GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LAMENTATIONS 2:15-16
Click to listen to this devotion.
15 All who passed by clapped their hands at you;
they hissed and shook their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty,
the joy of all the earth?”
16 All your enemies opened their mouths against you. They hissed, they gnashed their teeth, and they said: “We have swallowed her up!
Ah, this is the day we were waiting for!
We have arrived! We have seen it!”
In the Bible, clapping hands is usually a sign of true joy (Isaiah 55:12; 47:1), but sometimes (as it is here) it is the act of an enemy rejoicing because of a downfall (Ezekiel 25:6). “Hiss” is often translated with “scoff,” but “hiss” seems to be easier to understand in modern English. We see people doing this many times in Scripture, especially when the prophets describe this time, when Judah went into exile and the nations hissed or scoffed at them (Jeremiah 19:8; Habakkuk 1:10; Zephaniah 2:15).
The enemies tease and ridicule Jerusalem: “Isn’t this that beautiful city, that perfect place, the joy of the whole wide world?” The scorn and teasing of enemies happened at the cross of Jesus as well. “They said, ‘You were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days! Save yourself if you are the Son of God! Come down from the cross!’” (Matthew 27:40). And again, they said: “He saved others but he can’t save himself. He is the King of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he will have him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Matthew 27:42-43).
Even the criminals crucified with Jesus taunted him. One of them later stopped and repented, but the words of the other man are recorded by Luke: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39).
Here we must be careful as we apply the words. The first cross is certainly the suffering of the Jews as their city and nation were wrecked by the Babylonians, who “swallowed them up” and said “This is the day we’ve been waiting for!” The stem of the Hebrew verb in that phrase (piel) shows that this waiting was an eager expectation, like the traveling merchants looking for water in Job 6:19. And as we have clearly seen, there is a foreshadowing of Christ’s suffering, the second cross, in the taunts of the Pharisees and the chief priests of the Jews at the cross, and even the criminals who were there with him. But what about the third cross?
As we consider our own trials and crosses, we must remember that our troubles here do not do anything to gain entrance into heaven. Our burdens and hardships prepare us for bigger tests, for in the end, each of us faces the last test, the test of our own death. When the unbeliever faces death, he might grieve because he loved his life and doesn’t want to leave it, or he might have had a painful life and yearns for death, but doesn’t think anything at all about what will come after. And those who have known something about God but do not trust in him might have a vague idea that there is something beyond this life, but they don’t know how to achieve it, or they think that they will be able to talk their way into heaven, or work their way in like a beggar washing dishes or scrubbing garbage cans to get a meal. But that isn’t how the Wedding Feast of the Lamb receives its guests. The believer trusts in Christ. How blessed is the Christian who can face death and at the same time show their love to spouse, children, and others as they do so! How blessed is the Christian who can see that the days and hours of their life are spent, and that only minutes remain, and yet show compassion and affection for those they leave behind! How blessed is the Christian who has only a handful of breaths left to drink in, who looks beyond the present world to Christ, knowing that their spirit will soon leap into the arms of the angels who will guide them home to Paradise (Luke 16:22).
Do not fear the last cross, as if it is more than you can bear. Pray only that the Holy Spirit will continue to do what he has been doing all along, strengthening your faith, shoring up your trust in Christ, and helping you along, breath by breath, until you, too, are carried home into the welcoming arms of Jesus your Savior.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Listen or watch Bible classes online. https://splnewulm.org/invisible-church/
Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2025
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Lamentations 2:15-16 The last cross