Lamentations · chapter 4 of 5
Updated on
Lamentations 4 is the fourth acrostic poem and contrasts Jerusalem's former glory with its ruin: the dimmed gold, Zion's children treated like clay pots, hungry children and princes no one recognizes. It attributes the fall to the sin of prophets and priests, tells how the people waited for help that never came and laments the capture of the Lord's anointed. It closes by announcing that Zion's punishment is complete and that Edom will be judged.
The fourth poem keeps the acrostic of twenty-two verses, but with shorter verses of two lines that give the lament a broken rhythm. It views the destroyed city through contrast: what was valuable and beautiful is now despised. It also points to the guilty and gathers the hope that Zion's punishment will end.
The poem begins with an exclamation: how the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed, and the stones of the sanctuary lie scattered at the head of every street. The sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, are now regarded as earthen pots. Even jackals offer the breast to their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the nursing child sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst, and the little ones beg for bread with no one to give it.
Those who feasted on delicacies perish in the streets, and those brought up in purple embrace ash heaps. The punishment of the daughter of my people was greater than that of Sodom, overthrown in a moment. Her princes were purer than snow, and now their appearance is blacker than soot and no one recognizes them. Better off were those slain by the sword than those slain by hunger. Compassionate women boiled their own children, who became their food. The Lord gave full vent to his wrath and kindled in Zion a fire that consumed its foundations.
The kings of the earth did not believe the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. It was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst. They wandered blind through the streets, polluted with blood, and the Lord himself scattered them.
The people watched in vain for help that did not come, and their pursuers were swifter than eagles. The Lord's anointed, the breath of their lives, was captured in their pits. The poem ends with a shift: rejoice, daughter of Edom, you who dwell in Uz; the cup will pass to you as well. Your punishment, daughter of Zion, is complete, and the Lord will keep you in exile no longer; but he will punish your iniquity, daughter of Edom.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed, and the sacred stones are scattered in the streets. The poet contrasts the city's worth with what remains of it, and that image opens a poem about the loss of what seemed eternal.
The tongue of the nursing child sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst, and the little ones ask for bread with no one to break it for them. It is a concrete scene of siege hunger and recalls that the cost of war is paid first by the weakest.
The fall came for the sins of the prophets and the iniquities of the priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in the midst of the city. The poet points to the responsibility of religious leaders, who were expected to guide the people.
Zion's punishment is complete and the Lord will not exile her again, and he will punish Edom. It is the first look forward in the poem: affliction has a limit and God's justice also reaches those who rejoiced at the fall.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The gold has grown dim and the sacred stones lie scattered in the streets. — Lamentations 4:1
Answer: Earthen pots. — Lamentations 4:2
Answer: Sodom, whose punishment was less than that of the daughter of his people. — Lamentations 4:6
Answer: The sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests. — Lamentations 4:13
Answer: The Lord's anointed, who was captured in their pits. — Lamentations 4:20
Answer: That Edom will drink the cup and be punished, and that Zion's punishment is complete. — Lamentations 4:21-22
Lamentations 4 reminds us that the suffering of children and the weakest is a cry God hears. In a small group or Sunday school class the question can arise of how we help those who go hungry or lack, so that compassion does not stay at the level of feeling. The church is called to be a place where no one is left without bread.
It is also a serious text for those who teach and lead. Leaders who keep silent about the truth or harm the righteous carry a great responsibility. And the ending offers a real hope: the punishment is not eternal, and God is just toward those who took advantage of another's pain. Whoever reads from faith in Christ remembers that grace has the last word.
Lamentations 4 describes the contrast between lost glory and present misery, points to the guilt of the leaders and leaves a phrase of hope: Zion's punishment is complete. Chapter 5, the last, takes the form of a communal prayer in which the people ask God to remember them and restore them.
It is a horrifying description of extreme hunger during the siege, which already appears as a warning in the law of Moses, in Deuteronomy 28:53-57, and which the poet presents as part of the judgment. It is neither celebrated nor justified: it is mourned. It appears to show how far the suffering went.
He is the king of Judah, who was called anointed because he had been anointed to rule. Many identify him with Zedekiah, the last king, who was captured by the Babylonians when he tried to flee Jerusalem, according to 2 Kings 25:4-7. This verse does not refer to Jesus, though Christian tradition sees in the anointed kings a shadow of the Messiah.
Edom, the neighboring nation descended from Esau, rejoiced at Jerusalem's fall and took part in it, as Psalm 137:7 and the book of Obadiah denounce. The poem announces that the cup of judgment will reach Edom too, and that Zion will not be taken into exile again.