There are those around us that are against us with in Psalm 120:2 “lying lips from a deceitful tongue”. There is a recognition that in Psalm 120:2 “I sojourn in … I dwell among” people that do not know God and do not want peace. As the captives are now taken to Babylon, they are mocked and in Psalm 137:3 “our tormentors asked of us jubilation, “Sing for us from a song of Zion.”” But the Lord had departed and the glory that once set Israel apart was gone. There was no protection for them, no government for them, and no revelation. And as their enemies pass by they, in Lamentations 2:16 “say “We have destroyed her!””. Now, because of their distress in Lamentations 2:18 “Their heart cried to the Lord”.
Do Not Carry Me Off From My Life
I Am For Peace, They Are For War
Psalm 120:1–7
Why is it that we wait until we are in distress to call on the Lord as in Psalm 120:1? The Lord says in
Jeremiah 33:3 ‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great things and inaccessible things that you have not known.’
We can call on him at any time. But this occasion of calling on the Lord is in response to abuse, “lying lips from a deceitful tongue” in Psalm 120:2. And even more, it is the culture of all those around him. It say in Psalm 12:5-6 “that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar”. This doesn’t have any meaning for us but if you look at a map of the time, “Meshech and Kedar are so far apart (steppe-dwellers of the far north, Ezek. 39:1f., and Arab neighbours of Israel to the south-east) that they can only be coupled here as a general term for the heathen … as foreign as the remotest peoples, and as implacable as his Arab kinsmen (cf. Gen. 16:12; 25:13)”.1
Living among them is a burden because, in
Psalm 120:7 I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
Sing For Us From a Song of Zion
Psalm 137:1–9
The captives, those being deported to Babylon, “wept, when we remembered Zion” in Psalm 137:1. And in Psalm 137:2 “we hung up our lyres” but in Psalm 137:3 “our tormentors asked of us jubilation, “Sing for us from a song of Zion.” There was a history, known by all, and even remembered in this time when the judgement of God was on the nation for their rebellion. There was a “song of Yahweh” in Psalm 137:4 and a memory these captives are holding on to in Psalm 137:6 “I exalt Jerusalem above my highest joy”.
There had been a joy, a song of the Lord in the land, but “The Hallelujah Ps. 135 and the Hodu Ps. 136 are followed by a Psalm which glances back into the time of the Exile, when such cheerful songs as they once sang to the accompaniment of the music of the Levites at the worship of God on Mount Zion were obliged to be silent”.2
How Desolate the City Sits
Lamentations 1:1–11
See If There is Sorrow Like My Sorrow
Her Prophets Have Not Found a Revelation
Lamentations 2:1–11
The nation of Israel, the city of Jerusalem had been the place where the glory of God was found among men. And the nations around them had seen in Lamentations 2:1 “the splendor of Israel” but now “he (the Lord) drew a veil, or caused a cloud to come over all her brightness and glory, and surrounded her with darkness, that her light and splendour might not be seen … all its glory, both in church and state; this was brought down from the highest pitch of its excellency and dignity, to the lowest degree of infamy and reproach”.3
There is no longer the presence of the Lord because in Lamentations 2:7 “The Lord has rejected his altar; he has rejected his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hands of the enemy the walls of its citadel fortresses”.
Now, there is no protection for her (the daughter of Zion), there is no government because her leaders are scattered as captives, and even her prophets are are not hearing from the Lord in
Lamentations 2:9 Her gates have sunk into the earth; he has ruined and broken her bars, her kings and its princes are among the nations; there is no more law. Also, her prophets have not found a revelation from Yahweh.
They Have Opened Their Mouths Against You
Lamentations 2:12–22
Study Verses
- Psalm 120:1–7 I Am For Peace They Are For War
- Psalm 137:1–9 Sing For Us From a Song of Zion
- Lamentations 2:1–11 Her Prophets Have Not Found a Revelation
Today’s Reading
- Psalm 102:23-28
- Psalm 120:1-7
- Psalm 137:1-9
- Lamentations 1:1-22
- Lamentations 2:1-22
References
- 1. Kidner, D. (1975). Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 16, pp. 466–467). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
- 2. Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. (1996). Commentary on the Old Testament (Vol. 5, p. 799). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.
- 3. Gill, John. “Commentary on Lamentations 2:1”. “The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible”. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/lamentations-2.html. 1999.
