Caught in the
Cloud
Lamentations 2:1-22
Many of us have probably been driving along on the road as we take a turn and find ourselves consumed by an unexpected fog. In this fog, the road becomes treacherous. Sometimes the fog lights do not even penetrate and we have to pull over for safety. Ironically, even when we pull over we have to sit in the fog, waiting for it to pass. Sometimes traveling through the fog is impossible.
While the author of Lamentations never had this experience while driving, this image may help us understand the opening stanza in Lamentations 2 where the poet speaks of the Lord covering Zion with the cloud of His anger. Israel has found itself in a situation where traveling through the fog or cloud is impossible. The cloud of God’s anger is impenetrable. The image of a cloud is used in two ways in the Old Testament in relation to God. A cloud sometimes transports God in a vehicular fashion, such as a war chariot. This usage is found in Psalm 18, Psalm 68, and other places throughout the Old Testament. The war chariot signifies God’s holy wrath and judgement coming upon people. The cloud of God also signifies God’s presence with His people, such as the cloud that guides Israel through the wilderness journeys with Moses.[1] In Exodus 13, Psalm 18 and other locations, God’s presence manifests in the dark clouds of thunderstorms.[2] The enclosing in a cloud that occurs in Lamentations 2:1 indicates that Zion beholds the war chariot of God and experiences God’s presence.
Unfortunately, for Zion, God’s presence comes with anger. This anger emerges most clearly as the poet applies language that refers to The Day of the Lord. This is a central feature throughout the prophets that refer to God’s acts of judgement against the nations. The Day of the Lord predicts disaster for various nations because of their rebellious attitude against God. God’s anger inspires His wrath. Often these acts of judgement come against the enemies of Israel, but in Lamentations the act of judgement is applied to the covenant people.[3]
Throughout chapter 2, the poet repeatedly refers to God’s anger and wrath as inspiring actions of destruction. Hurling down the splendor of Israel and failing to remember the footstool indicate that God destroys the temple.[4] The temple stood as a reminder to Israel that God dwells with His people. As God, through the hands of Israel’s enemies, obliterates the temple, God declares the removal of His presence. In destroying the temple, God severs Israel’s access to His dwelling place. Verse 3 refers to the cutting off of every horn of Israel. Horns symbolized power and confidence.[5] In God’s wrath, He removes power and any reason for confidence. God also removes His right hand, which symbolizes the removal of God’s protection from the covenant people.
Overall, there are 40 references to God’s anger and subsequent judgement upon the people of Israel in verses 1-10.[6] The poet piles up various Hebrew words in order to emphasize the fullness of God’s anger. The Hebrew word translated anger relates to the Hebrew word meaning nose, inspiring images of someone snorting in anger. The word for fury means to “go over” suggesting feelings that overflow from God. In addition, the poet uses the word blazing to emphasize the force of God’s anger.[7] God’s anger does not relent. God’s anger has come upon the people because of their brazen choice to violate the covenant. In this, God rejects Israel and declares their practices of worship as worthless.
The anger and wrath of God are uncomfortable realities for modern people. We do not like aspects of God that, in our worldview, contradict the all loving nature we have come to expect. We tend to divide anger from love, positing the former as negative and the latter as positive. Wrath and mercy are often viewed as diametrically opposed to one another in today’s society. How could the God who is love express such extreme anger toward people? Scripture clearly teaches that God is completely holy. In God’s holiness, God cannot dwell in the midst of human rebellion and covenant breaking. Yet, out of deep love, God desires to have a relationship with all people. So God provides methods for relationship. He does so with Israel, establishing a covenant based on obedience to the law. But throughout the covenant relationship, Israel consistently breaks relationship through disobedience and rebellion. God patiently responds with mercy. But at the time of exile, mercy has come to an end. God in holiness, must respond to Israel’s rebellion, eradicating it. So in anger God responds, tearing and destroying. Yet, God still desires relationship. The crying out in Lamentations and other poetry of lament in the Old Testament provides a further means for that relationship. God’s ear listens even if God does not respond as we desire. God welcomes the cries of the people as the honest expression of emotion might draw them toward reconciliation with Him.
Surrounded by the cloud of God’s anger, Israel is left in sorrow and sadness, mourning the loss of prestige, power, and blessing. This sorrow is expressed in verses 11-13 through the first person voice of the poet, mourning the suffering of the children and infants as they beg for bread. After voicing the ache of Jerusalem, the poet asks a simple question, “Who can heal you?”
Following this question, the poet explores various places that have not offered healing to Israel. Verse 14 reminds us that the prophets have failed both God and the people. In their soothsaying, they misled the people toward destruction. The prophets cannot bring healing. Verse 15 points out that neighboring people have become mockers of Jerusalem. Those who pass by clap their hands in approval of destruction. They scoff and mock. The people of God’s covenant cannot expect support if they turn to other nations for healing. This lack of healing from the nations receives greater emphasis in verse 16 as the enemies gnash their teeth and boast about their conquering exploits.
As the poem continues, the poet seems to offer a bleak assessment of God’s intent to give the desired healing. The Lord has done as planned, fulfilling His word. This seemingly negative statement offers a hard truth. Even in anger, God remains consistent to His character of faithfulness. What God declared throughout Israel’s history has come true through the hand of God. Jerusalem lies in ruin. The temple has been destroyed. God withdraws His presence. God holds true to His word!
It is in the truth of God’s faithfulness that the people know they can cry out to God! Even as God acts in anger, the people can notice His faithfulness, returning to Him with their many tears. Notice that amongst the tears, the people offer expressions of worship. The people cry out to God in the night. These words announce the attitude of repentance in the midst of darkness.[8] They pour out their hearts to God. In Ancient Near Eastern thought, to give of your heart is to give your attitudes, choices and thoughts. The people offer their innermost selves to God. Finally, they lift their hands up to God. This is an act of submission.
In this place of submission, the poem ends with some of the most extreme expressions of honest suffering. As the people take a posture of confessional worship they yell at God, professing pain. This pain comes from the loss of dignity, morality, religious leadership, and ultimately life. In this expression of great loss, the poet echoes the beginning of the poem, acknowledging the day of the Lord: God the enemy has destroyed in anger.
Sometimes God catches us in the cloud of His anger! In God’s holiness, He must confront rebellion. In God’s faithfulness, He sometimes withdraws His hand of protection, destroying us in the process. In these moments, we can know of His holiness and faithfulness. We must then take a posture of confessional worship; crying out to God in the night, pouring out our hearts before Him, and lifting up our hands in submission. In this worship, God invites us to express the fullness of our suffering. As we do so, God will hear even if restoration seems a distant dream. Discover healing through confessional worship!
Prayer: Faithful God, in your holiness you have to respond to our rebellion with wrath. In your absolute love, you deeply desire relationship with us. These truths can lead us through the cloud of your anger toward a place of healing. Lord, we cry out to you, wondering at the profound pain in our lives, screaming for reason. Hear our hearts and lead us through the destruction. Cut open our souls so that we might know our rebellions and lay them before you. Reconcile us to one another and ultimately to you as we confess our disobedience. Draw us to your mercy! In Christ’s holy name, Amen!
[1] Tremper Longman III, NIBC: Jeremiah, Lamentations. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2008), 352.
[2] F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Interpretation: Lamentations. (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2002), 80.
[3] Richard H. Hiers, “Day of the Lord.” The Anchor Bible Dictionary: Volume 2, New York: Doubleday, 1992, 82.
[4] Walter C. Kaiser, A Biblical Approach to Personal Suffering. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1982), 66.
[5] Longman, 360.
[6] Kaiser, 59.
[7] John Goldingay, Lamentations and Ezekiel for Everyone. (Louisville: WJK, 2016), 22.
[8] Longman, 360.
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