Lamentations 4-5
Lamentations 4
We are in for some light reading today, only 44 verses. The Hebrew AlefBeit twice.
1 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.
Never heard of gold becoming dim. Pure gold will not corrode. Pure gold will not tarnish. Pure gold will not become dim. What makes it go bad is impurities. The "most fine gold" will not change, 24 karat gold will not go bad. Jeremiah compared Israel to most fine gold, which is a horrible comparison. The people were so bad, they were no better than electroplated gold.
3 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
These sea monsters would have been mammals, since they gave suck.
4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
Towards the end of the siege, there was no food, and no water. Because of this nursing mothers couldn't feed their children, who starved. This just shows that the people were really really stupid. They still managed to have sex and get pregnant even though they had no food. Wouldn't the ladies menstrual cycles stop due to the starvation? Would the babies have miscarried due to the mothers starvation? No, these people still managed to feed the pregnant mothers enough that they carried their babies to term. Then weren't able to care for them. I would say it's like modern people, except that people who can't care for their children are on welfare and keep having them.
9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
Death by starvation is pretty horrible. You have almost no way to avoid it. Eventually you just sort of lay there and pray to die. Getting killed quickly would be a better way to go, at least you were full.
16 The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.
Priests, who had nothing except for what was given, would probably be some of the first to die. In a tight economy, when people aren't worshiping the LORD anyway, tithes are some of the first things to go.
Lamentations 5
1 Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
God remembers, he's the one who caused it.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
Not really, your houses were burned.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
But, God won't punish the children for the sins of the father (
Deuteronomy 24:16). Unless he does (
Exodus 20:5)
9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
During the siege, the people could look out over the city walls and see their fields, just growing away happily. Right beside their fields was the army of the Chaldeans. If someone went out to try to get some food, they were killed, rather quickly. If they did go out and make it back, they didn't get much, but it was still more than anyone else had.
18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
Why didn't they eat the foxes?
22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
Well, they brought it on themselves.
So what have we learned today?
1. Even though the people were starving, they still had enough energy to have sex and make babies. They were probably only having sex with each other right around the 2 to 3 month mark, when the girls were
skinny hot, and not too skinny to be anorexic.
2. When there are wolves along your path to the grocery store, it's best to distract them with something... like one of your dead babies. Or you could just eat one of the dead babies.
YIC
V