done these things. The LORD directly did them. Of course we know the background of why they were done, but in Jeremiah’s lament he puts it at the LORD’S door. The sin of the nation was the culprit.

I have highlighted three words here, suggestive of the intensity of this judgement. The LORD did this. He has swallowed up and that means He has devoured it. It reminds me of a whale with its mouth opened wide moving along swallowing all the krill it can hold. Another image is that of a vacuum cleaner that swallows up a pile of dirt and debris.

In doing the swallowing up, the LORD did not spare the Jews, descendants of Jacob, and of Abraham for that matter. “All” speaks of the thoroughness of it all. They were not spared. They all suffered either death or displacement and loss of everything. It was devastating.

The next description mentions “wrath” which is the way the LORD acted. The wrath of a holy God is a terrible thing. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a God of wrath. Wrath is associated with holiness and is what cleanses sin away. A holy God must destroy sin, but the grace of God and His mercy often delay the fall of the axe. It has been like that in Judah and in our current world, but His wrath eventually comes. It is coming very, very soon.

The LORD’s wrath has brought down all the defences in Judah. He defeated and overthrew all their strength as if it was nothing. These nine verses of the LORD’s actions are full of descriptive expressions to show how complete the destruction was. The survivors of this invasion realised why they were in this situation, such as revealed by 1:18. The first step to restoration is an honest appraisal followed by repentance in humility. I believe that happened in Babylon as the captives returned to the LORD.

In this verse the idea of throwing the strongholds to the ground is the levelling of destruction. Everything comes crashing down. Some versions translate as “fortified cities” for “strongholds”, but under the Babylonians, nothing stopped them because the LORD had withdrawn His hand. Like the walls of Jericho, all came tumbling down.

Right now (as I write) it is the preservation of Israel that is the Lord’s concern. The strongholds of Hamas and Hezbollah come crashing down in this deadly conflict. As we are so close to the start of the Tribulation, Israel will be preserved at this point in time.

It is most interesting that not once in Lamentations does Jeremiah make reference to his ministry and to what he wrote. Something like, “Through me the LORD warned of the destruction if the nation did not repent. I said this is what would happen.” The Spirit of God was not going to let that happen.

The last part of the verse is, “He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.” The word “profaned” has been used in the following ways in scripture - “defile, pollute, desecrate, to profane oneself, defile oneself, pollute oneself, to make common.” {{Isaiah 43:28 “Therefore I HAVE PROFANED THE PRINCES OF THE SANCTUARY, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.”}} There was nothing holy any more about the Temple, the palaces or anything in Judah.

[2]. A FLAMING FIRE OF FIERCE ANGER

{{Lamentations 2:3 “IN FIERCE ANGER HE HAS cut off all the strength of Israel. HE HAS drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, and HE HAS BURNED in Jacob like a flaming fire consuming round about.”}}

This verse contains the “accusations” against the LORD for what has happened to Judah. Of course Jeremiah knows the situation exactly, that the fault lies with the people in that they have done this to themselves! As the LORD has watch over His earthly people, then all that happened to them is blamed on the LORD. God allowed it.

There are 3 direct statements that the LORD HAS done these things to Judah and more of this follows in coming verses.

Firstly, the LORD cut off the strength of the nation. I don’t think this was a deliberate action to make them weak for defeat. Rather, I think it means the LORD just did not defend them, and that lines up with the parallelism of the next statement “He has drawn back His right hand.” God allowed the strong enemy to invade and showed no resistance. I believe His resistance is with Israel today, against all her enemies including Iran and Russia.