Lamentations 1
v.2
Bitterly she weeps at night,
tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers
there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
In the “night” of her desolation, Jerusalem is pictured as weeping, not merely because of her sufferings, but even more because she had been betrayed by her “lovers” and “friends.” These terms (cf. Jer 4:30; 30:14) are best explained by Ezek 23 and Hos 8:9-10. The suggestions is that once the monarchy was firmly established, Israel was always faced with an inescapable choice. She could rely on God for her safety against external aggression, or she could turn to allies great and small (cf. Hos 5:13, 8:8, 11; 14:3), but both the northern and the southern leaders would not listen. Judah had learned that such friends were a broken reed (Ezek 29:6-7).
Jeremiah’s sorrow is deep and plain; even though Jerusalem’s conquest vindicated Jeremiah’s many prophecies, he has no sense of triumph or “I told you so.” Jeremiah deeply sorrows with the sorrow of Jerusalem and Judah.
v.8
Jerusalem has sinned greatly
and so has become unclean.
All who honored her despise her,
for they have all seen her naked;
she herself groans
and turns away.
Jerusalem is compared to a debased prostitute, shamelessly exposing her nakedness and indifferent to the marks of menstrual blood on her garments. Since prostitution repeatedly used for Israel’s idolatry and Baal worship, it is obviously implied here. The completeness of Israel’s collapse has finally brought her to her senses. She knows she has no grounds for begging for a reversal of fortune, but the insolent triumphing of the enemy calls for divine retribution (cf. Isa 10:12). “The enemy has triumphed” is literally correct but misleading. It is not the victory but the insolent boasting after it that is meant.
v.15
“The Lord has rejected
all the warriors in my midst;
he has summoned an army against me
to crush my young men.
In his winepress the Lord has trampled
Virgin Daughter Judah.
So bitter is the experience that Jerusalem does not use the name “Lord” (yahweh), with its covenant associations (cf. Ex 3:14), but “Lord” (adonay). Thus the poet is saying: “The Lord has rejected all the warriors in my midst,” treating them like chaff: “he has summoned [a festival] against me to crush my young men,” not merely to thresh them; and “in his winepress the Lord has trampled the Virgin Daughter of Judah,” to provide the wine of rejoiccing.
v.16
“This is why I weep
and my eyes overflow with tears.
No one is near to comfort me,
no one to restore my spirit.
My children are destitute
because the enemy has prevailed.”
Jerusalem’s heartbroken sob is that “the enemy has prevailed.” Defeat is bitter, but doubly so when the victors are God’s enemies.