Lamentations 4:11

THE DIVINE EXPLANATION OF WHY GOD DESTROYED THEM

"Jehovah hath accomplished his wrath,

he hath poured out his fierce anger;

And he hath kindled afire in Zion,

which hath devoured the foundations thereof.

The kings of the earth believed not,

neither all the inhabitants of the world,

That the adversary and the enemy

would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

It is because of the sins of her prophets,

and the iniquities of her priests,

That have shed the blood of the just

in the midst of her.

They wander as blind men in the streets,

they are polluted with blood,

So that men cannot touch their garments.

Depart ye, they cry unto them,

Unclean! depart, depart, touch not!

When they fled away and wandered,

men said among the nations,

They shall no more sojourn here.

The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them: They respected not the persons of the priests,

they favored not the elders."

"A fire in Zion ... hath destroyed the foundations thereof" (Lamentations 4:11). The foundations which were destroyed were not those of the 'righteous remnant of the people' who were among the captives in Babylon. The foundations which were destroyed were those of the "sinful kingdom" (Amos 9:8), the monarchy that was never God's will but a concession to the Chosen People who wanted to be like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:7). God said, "I gave them a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath" (Hosea 13:11); and this verse tells how it was done.

"The kings of the earth believed not" (Lamentations 4:12). After all, the whole world was on the verge of believing in Israel's God. Look at what had happened! God had brought them up out of Egypt in a spectacular deliverance that astounded all mankind. Before them, he displaced the populations of Canaan, and settled them in Palestine. Their second king had astounded the whole world with his magnificence. No one, among the ancient populations, supposed that such a God would allow any nation to destroy his Temple and remove his people to another land. Therein is the unmitigated tragedy of Israel's apostasy. That apostasy required that God should destroy them; but when he did, the ancient notion that the physical defeat of any nation meant also the defeat of their god resulted in a terrible resurgence of paganism. Israel's destruction meant that God would have to begin all over again in his campaign to redeem Adam's fallen race, a redemption that required, absolutely, that men should believe, worship and obey the true God.

"It is because of the sins of her prophets .. and her priests" (Lamentations 4:13a). This should be read, "because of the sins even of her prophets and priests." It was the wickedness of Israel's godless kings and of the people as a whole that brought on their destruction; and the thought here is that the very last vestige of the people's righteousness, the last repository of any righteousness, even the prophets and priests were corrupted.

"They have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her" (Lamentations 4:13b). The sins of the false prophets and priests aided and encouraged great wickedness; but the actual killing of the innocent was accomplished by such kings as Manasseh (2 Kings 21:16).

It is important to note that only Jeremiah could have written this. It is inconceivable that anyone except Jeremiah could have written Lamentations 4:13 without naming Jeremiah as a glorious exception to the general fact there stated. Therefore, Jeremiah is the author.

Lamentations 4:14-15 are difficult passages; but what seems to be the meaning is that death was so widespread in Jerusalem during the siege that the priests were in a constant state of defilement through contact with dead bodies and graves, making them ceremonially unclean, thus robbing the people of any means of religious consolation during their awful desolation.

"The anger of Jehovah hath scattered them" (Lamentations 4:16a). There was no denial of the truth that the humiliation of Jerusalem came as a direct result of God's anger. The near-universal immorality and wickedness of the people had finally overflowed against God's will beyond the point of 'no return.' No other explanation was possible.

"They respected not the persons of the priest, they favored not the elders" (Lamentations 4:16b). The indication here is that the whole population were caught up in the wholesale iniquity that led to Israel's defeat and deportation to Babylon. It was not merely the sins of false prophets and priests, but the general wickedness of the whole nation that led to God's destruction of the "sinful kingdom."