Lamentations 4 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application

Lamentations 4 Bible Study

TIMELINE:

• Lamentation was written by someone who experienced the downfall, destruction, and aftermath of the Babylonian conquest of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC.

AUTHOR:

• Although not stated directly in the text, the Book of Lamentations has been attributed to Jeremiah since ancient days.

ESCAPE THE SINFUL LAND!

• Even after God determined to destroy Jerusalem, He still gave words of warning and opportunities for the people to avoid the calamity.

• Jeremiah prophetically warned the people of Jerusalem to flee the city because God was going to bring “great destruction” (Jer 6:1).

• But the people didn’t listen to Jeremiah. He wrote, “To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it” (Jer 6:10).

• God doesn’t give empty warnings. When we hear God warn us about something in His word, we better pay attention and take action!

• God gives us a way to escape sin and escape eternal punishment, and we better be taking that way of escape.

• I’m sure it was hard for the residents of Jerusalem to consider leaving their hometown and fleeing to a foreign land, but it was a matter of life and death.

• It’s going to be hard for us to turn our backs on this world and live for a better country, but it’s a matter of life and death

OUTLINE:

• HORROR IN JERUSALEM (4:1-22):

  • Unfortunately, the hope and optimism expressed in chapter 3 fades as we begin chapter 4, and we are thrown back into the terrible scenes of besieged Jerusalem.  

  • The young men of Jerusalem, the city’s pride, here presented as gold and precious stones, were faded and scattered, lying dead in the streets.

  • The young women of the city became cruel or appeared as cruel. They refused to feed their children, either out of selfishness or because they simply had nothing to offer them. Their breasts provided no milk for their starving infants.

  • The starvation got so bad that even compassionate mothers were driven to eat their dead children (4:10).

  • Those who once feasted on fine foods were expiring in the streets.

  • The writer of Lamentations states that God’s punishment on Jerusalem was worse than the punishment of Sodom. Sodom was destroyed somewhat quickly, but Jerusalem languished.

  • Jerusalem’s princes were once magnificent, but the siege made them unrecognizable. The writer says, “their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood” (4:8).

  • Those who starved in the city wished they had been killed with the sword.

  • God held nothing back. The text says, “The LORD gave full vent to His wrath; He poured out His hot anger, and He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations. 

  • God was spilling the blood of the evildoers because they had spilled the blood of the righteous.

  • God was particularly angry at the corrupt priests and false prophets in Judah.

  • The people of Judah tried every conceivable way to avoid their downfall, but they never had a chance, because their enemies were empowered by God to destroy them.

  • In the final verses of the chapter, the voice of the citizens of Jerusalem cursed their enemies, namely the Edomites, telling them their day of judgement was coming soon.

APPLICATION:

• It seems to me that being locked inside à besieged city, starving, and being forced to witness unspeakable horrors is just about the closest thing you can get to hell on earth.

• Judah’s rebellious hearts made God so angry that this was His response, and keep in mind that this was before He sent Jesus to die for mankind.

• If we spend our whole lives refusing to listen to God, embracing the idols of the age, and disregarding Jesus’ sacrifice as insignificant to our lives, will God do less to us?

• The hellscape of besieged Jerusalem is a shadow of Hell, and as you read Lamentations, let it sober you up into getting off of any path that would lead you to that place of horrors.