Jerusalem in Affliction
That was full of people!
aHow like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The bprincess among the provinces
Has become a1 slave!
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
Under affliction and hard servitude;
bShe dwells among the1 nations,
She finds no crest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.
Because no one comes to the1 set feasts.
All her gates are adesolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.
Her enemies prosper;
For the Lord has afflicted her
bBecause of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her cchildren have gone into captivity before the enemy.
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That1 find no pasture,
That flee without strength
Before the pursuer.
Jerusalem aremembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her1 downfall.
Therefore she has become1 vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because bthey have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.
She adid not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”
Over all her1 pleasant things;
For she has seen athe nations enter her sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
bNot to enter Your assembly.
aThey1 seek bread;
They have given their1 valuables for food to restore life.
“See, O Lord, and consider,
For I am scorned.”
| << Lamentations 1:1 | Lamentations 1:3 >> |
What Does Lamentations 1:2 Mean?
Lamentations 1:1-7
Here, even before the woman symbol appears, the city is identified as female by feminine pronouns. It is more specifically designated as a widow, another female figure. Before the verse ends, it reflects back on an earlier time when she was a princess, another female figure, but now she is a slave.
In verse 3, the city morphs into Judah, the nation. Then in verse 4, an alternate name for Jerusalem, Zion, is used, and the female identity continues. In verse 6, the city becomes "the daughter of Zion." It is not until verse 7 that Jerusalem, the woman described throughout this context, is directly named. If one would read further, we would see that people have seen her nakedness, and her sin was in her skirts, referring to sins of idolatry, which God describes in sexual terms.
The New King James version uses feminine pronouns 28 times in those seven verses in reference to the entity variously called "a city," "Judah," "a widow," "the princess," "Zion, "the daughter of Zion," and "Jerusalem." Undoubtedly, a woman symbolizes a city, and city, a nation. Each of the female symbols depicts the same thing, Jerusalem and Judah, but from slightly different perspectives. Within this context, it is not depicting a church. Is there a parallel to the church in Lamentations? Yes, but it is indirect, imprecise, and at best secondary.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beast and Babylon (Part Four): Where Is the Woman of Revelation 17?
| << Lamentations 1:1 | Lamentations 1:3 >> |
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