Lamentations 2:6-10, Destruction.

I have been working on reading my way through the OT prophets lately. It’s quite a challenge to keep it all in perspective, especially when I can only really get through one or two chapters a day. And, to be honest, it’s a little depressing. The prophets have some wonderful visions of God’s renewed kingdom and reign, and the redemption and salvation of His people. But they also have a lot of pretty pointed messages about the consequences of screwing up and not repenting. Lately I have been in Lamentations, which is particularly heart breaking. Today, I am digging into 2:6-10:

He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden;
    he has destroyed his place of meeting.
The Lord has made Zion forget
    her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths;
in his fierce anger he has spurned
    both king and priest.

⁷ The Lord has rejected his altar
    and abandoned his sanctuary.
He has given the walls of her palaces
    into the hands of the enemy;
they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
    as on the day of an appointed festival.

⁸ The Lord determined to tear down
    the wall around Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
    and did not withhold his hand from destroying.
He made ramparts and walls lament;
    together they wasted away.

⁹ Her gates have sunk into the ground;
    their bars he has broken and destroyed.
Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations,
    the law is no more,
and her prophets no longer find
    visions from the Lord.

¹⁰ The elders of Daughter Zion
    sit on the ground in silence;
they have sprinkled dust on their heads
    and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
    have bowed their heads to the ground.

I know, I know. A real downer. Happy New Year. That’s Lamentations for you, but there is something so essential here to our faith: we cannot depend on anyone but God. No possession, relationship with another human, people group, or country; or defense mechanism can save us. Only God can save us, and He has through Jesus Christ.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. The book of Lamentations is a lament over the destruction of the temple and the exile and humiliation of God’s people. Lamentations is a poem that the Judeans in exile recited, sang, prayed, and remembered.[1] There’s a point to remembering our grief and pain. Sometimes being scarred for life means we don’t have to be broken repeatedly to make us remember the consequences of sin.

In 586BC, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, marched on Jerusalem one last time. He sacked the city and destroyed the Temple of God. Here in Lamentations though, the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem is attributed to God, as is it elsewhere in Scripture[2]. In verse 6 alone, God violently ripped apart everything that was supposed to bring the people to Him. His dwelling, the temple, where His presence dwelt in a mighty and tangible way (1 Kings 8:6-13), is laid to waste. God, himself, destroyed His place of meeting where the people gathered to praise and worship. He made His people forget her appointed feasts and her Sabbaths, the very things that were supposed to call their minds back to the power, glory, and faithfulness of God. Those whom were supposed to have direct access to God, the king and priests, were ignored.

Verse 7 and 8 continue with God’s rejection of his altar and that He has abandoned his sanctuary. The walls of the palace and the city are slated for destruction by her enemies. Finally in verse 9, the city gates are destroyed and lie in a heap on the ground, useless. The treasured possession (Exodus 19:5) of God is completely ruined, because now, the law is no more, and her prophets no longer find visions from the Lord. The poet feels that there is no way to communicate with God. The very things that were supposed to bring the people closer to God—that is, the law and the prophets—are useless. The law was given in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as a way for a redeemed people to know how to live redeemed and holy lives. For the poet, the fact that the law is gone means there is no way for them to get back to that status of being God’s treasured possession, kingdom of priests, and holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6). All is despair and hopelessness. 

And this pretty much sums of Lamentations for you. The people depended on physical things: the written Law, the temple, the city to save them. But in the end they were captured because only God can save. God reject his unholy, unrighteous people, and stripped them of everything He ever gave them, including the ability to know Him. This is not just a pack your bags and get on the road type of parting. The people went into exile with nothing. They were completely at the mercy of the nations whose gods they envied and desired.

But the thing with Lamentations is that you have to read it with the context of the book of Jeremiah in mind.

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jeremiah 29: 10-14)

This is how God answered the hopelessness and despair of Lamentations. He has not forgotten. He will not forget. He has a plan.

 “This is what the Lord says:
“‘I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents
    and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city will be rebuilt on her ruins,
    and the palace will stand in its proper place. (Jeremiah 30:18)

The city that He so violently destroyed, will be rebuilt.[3]

And the law that was destroyed, will be replaced:

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)

We have the gospels, and we know that Jesus came to be the mediator of the New Covenant and to save us from our sins so we can live in peace with God. The Holy Spirit was sent to indwell our hearts and minds to give us access to the law of God so we could make holy and righteous decisions. We know these things, and yet, sometimes we take a little too much comfort in the physical evidences of our faith: the size of our church, the Bible Studies we do or attend, how many verses we have memorized, how big our Bible is…these were the same things that brought the Judeans in Jerusalem comfort, but God still exposed their faithlessness for what it was: a mask. It is not beneath God to rip these false foundations out from under our feet and leave us lying in the dust. But He is also good, and gracious, and brings us good things too when we truly respond in faithfulness. Because of His great love and faithfulness, He does not utterly reject us when we mess up again and again and again.

God is holy and He desires that we be holy above all else. What does it take to make us holy though? We have to be purged of the false notions and foundations we build our lives and faith upon and be taught that God is the only one good and true and worthy of our full devotion. Being purged is putting to death in us all that is unholy and unworthy of God.  In John 2:29, Jesus summed up Lamentations 2:6-9 and Jeremiah 30:18: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” Our sin, and the sin of the world—past, present, and future—was put on Jesus, and he died. But in His death, that sin was destroyed forever, and then He was raised to life. When we put to death our own sin, it must die within us and be taken out of us. Often I think it feels like a patch being ripped off a piece of clothing. It hurts, there may be holes exposed and created, frayed seams, and a lot of repair work left over. But who better to heal and repair than the Creator and Great Physician? Turn your life over to God, and let Him purge you of all unrighteousness. It is painful and hard, but so worth it to be made new and cleansed.

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[1] J Andrew Dearman, Jeremiah/Lamentations, The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2002), pg 445.

[2] Deuteronomy 32:30, Psalm 89:40, Ezekiel 5:8-9, 11-12, are just a few.

[3] Interestingly, what we see in Lamentations 2:6-9 and Jeremiah 30:18, that is, the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem and the promise that it will be rebuilt, is summed up by Christ in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.” Christ’s death and resurrection serve as an exile of sorts for him, except that when he came back to life, he was not still imbued with sin and deceit. He was perfect when he died, and perfect when he lived again. Thus he is the only one who is able to clothe us in perfection so we can stand before the throne of God as pure, holy, and acceptable.