[:en]SCRIPTURE: LAMENTATION 2
“The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago; he has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of you foes” (Lamentation 2:17)
Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin’ pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street” (Lamentation 2:19)
“Look, O Lord, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?” (Lamentation 2:20)
THE WRATH OF GOD DESCRIBED:
- He hurled down the splendor of Israel (v. 1)
- He swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob, turned down the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah and brought down her kingdom and its princes down in dishonor (v. 2)
- He cut off every horn of Israel, withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy and burned in Jacob like a flaming fire. (v. 3)
- He slain all who were pleasing to the eye and poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion. (v. 4)
- He swallowed up Israel and destroyed her stronghold (v. 5)
- HJe has laid waste his dwelling place and destroyed his place of meeting (v. 6)
- He has rejected his altar, abandoned his sanctuary and handed them to the enemy the walls of his palaces (v. 7)
- He turned down the wall around the Daughter of Zion and stretched out a measuring line to destroy it (v. 8)
- He broke the gates and destroyed the bars.. He made her king and princes exiled among the nations and her prophets could no longer be found (v. 9)
Sin brings destruction and disgrace to Israel. God was the one supervising the destruction of the walls, the temple and the people. The passerby mocked and shamed them. What the faithful remnants could do was to submit to God’s plan and purpose. They cried out to the Lord for mercy.[:]