Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz the cup shall pass also unto thee; thou shalt be drunken, and make thyself naked.
Jeremiah has spent four chapters weeping over a ruined Jerusalem. Now he turns to Edom, a neighbouring nation that cheered while the city burned. He tells her to enjoy the party, because Zion's cup is already on its way to her table.
The call to rejoice is bitter irony. Kelly asks how Edom treated a brother nation in its worst hour:
Did Edom then taunt their fallen brother in the day of his distress? Indeed they did, and with murderous, treacherous hatred too. That is why the prophet turns and addresses them… Did they say in the day of Jerusalem, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations"? They too must be brought to shame. If the Chaldean swept the holy land, the daughter of Edom must expect no less. Her own day would come, and she would go into captivity for her sins.
The verse puts Edom in the land of Uz — the same land where Job lived. Edom moved in later:
The man we read about in this most interesting and instructive book was a Gentile from the land of Uz. According to Lamentations 4:21, Uz became the dwelling place of Edom. Job seems to have lived in Uz before the sons of Edom had established their hold on the country.
The cup stands for God's anger. It is drunk to the bottom, and then handed on. Hole describes that turn in Isaiah 51, where God's people are the ones holding the cup:
When the Arm of the Lord awakes on their behalf, the hour of their deliverance will strike. Then He will take the "cup of trembling" out of their hands and put it into the hands of their oppressors.
The cup does not stop at Zion. Bellett states the principle:
The cup of the Lord's indignation is to go round the nations, and they must drink it.
Ironside ties the drunkenness and the nakedness back to Edom's gloating, and sets the two nations side by side:
Edom had rejoiced in the day of Judah's calamity. The cup would soon pass to her. She must be made drunk and naked because of her delight in the downfall of the city of God, and because of her many sins (v. 21). The punishment of the daughter of Zion was completed. Restoration instead of captivity would soon be her portion. Edom's judgment, though, was just about to begin.
The book does not end in despair. The Bible Treasury traces the shift by chapter 4:
So in chapter 4 we see Jerusalem's present condition set against her former glory. Her future is stated with confidence, and so is the future of Edom, her bitter enemy. For Jerusalem there will be deliverance, for Edom perpetual desolations (Lam. 4:21-22). How different the outlook is now. In chapter 1, all that Jerusalem could say was that her enemies would become like her.
Commentators read these two verses as reaching past Babylon's day to a final reckoning. Gaebelein groups this passage with other prophecies of Edom's end:
This has not happened yet. It will happen when "the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom"… Then comes the utter desolation of Edom (Isa. 34:9-17; see also Ezek. 25:12-14; 35; Isa. 63:3 and Lam. 4:21-22). Obadiah's prophecy has come partly true. Its final accomplishment waits for the day of the Lord.
This is not only about an ancient nation. The same spirit can appear in anyone:
Let us take the moral of it to heart, for we may easily fall into the same kind of spirit as the Edomite. Jeremiah saw the failures and sins of God's people, but he wept over them. Daniel and other godly men confessed those sins as their own. The spirit of the Edomite is bitter hatred against people who, whatever their failure, are still the people of God. This spirit is particularly displeasing to Him.
- The cup moves. God's anger is a cup that goes round the nations; what Jerusalem drank does not stop with her.
- The cup reaches Edom. She cheered at a brother's ruin, so she must drink, stagger, and be stripped bare in public shame.
- The cup empties for Zion. Her punishment is finished and restoration follows; Edom's judgment is only starting.
- The cup is not yet drained. Commentators read verses 21-22 as looking beyond Babylon to a final desolation of Edom in the day of the Lord.
- The cup warns us. Jeremiah wept over the failures of God's people; the Edomite gloated. This verse asks which response is ours.
The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity. He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.
Lamentations closes its fourth song of grief with a verdict on two "daughters": Zion, the fallen city, and Edom, the nation that cheered her fall. How can a city in ruins hear that her punishment is over, while her neighbour's is only beginning?
One writer pictures God's wrath as a cup. He explains why Jerusalem had to empty it:
The cup of God's wrath will pass on to Edom, who was rejoicing in the ruin of the city of Jehovah. As for Zion, she has certainly drunk this cup to the dregs. But if she has done so, it was so that she might never drink of it again. The punishment of her iniquity is accomplished; she will not be carried away into captivity again. Everything was finished for her: she had drunk the cup which she confessed she deserved. But the sin of proud Edom would be laid bare. God would punish her iniquity.
Hope arrives only here, near the end of the book. One writer explains why it could not come sooner:
So in chapter 4 we see Jerusalem's present condition set against her former glory. We also hear a confident word about her future, and about the future of Edom, her bitter enemy. For Jerusalem there will be deliverance; for Edom, lasting desolation. How different the prospect now is. In chapter 1, all that Jerusalem could say was that her enemies would become like her. But now that Jeremiah has told his own experience, deliverance can be spoken of her. And trouble with no hope of relief can be the portion of Esau's descendants.
But on what ground can God close the account? One writer answers that God does not weigh Jerusalem's sins on their own:
Bad as Jerusalem's sins were, she had, by His reckoning of love, suffered double what her sins deserved under His government. He is not looking at the sins of Jerusalem apart from Christ, but as it were through Him. Suppose there were no suffering Messiah connected with Jerusalem. Then nothing would remain but the judgment of her sins, to her everlasting shame and ruin. But God always looks at Christ on her behalf, and so can say, "Comfort, comfort my people."
Edom — the nation descended from Esau — cheered while her brother Jerusalem fell. That cheering has a price:
Did Edom then taunt their fallen brother in the day of his distress? Indeed they did, and with murderous, treacherous hatred too… Did they say on the day of Jerusalem's fall, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations"? They too must be brought to shame. If the Babylonian swept through the holy land, the daughter of Edom must expect no less when her own day came to be carried away captive for her sins.
The two verdicts meet at the same moment — one ends as the other begins:
The punishment of the daughter of Zion was accomplished. Restoration in place of captivity would soon be her portion, but Edom's judgment was just about to begin. "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
So did the return from Babylon settle the matter? One writer notes what the returning remnant went on to do:
Sadly, the remnant that returned from Babylon only added a second sin, worse beyond all comparison. They rejected the Messiah and refused the gospel. So wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
Another writer looks further ahead, to a grief not yet lived through:
As prophecy, we may regard these laments as expressing what will pass in the souls of the godly remnant of God's earthly people. In a future day they will go through the great tribulation. That beautiful prayer in the last chapter — "renew our days as of old" — will then be answered. And God will then fulfil all the glorious promises given to Israel.
- Cup drained — Zion drank God's wrath to the dregs, and she drank it so that she would never drink it again.
- Cup passed — the same cup moves on to Edom, who cheered her brother's ruin. What Babylon did to Jerusalem, Edom must expect for herself.
- Punishment measured — God counted her suffering by love, and looked at her through Christ, not apart from Him.
- Sins uncovered — God closes Zion's account and lays Edom's sins bare. He restores the one just as He judges the other.
- Days renewed — the promise reaches past the return from Babylon. It reaches a future day when God answers Israel's prayer: "renew our days as of old."