The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

 

Lamentations 4:1-22

 

August 5, 2025

 

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed!  The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.  The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands!  Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.  The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them.  Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.

 

 For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her.   Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire.   Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones;  it has become as dry as wood.  Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field.

 

The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.  The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.  The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.   They wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments.

 

“Away! Unclean!” people cried at them.  “Away! Away! Do not touch!”  So, they became fugitives and wanderers; people said among the nations, “They shall stay with us no longer.”  The Lord himself has scattered them; he will regard them no more; no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders.  Our eyes failed, ever watching
 vainly for help; in our watching, we watched for a nation which could not save.  They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered, for our end had come.   Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

 

The breath of our nostrils, the Lord's anointed, was captured in their pits, of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.” Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished; he will keep you in exile no longer. 
But your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish; he will uncover your sins.

 

Often, when I read accounts of the Babylonians coming into Jerusalem and carrying off the one they desire, like Daniel and his three friends, we do not get the devastating destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.  Is the despair of the people who were not killed?  Many were left in the ruins, with no leadership, and their food source was destroyed.  The gate and the walls of Jerusalem are destroyed, and none of their neighbor show anything but contempt, and make fun of their situation.  Also, understanding that God allowed this to happen because they rebelled against his commandments. 

 

As followers of Jesus Christ, this book of Lamentations should serve as a warning for our nations not to take the grace and mercy and forget about God’s justice.  We, as a Church, have become complacent.

 

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice