SORROW CAUSED BY THE ISSUE OF SIN
"How does the
city sit solitary" Lam. 1:1
In this book there are
five songs of SORROW. They were doubtless composed by Jeremiah after the fall
of Jerusalem. In them the man Jeremiah is wonderfully revealed. That which he
had foretold had come to pass. The city of the great King lay in HOPELESS RUINS.
The people of God were scattered far and wide. The outlook on circumstances was
one of COMPLETE DESOLATION. The prophet indulged in no exultation. He was
consumed with SORROW FOR THE CONDITION OF THE CITY AND THE SORROWS OF THE PEOPLE.
These five songs in this book constitute the outpouring of his soul. In the first two, he
contemplated the situation. In the third, the central one of the collection, HE
IDENTIFIED HIMSELF COMPLETELY WITH THE PEOPLE. The last two are concerned with
the DESOLATION, and the CONSEQUENT APPEAL TO JEHOVAH. Three of these, the first,
the second, and the fourth, that is those of contemplation, begin with the word
"How."
The word (in the Hebrew, Aichah) gives the title to the book in the Hebrew
Bible. This is significant. "How" expresses the whole fact of which
the song so begun, attempts a DESCRIPTION. It is EXCLAMATORY, and suggests the
impossibility of description. In this first song there are two movements: The
first is the language of an onlooker (vs.
1-11); in the second the city personified, speaks herself of her desolation
(vs. 12-22). In each, the cause of
her sorrow is confessed (compare vs. 8
and 18). When the prophet personified the city he began with an appeal; "Is it nothing
to you, all ye that pass by?" He saw that the SORROWS OF THE
PEOPLE OF GOD HAD THEIR MESSAGE TO ALL OTHER PEOPLES. This is the true meaning
of this probe. When we use it of Christ, let us not forget this. The appeal is
not one for PITY but rather that men should know THE ISSUE OF SIN.
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