Reading: Lament 4 (Video Slides)

#34 Lament 4: A Shorter Sigh

The Lamentations (of Jeremiah?)

• Traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah: hence their location in biblical literature immediately following Jeremiah
• Four acrostic laments (1-4) plus another lament (5)
  -  1 (22 X 3 couplets, only the first of which begins with the successive letter): Jerusalem is like a lonely widow suffering from many oppressions
  - 2 (22 X 3 couplets, only the first of which begins with the successive letter): Yahweh’s covenant anger and the resulting judgment
  - 3 (22 X 3 lines, each of which begins with the successive letter): Personalized pain because of Yahweh’s judgment, coupled with an expectation of restoration
  - 4 (22 X 2 couplets, only the first of which begins with the successive letter): the pain of Jerusalem’s ruin personalized
  - 5 (22 couplets, not acrostic): a prayer of repentance, seeking Yahweh’s deliverance

Lamentations 4

¹ How the gold has lost its luster,
    the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
    at every street corner.

² How the precious children of Zion,
    once worth their weight in gold,
are now considered as pots of clay,
    the work of a potter’s hands!

³ Even jackals offer their breasts
    to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
    like ostriches in the desert.

⁴ Because of thirst the infant’s tongue
    sticks to the roof of its mouth;
the children beg for bread,
    but no one gives it to them.

⁵ Those who once ate delicacies
    are destitute in the streets.
Those brought up in royal purple
    now lie on ash heaps.

⁶ The punishment of my people
    is greater than that of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment
    without a hand turned to help her.

⁷ Their princes were brighter than snow
    and whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than rubies,
    their appearance like lapis lazuli.

⁸ But now they are blacker than soot;
    they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
    it has become as dry as a stick.

⁹ Those killed by the sword are better off
    than those who die of famine;
racked with hunger, they waste away
    for lack of food from the field.

¹⁰ With their own hands compassionate women
    have cooked their own children,
who became their food
    when my people were destroyed.

¹¹ The Lord has given full vent to his wrath;
    he has poured out his fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion
    that consumed her foundations.

¹² The kings of the earth did not believe,
    nor did any of the peoples of the world,
that enemies and foes could enter
    the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ But it happened because of the sins of her prophets
    and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed within her
    the blood of the righteous.

¹⁴ Now they grope through the streets
    as if they were blind.
They are so defiled with blood
    that no one dares to touch their garments.

¹⁵ “Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them.
    “Away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
When they flee and wander about,
    people among the nations say,
    “They can stay here no longer.”

¹⁶ The Lord himself has scattered them;
    he no longer watches over them.
The priests are shown no honor,
    the elders no favor.

¹⁷ Moreover, our eyes failed,
    looking in vain for help;
from our towers we watched
    for a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸ People stalked us at every step,
    so we could not walk in our streets.
Our end was near, our days were numbered,
    for our end had come.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter
    than eagles in the sky;
they chased us over the mountains
    and lay in wait for us in the desert.

²⁰ The Lord’s anointed, our very life breath,
    was caught in their traps.
We thought that under his shadow
    we would live among the nations.

²¹ Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom,
    you who live in the land of Uz.
But to you also the cup will be passed;
    you will be drunk and stripped naked.

²² Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion;
    he will not prolong your exile.
But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom,
    and expose your wickedness.

 

Reflections on Lament 4

• This is a shorter Lament than the first three, but just as powerful.
• Here again the voice and perspective is that of a human man who functions in much the same role as that of the widow in Lament 1. The difference here is that the man is more aware of the struggles that are part of this tragic event, both in his own life and that of Yahweh. God, too, is wrestling with what to do, and how to make this terrible judgment come out in renewal and blessing.
• The key theme is once again that Yahweh has actively accosted Jerusalem to tear it down (through the actions of the Babylonian armies), but this has happened because God’s people have forgotten who they are and Whose they are.
• These things are all a result of the curses of the Sinai Covenant coming to pass.