Lamentations 1 FORSAKEN AND DISTRESSED A song of grief and sorrow penetrated into the heart of the writer as he saw the results of defeat, in the suffering and humiliation of a rejected people who had rejected their God in their pursuit of idolatry and rebellion. This passage is read aloud in synagogues even today as a reminder to the Jewish people of what they have lost. In his mind, he remembered a bustling city filled with people going about their business. She was like a princess among the nations but now has become a widow and a despised slave. She used to be like a popular person who had a lot of friends but now had become an outcast enemy to those same people.
She had become a captive because of her willful unrighteousness. She wouldn’t pay attention to those who tried to warn her of the folly of her actions. She didn’t release her indentured servants in the year of jubilee, and so now she will have to pay the cost of her failure over all those past years by being a slave herself in captivity to a foreign nation far from her own land.
The activity of worship used to see the temple filled with people coming and going; but now, not only were the people gone, but the temple was a silent pile of ruins, and the road to it that used to be so filled with people, was empty and even beginning to grow over. The enemy was now above Jerusalem, and she had been brought low because of her willful sin. The people who used to live there were being driven like sheep into distant captivity. Where there was once beauty, now the city was like a starved wild animal. They once had all the desirable things they wanted, right at their disposal. Now all they had was memories of what they had and lost.
People who play with fire get burned. To refuse to believe that immoral living and idolatry will bring suffering and bad consequences is the mind of fools. We can ignore warnings, but to ignore them doesn’t mean they won’t come. Just judgment for sin, is inevitable, even though it may not happen immediately. To think that because justice is delayed, it won’t be carried out by God is merely wishful thinking. Judgment will come on those who defy God. Those who disobey and turn a deaf ear will experience that which they refused to believe.
Jerusalem was once like an impudent, aggressive woman, but was now looked down on and despised and pitied. She had not been ashamed to expose herself, but now that it had happened, she had been brought low. The prophet calls out to God to look at that pitiful place and the awful condition it was in. Enemy hands had taken all that was of value. All that was good in the temple, had been stripped by wicked hands and carried away as spoil to Babylon. Now they saw what they had taken for granted, for what it was really worth – but it all was lost.
The people had nothing at all after the siege. The prophet again identifies himself with the few people that are left. The liberty to do what we want has no bounds when we become captive to our own desires. Freedom to sin leads to the bondage and unbreakable yoke of sin. Real freedom comes when we obey God and follow where He leads. We who are believers in Christ cannot go along with the sins of others. Some of the judgments that fall on people we may grieve over, but we must distance ourselves from the sins and those who commit them. The only way to find relief from sin and its consequences is to repent of our sins and acknowledge the righteousness of God’s judgments.
Jerusalem was like a woman sitting in misery by the side of the road and calling out to passersby for help. “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see it there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me.” She is looking for some compassion to be shown to her who was the object of fierce anger. She was experiencing herself, what she had done to others who were poor and despised by those who were high and mighty. Her affliction was like fire in the bones, and because of this evil, the afflictions she caused have totally captured her. The people of Jerusalem admitted that it was their sin that brought the just punishment on them, and it made them fall so they could not even get up again.
People that are strangers to God, can’t give any dependable assistance, because all they can see are the temporary effects that are quickly used and gone. Spiritual needs are hidden from the minds of those who are dead in trespasses and in sins. When counsel is needed, go to those who know God, and who get their wisdom and understanding from Him.
When God’s call to them was given they refused to answer. Instead of responding to the call to worship God, they rejected Him, so God called upon the Chaldeans to crush them. This wasn’t vengeance, but it was justice. The prophet wept because of the hopelessness that had come upon the city, and there was nothing left that could help any of them. There was no comfort in their counterfeit religion. There was no comfort in their heritage. They had become loathsome to everyone around. So, the prophet urged the people to call on the Lord, acknowledge their sins, and show real sorrow for their sins like a woman who is sorrowing for her lost family.
All of the alliances the people of Judah and Jerusalem had made with other nations, had failed. Rich and poor; small and great were all suffering in the same way from hunger and loss. The call for mercy came from the depths of misery. The awareness of what they had done; the sin, the guilt it brought, was like a war on the outside and death inside. The nations around with whom they had made the alliances and that had pretended friendship, were actually glad for what had happened to the Jews. In the bitterness of her soul, she wanted them to go through what she was going through.
God is both the Judge and the Comforter. What He does is without partiality. The principles and practices of sowing and reaping what you sow, are the same for everyone. Justice will prevail. Punishment for sin is inevitable. The consequences of rejecting Christ today, are the same as rejecting the calls of the Lord to Jerusalem. For those who turn from their sin to God, and put their trust in Him; He is there to save them, to console them in the difficulties of life, and to give the comfort of hope that is needed to sustain us in adversity. Suffering and anguish are not always because of sin. We live in a fallen world; and events, people, and our own sinful nature bring suffering. Whenever we feel hopeless; for God’s people there is hope and comfort when we turn our hearts toward Him.