2 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has cast from heaven to earth
The glory of Israel,
And has not remembered His footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up; He has not spared
All the habitations of Jacob.
In His wrath He has thrown down
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground;
He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 In fierce anger He has cut off
[a]All the strength of Israel;
He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
And He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Consuming round about.
4 He has bent His bow like an enemy;
He has set His right hand like an adversary
And slain all that were pleasant to the eye;
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel;
He has swallowed up all its palaces,
He has destroyed its strongholds
And multiplied in the daughter of Judah
Mourning and moaning.
6 And He has violently treated His [b]tabernacle like a garden booth;
He has destroyed His appointed [c]meeting place.
The Lord has caused to be forgotten
The appointed feast and sabbath in Zion,
And He has despised king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
7 The Lord has rejected His altar,
He has abandoned His sanctuary;
He has delivered into the hand of the enemy
The walls of her palaces.
They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
As in the day of an appointed feast.
8 The Lord [d]determined to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has stretched out a line,
He has not restrained His hand from [e]destroying,
And He has caused rampart and wall to lament;
They have languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground,
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her princes are among the nations;
The law is no more.
Also, her prophets find
No vision from the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
Sit on the ground, they are silent.
They have thrown dust on their heads;
They have girded themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.
In this second lament, we see the wrath of God poured out upon Israel and especially Jerusalem (Zion). If you’ve read Jeremiah at all, this is no surprise. Here, there are hints as to why this judgment has come, but they are a little less than obvious. In the midst of all this destruction, they mourn that God has “violently treated His tabernacle” and that the “appointed feast and sabbath” are forgotten. (v. 6)
However, the temple was violated long before God did anything about it, and as it states, He wasn’t the one to forget the feasts and sabbaths. No, all of this is not for lack of trying on God’s part, but due to His people forgetting the One who called them by name. Because they forgot God, their king and princes were scattered to the nations. (v. 9)
Due to their negligence also, the law was forgotten (v. 9), even buried in the rubble at one point. So it should be no surprise that “her prophets find no vision from the Lord.” Thus the elders are silent, covered by the dust of their shame, and girded with sackcloth, and the young women sit with heads bowed low.
Would that forgetfulness died with their rebellion and subsequent punishment, but it is with us even still today. I was reminded last night of all the striving in this world, chasing after illusions of happiness and fulfillment. All the while, we forget the source of real happiness (or joy), the one who brings unthinkable peace, and so much more.
Take a look at the “fruit of the spirit” in Galatians 5, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Do you have all of these in your life? Do I? If not, why? It is for our lack of attention to God and our forgetfulness in following Him. We remember God well when things are rough, but then our attention wanes.
Thus we neglect simple things that are so vital, like reading His words, and talking to Him, and especially listening for His guiding voice. God hasn’t stopped speaking, but it takes intentionality on our part to hear Him. Don’t forget His law, or forsake His gathering place (the church). May our hearts be always attentive for that “still small voice” so that we remember Him all the days of our life.