When God Becomes the Enemy

Beneath the orderly veil of the five chapters of the book of Lamentations—each written in a tight and deliberate structure, including four alphabetic acrostics (chs. 1–4)—is the explosive charge of intense emotions.^[1] The content of the poems suggests that some were written close to the destruction of the Temple and the exile of 586 B.C.E., while others were composed later.

Since the laments derive from different periods, it is not surprising that they contain a diversity of emotions, of varying intensities, and differing theological perspectives.

The Center of the Scroll

The middle of the third lament is a reminder of YHWH’s goodness:^[2]

‏^{איכה ג:כב} חַסְדֵי יְ־הוָה כִּי לֹא תָמְנוּ כִּי לֹא כָלוּ רַחֲמָיו. ^ג:כג חֲדָשִׁים לַבְּקָרִים רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ.

^{Lam 3:22} The steadfast love of YHWH never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; ^3:23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

The perspective that YHWH’s actions are justified is reflected in the first lament:

^{איכה א:יח} צַדִּיק הוּא יְ־הוָה כִּי פִיהוּ מָרִיתִי....

^{Lam 1:18a} YHWH is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word.

Suffering as Punishment

Present in almost all the laments is the notion that Jerusalem’s suffering is a punishment for sin—sometimes expressed about Jerusalem, in the third person (Lam 4:6, 13), sometimes with Jerusalem speaking, in the first person (Lam 3:42, 5:16), and in some laments in both voices. For example, the first lament speaks of Jerusalem, and its sins, in the third person:

^{איכה א:ח} חֵטְא חָטְאָה יְרוּשָׁלִַם עַל כֵּן לְנִידָה הָיָתָה....

^{Lam 1:8a} Jerusalem sinned grievously, so she has become a filthy thing.

Later, it switches to the first person, and Jerusalem declares:

^{איכה א:יא} ...רְאֵה יְ־הוָה וְהַבִּיטָה כִּי הָיִיתִי זוֹלֵלָה.

^{Lam 1:11} ...Look, O YHWH, and consider how worthless I have become!

An Angry and Rebellious Lament

The second lament, however, directs the accusatory finger not at Jerusalem, but rather at heaven.^[3] The tone of this lament is not of acceptance but of resentment and fierce rebellion against the Lord. It opens with YHWH’s anger on the day of His wrath:

^{איכה ב:א} אֵיכָה יָעִיב בְּאַפּוֹ אֲדֹנָי אֶת בַּת צִיּוֹן הִשְׁלִיךְ מִשָּׁמַיִם אֶרֶץ תִּפְאֶרֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל וְלֹא זָכַר הֲדֹם רַגְלָיו בְּיוֹם אַפּוֹ.

^{Lam 2:1} How the Lord in his anger has humiliated daughter Zion! He has thrown down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool [i.e. the Temple] in the day of his anger.

The lamenter depicts YHWH as an enemy of His own people:

^{איכה ב:ה} הָיָה אֲדֹנָי כְּאוֹיֵב בִּלַּע יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּלַּע כָּל אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ שִׁחֵת מִבְצָרָיו וַיֶּרֶב בְּבַת יְהוּדָה תַּאֲנִיָּה וַאֲנִיָּה.

^{Lam 2:5} The Lord has become like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel. He has destroyed all its palaces, laid in ruins its strongholds, and multiplied in daughter Judah mourning and lamentation.^[4]

YHWH is described as one who harms His people deliberately and purposefully:

^{איכה ב:יז} עָשָׂה יְ־הוָה אֲשֶׁר זָמָם בִּצַּע אֶמְרָתוֹ אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מִימֵי קֶדֶם הָרַס וְלֹא חָמָל וַיְשַׂמַּח עָלַיִךְ אוֹיֵב הֵרִים קֶרֶן צָרָיִךְ.

^{Lam 2:17} YHWH has done what he purposed; he has carried out his threat; as he ordained long ago, he has demolished without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes.

Throughout the lament, YHWH’s attitude toward His people is depicted through the metaphor of His hand, as He progresses from passive bystander to methodical destroyer.

The Metaphor of YHWH’s Hand

Throughout the Bible, YHWH’s right hand symbolizes His might and power. For example, in the Song of the Sea, Moses declares:

^{שׁמות טו:ו} יְמִינְךָ יְ־הוָה נֶאְדָּרִי בַּכֹּחַ יְמִינְךָ יְ־הוָה תִּרְעַץ אוֹיֵב.

^{Exod 15:6} Your right hand, O YHWH, glorious in power—your right hand, O YHWH, shattered the enemy.^[5]

1. YHWH Withdraws His Hand

By contrast, in Lamentations chapter two, YHWH does not fight the enemies, but rather holds back His hand and does not prevent them from harming His people and doing to them as they please:

^{איכה ב:ג} גָּדַע בָּחֳרִי אַף כֹּל קֶרֶן יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵשִׁיב אָחוֹר יְמִינוֹ מִפְּנֵי אוֹיֵב...

^{Lam 2:3} He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn his right hand from them in the face of the enemy...^[6]

YHWH is portrayed passively, as one who does not lift a finger for His people’s benefit. This understanding is reflected in the Aramaic Targum:

^{תרגום איכה ב:ג} אֲתֵיב אָחוֹר יַמִינֵיהּ וְלָא סַיֵיע לְעַמֵיהּ מִן קֳדָם בְּעֵיל דְּבָבָא

^{Targ Lam 2:3} He drew back His right hand and did not help His people from before the enemy.

2. YHWH’s Attacks His People

No longer passive, YHWH’s hand next actively works to harm His people with a precise, planned, and deliberate attack:

^{איכה ב:ד} דָּרַךְ קַשְׁתּוֹ כְּאוֹיֵב נִצָּב יְמִינוֹ כְּצָר וַיַּהֲרֹג כֹּל מַחֲמַדֵּי עָיִן בְּאֹהֶל בַּת צִיּוֹן שָׁפַךְ כָּאֵשׁ חֲמָתוֹ.

^{Lam 2:4} He has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe; he has killed all those in whom we took pride in the tent of daughter Zion; he has poured out his fury like fire.^[7]

A development of the metaphor can be identified here. While in verse 3 YHWH acted passively, not protecting His people with His right hand but allowing the human enemy to do as he pleased and harm YHWH’s people, in verse 4 YHWH's right hand acts actively with the aim of harming His people. Unlike the human enemy described in the previous verse (v. 3), in this verse YHWH Himself is described as a tyrant and an enemy who bends His bow and seeks to shoot His arrows at His people with His right hand.^[8]

3. YHWH’s Hand Does Not Withhold Destruction

Finally, though YHWH earlier withheld His hand from protecting His people, now He does not withhold His hand from destroying them:

^{איכה ב:ח} חָשַׁב יְ־הוָה לְהַשְׁחִית חוֹמַת בַּת צִיּוֹן נָטָה קָו לֹא הֵשִׁיב יָדוֹ מִבַּלֵּעַ וַיַּאֲבֶל חֵל וְחוֹמָה יַחְדָּו אֻמְלָלוּ.

^{Lam 2:8} YHWH determined to lay in ruins the wall of daughter Zion; he stretched the line;^[9] he did not withhold his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.

The destruction of Zion’s wall is not merely the result of an outburst of anger but a cold, calculated plan, the precise, careful execution of the demolition giving the act an even crueler character.^[10]

Sea, Stream, Water, Tears

After expressing grief over the destruction of Jerusalem and describing the city’s current state (vv. 9–12) the lamenter asks the daughter of Zion, rhetorically, whether anyone can provide healing for the damage she has suffered:

^{איכה ב:יג} מָה אֲעִידֵךְ מָה אֲדַמֶּה לָּךְ הַבַּת יְרוּשָׁלִַם מָה אַשְׁוֶה לָּךְ וַאֲנַחֲמֵךְ בְּתוּלַת בַּת צִיּוֹן כִּי גָדוֹל כַּיָּם שִׁבְרֵךְ מִי יִרְפָּא לָךְ.

^{Lam 2:13} What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can heal you?^[11]

Building on the image of the sea of ruin, the lamenter subsequently uses water imagery to implore that the daughter of Zion to turn to the Lord and direct her cry and anger to Him:

‏^{איכה ב:יח} צָעַק לִבָּם אֶל אֲדֹנָי חוֹמַת בַּת צִיּוֹן הוֹרִידִי כַנַּחַל דִּמְעָה יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה אַל תִּתְּנִי פוּגַת לָךְ אַל תִּדֹּם בַּת עֵינֵךְ. ^ב:יט קוּמִי רֹנִּי בַלַּיִל [בַלַּיְלָה] לְרֹאשׁ אַשְׁמֻרוֹת שִׁפְכִי כַמַּיִם לִבֵּךְ נֹכַח פְּנֵי אֲדֹנָי שְׂאִי אֵלָיו כַּפַּיִךְ עַל נֶפֶשׁ עוֹלָלַיִךְ הָעֲטוּפִים בְּרָעָב בְּרֹאשׁ כָּל חוּצוֹת.

^{Lam 2:18} Cry aloud to the Lord! O wall of daughter Zion! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite! ^2:19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.

In this response, the lamenter makes deliberate use of the same semantic field (i.e., set of words that are related in meaning) as the image that appeared in the question in verse 13: The great breach “like the sea” can be healed through tears flowing like a torrent and through pouring out the heart like water before YHWH.

Look, O YHWH!

Indeed, the daughter of Zion heeds the lamenter’s advice, and she pours out her heart candidly, rebelliously, beginning with a call to YHWH to look at her:

^{איכה ב:כ} רְאֵה יְ־הוָה וְהַבִּיטָה....

^{Lam 2:20} Look, O YHWH, and consider!...

This phrase already appeared in Lamentations’ first lament:

^{איכה א:יא} ...רְאֵה יְ־הוָה וְהַבִּיטָה כִּי הָיִיתִי זוֹלֵלָה.

^{Lam 1:11} ...Look, O YHWH, and consider how worthless I have become!

There, daughter Zion confesses her sins (vv. 14, 18), but here she points an accusing finger upward and asks:

^{איכה ב:כ} ...לְמִי עוֹלַלְתָּ כֹּה אִם תֹּאכַלְנָה נָשִׁים פִּרְיָם עֹלֲלֵי טִפֻּחִים אִם יֵהָרֵג בְּמִקְדַּשׁ אֲדֹנָי כֹּהֵן וְנָבִיא.

^{Lam 2:20} ...To whom have you done this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have borne? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

The verb עולל (ʿolel), “do,” rather than the more common עשה, reflects a wordplay with the noun עוֹלֵל (ʿolel), “infant,” in the lamenter’s description: בֵּעָטֵף עוֹלֵל וְיוֹנֵק בִּרְחֹבוֹת קִרְיָה, “infants and babes faint in the streets of the city” (2:11). The speaker thus implies that YHWH is the one who has harmed the innocent infants.^[12]

The daughter of Zion concludes her speech with a vivid image of what YHWH has done:

^{איכה ב:כא} שָׁכְבוּ לָאָרֶץ חוּצוֹת נַעַר וְזָקֵן בְּתוּלֹתַי וּבַחוּרַי נָפְלוּ בֶחָרֶב הָרַגְתָּ בְּיוֹם אַפֶּךָ טָבַחְתָּ לֹא חָמָלְתָּ.

^{Lam 2:21} The young and the old are lying on the ground in the streets; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; in the day of your anger you have killed them, slaughtering without mercy.

Divine anger is the most prominent feeling throughout this lament. Just as it opens with YHWH’s day of anger, so it closes on the same theme, forming an inclusio:

^{איכה ב:כב} תִּקְרָא כְיוֹם מוֹעֵד מְגוּרַי מִסָּבִיב וְלֹא הָיָה בְּיוֹם אַף יְ־הוָה פָּלִיט וְשָׂרִיד אֲשֶׁר טִפַּחְתִּי וְרִבִּיתִי אֹיְבִי כִלָּם.

^{Lam 2:22} You invited my enemies from all around as if for a day of festival; and on the day of the anger of YHWH, no one escaped or survived; those whom I bore and reared, my enemy has destroyed.

Tears Extinguish YHWH’s Fiery Anger

Lamentations 2 teaches us that there is space for rebellion—for raw, honest speech with YHWH. Its only comfort lies in the call to “pour out your heart like water before the Lord.” Perhaps it is precisely through the power and intensity of such unrestrained expression, and through the tears that flow like a stream, that the divine fire can finally be cooled.