LAMENTATIONS 2 A

No mercy from the LORD verse 1- 5

How has 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
The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob – and has not pitied
            HE has thrown down in HIS wrath the strongholds of
the daughter of Judah
HE has brought them down to the ground
HE has polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof
            HE has cut off in HIS fierce anger all the horn of Israel
                        HE has drawn back HIS right hand from before the enemy
                                    and HE burned against Jacob like a flaming fire
                                                which devours round about
            HE has 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
The Lord was as an enemy – HE has swallowed up Israel
            HE has swallowed up all her palaces
HE has destroyed HIS strongholds
                                    and has increased in the daughter of Judah
mourning and lamentation

No celebration in Temple verse 6- 7

And HE has violently taken away HIS tabernacles as if it were of a garden
HE has destroyed HIS places of the assembly
                           the LORD has caused the solemn feasts
and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion
                                                and has despised in the indignation of HIS anger
the king and the priest
The Lord has cast off HIS altar
HE has 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

No walls in the city of Jerusalem verse 8- 9

The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion
            HE has stretched out a line
                        HE has not withdrawn HIS hand from destroying
THEREFORE HE made the rampart and the wall to lament
            they languished together
Her gates are sunk into the ground
HE has 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

No leadership verse 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

No care of children verse 11- 12

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
they say to their mothers – Where is corn and wine?
when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city
when poured out into their mothers’ bosom

No comfort verse 13

What thing shall I take to witness for you?
            What thing shall I like to you – O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I equal to you – that I may comfort you
            O virgin daughter of Zion?
                        for your breach is great like the sea – Who can heal you?

No vision verse 14

Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things for you
            and they have not discovered your iniquity
to turn away your captivity
BUT have seen for you false burdens and causes of banishment

No respect verse 15- 17

All that pass by clap their hands at you
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?
All your enemies have opened their mouth against you
            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
The LORD has done that which HE had devised
HE has fulfilled HIS word that HE had commanded
in the days of old
            HE has thrown down – and hath not pitied
                           and HE has caused your enemy to rejoice over you
HE has set up the horn of your adversaries

No answer to prayer verse 18- 19

Their heart cried unto the Lord – O wall of the daughter of Zion
let tears run down like a river day and night
                        give yourself no rest
let not the apple of YOUR eye cease
Arise – cry out in the night in the beginning of the watches pour out
your heart like water before the face of the Lord
                        lift up your hand toward HIM for the life of
your young children that faint for hunger
in the top of every street

No pity verse 20- 22

BEHOLD – O LORD and consider to whom YOU have 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 young and the old lie on the ground in the streets
            my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword
YOU have slain them in the day of YOUR anger
            YOU have killed – and not pitied
YOU have 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 have
my enemy consumed

COMMENTARY:

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers

: 9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; HEhas destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no visionfrom the LORD. (2377 “vision” [chazown] means communication from God, prophecy, oracle, or revelation.
DEVOTION: This book gives us an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet in each chapter. Each verse of each chapter begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are twenty two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The third chapter has three verses to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
This chapter informs us of the anger of the LORD. One of the attributes of the LORD is long-suffering. HE doesn’t want any to perish. However, there comes a time period when the LORD gives people over to their desires. The children of Judah had desires for false gods and false prophets. They wanted their ears to be itched with false teaching. The leaders of the nation gave them what they wanted.
Each chapter is talking about Jeremiah’s cry regarding the fall of Jerusalem. The fall of Jerusalem happened because the people of God were not listening and obeying the LORD.
One of the signs that the LORD was no longer with them is that there was no fresh revelation of the will of the LORD to the prophets from the LORD. They had stopped listening and therefore HE didn’t give them any fresh messages from HIM. Their false prophets told them that they were receiving visions from the LORD but they were lying.
We have the complete Bible today. It warns that we are not to add to or take away from the word of the LORD. Does this mean that the LORD doesn’t speak to us today? NO!! HE speaks to us through HIS word. HE gives us instruction through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This instruction is not adding to the Word of God but complementing the Word of God.
There are times when the Holy Spirit directs us to witness to an individual. There are times when the Holy Spirit directs us to help an individual in need. There are times when the Holy Spirit warns us of trouble.
Does this add to the Bible? NO!! In the Old Testament times there was not a completed Bible. They needed fresh messages from the LORD.
Our fresh messages can come from Bible teachers who are in tune with the LORD in their Sunday messages. They yield to the Holy Spirit who was promised to teach us all things that we need to know regarding our life in Christ. The Holy Spirit instructs men filled with HIM regarding what the Word of God is saying.
There is enough revelation in our Bible to keep us busy for the rest of our lives – IF we are willing to follow HIS instructions. Are we listening to the Word of God??? Are we seeking more revelation than has been sent by God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit? Our 66 books of the Bible are enough.
CHALLENGE: Watch out for those who say they have a fresh revelation from the LORD. Watch out for those who say what we want to hear. Be willing to hear the hard things of the Word of God.)

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers

: 14 Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things for you: and they have not discovered your iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but have seen for you false burdensand causes of banishment. (4853 “burdens” [massa’] means song, prophecy, oracle, utterance, pronouncement, or load)
DEVOTION: Here we have men and women who told the people what they wanted to hear. It was false teaching but the people didn’t care because they wanted their ears tickled.
These were supposed to be men who were called of God to give the people the message of the LORD. This word means song, as well as pronouncement. I found this interesting because today as then there were religious songs being sung that didn’t give a proper teaching. The words of their songs were false as far as their teaching concerning the Word of God.
Many new songs can fall into this category in our churches today. The message sounds OK but in reality they are not teaching what is true in the Word of God. They are entertaining but not true.
So even today we have men and women who say they are honoring the LORD with their message but it is a false message. We have to listen to the words of the singers as well as the preachers and check them out by the standard of the Word of God.
The religious songs and messages might sound good to the ears but the teaching can hinder our growth in the LORD because we think they are true without checking them out in the Bible.
CHALLENGE: When you listen to a singer or preacher make sure you check the teaching or message in the Word of God for accuracy.

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers

: 17 The LORD has done that which HE had devised; HE has fulfilled HIS word that HE had commanded in the days of old: HE has thrown down, and has not pitied: and HE that caused your enemy to rejoice over you, HE has set up the horn of your adversaries. (1214 “fulfilled” [batsa‘] means to finish, complete, accomplish, or perfect.
DEVOTION: The prophecies of Jeremiah have come true. This book is the outpouring of grief that Jeremiah felt when he observed all that was happening to the city of Jerusalem and her people.
They were warned many times over a period of many years but they would not listen. Their kings knew what was going to happen but refused the help of the LORD.
In this chapter we find the two words for the name of God. One name is Adonai which means owner or master. HE is the owner of the universe. HE had a special place HE allowed to have HIS glory shown on many occasions. This place represented a special location where the LORD commanded HIS people to go on regular occasions. HE used the prophet to inform the people that HE owned the land.
The second name for God was Jehovah. This name states that HE had a special relationship with HIS people. HE was a personal God to them. HE wanted to bless them. HE wanted their obedience.
So as a PERSONAL GOD that owned the universe tried to communicate with HIS people about HIS future actions they should have listened. They did not.
Did their not listening change HIS plans? NO!!! HE was going to finish the work HE said HE would. HE was going to complete HIS plan. HE knew before the foundation of the world what was going to happen.
It is hard for us to understand but one thought we need to understand is that God lives outside of time and we live in time. HE can see the beginning and the end. We can only see the present with memories of the past and thought regarding the future. We cannot see the beginning and the end.
We have a promise that our end will be good if our relationship with the LORD is good. That can only happen with a time of repentance where we turn in the right direction with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah was faithful to the LORD with his message and his life. He didn’t like what he was seeing happen to Jerusalem even though he knew it was going to happen because the LORD told him it was. He knew God kept HIS word.
Our Bible instructs us to follow the LORD a certain way and if we do we will be blessed. If we fail to follow HIS instructions we will suffer the consequences.
CHALLENGE: Know that God has a plan for our life and HE is working HIS plan. HE will keep all HIS promises to us. Thank HIM.)

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)

Their heart cried unto the Lord verse 18, 19
Pour out your heart to LORD verse 19
Lift up your hands toward LORD verse 19

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

Tabernacle verse 4, 6
Assembly verse 6
Solemn feasts verse 6, 7
Sabbaths verse 6
Altar verse 7
Sanctuary verse 7, 20
House of the LORD verse 7
Priest verse 20
Prophet verse 20
Solemn day verse 22

DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

Law verse 9

God the Father (First person of the Godhead)

Lord – Adonai (Owner, Master) verse 1, 2, 5, 7,
18- 20
Anger of the LORD verse 1- 4, 6, 21, 22
Adversary verse 4
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 6, 7- 9, 17, 20,
22
Fulfilled promise of LORD verse 17
Face of the LORD verse 19

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)

Enemy verse 3- 5, 7, 16, 17,
22
Gentiles verse 9

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

False prophets verse 14
False visions verse 14
Iniquity verse 14
No rest verse 18

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

Comfort verse 13
Heal verse 13
Joy verse 15
Prayer verse 18, 19
Rest verse 18

Israel (Old Testament people of God)

Zion verse 1, 4, 6, 8,
10, 13, 18
Israel verse 1, 3, 5
Jacob verse 2, 3
Judah verse 2, 5
Prophets have no visions verse 9
Jerusalem verse 10, 13, 15
Apple of God’s eye verse 18

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

QUOTES

2:14The false prophets are given a large measure of blame for Jerusalem’s tragedy for having given the people false and empty assurances of Jerusalem’s security. Their words were “false and worthless” (cf. Jer 14:13–16; 23:13; Ezek 12:24; 13:3–23; Mic 3:6; 2 Pet 2:17–19). Their theology contained an element of truth—God could have protected Jerusalem from seizure by an enemy—but it contained a fatal flaw. It ignored the fact that God’s blessings were conditioned on the people’s obedience (Deut 11:26–29; 28:1–68), which required worship of God alone and moral integrity. If the false prophets had exposed the people’s sins and warned them of the consequences, the calamity could have been avoided (Jer 23:18–22). The verse serves as a solemn reminder of our responsibility to warn (Ezek 3:17–21) and our accountability if we keep silent or give false hope (Ezek 13:15–16; Matt 12:36). (Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, p. 464). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

14The best commentaries on this verse are Jeremiah 23:18–22 and Ezekiel 13:10–16. Just as the majority of preachers are so obsessed with the holiness of the church that they have not been able to take the church’s shortcomings seriously, so it was in Israel. It took the shock of the Babylonian exile to break the power and influence of the popular prophets and to discredit them finally. ( Ellison, H. L. (1986). Lamentations. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 714). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)

2:14. The third sketch Jeremiah drew was of false prophets hastening rather than hindering Jerusalem’s downfall. God had threatened to destroy Jerusalem because of her sin, and the prophets were supposed to announce this impending disaster and exhort the people to repent. Unfortunately, though Jeremiah and Ezekiel were faithful prophets of God, others were tickling the people’s ears with rosy predictions of peace and prosperity (cf. Jer. 28:1–4, 10–11; 29:29–32). Jerusalem chose to ignore the true prophets’ warnings and to listen to the flattering and therefore misleading lies of the false prophets. (Dyer, C. H. (1985). Lamentations. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1215). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

Zion had been overwhelmed as by the waves of the sea, so that there was no healing of her breach, humanly speaking (ver. 13). Her prophets had seen vain and foolish things for her (as in the case of Hananiah, recorded in chap. 28), prophesying smooth things, but not discovering her iniquity. True peace there could not be with unjudged sin upon her (ver. 14). Thus Jerusalem had become the sport of the passer-by, who scornfully asked, “Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?” (ver. 15). Both these titles are found applied to it in the Psalms: the former in Ps. 50:2; the latter in Ps. 48:2. (Ironside, H. A. (1906). Notes on the prophecy and Lamentations of Jeremiah (p. 323). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)

Ver. 14. Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee, &c.] Not the prophets of the Lord; but false prophets, as the Targum; which were of the people’s choosing, and were acceptable to them; prophets after their own hearts, because they prophesied smooth things, such as they liked; though in the issue they proved vain and foolish, idle stories, impertinent talk, the fictions of their own brains; and yet they pretended to have visions of them from the Lord; as that within two years Jeconiah, and all the vessels of the temple carried away by the king of Babylon, should be returned; and that he would not come against Jerusalem, nor should it be delivered into his hands; see Jer. 28:2, 3, 4: and they have not discovered thine iniquity; they did not tell them of their sins; they took no pains to convince them of them, but connived at them; instead of reproving them for them, they soothed them in them; they did not remove the covering that was over their iniquity, as it might be rendered; which they might easily have done, and laid their sins to open view; whereby they might have been ashamed of them, and brought to repentance for them. The Targum is, “neither have they manifested the punishment that should come upon thee for thy sins;” but, on the contrary, told them it should not come upon them; had they dealt faithfully with them, by shewing them their transgressions, and the consequences of them, they might have been a means of preventing their ruin: and, as it here follows, to turn away thy captivity; either to turn them from their backslidings and wanderings about, as Jarchi; or to turn them by repentance, as the Targum; or to prevent their going into captivity: but have seen for thee false burdens, and causes of banishment; that is, false prophecies against Babylon, and in favour of the Jews; prophecies, even those that are true, being often called burdens, as the burden of Egypt, and the burden of Damascus, &c.; and the rather this name is here given to those false prophecies, because the prophecies of Jeremiah were reproached by them with it, Jer. 23:33. &c.; and because these proved in the issue burdensome, sad, and sorrowful ones, though they once tickled and pleased; and were the cause of the people’s going into exile and captivity, they listening to them: or they were depulsions or expulsions; drivings, that drove them from the right way; from God and his worship; from his word and prophets; and, at last, the means of driving them out of their own land; of impelling them to sin, and so of expelling them from their own country. The Targum renders it, “words of error.” (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 5, pp. 709–710). London: Mathews and Leigh.)