Lamentations 1:12-18

This is a day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad!!

Are the rioters of January 6th the beast that allowed the spirit of the antichrist, the little horn, to rise and fall? The little horns’ reign was shortened…by the Lord God almighty.

Lamentations 1:12-18

12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Behold and see

If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,

Which has been brought on me,

Which the Lord has inflicted

In the day of His fierce anger.

13 “From above He has sent fire into my bones,

And it overpowered them;

He has spread a net for my feet

And turned me back;

He has made me desolate

And faint all the day.

14 “The yoke of my transgressions was bound;

They were woven together by His hands,

And thrust upon my neck.

He made my strength fail;

The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.

15 “The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;

He has called an assembly against me

To crush my young men;

The Lord trampled as in a winepress

The virgin daughter of Judah.

16 “For these things I weep;

My eye, my eye overflows with water;

Because the comforter, who should restore my life,

Is far from me.

My children are desolate

Because the enemy prevailed.”

17 Zion spreads out her hands,

But no one comforts her;

The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob

That those around him become his adversaries;

Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

18 “The Lord is righteous,

For I rebelled against His commandment.

Hear now, all peoples,

And behold my sorrow;

My virgins and my young men

Have gone into captivity.

Passersby are asked rhetorically to look, listen, and compare Jerusalem’s grief to any other grief experienced by mortals. God’s fierce anger is put in the context of the day of the Lord.

Jerusalem’s suffering is portrayed, using several metaphors: (1) fire from heaven, (2) a hunter’s net spread to trap animals, (3) an animal yoke fastened about the head of a person, and (4) the crushing of grapes in a winepress. The purpose of Jerusalem’s suffering was to bring about a turning or repentance.

The idea here is sinful patterns of life becoming compulsive, burdening people like a yoke on a beast of burden. God imposed a yoke until all of Zion’s strength failed. With no power of their own left, weary people are more likely to listen to God. Jerusalem (Judah) was supposed to be the chaste bride of God. Instead she had become a polluted harlot because her people worshiped other gods than the God with whom they covenanted. The people of Jerusalem wept because the very fate Jeremiah had prophesied had come to pass. The real Comforter of Judah is God. But because of Judah’s sin, God would not come to their assistance.

The Israelites were supposed to be God’s holy people. However, they had become worse than their pagan neighbors. Ultimately it was the Lord who permitted Jerusalem’s collapse. Yet God remained just and right in what He did. NKJ Bible.

The yoke  was a symbol of judgment. The yoke represents subjection to a stronger power or authority. Judah is like the grapes smashed underfoot in a winepress. The first-person lament of personified Zion is interrupted with a comment from the narrator, describing the scene. Zion is looking for help and comfort. Jerusalem confesses that she was justly punished on account of her rebellion. Faithlife Bible.