GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LAMENTATIONS 2:5-6
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5 The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her castles
and destroyed her strongholds.
He has increased mourning and lamentation
for the daughter of Judah.
The list of the Lord’s wrathful actions continues: Like an enemy, not like a friend or a Savior, the Lord swallowed up Israel. David had foreseen: “You will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes… You will make them like a fiery furnace. In his wrath the LORD will swallow them up, and his fire will consume them “ (Psalm 21:8-9). Using the Babylonians he tore down Judah’s castles and strongholds, palaces and walls. The idea of God permitting Israel’s strongholds and defenses to be wrecked is a recurring theme in Lamentations (1:10; 1:14; 2:2), a refrain to remind the grieving exiles: They couldn’t just go back and do a better job of defending themselves. All the defenses in the world could not stop the one who was truly attacking them: God himself had become their enemy, because they had become his enemy.
The word here for “lamentation” is ta’aniyah, a display of grief, especially in public. We see Ariel (another name for Jerusalem) foreseen as mourning and lamenting in Isaiah 29:2, and here Judah laments in the same way.
6 He has done violence, as if to a garden shed,
and destroyed his place of meeting.
The LORD has caused the appointed assembly and Sabbath
to be forgotten in Zion;
in the heat of his anger
he has shown contempt for both king and priest.
What was a “garden shed” to Judah? Much the same as it is today, a tent or hut to keep a few tools in, or a skin of water, or just a place for a worker to get under a little shade in the heat of the day. Wrecking one would take no effort at all, and so in the comparison the temple was destroyed easily, without the Lord breaking a sweat. The worship that happened there and elsewhere was done away with. Just how did he cause worship, assemblies, and Sabbaths to be forgotten? It wasn’t a matter of removing the places, although he did that. It was a matter of removing the people. Both king and priest were taken prisoner.
Let us contemplate that final phrase once again: “He has shown contempt for both king and priest.” This is a way of describing Christ according to his Messianic offices. His office consists, Gerhard says, in the work of mediation between God and human beings, which is the goal or end of the incarnation. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). His saving work is described in various ways: “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8); “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28); “To do the will” (he himself said) “of the One who sent me” (John 6:38). And so we confess in the Nicene Creed, “For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven and was made man.”
This work of Christ, that is to say, his office, is usually described today as a threefold office: Prophet, Priest, and King. But older theologians sometimes reduced this threefold office into two (priestly and royal, that is, priest and king), since it is the duty of a priest not only to sacrifice, pray, intercede and bless, but also to teach, which is the whole of the prophetic office. I do not wish to argue for or against either division or distinction, since both are accurate and correct. I simply mention it because we see in the passage before us, “He has shown contempt for both king and priest,” the whole of Christ’s work in the act of being to death by the Father. He suffered and died as our prophet, “the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2) and the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep (John 10:11,15). He suffered and died as our priest, “the lamb of God who was slain from the beginning of the world” (Revelation 13:8). And he suffered and died as our king, “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6) and “the author (or “captain”) of salvation” (Hebrews 2:10).
So here we see on the cross, which we have called “the second cross,” the cross of Christ, the full work of our salvation in his rejection, scorn, and contempt shown to him by the Father in heaven. Suffering as he did, he bled for our salvation. His blood covered the stain of our sins and gained God’s benediction and blessing for us, which is the work and duty of a priest– Christ our Priest. He published and proclaimed the word of God about our salvation, which is the work and duty of a prophet– Christ our Prophet. He rules us with the scepter of his Word, and together with the Holy Spirit he keeps our foes at bay and glorifies us in the last judgment, all of which is the work and duty of a king– Christ our King.
What restraint our poet showed when he penned verse 6, using the poetic plural (the singular to describe the plural), but grammatically still singular, to say that the Lord “has shown contempt for both king and priest.” He has foretold the whole crucifixion of our Savior with these words, and the salvation of our souls.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Lamentations 2:5-6 Both king and priest