An ancient poem – unceasingly repeated

How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears 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. (Lamentations, in Jewish and Christian Bibles)

In this poem “the city” is personified as a female – a female who has just been widowed. “The city”, once “full of people”, is now de-populated. In addition, she who was once “great among the nations”, “a princess”, is now a weeping “slave”. Interestingly, it is the city’s “lovers” and “friends” who have become her enemies and “dealt treacherously with her”. No comforters comfort her. Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress. The exact year is BC 587. “Judah” is a family name. The first Judah was a great grandson of Abraham who lived around BC 2000. Before 587 BC the descendants of Judah lived, by and large, in Jerusalem. Jerusalem has fallen. Wikipedia has a huge web-page titled “List of Sieges” including this one when Nebuchadnezzar II was the responsible Neo-Babylonian Emperor. Sieges are absolutely terrible. The Wikipedia page lists 56 in this century – cities like Sangin (Afghanistan), Aleppo (Syria), Mosul (Iraq), and Mariupol (Ukraine). The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly. Her foes have become the head; her enemies prosper, because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe.
“Zion” is another name for Jerusalem. All roads into it “mourn” but there’s no-one at the funeral. Did you notice “the children”? “Gone away”. Jerusalem’s surviving children were enslaved and deported. Families broken.	.
From the daughter of Zion all her majesty has departed. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer. Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all the precious things that were hers from days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was none to help her, her foes gloated over her; they mocked at her downfall. “Her princes” – her leading politicians and business people – are “deer without pasture”. Yes, they fled – but history records that they were captured in their flight. The king's sons were murdered in front of him.. He then had his eyes removed and was imprisoned to extend his days of suffering. Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns her face away. Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible; she has no comforter.
“Jerusalem sinned grievously.” Were you thinking that those under siege were innocent sufferers? No. Like the rest of humanity they were sinners. As long as their sins were useful to the surrounding nations they “honored her”. But then “she became filthy” and they all “saw her nakedness” and “despised her”. “She took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible.” The city, the people, did not – in fact, would not - think about all within it being seen, through and through, by a tribunal of holy and perfect absolute power.	‘There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’ (Jesus, c. AD30)
“O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!” The enemy has stretched out his hands over all her precious things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you forbade to enter your congregation. All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. “Look, O Lord, and see, for I am despised.” The two prayers to the LORD God in italics above – prayers of the devastated remnant - are brackets around further sight of the desolation of the city and its people. Was Nebuchadnezzar II alone the evildoer? Is a global siege starting?

Sinner Syvret

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