ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Lamentations 4

Lam. 4:1–22 How the Gold Has Grown Dim. Chapter 4 returns to themes in chs. 1–2 yet also announces the completion of Jerusalem’s punishment. The chapter can be divided into four segments: the suffering of Jerusalem’s children (4:1–10), God’s punishing of Jerusalem’s religious leaders (vv. 11–16), the power of Jerusalem’s enemies (vv. 17–20), and the end of Jerusalem’s suffering (vv. 21–22).

Lam. 4:1 How. See note on 1:1. the gold has grown dim. Perhaps because it has been covered with dirt or has been burned. holy stones. The people, according to 3:2. at the head of every street. See 2:19; 4:5; 8; 14. Suffering occurs in every section of the city.

Lam. 4:2 earthen pots. To be shattered.

Lam. 4:3–4 Even wild animals feed their young, but Jerusalem’s mothers cannot feed their children. The siege, famine, and devastation are too severe (see Jer. 15:1–4). like the ostriches in the wilderness. In Job 39:13–17 these creatures abandon their eggs.

Lam. 4:6 Jerusalem’s sin has been greater than that of Sodom, for she had greater knowledge of God’s will. Therefore, her punishment has been greater than Sodom’s.

Lam. 4:7 more ruddy than coral. Their bodies were perfectly formed and healthy. beauty of their form. Their faces were handsome.

Lam. 4:8 blacker than soot. A compete reversal of v. 7.

Lam. 4:9 Happier were the victims of the sword. Because they died quickly (see v. 6). pierced by lack. Rather than by a sword.

Lam. 4:10 The most compassionate women in the land were so hungry that they boiled their own children (see 2:20; Lev. 26:29; Deut. 28:52–57; 2 Kings 6:29). during the destruction. During Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:21).

Lam. 4:11 that consumed its foundations. Babylon was God’s instrument in carrying out this task (Jer. 52:12–13).

Lam. 4:13 sins of her prophets. They did not warn and instruct the people (see Jer. 5:30–31; 23:9–40). iniquities of her priests. They failed to teach the people God’s word and its directions for godly living (see Hos. 4:1–9; Mal. 2:1–9).

Lam. 4:16 The Lord himself . . . scattered them. See 1:4; 19; 4:13; 5:12. no honor . . . no favor. Because of their sins, the priests and prophets had lost the respect usually reserved for their persons and offices (4:13).

Lam. 4:18 our end had come. The day of the Lord (see Joel 2:1–2; Amos 5:18; Zeph. 1:14–16) had arrived.

Lam. 4:20 The people depended on Jerusalem’s king, the Lord’s anointed, so much that he was like the very breath of their nostrils. They had lived under the shadow of his protection. Yet he was captured. See Jer. 39:1–10.

Lam. 4:21 Edom took great joy in Jerusalem’s fall and profited from her destruction (Ps. 137:7; Joel 3:19; Obad. 10–14). but to you also the cup shall pass. See Jer. 49:7–22, especially v. 12.

Lam. 4:22 accomplished. Their punishment has ended, and now the long, hard, slow recovery of life, worship, and society can begin. keep you in exile no longer. Jews began to return to the area by 538–535 b.c. (see Ezra 1:1–2:70; Jer. 29:10–14; Dan. 9:1–2).