Verse 1
A LAMENT OVER WHAT HAPPENED TO JERUSALEM DURING THE TERRIBLE FAMINE SIEGE AND FAMINE
"How is the gold become dim!
How is the most pure gold changed!
The stones of the sanctuary are poured out
at the head of every street.
The precious sons of Zion,
comparable to fine gold.
How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers,
the work of the hands of the potter!
Even the jackals draw out the breast,
they give suck to their young ones:
The daughter of my people is become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
The tongue of the sucking child
cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst:
The young children ask bread,
and no man breaketh it unto them.
They that did feed delicately
are desolate in the streets:
They that were brought up in scarlet
embrace dunghills.
For the iniquity of the daughter of my people
is greater than the sin of Sodom,
That was overthrown in a moment,
and no hands were laid upon her.
Her nobles were purer than snow,
they were whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Their polishing was of sapphire.
Their visage is blacker than coal;
they are not known in the streets:
Their skin cleaveth to their bones;
it is withered, it is become like a stick.
They that are slain with the sword
are better than they that are slain with hunger;
For these pine away, stricken through,
for want of the fruits of the field.
The hands of the pitiful women
have boiled their own children;
They were their food
in the destruction of the daughter of my people."
These terrible lines must rank among the saddest words ever written. They described the horrors of the awful famine that preceded the flight of Zedekiah the king of Israel and the terrible destruction that followed. The actual fall of Jerusalem was an awesome event. The Temple was looted; the houses (all of them) were burned; the walls were thrown down; Zedekiah was captured; his sons were slaughtered in his presence, and then his eyes were gouged out by the Babylonians; many thousands were brutally butchered; other thousands were led away as captives, either to be sold, or to die of starvation and abuse on the journey; but these verses have no word at all concerning all those terrors. What is described here is the unspeakable horrors of the siege that preceded all that.
"How is the gold become dim ... changed!" (Lamentations 4:1a). This is metaphor. The following verse identifies the gold as "the precious sons of Zion." As elaborated a few lines later, the well-dressed, amply supplied nobles of Jerusalem had become skin and bones, dying of starvation, sitting upon dunghills in search of food. We have here Jeremiah's eyewitness account of all this.
"The stones of the sanctuary" (Lamentations 4:lb). "This refers to the precious gems which decorated the breastplate of the High Priest."[1] Their mention here is metaphorical, and they are parallel with the fine gold.
"The jackals ... give suck to their young ones" (Lamentations 4:3a). The wild animals could nurse their young, but Jerusalem's starving women could not. Nothing, in all the horrors of warfare, ever exceeded the cruel horrors of a siege. The literature of all nations does not provide any better account of what happens in such a siege than this account from Jeremiah.
"Like ostriches in the desert" (Lamentations 4:3b). This creature is often cited as one that had no regard for their offspring. "The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground, forgetting that her own foot may crush them or a wild beast may break them."[2]
"The sucking child ... the young children" (Lamentations 4:4). Starving mothers are unable to nurse their babies; the older children cry in vain for something to eat.
"They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills" (Lamentations 4:5). As noted above, even the favored heads of their society sought in vain for food.
"The iniquity of ... my people is greater than the sin of Sodom" (Lamentations 4:6a). The tragedy of this shocking fact is often overlooked. Ezekiel elaborated the same truth (Ezekiel 16); but the consequences of it reached far beyond Jerusalem. For Sodom's wickedness, God destroyed them. Why did he not then destroy Israel which had become worse than Sodom? It was only because God had promised Abraham and the patriarchs that he would bring in the Messiah, The Seed Singular, through Abraham's posterity. In a sense, God was 'stuck with Israel,' until that promise was fulfilled in the birth of Christ. Israel deserved a worse punishment than Sodom, for their sin was greater, and this verse indicates that their punishment was worse!
"Sodom was overthrown ... no hands were laid upon her" (Lamentations 4:6b). This emphasizes the fact that Sodom's punishment was lighter than Israel's. They did not endure such a terror as siege. Their overthrow was instantaneous; Israel's lasted seventy years, beginning with this unspeakably tragic siege.
"Her nobles" (Lamentations 4:7-8). These were the "upper crust" of Jerusalem's society. They were the nobility, dressed in scarlet, living in extravagant luxury, faring sumptuously every day; and now! During the siege, like everyone else, they were starving to death.
"They that are slain with the sword ... better than they that are slain with hunger" (Lamentations 4:9). It is better to die instantly than to suffer for a long time starving to death. Many of the people, no doubt, prayed for a sudden death.
"The pitiful women ... have boiled their own children ... they were their food" (Lamentations 4:10). This is the climax of this terrible paragraph. Second Kings, chapter 6 (2 Kings 6:24-30) has the account of a similar disaster suffered by the Northern Israel (Samaria) during the siege of that city by Benhadad king of Syria. Yes, indeed, the punishment of Israel, whose sins were worse than the sins of Sodom, was divinely punished by a destruction that was also far worse than what happened to Sodom.
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