Lamentations 4 Study Notes

4:12 What many kings of the earth and all the world’s inhabitants had thought impossible had happened: Jerusalem had fallen.

4:13-14 The reason for this tragedy was the sins of the prophets and the iniquities of the priests (as Jeremiah had warned time and again, Jr 6:13; 8:8-12; 23:11-36; 26:7-24; 28:1-17). Now no one dared to touch their garments. They were the outcasts of society.

Kalah means come to an end (Gn 41:53) or end. Things are gone, spent, or empty. They fade away (Ps 37:20), vanish, and disappear. People are destroyed (Ezk 13:14), consumed, finished off, or confounded. Eyes fail or grow weary. Flesh wastes away; people perish. Things are finished (Ru 2:23), concluded, fulfilled, done, or completed. Events are determined (1Sm 20:33) or certain. Individuals intend (1Sm 20:7), plan, yearn (Ps 84:2), or long. The intensive, often a helping verb, means finish (Nm 4:15). One brings about or to an end (Dn 9:24), puts or makes an end, and ends. Kalah is complete (Ezk 4:6) or fill. One spends (Is 49:4), uses up, exhausts, or strips. He has enough. People exterminate, consume, finish off, annihilate, wipe off or out, and (completely) destroy (Jos 24:20). They let go blind (Jb 31:16) or cause eyes to fail. They resolve (Ru 3:18) or deal.

4:15-16 The survivors, who once cheered the false prophets and priests, now yelled at them: Unclean! . . . Away, away! Don’t touch us! They were now homeless, aimless, and despised.

4:17 They looked in vain for a nation to come to their assistance. No human could overturn the judgment God had handed down.

4:18-19 The imagery of closely followed is that of a hunter stalking his prey.

4:20 Likewise, their trust in the heir of the Davidic line (The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life) proved futile. He was also captured in their traps. King Zedekiah was chained, blinded after watching his sons being massacred, and exiled to Babylon.

4:21-22 The nation of Edom might jeer for the moment, but the cup of God’s wrath would fall on them also (Jr 25:15-29; Hab 2:15-16; Obadiah).