Lamentations 2

Lamentations 2 Commentary

by Brad Boyles

In the second chapter of Lamentations, God expresses His hatred for sin. It’s important for us to remember that although God hates sin, it does not cloud His compassion for us. However, when we choose to sin we are working against the Lord. This is revealed in His decision to abandon His footstool in the temple.

Here, we must examine the primary motivation for God our Father. It is not to make us comfortable or happy. It’s not to give us what we want. He demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. His concern has always been the spiritual growth of His children. He asks us to ‘be Holy because I am Holy.’ So, how far will God go to in order to bring about holiness? This chapter is a reminder of the lengths He went to for Judah.

• He allowed for Jerusalem to be destroyed.
• He destroyed the temple and its furnishings.
• He banished the religious rituals.
• He removed the king and the high priest.
• He allowed the written Law to be destroyed.
• He ceased to give visions to the prophets.

All this so that His people would repent and turn back to Him. All of this because of His love for our souls and His hatred for sin. Sometimes the most loving act God can bring about is to use circumstances to snap our attention to what is important in life. It’s also vital to understand that all these things He took away were not important in the grand scheme of things. They were religious rituals that had no value by themselves. We must understand that God will go to whatever lengths possible in order to produce strong, mature believers.