In the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived

Lamentation 2:1-22

Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor.

The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hands of the enemy; they have raised a shout in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed festival.

The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.

In the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed.

The poet revisits the dreadful scene. All the ruin and desolation, the starving children, the slaughter are God's doing. That is the worst of it, as the poet stresses again and again. He speaks to the city, then cries to God on the city's behalf: let God look, and pity.

Why?

All of these dreadful scenes handled by the Lord, because the people of Israel have away from the Lord and their altar was no worship of the Lord but other gods. 

It is a warning to all people in the world, under the Lord's anger, no one escaped or survived.

-------

1)1-5 主攻擊錫安城。人以為易守難攻的耶路撒冷也被攻克，離開了主這一切都沒有意義，這一切華美都在神同在時才有。

2)6-10 神親手滅了聖殿，這個聖殿只剩下空殼，神厭惡這樣的會所，因為以色列人的心已經離開了神。當夫妻有外遇時，這個家無論怎麼豪華美麗，已經沒有意義了。

3)11-14 作者為人民沒有東西吃，以色列的傷口大到無法醫治，沒有施力點。先知失職，因為都是假先知，不會責備百姓的罪孽。人也不愛責備的話。我們不能只愛聽好聽的話。

4)15-17 外邦人譏笑

5)18-19 趕快向神祈求禱告

6)20-22 以色列民是神自己的孩子，母親也不會傷害自己的孩子，所以求神顧念這些人是神的選民，如嬰孩一樣，不懂事。詩人知道神有公義，也有憐憫，先知求神可憐這些人。

我們不是同樣指責以色列人，而是將這事當作鏡子，引為警戒。

----------

How?

The Lord is righteousness and full of mercy, honor God's holy name every day.