Zion spreadeth forth her hands; there is none to comfort her; Jehovah hath commanded concerning Jacob, [that] his adversaries [should be] round about him; Jerusalem is as an impurity among them.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Jehovah is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment. Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
Stripped and empty, Jerusalem at last names the cause of her ruin: God has been right, and she has rebelled. She then calls the nations to see her pain and her young people led into exile, which raises the chapter's question: if God is just in striking, is there room left for grief?
Up to this point, the chapter traces every blow back to God's hand, not the Babylonian army's. One writer names who is speaking here and what her words settle:
The prophet pictures the downtrodden Zion turning to the strangers passing by for their pity… All of it still traces back to the Lord's dealing, and the cause is Jerusalem's rebellious sins. So He stands morally vindicated.
The words strike no bargain and hold nothing back. One commentator reads them as the mark of real repentance:
Verse 18 holds an admission with nothing held back: "The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against His commandments." This is evidence of a soul truly at work before God. They received only what their deeds deserved, and they own it with a broken heart and a humbled soul… This is what makes it all so bitter: they realise they deserve everything they have been called on to endure.
The sin named here is the refusal of a command. (Older translations read "commandment" where the ESV has "word.") One writer pictures what that refusal cost:
And now they were captives in a foreign land. Outwardly, the God of their fathers had disowned them. They were left to the whim of a self-willed, idol-worshipping king, and to shed useless tears at every memory of Zion. Surely the way of transgressors is hard. Yet the Lord is righteous, for their rebellion against His commandment had been great.
The confession and the cry "see my suffering" sit in the same verse. One writer describes what it is like to watch God strike people He loves, and what the people then ask of Him:
Nothing moves the heart more than the certainty that God loves the one He afflicts. He loves what He must strike, and He must strike what He loves. The prophet, while laying open the affliction of Jerusalem, acknowledges that the people's sin had caused it. Could that lessen the sorrow of his heart? If on one side it was a comfort, on the other it humbled him and made him hide his face. At the end of chapter 1 the people make full confession: Judah's sin had brought this evil on them, and the Lord was righteous. Then they call on the eye of the Lord to look on their sorrow, and to judge those whose wickedness had punished them.
Saying "The LORD is in the right" and saying "I have rebelled" are not two separate statements. One writer shows they are a single act, and that the reverse also holds:
Have we taken the place of self-condemnation? Have we bowed in true repentance before God? This is to justify God. The two things go together — in fact they are one and the same. The man who condemns himself justifies God; and the man who justifies God condemns himself. On the other hand, the man who justifies himself judges God; and the man who judges God justifies himself.
This is the lowest point of the chapter, but commentators treat it as a threshold rather than a dead end. Writing on the same confession where Israel makes it elsewhere in Scripture, one author explains what has been reached:
In a word, they justify God for all His past dealings with them. By this very expression they own that they had received only what they deserved… The awakened soul, like the dying criminal, justifies God and condemns himself. He stands on the verge of forgiveness and blessing. And when the believer under chastening justifies God, the end is reached, for he has "heard" the rod and the One who appointed it.
- Rebellion. One cause lies behind the ruin: a command known and broken. The young led into captivity are the receipt for it, and "the way of transgressors is hard."
- Righteous. The blow came from God's own hand, not Babylon's. So His dealing stands vindicated, not merely excused.
- Unreserved. The confession makes no excuse and claims no unfair treatment. They own that they deserve all they endure.
- Sorrow. Owning the sin does not dry the tears — He is striking what He loves, and knowing that both comforts and humbles.
- Threshold. Condemning yourself and justifying God are one act. The soul that gets there stands on the verge of forgiveness and blessing.
I called for my lovers, they have deceived me; my priests and mine elders have expired in the city, while they sought them food to revive their soul.
Jerusalem has fallen, and in this chapter the city herself speaks. Here she admits two things at once. The allies she counted on lied to her. Inside the walls, her own priests and elders died while hunting for food.
One commentator explains who these "lovers" were. They were not people who loved her. They were the false gods and foreign powers she had turned to instead of God.
The false gods she trusted in when she broke faith with the covenant of Jehovah cannot ease her present sorrows in any way. The powers she sought to lean on when she abandoned the Word of her God are all indifferent to her present plight. He, the "eternal Lover" whom she has despised, is the only One who still loves her.
So the betrayal is no surprise. The help she called for had never been able to help her.
Judah does not use the failure of her allies as an excuse. She sets it inside a confession.
In verse 18 there is the unreserved acknowledgment, "The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against His commandments." This is evidence of true godly exercise. They received only what their deeds deserved, and they own it with a contrite heart and a humbled soul. Other lovers had deceived them (v. 19) and left them in great distress. But they humbly confess, "I have grievously rebelled." This is what makes it all so bitter: they realise they deserve everything they have been called on to endure.
Another writer looks at verses 17 to 19 and asks who is finally behind the ruin.
All of it is still traced to Jehovah's dealing because of Jerusalem's rebellious sins; and so He is morally vindicated.
The second half of the verse reports history. One commentator links this famine to the record in Kings.
To the other calamities that of famine was now added (2 Kings 25:3). Jeremiah has left a record of the horrors of that time in the Book of Lamentations (compare 1:19; 2:11, 12, 20; 4:3-10).
The ones who died were the priests and elders. They died while looking for food to keep themselves alive. Religious office bought them no exemption from hunger.
Judah's confession is real, yet the chapter ends with no promise of restoration. One writer explains why admitting guilt, on its own, does not produce hope.
You may admit your guilt, and admit that the Lord is just in how He deals with a soul. That by itself cannot give any hope of better times and renewed prosperity in the future. To own your sin while He is chastening you for it is simply to admit that God is just. But justifying God in His dealings with us can never light up the heart with the brightness of hope. So throughout this chapter there is no hint of restoration to former favour and blessing... Of her future blessing there is not a word.
What Jerusalem did here, God's people still do.
It is one of the sad failings of His people that they so often turn to other sources for relief and comfort in times of grief. By doing so they miss the blessed lessons He would teach them through their trials under His chastening. Like Israel of old, they do not turn to Him at once under pressure. Instead they often run to the broken cisterns that can hold no water... No! God is "the God of all comfort," and His mourners are shut up to Him.
- Called — She called to her "lovers": the false gods and foreign powers she leaned on after abandoning God's Word. They were never able to help her.
- Deceived — The allies she trusted lied to her. Behind their betrayal stood God's own dealing with her rebellion.
- Died — Even the priests and elders perished, hunting for bread during the siege. Rank and religious office gave no protection from the famine.
- Confessed — She does not use her allies' treachery as an excuse. She owns her rebellion and admits she deserves what she is suffering.
- Comfort — Owning your sin justifies God, but it does not by itself give hope. Hope starts when the mourner stops running to broken cisterns. God shuts His mourners up to Himself — the one Lover she despised, who loves her still.