Lamentations Chapter 2 – The Lord’s Anger With His People

Chapter 2 of Lamentations changes the tone with which the narrator introduced the plight of Daughter Zion in chapter 1. Chapter 1 personified Jerusalem as a woman, Daughter Zion (Lamentations 1:6). Daughter Zion is introduced as a lonely widow who weeps and suffers for the loss of her children. The desperate condition of Daughter Zion is reflected in the shame and humiliation she expresses when confronted with the devastation of the nation, the destruction of the temple, and the pain and suffering of the people.

Chapter 2 begins with a cry, ’êkāh, “How.” This Hebrew word was generally used in funeral dirges to lament the dead. The poet’s lament is addressed to God who is called the people’s enemy, “The Lord has become like an enemy” (Lamentations 2:5). The narrator expresses his anger at God for the plight of the nation and the suffering of the people. He speaks of Yahweh’s fierce anger which caused the destruction of the nation. In his judgment of Judah, Yahweh acted without mercy, “The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of daughter Judah” (Lamentations 2:2).

The Destruction of the City and of the Temple, Lamentations 2:1–10

Chapter 2 begins with a cry of anguish, ’êkāh, “How,” a word that appears three times in the Book of Lamentations (Lamentations 1:1, 2:1, 4:1). This word expresses the despair in the heart of the speaker as he contemplates what God had done to his people and to his sanctuary. In his fierce anger, God brought shame to the city that once “was great among the nations” (Lamentations 1:1).

The great city lays in ruins, humiliated by her God, “How the Lord in his anger has humiliated daughter Zion” (Lamentations 2:1). The language the narrator uses to picture the destruction of the city implies the violence Yahweh used to do his work of judgment: “The Lord has destroyed without mercy” (Lamentations 2:2). “He has broken down” (Lamentations 2:2). “He has cut down” (Lamentations 2:3). “He has killed” (Lamentations 2:4). “He has destroyed” (Lamentations 2:5). These words reflect the anger of an individual who was an eyewitness to the devastation of the city he loved.

In chapter 1 the narrator blamed the destruction of Jerusalem on the sins and rebellion of the people of Judah. In chapter 2, the narrator emphasizes the role Yahweh had in bringing the destruction of the city. By using strong words to describe what Yahweh had done to the city, the narrator is angry at God for bringing so much devastation to Jerusalem.

The list of what Yahweh has done in destroying the city begins with the destruction of “the splendor of Israel,” the temple, “he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger” (Lamentations 2:1). The “footstool” is a reference to the Ark of the Covenant, which served as the throne of Yahweh: “the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim” (1 Samuel 4:4).

The devastation caused by the invading army affected the whole nation, “The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the dwellings of Jacob” (Lamentations 2:2). To allow the conquering army to come to Jerusalem, Yahweh “demolished the fortified cities of Judah” (Lamentations 2:2). Yahweh also “brought to the ground and defiled the kingdom and its leaders” (Lamentations 2:2).

According to Ezekiel, the people had defiled the temple of God with their idolatrous practices. Now Yahweh defiled the kingdom as a declaration that Judah was no longer the sanctuary of God, as it had been before, “the land of Judah became God’s sanctuary, and Israel became his kingdom” (Psalm 114:2 NLT). According to Isaiah, the defilement of Judah was in order for them to be delivered to Babylon, “I was angry at my people, I defiled my heritage; I put them into your [Babylon’s] hands” (Isaiah 47:6).

By withdrawing his right hand from the nation (Lamentations 2:3), Yahweh refused to defend the nation. Instead, with his right hand he killed everyone, the people who were loved by their families (Lamentations 2:4). God is portrayed as an enemy who “brought unending sorrow and tears upon beautiful Jerusalem” (Lamentations 2:5 NLT). According to the narrator, it was Yahweh who brought the destruction of Jerusalem, causing much despair and suffering to the people who had to endure the siege of the city.

To the dismay of the narrator, it was incredible what Yahweh did to his temple: “he destroyed his tabernacle,” he ended the celebration of festivals and stopped the Sabbath’s worship, and in his fierce indignation has spurned the priests, scorned his altar, and disowned his sanctuary (Lamentations 2:6-7).

Yahweh also acted against the city: “The LORD was determined to destroy the walls of beautiful Jerusalem. He made careful plans for their destruction, then did what he had planned. Therefore, the ramparts and walls have fallen down before him. Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground. He has smashed their locks and bars” (Lamentations 2:8-9 NLT). By destroying the walls, the ramparts, the gates, the locks, and the bars of the gates, Jerusalem became unprotected, a vulnerable city, an easy prey for the enemy.

Adele Berlin discusses the implications of destroying the gates of the city. She writes, “The gates are also the place of commercial, legal, and social activity. To destroy the walls and gates, as is described in vv. 8–9, is to destroy the life of the city in both a physical and social sense. The social disruption includes the absence of political leadership and the failure of priests and prophets to engage in their profession of teaching the Torah and obtaining divine revelation. God’s word is distant from those who formerly served as vehicles for it” (Berlin 2002: 71).

As a result of what God had done, the elders of Jerusalem sit upon the ground, in deep silence, mourning for the city and for the dead. They have put dust on their heads and put on sackcloth as a sign of mourning and great loss. The young women bowed their heads to the ground, a gesture that may have been an expression of shame or anguish.

The Suffering of the People, Lamentations 2:11–17

After expressing his anger at what God had done, the narrator now describes the suffering and the misery of the people who became the recipients of the fierce anger of God. The devastation had a deep impact on him. He said, “I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken. My spirit is poured out in agony as I see the desperate plight of my people” (Lamentations 2:11 NLT).

What the narrator saw was the aftermath of the siege of the city: “Little children and tiny babies are fainting and dying in the streets” (Lamentations 2:11 NLT). He saw the plight of hungry children and the death of the most vulnerable persons in the city. The plight of the children affected him profoundly; it caused him to weep, and it affected his whole being.

The hungry children appealed to their mothers for food. They asked their distressed mothers for food and something to drink. The mothers were unable to provide food for their children. During the long siege of Jerusalem, food became scarce and the famine in the city became so severe that the people had no food to eat. The hunger caused the children to become faint; they were like the wounded soldiers who were almost dying in the streets of the city. The children were so weak that they were dying slowly in their mothers’ arms (Lamentations 2:12).

Touched by the devastation of the city, the narrator tries to comfort Daughter Zion, “What can I say for you, O daughter Jerusalem, that I may comfort you. For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can heal you?” (Lamentations 2:13). When confronted with the devastation of the city, the narrator had no words by which he could comfort the suffering city.

The author says that the false prophets of Jerusalem could not comfort the city. Jeremiah asked, “Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?” (Jeremiah 8:22). The author says that the prophets of Jerusalem failed in their mission: they proclaimed their message based on false and deceptive visions, they failed to expose the sins of the people, and they proclaimed a message that was false and misleading (Lamentations 2:14).

The author says that the passers by could not comfort the city because they mocked the people and derided the fate of Jerusalem, “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?” (Lamentations 2:15).

The enemies could not comfort Jerusalem because their attitude was one of hostility against the city, “We have destroyed her! We have waited a long time for this day. We have lived to see it” (Lamentations 2:16 NET).

Not even God could comfort Jerusalem because the devastation of the city was the work of his hands, “The LORD has done what he purposed, he has carried out his threat; as he ordained long ago, he has demolished without pity” (Lamentations 2:17). To the author of Lamentations, Yahweh was the ultimate cause for the pain and suffering of the people since he acted “without pity.”

This is the reason the lonely widow was suffering, this is the reason she wept bitterly in the night, with tears running down her cheeks because she had no one to comfort her; all her friends have become her enemies (Lamentations 1:2).

The Call to Prayer, Lamentations 2:18–22

In the Hebrew text, the subject of the Lamentations 2:18 is not clear. The NRSV implies that the author of Lamentations is urging Zion, personified as the walls of the city, to cry to Yahweh for help, “Cry aloud to the Lord! O wall of daughter Zion” (Lamentations 2:18).

The NIV implies that the author looks at the suffering people and how they plead with Yahweh for help, “The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion” (Lamentations 2:18 NIV). The reference to the walls is not clear. It may represent a personification of Zion, that is, the wall stands for the city of Jerusalem. Another possibility is that the people are praying at the walls of the city.

The author exhorts the people to bring their plight to God, “Let your tears flow like a river day and night. Give yourselves no rest; give your eyes no relief” (Lamentations 2:18 NLT). The people must present their case before Yahweh day and night, they must pray and not stop praying until Yahweh answers their desperate plea. The author hopes that God will be moved by the tears of the people and come to their rescue and deliver them from this oppressive situation.

The narrator once again urges the people to arise from their desperate condition and throughout their dark night pour their heart before God, praying with tears flowing like a river. They must pray with lifted hands, not for themselves, but for the children who are perishing for lack of food, “Lift up your hands to him in prayer, pleading for your children, for in every street they are faint with hunger” (Lamentations 2:19 NLT). The people must pray for the sake of the children. For the sake of the children Yahweh must act and save them from their desperate condition.

In response to the call to pray to God for deliverance, Daughter Zion comes before Yahweh and presents her case before God, “Look, O LORD, and consider! To whom have you done this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have borne? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?” (Lamentations 2:20).

Daughter Zion is appalled that Yahweh has allowed mothers to eat their own children. Maternal cannibalism is an act that violates the natural order. Mothers should feed their children, not feed on them. She is also appalled that Yahweh has allowed his prophets and his priests to be murdered in the temple. Her call to Yahweh to consider what he had done implies that God has not considered the consequences of what he has done, that he is not paying attention to the atrocities being committed in the city.

Daughter Zion expresses deep concern for the suffering of her children, “The young and the old are lying on the ground in the streets; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; in the day of your anger you have killed them, slaughtering without mercy” (Lamentations 2:21).

This is the second time that the Book of Lamentations says that God has acted without mercy, “The Lord has destroyed without mercy” (Lamentations 2:2). The Lord has slaughtered without mercy (Lamentations 2:21). Daughter Zion describes how Yahweh has acted without mercy: he has allowed prophets and priests to be killed in his own temple. He has allowed mothers to eat their own children. Young men and women and old men and women lie dead on the ground in the streets. Women and men were killed by the sword throughout the city (Lamentations 2:21). The people of Jerusalem were the victims of an angry God, “You killed them when you were angry; you slaughtered them without mercy” (Lamentations 2:21 NET).

Once again Daughter Zion blames Yahweh for the suffering the people have endured, “You invited my enemies from all around as if for a day of festival” (Lamentations 2:22). The Babylonians were agents of God to bring judgment on Judah. But they came, as coming to a day of feast, to celebrate a great victory against their enemy.

In Israel, the day of the Lord’s anger was a day when Yahweh would come and defeat the enemies of Israel. The day of the Lord’s anger had arrived for Judah, God’s own people, and on that day, “no one escaped or survived” (Lamentations 2:22). Daughter Zion, speaking as a mother on behalf of her children, expresses her sadness at what happened to her beloved children, “those whom I bore and reared my enemy has destroyed” (Lamentations 2:22).

Conclusion

Two voices speak in Lamentations 2. The narrator speaks to accuse Yahweh of causing the devastation that came upon his beloved city. Even though the devastation of the city was caused by the Babylonians, the narrator accused Yahweh of acting as an enemy who killed young and old without mercy.

At the end of chapter 2, Daughter Zion, speaking as a mother, prays to God with tearful eyes asking Yahweh to consider what he had done. Daughter Zion pleads for her children and expresses her dismay at what Yahweh has allowed to happen to her children.

The only voice not heard in chapter 2 is the voice of Yahweh. Yahweh is silent as the accusations are presented against him. Yahweh does not answer the anguished prayer of Daughter Zion. On God’s silence, Kathleen O’Connor writes, “There is no response to Zion’s petition. God does not speak. God does not comfort, restore health, return children, or bring life back to any semblance of order or of human dignity” (O’Connor 2002: 43).

The silence of God will remain for many years. That silence will be broken when God comes and proclaims through a prophet known as Deutero-Isaiah that the day of comfort has arrived.

Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

If you enjoyed reading this post, you will enjoy reading my books.

VISIT MY AMAZON AUTHOR’S PAGE

BUY MY BOOKS ON AMAZON (Click here).

NOTE: Did you like this post? Do you think other people would like to read this post? Be sure to share this post on Facebook and share a link on Twitter or Tumblr so that others may enjoy reading it too!

I would love to hear from you! Let me know what you thought of this post by leaving a comment below. Be sure to like my page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, follow me on Tumblr, Facebook, and subscribe to my blog to receive each post by email.

If you are looking for other series of studies on the Old Testament, visit the Archive section and you will find many studies that deal with a variety of Old Testament topics.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berlin, Adele. Lamentations. Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.

O’Connor, Kathleen M. Lamentations and the Tears of the World. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis 2002.