LAMENTATIONS 1 A

None to comfort Jerusalem verse 1- 2

How does the city sit solitary that was full of people
How is she become as a widow
she that was great among the nations
and princess among the provinces
How is she become tributary
She weeps sore in the night – and her tears are on her cheeks
among all her lovers she has none to COMFORT her
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her
they are become her enemies

No rest for Jerusalem verse 3

Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction
and because of great servitude
she dwells among the heathen – she finds no rest
all her persecutors overtook her between the straits

No pasture in Jerusalem verse 4- 6

The ways of Zion do mourn – because none come to the solemn feasts
all her gates are desolate – her priests sign
her virgins are afflicted – and she is in bitterness
Her adversaries are the chief – her enemies prosper
for the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions
her children are gone into captivity before the enemy
                                    and from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed
                                                her princes are become like harts that
find no pasture
                                    and they are gone without strength before the pursuer

None to help Jerusalem verse 7

Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries
            all her pleasant things that she had I the days of old
                        when her people fell into the hand of the enemy
                                    and none did help her – the adversaries saw her
                                                and did mock at her Sabbaths

No comforter verse 8- 11

Jerusalem has grievously sinned
THEREFORE she is removed – all that honored her despise her
                        BECAUSE they have seen her nakedness
                                    YEA – she sighed – and turned backward
Her filthiness is in her skirts – she remembers not her last end
THEREFORE she came down wonderfully
she had no comforter – O LORD – behold my affliction
for the enemy hath magnified himself
The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things
for she has seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary
whom YOU did command that they should
not enter into YOUR congregation
All her people sigh – they seek bread
they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul
SEE – O LORD – and CONSIDER
for I am become vile

None to comfort Jerusalem                                                    verse 12- 17

Is it nothing to you – all you that pass by?
BEHOLD and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow
                        which is done unto me
wherewith the LORD has afflicted me
in the day of HIS fierce anger
From above has HE sent fire into my bones – and it prevailed against them
            HE has spread a net for my feet – HE has turned me back
                        HE has made me desolate and faint all the day
The yoke of my transgressions is bound by HIS hand
            they are wreathed – and come up upon my neck
                        HE has made my strength to fall
                                    the Lord has delivered me into their hands
                                                from whom I am not able to rise up
The Lord has trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me
            HE has called an assembly against me to crush my young men
                        the Lord has trodden the virgin – the daughter of Judah
                                    as in a winepress
For these thing I weep – mine eyes – mine eyes run down with water
            BECAUSE the comforter that should relieve my soul
is far from me – my children are desolate
                                    BECAUSE the enemy prevailed
Zion spreads forth her hands – and there is none to comfort her
            the LORD has commanded concerning Jacob
                        that his adversaries should be round about him
                                    Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them

None to comfort me                                                               verse 18- 22

The LORD is righteous – for I have rebelled against HIS commandment
            HEAR – I pray you – all people – and behold my sorrow
                        my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity
            I called for my lovers – BUT they deceived me
                        my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city
                                    while they sought their meat to relieve their souls
BEHOLD – O LORD – for I am in distress – my bowels are troubled
            mine heart is turned within me for I have grievously rebelled
                        abroad the sword bereaved at home there is as death
They have heard that I sigh – there is none to comfort me
            all mine enemies have heard of my trouble
                        they are glad that YOU have done it
                                    YOU will bring the day that
YOU have called
and they shall be like unto me
Let all their wickedness come before YOU
            and do unto them as YOU have done unto me for all my transgressions
                        for my sighs are many – and my heart is faint

COMMENTARY:

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers

: 9        Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembered not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself. (6040 “affliction” [oniy] means trouble, misery, poverty, frustration, suffering, or great pains.
DEVOTION:   Jeremiah is describing what he is seeing and experiencing after the destruction of Jerusalem. He gives this account of what the sin of rebellion has cost the children of Israel.
Their capital that was beautiful was destroyed. The people were taken into captivity. Those who remained in the land were afflicted by the Babylonians.
Jeremiah wanted the LORD to see their suffering and do something about it. However, he knew that they were being judged for their lack of response to the pleas of the LORD.
There are consequences to sin. Their sin was rebellion. They thought they could never be defeated. They thought that as long as they did some worship of the LORD, HE would be satisfied.
They were wrong. HE offered them a way out but they chose to continue to worship false gods. They continued to kill HIS prophets who were warning them of coming judgment.
Too often the LORD sends us warnings our way and we just neglect them. We think that the LORD will never send weakness, sickness or premature death our way.
HE wants us to confess our sin to HIM and return to serving HIM faithfully. When this doesn’t happen, HE has to send judgment. The children of Israel had to learn this and we need to learn it as well. Our thoughts concerning judgment are not the same thoughts that the LORD has. We tend to think that HIS longsuffering will never cause HIM to chasten us.
The people of Jerusalem thought the same thoughts and they were WRONG. God is longsuffering but after enough warnings HE will send judgment.
Are we conscience of the warning HE is sending into our life. In our times of devotions are we listening to HIS voice? We know when we are backsliding. Consider HIS warnings.
CHALLENGE: Longsuffering doesn’t mean that we can sin to the full and not expect a time of chastening.)

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers

: 18 The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. (6662 “righteous” [tsaddiyq] means just, lawful, correct or right.
DEVOTION: The book of Lamentations uses acrostic in the first four chapters. Each verse starts with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In chapter three there are sets of three verses that start with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This first chapter describes the fall of Jerusalem and the reason for the fall. This chapter emphasizes that there were none to comfort them.
The LORD does everything from the correct perspective. HE is just. HE is always right. What happened to the people of Jerusalem and their city was for their good. They had rebelled against the LORD and were not obeying HIS commandments.
HE sent prophets to warn them of coming judgment but they would not listen. HE was longsuffering. HE always does what is good for HIS people. Sometimes correction is needed. That correction can be just a slap on the wrest or it can be a two by four on the back of the head.
HE knows what will work in our lives. Always remember that all the trials that come our way are not because of some sin in our lives.
Many times it is because of our need to grow in the LORD or HE is drawing us back to HIM. The children of Israel had become religious and not followers of God. Religion is man’s way to reach up to God. Man makes the rules in religion.
Christianity is God reaching down to man and giving him a way to follow HIM. God establishes the rules in Christianity. Religion is a plan where man earns his salvation through his works. Christianity is God’s work on the cross for our sins through the shed blood of our LORD Jesus Christ and our following the LORD.
Israel chose religion and it cost them their freedom. What is our choice today? Are we following the LORD or some manmade religion? All roads don’t lead to salvation. Only one road leads to salvation and that is through Christ alone.
CHALLENGE: Learn from the bad example of Israel. Learn from the Word of God to follow the LORD closely. HE always does what is right for us.)

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers

: 22 Let all their wickedness come before you; and do unto them, as YOU have done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighsare many, and my heart is faint. (585 “sighs” [anachah] means groanings, mourning, expression of grief or physical distress, expressing of disapproval, or mental distress.)
DEVOTION: It is hard to be someone who genuinely works for the LORD to help HIS people to understand what HE expects of them. It is even harder when they don’t listen to you and you have to face the same consequences as those who are disobedient.
One of the truths that are taught in this chapter is the fact that even a genuine servant of the LORD is still a sinner. Jeremiah admitted that his transgressions were also part of the reason for judgment.
Jeremiah was groaning over all that had taken place. He had to record all that the LORD had said to the children of Judah and regarding the children of Israel who were already in captivity. Now all twelve tribes were in captivity because of their sins.
Worshiping false gods was the main reason the LORD had to deal with HIS people. They were wicked in HIS eyes and would not listen to the warnings of Jeremiah and other genuine prophets of the LORD.
Sometimes it is easier to listen to those who tell us what we want to hear rather than the truth that we need to hear. God wants us to listen to individuals who will tell us what we don’t want to hear if it is of the LORD.
Jeremiah didn’t like what he saw regarding his people and wanted the LORD to handle them. We need to make sure that we don’t let our anger get the best of us and personally want to hurt those who have hurt us. Give to the LORD always. HE can handle it better than us because we are sinners just like Jeremiah.
CHALLENGE: When our hearts are faint we need to turn to the LORD and realize that we are in good hands no matter what our circumstances seem to be.

DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

SPIRIT

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)

Pray verse 18

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)

Solemn feasts verse 4
Priests verse 4, 19
Sanctuary verse 10

DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

Commandments of the LORD verse 18

God the Father (First person of the Godhead)

LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 5, 9, 11, 12, 17,
18, 20
Day of fierce anger of LORD verse 12
Lord – Adonai (Owner, Master) verse 14, 15
Comforter verse 16
Righteous verse 17

God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)

Nation verse 1
Enemies verse 2, 5, 7, 9,
16, 21
Heathen verse 3, 10
Adversaries verse 5, 7, 10

Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)

No Comfort verse 2, 16, 17, 21

Deal treacherously verse 2
None come to solemn feasts verse 4 Bitterness verse 4
Adversaries of God’s people verse 5, 7, 10, 17
Transgressions verse 5, 14, 22
Mock her Sabbaths verse 7
Sinned verse 8
Filthiness verse 9
Magnify self verse 9
Heathen verse 10
Vile verse 11
Rebelled verse 18
Lovers verse 19
Deceive verse 19
Grievously rebelled verse 20
Glad someone is hurting verse 21
Wickedness verse 22

Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)

Comfort verse 2, 16, 17, 21
Affliction verse 3- 5, 7, 9, 12
Rest verse 3
Strength verse 6, 14
Help verse 7
Comforter verse 9, 16, 21
Times of weeping verse 16
Righteous verse 18
Times of distress verse 20

Israel (Old Testament people of God)

Judah verse 3 , 15
Zion verse 4 , 6, 17
Jerusalem verse 7, 17
Jacob verse 17
Elders verse 19

Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)

QUOTES

The structure’s most striking feature is the use of the acrostic, or alphabetical arrangement, in which successive lines of the poem begin with consecutive letters of the alphabet. The acrostics employed in Lamentations are, of course, not apparent in English translations.
There are twenty-two verses in chaps. 1–2, corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each verse is composed of three lines; the first word of each verse begins with a consecutive Hebrew letter.
Chapter 3 has sixty-six verses of one line each. The first three verses begin with the first letter of the alphabet; the next three verses begin with the second letter, and so on.
Chapter 4 has twenty-two verses of two lines each; the first word of each verse begins with consecutive Hebrew letters.
Chapter 5 contains twenty-two verses, but it is not an acrostic (cf. Ps 103); nor does it contain the Qinah meter. Perhaps the breakdown in the pattern that characterizes the previous chapters was deliberate in order to suggest chaos and despair.

The most likely explanation for the use of acrostics in Lamentations is that they symbolized a complete and exhaustive expression of grief, even as we might say, “Everything from A to Z has been said on the subject.” Gottwald believes that the acrostic also served to express a complete cleansing of conscience through total confession of sin. (Huey, F. B. (1993). Vol. 16: Jeremiah, Lamentations. The New American Commentary (445). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

Contemporary applications that can be made from the Book of Lamentations include the following: (1) the wickedness of any people will eventually result in the disintegration of that society; (2) we should never take God’s past blessings as assurance that they will continue when we continue in sin; (3) our nation and our churches are subject to God’s judgment when they are no longer faithful; (4) God fulfills his word; (5) though many solutions for human suffering have been proposed, ultimately the only satisfactory way to deal with it is through deep and abiding faith in God in spite of the circumstances. (Huey, F. B. (1993). Vol. 16: Jeremiah, Lamentations. The New American Commentary (446–447). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

1:21–22Jerusalem’s enemies heard of its “distress”; but instead of giving comfort, they rejoiced that God had brought punishment on his people. Jerusalem’s response was to call on God to punish its enemies, even as he had punished it. Jeremiah also frequently appealed to God to bring vengeance on those who were persecuting him (Jer 11:20; 12:3; 15:15; 17:18; 18:21–23; 20:11; cf. Ps 109:1–20). Invoking a curse on one’s enemies was a common practice in ancient times. It is common response to those who have hurt us, but Jesus invokes a different principle, “Love your enemies” (Matt 5:44).
The first lament has focused on the misery and desolation of a city that suffered the consequences of ignoring the prophets’ warnings that God punishes those who sin. It serves as a solemn reminder of the ultimate misery and sorrow of all who think they can escape God’s punishment. (1:21–22 Jerusalem’s enemies heard of its “distress”; but instead of giving comfort, they rejoiced that God had brought punishment on his people. Jerusalem’s response was to call on God to punish its enemies, even as he had punished it. Jeremiah also frequently appealed to God to bring vengeance on those who were persecuting him (Jer 11:20; 12:3; 15:15; 17:18; 18:21–23; 20:11; cf. Ps 109:1–20). Invoking a curse on one’s enemies was a common practice in ancient times. It is common response to those who have hurt us, but Jesus invokes a different principle, “Love your enemies” (Matt 5:44).
The first lament has focused on the misery and desolation of a city that suffered the consequences of ignoring the prophets’ warnings that God punishes those who sin. It serves as a solemn reminder of the ultimate misery and sorrow of all who think they can escape God’s punishment. (Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, p. 457). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

It should be a matter of deep interest for the child of God, in any dispensation, to know that there is One above who notes with compassion all of his sorrows, and is afflicted in all his afflictions. Nothing could demonstrate this more clearly than the incorporation, as a part of the Holy Scriptures, of the expressions of the heart-sorrows of Jeremiah as he beheld the overwhelming woes of his people, and the desolations of the Holy City. These feelings were right and proper—nay, produced by the Spirit of God in the heart of His servant Jeremiah. He, the God of Israel, was no cold, indifferent spectator of the anguish, humiliation and pains of the people of His choice. His holiness demanded that He chasten them for their iniquities; and He had used the king of Babylon to that end, but His heart was grieved for them still, as a loving father is sorely pained in his own correction of a wayward son. He greatly valued, therefore, the soul-exercises of His grief-stricken prophet, and has seen fit to place his lamentations on record for our instruction and comfort. In a certain sense Jeremiah speaks for the godly ones left in the land—their mouthpiece, as it were.
The peculiar structure of this elegiac poem is worthy of note. In their original form, the first four chapters are acrostic, after the pattern of a number of the psalms. Chapters 1, 2 and 4 consist of twenty-two verses each; every verse commencing with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in regular order. Chapter 3, in which the fullest confession of their sin and grief is found, consists of sixty-six verses; and here three verses are given to each letter. That is, each of the first three verses begins with Aleph, the first letter of the alphabet; and the next three verses, each begins with Beth, the second letter; and so on to the end of the alphabet.
In Ps. 119 we have twenty-two divisions of eight verses each, similarly arranged, as even the ordinary English Bible shows. There, every letter of the alphabet (which represents the whole compass of man’s speech) is used in the praise of the perfect law of the Lord. In Lamentations every letter is required to express the sorrows following upon the neglect and breaking of that law.
Chapter 5 is an exception to the acrostic style, though containing the same number of verses as the first, second, and fourth.
In this first chapter the remnant of Judah confess the righteousness of the Lord in permitting their afflictions, though they are filled with sorrow as they behold the sad results. They acknowledge their own sinfulness and extol the holiness of God, while calling for judgment upon the instrument of His wrath.
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In a certain sense these last two verses might also be looked upon as setting forth the doom of those who refuse to own the Lordship of Jesus. He too could say of such, “Thou wilt bring the day that Thou hast called, and they shall be like unto Me.” Despising His sufferings, men who reject His grace must know for themselves the awful power of divine wrath. (Ironside, H. A. (1906). Notes on the prophecy and Lamentations of Jeremiah (p. 318). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)