With the previous article being an introduction to the book of Lamentations and the concept of lament, let’s start reading through Lamentations 4. (FYI, this chapter is apparently an acrostic in Hebrew. While we don’t see this in an English translation, each verse begins with a sequential letter from the Hebrew alphabet.)
How the gold has lost its luster,
the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
at every street corner.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!Lamentations 4:1-2 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/lam.4.1-2.NIV
To me, there seem to be two main points in each of the first 11 verses of this chapter, with each verse (or sometimes a pair of verses, like verses 7-8) pointing out one or the other:
- First, things are really bad.
- Second, people are doing bad things.
For what it’s worth, the Lookout interprets some of the “Things are really bad” verses (meaning the condition of Jerusalem after the Babylonians overran it) as something more like, “This is what people were doing and why God had to punish them in the first place.” However, whether these bad things happened before or after the fall of Jerusalem doesn’t make them any better, though.
Let’s consider the first point: “Things are really bad.” There’s a difference between a terrible event and an ongoing state of destruction: If I fall and break my arm, it’s going to hurt, and there will be both pain and expenses over time for it to heal back together. That would be bad, but I could see that it is temporary. I would still expect my family and friends to remain near to me, and I could heal up in relative comfort.
On the other hand, consider those who live in certain parts of of the world today where there is an ongoing traumatic situation. There are people who don’t know if they will find food for the next day…or the next week or month, or at all. They don’t know if a war is going to take their lives or the lives of their loved ones in their sleep. These are situations where hope is a lot harder to find, as disaster continues to be the normal state of things, month after month.
I remember hearing about the days after Hurricane Katrina (see https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina) from a resident of a small town that was destroyed – not only by the hurricane, but also by the debris from another line of developed land that was between the ocean and this town. This was a situation where there was no immediate help in sight, and the situation of the town was dire. There were days when clean water and ice weren’t available, and the town actually commandeered a truck carrying supplies, just to survive. Normal principles of traditional commerce and behavior often break down when survival is on the line.
Within our passage today, what was once valuable in Jerusalem – gold, gems, and even people – suddenly becomes common and virtually worthless compared to what was important when times were good. Wealth is no good if there is no food to buy, or when those who do have food value their ability to stay alive more than receiving precious metals or stones in exchange for their food. You can’t eat money, after all. In times of extreme trial, even the value of our fellow human beings may seem to be reduced to what they can do to help us survive for another day.
I hope that you are not in this situation, and I’m not condoning illegal or immoral behavior (even in challenging times), but an understanding of the environment in which Lamentations was written is important to understand more of its contents. More on that later, as we continue this study…
From Sunday School lesson prepared for May 7, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, May 7, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Jeremiah-Lamentations, by Timothy M. Willis. © 2002 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 