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None of Us Are Completely Innocent Victims
Lamentations 1:1–6
The poem opens with a lament; HOW! And the city is Jerusalem. People used to fill the city, but now it’s depopulated. It was once a great nation among others, but now it is desolate, like a widow! She was once a queen, but now she is a slave. These are the three pictures the first verse brings out (1:1).
It’s too much sorrow surrounding the city, not even sleep can comfort it. She weeps bitterly in the night. She is too lonely. Her lovers and friends have abandoned her. At the time of her glory, Jerusalem had many illicit friendships that she didn’t care about her only husband, Yahweh. But now she is sad, Egypt and Moab had deserted her! The people she called friends have now become her enemies (1:2)!
In times of suffering, we sometimes find ourselves alone, and those who we think we can trust end up betraying us. When we need their help, they instead cause us pain.
The people of the nation are now in exile (1:3). Being in a foreign land, they can’t find a place to rest. All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.
Before all this tragedy happened, Jerusalem was a hub of religious festivals. The poet calls them set feasts. But now, the roads are empty, because the temple was destroyed. The priests have no work, and the young women can no longer dance and sing. They are all crying (1:4).
What’s worse is that their enemies are now their masters (1:5). This didn’t happen because the enemy was stronger. No. It’s because of the multitude of her transgressions. These people entered a covenant relationship with God, and the terms of the agreement, you find them in the book of Deuteronomy. If they were obedient, all those things mentioned in Deuteronomy 28:1–14 would happen to them. If they were disobedient, then they would find Deuteronomy 28:15–68 a reality.
We’re all a little guilty sometimes. When we experience suffering, it forces us to inspect our priorities, values, and aspirations. It’s possible we have made others suffer, and we could be reaping the rewards of our actions. It is also possible that we are going through a refining process to establish our faith and stand. Yes, we need these questions when we go through suffering.
That’s what this crying poet is putting across here. She accepts her mistake, but that doesn’t stop her from mourning. She has lost a lot. Her beauty is gone and her princes are starving and weak with no hope of escape (1:6).
The next part is here.
