LAMENTATIONS LESSON 2


     We will begin this lesson in Lamentations 2:1 "How hath the Lord
covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, [and] cast
down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered
not his footstool in the day of his anger!"

     This "cloud" is speaking of a darkness that prevents their
prayers from reaching up to heaven. His anger for their sins has made
His ear closed to their prayers at this time. There may be a dark
cloud hovering overhead, but the sun shines above that black cloud.
When the cloud is gone, we can see the sunshine. The trouble is from
God. His judgement has come down on the beauty of Israel. The beauty,
as we discussed in the previous lesson, was centered around the temple
and the worship in the temple. The "footstool", in this particular
instance, is, possibly, speaking of the temple in Jerusalem, and more
specifically, the mercy seat in the holy of holies. God's presence had
been over the mercy seat. His presence is withdrawn.

     Lamentations 2:2 "The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations
of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the
strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought [them] down to
the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof."

     It is the Lord who brought judgement. Babylon was the instrument
He used, but God really destroyed their countryside and their cities,
even their strongholds.

     Lamentations 2:3 "He hath cut off in [his] fierce anger all the
horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the
enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, [which]
devoureth round about."

     The "horn" symbolizes strength. Their strength, which came from
God, is gone. He had stood between the enemy and Israel for all these
years. Now, the right hand of spiritual blessings has been removed. He
{the Right Hand} did not fight Babylon for them. God is a consuming
fire. When sin and disobedience to God is great, that fire burns. God
is holy, He cannot look upon sin. He burns it up.

     Lamentations 2:4 "He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood
with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all [that were] pleasant
to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out
his fury like fire."

     God had helped Babylon destroy them. His anger was great. Even
the temple was burned. Notice, "like an enemy". God is not the enemy
of Israel, but is acting like one in this severe punishment of them.

     Lamentations 2:5 "The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up
Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his
strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and
lamentation."
     "Mourning and lamentations" have to do with repentance. The Lord
has done this to cause them to repent. It is such a shame, they did
not listen to the warnings they were given.

     Lamentations 2:6 "And he hath violently taken away his
tabernacle, as [if it were of] a garden: he hath destroyed his places
of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths
to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his
anger the king and the priest."

     It appears, the people were still going through the motion of
worship in the temple, but their hearts were far from God. God allowed
the temple, and everything in it to be destroyed, to show His utter
rejection of anything they might offer. The king and the priest were,
probably, even more guilty than the people. The priest should have
seen that the worship was holy. They had been worshipping false gods,
while at the same time going through rituals to Him. God will not
allow the worship of any false god. It is better not to sacrifice at
all, than to do it out of obligation and not love. God destroyed the
temple. His heart was broken. His people had abandoned Him.

     Lamentations 2:7 "The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath
abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the
LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast."

     God did this, because it reminded Him of His people gone astray.
He had wanted to be their God, and for them to be His people. They had
broken the covenant. God will not accept worship of Him that is not
sincere.

     Lamentations 2:8 "The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of
the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not
withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and
the wall to lament; they languished together."

     This line, that the LORD had stretched, is speaking of a
separation of the people. Those who follow God are on one side, and
those who have worldly lives and worship false gods on the other side.
There is desolation in Jerusalem, because they were on the wrong side
of the line. We need to carefully weigh everything that is going on
here. Christians, awake! Do not straddle the line. Get over on God's
side and stay there. God will examine our works and some will not pass
the test. Read 1st Corinthians chapter 3, beginning with verse 12.
Some of us will have our works burn up in the fire of God. All of
these things that we read in Lamentations, and the rest of the Bible,
are for us to learn from. We must not make the same mistakes they did
here, or we will have the same problems they did.

     Lamentations 2:9 "Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath
destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes [are] among
the Gentiles: the law [is] no [more]; her prophets also find no vision
from the LORD."

     When the wall is gone, the gates fall. This is like the hedge of
protection we Christians have around us. To anger our God as they have
here, would remove our hedge of protection. We could not withstand the
devil, if our hedge was gone. God has stopped sending them His
messages through His prophets. Judgement day came. God has suspended
His law and His prophecies. They did not keep the law, so He just took
it away from them.

     Lamentations 2:10 "The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon
the ground, [and] keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their
heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of
Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground."

     "Sackcloth and throwing of dust on their heads" show extreme
mourning. They had been wrong about Jeremiah's prophecy, and now they
are afraid to say anything for fear it, too, would be wrong. Perhaps,
if they did speak, no one would listen, because they had misjudged
Jeremiah. The elders had been held in great respect, because of their
experience. They feel they have given terrible advice, and they have.

     Lamentations 2:11 "Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are
troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of
the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings
swoon in the streets of the city."

     This is Jeremiah weeping, but in a sense, he is speaking of
Jerusalem, as well. All of the prayers they can pray, will not stop
the trouble, because God is not listening to them. "Swoon", in this
case, would mean to pass out from weakness.

     Lamentations 2:12 "They say to their mothers, Where [is] corn and
wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city,
when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom."

     The children are asking for food, but there is no food. They die
from starvation in their mother's arms.

     Lamentations 2:13 "What thing shall I take to witness for thee?
what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall
I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion?
for thy breach [is] great like the sea: who can heal thee?"

     Jeremiah was still praying for them. Jeremiah has forgotten how
cruel they had been to him, even putting him in chains. "Breach" means
fracture, or ruin. This break is from God, man cannot mend the break.

     Lamentations 2:14 "Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things
for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away
thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of
banishment.'

     The prophets, in the verse above, are false prophets. The visions
they said they had seen, were not of God. They were either from their
imagination, or from the devil. A true prophet would have told them of
their iniquity, and tried to get them to repent. They added to the
reason for the banishment.

     Lamentations 2:15 "All that pass by clap [their] hands at thee;
they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, [saying,
Is] this the city that [men] call The perfection of beauty, The joy of
the whole earth?"

     The shame of Jerusalem was great. All of the countries had always
thought of them as perfect in the sight of God. The beauty of their
temple was well known throughout the lands. Jews from many countries
came there to worship in the temple. At one time, the Queen of Sheba
came to behold with her own eyes the magnificence of Jerusalem. As
great as the blessings had been from God, now was the shame.

     Lamentations 2:16 "All thine enemies have opened their mouth
against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have
swallowed [her] up: certainly this [is] the day that we looked for; we
have found, we have seen [it]."

     It was as if they had waited, hoping the blessings of God would
remove, so they could devour her. For such a great nation to be
swallowed up, made them feel very important.

     Lamentations 2:17 "The LORD hath done [that] which he had
devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days
of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused
[thine] enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine
adversaries."

     God had been patient and longsuffering toward these people He
loved. He gave them prophets, like Jeremiah, to warn them over and
over. They had been amply warned what would happen, if they did not
repent.  This is a fulfillment of His Word. It is God's strength that
the Babylonians won with. God set up the horn {strength} of thine
adversaries.

     Lamentations 2:18 "Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the
daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give
thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease."

     The heart, here, is the heart of the people of Jerusalem. God had
been that wall of protection for them. Now, the wall is gone. Tears
like a river, just shows the abundance of tears shed. Jerusalem had
been the apple of God's eye.

     Lamentations 2:19 "Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning
of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the
Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children,
that faint for hunger in the top of every street."

     Their hands were lifted up towards heaven to get help from God.
They have forgotten the dark cloud between them and heaven. God is not
hearing their prayers. The tears are in vain. Famine is in the land.

     Lamentations 2:20  "Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou
hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, [and] children of a
span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary
of the Lord?"

     The innocent children and babies, just a few inches long, have
suffered in this punishment, as well as the men. In fact, it seems
they were even eating their children in some cases. That is what is
intended by eating their fruit. The priest and the prophets were
slain.  Jeremiah was an exception to that.

     Lamentations 2:21 "The young and the old lie on the ground in the
streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou
hast slain [them] in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, [and]
not pitied."

     There are dead bodies everywhere, not just from the war, but from
the famine, as well.

     Lamentations 2:22 "Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors
round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor
remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy
consumed."

     At the command of God, even the Babylonian army had assembled at
Jerusalem. This time the assembling was for the destruction of
Jerusalem. The wrath of God was poured out through the Babylonians on
God's people. They were killed, and carried away captive. God had
brought them up as His children, but they had rebelled.
























                       Lamentations 2 Questions


1.  What is the "cloud" of verse 1 speaking of?
2.  What is the "footstool" of verse 1?
3.  The Lord has swallowed up all the habitation of _________.
4.  What does the "horn" symbolize?
5.  The right hand of ___________ ___________ has been removed.
6.  What does God do, when He looks upon sin?
7.  God is not the enemy of Israel, but is ________ ____ _____.
8.  "Mourning and lamentations" have to do with ___________.
9.  He hath violently taken away what?
10. Why did God allow the temple to be destroyed?
11. In verse 7, the LORD hath cast off His _________.
12. What kind of worship will God not accept?
13. What is the line in verse 8?
14. How will our work be tested?
15. When the wall is gone, the gates _______.
16. What would happen to the Christian, if his hedge was gone?
17. Why did God suspend the law?
18. What do sack cloth and the throwing of ashes on the head show?
19. Why are the elders silent?
20. Describe Jeremiah's condition in verse 11.
21. What are the children asking their mothers for?
22. What happens to these children?
23. What does "breach" mean?
24. Who are the prophets in verse 14?
25. Where did their visions come from?
26. What did the people passing do, when they saw the destruction of
    Jerusalem?
27. How had God shown His patience to Jerusalem?
28. There were so many tears, they were like a ________.
29. Who had been the apple of God's eye?
30. Why had they lifted their hands toward heaven?
31. What terrible things were happening to the tiny babies?