Shabbat Shalom, everyone. Please open your Bible. Today we are studying in the book of Lamentations, Eicha, as we say this in Hebrew, or Lamentations of Jeremiah. And I'd like you to follow with me as I'm reading the first chapter of Lamentations, Chapter 1, verses 1 to 22. "How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people? How is she become as a widow, she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces? How is she become tributary? She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously.

With her, they are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity. Because of afflictions, and because of great servitude, she dwelleth among the heathen. She findeth no rest. All her persecutors overtook her between the straits. The way of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts. All her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Her adversaries are the chief. Her enemies prosper, for the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy. And from the daughter of Zion, all her beauty is departed. Her princes are become like haths that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction, and of her miseries, all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy. And none did help her. The adversaries saw her, and did mock at her Shabbats. Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she is removed. All that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. "Yeh, she sigheth, and turneth backwards. Her filthiness is in her skirts. She remembers not her last end. Therefore she came down wonderfully. She had no comforter. O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself." "The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things.

For she has seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst commend that they should not enter into thy congregation. All her people sigh, they seek bread. They have given their pleasant things for meat, to relieve the soul. "See, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile." "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. "From above has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them. He has spread a net for my feet.

"He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all the day. "The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand. They are woven and come upon my neck. "He has made my strength to fall. The Lord has delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. "The Lord has trodden underfoot all my mighty men. In the midst of me, he has called an assembly against me to crush my young men. "The Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress. For these things I weep. "Mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me.

"My children are desolate because the enemy prevaileth. Zion spreadeth forth her hand, "and there is none to comfort her. The Lord has commended concerning Jacob, "that his adversaries should be round about him. Jerusalem is as a monstrous or unclean woman among them. "The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. Here I pray you, "all people, and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. "I call for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, "while they sought their meat, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.

"Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress. "My bowels are troubled. "Mine heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. "Abroad the sword bereaves. At home there is as death. "They have heard that I sigh, there is none to comfort me. "All mine enemies have heard of my trouble. "They are glad that thou hast done it. "Thou will bring the day that thou hast called, "and they shall be like unto me. "Let all their wickedness come before thee, "and do unto them as thou hast done unto me. "For all my transgressions. For my size are many, "and my heart is faint." Boy, to read such a chapter in the book of Lamentation, you can just imagine, beloved brothers and sisters, how Jeremiah, Yirmiyahu, who gave us by divine inspiration, these five poems or five songs of sorrows, called the Lamentations, called the sorrows and the lamentations that he lamented over the condition that existed over the people of Israel.

Jeremiah lamented and he wept and he was so sorrowful over the condition that existed among the people of Israel. And perhaps this description you can just imagine him bowing or falling to the ground, looking back as he was still in the city of Jerusalem and he is just viewing the destruction of the wall, the burnt up temple in the city of Yerushalayim, which in 586 BC, the Babylonians came and burned the city and took the Jewish people captive to Babylon. It was in the month of Av, on the ninth day of the month of Av, 586 BC, we call it in Hebrew Tisha'a Be'av, the ninth of Av, the Jewish people were carried to Babylon to be there by the rivers of Babylon.

So it is amazing to me how God has chosen to give us today, of course to give to Israel historically and to the body of believers today such a book that is called Eicha in Hebrew, how in Hebrew, lamentations, that you and I, we will read that and as we read that we will be reminded of the ways of God's dealing with his own people. If you remember, we read earlier in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and it was the Apostle Paul who said to Timothy that he remembered the tears that Timothy had shed. You remember, in 2 Timothy 1 verse 4, "Greatly desiring to see thee," Paul said to Timothy, "Be mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with joy." Shaul Paul was writing to this younger brother by the name of Timothy who loved the body of Messiah, who loved the people of God and had been seen the condition that prevailing already then and there among the people of God.

He began to weep. He began to cry. He was mourning over the condition of the people of God. This is the body of Messiah, all believers, the body of Christ. But Jeremiah did very much the same when he had experienced the events that happened at 586 B.C. And I just want to read one or two more verses about the city of Jerusalem for us to see why it was so burdening his soul when he saw what happened to the city of Jerusalem. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles, chapter 6, verses 5 and 6. Solomon rehearsed about what God said to David. And look what God said about the city of Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem.

"Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the cities or all the tribes of Israel to build a house in that my name might be there. Neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel, but I have chosen, listen to this, I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there. And I have chosen David to be over my people Israel." The city of Jerusalem is the chosen city of God which he has set his name in the city of Jerusalem. He has chosen the city of Jerusalem that his name may be in that city, God said to David, which Solomon later on rehearsed as he is looking back when he was building the temple in the city of Jerusalem.

In Psalm 132, we have another important verse. Psalm 132, verse 13. And I want to read that for you and I, beloved brothers and sisters. Listen to this word. "For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell for I have desired it." Psalm 132 and verses 13 and 14. Well, if God had chosen the city of Jerusalem and he chose Zion, why is it, if you look at this picture, that Jerusalem is destroyed and the Jewish people have been taken captive to be there for 70 years. And in fact, beloved brothers and sisters, the diaspora, the dispersion, the time of the Gentiles began at 586 B.C.

on the ninth day of the month of Av when the Jewish people were scattered. So now I want us to begin in the study of the first chapter. And in Lamentation chapter 1, verses 1 to 22, you will also notice that there is the acrostic, as the 22 letters are being mentioned here in Lamentation chapter 1 and verse 1, you can just see that the letters, you perhaps cannot see it because you don't read Hebrew, you will notice the letter Aleph is the first verse, the letter Bet is the second verse, the letter Gimel is the third verse. So the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet began with the first verse and it's going on progressively, acrostively for 22 verses of this first chapter.

It's also in the second chapter, in the third chapter and in the fourth chapter and the only fifth chapter is the one that doesn't have an acrostic, though 22 verses are mentioned there. Well, in chapter 1, the title for this chapter is the Lamentation over the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and in the first 11 verses, Jeremiah lament over the city. He weep over the city. And you can see that in the first 7 verses, Lamentation 1 verses 1 to 7, Jeremiah is really astonished. He's surprised. That's why the verse began, the chapter began with the word Eicha. How? How is it possible? How is it even possible that the city that God had chosen to set his name there, the city that God have loved placed his name there, is now burnt with fire and the Jewish people are scattered and taken captive?

And so the first 7 verses, Jeremiah is astonished. He's on the ground, you might say. He's weeping. And he began in verse 1 and he says, notice that in verse 1, how is it that the city that was once full of people now is empty? It says in verse 1, how does the city sit solitary? That was full of people. How is she become a widow? She that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces, how is she become a slave? It says here tributary. It really comes from the Hebrew word a slave. In other words, how is it possible the city that was once, as we read here in verse 1, one was full of people.

Secondly, she was a great city among all the nations of the world. And thirdly, she was a princess among all the provinces. How in the world is it possible that now she sits alone? And then at the end of verse 1, how is it that she became a slave? Is it possible? Jeremiah is completely overwhelmed when he sees the condition that existed. How is it possible? You know, it is possible. You know why it is possible? Because when God's people do not follow God's ways, God will remove his people from a place of privilege, even though they are his own people. And as we apply this spiritually to the body of Christ, to the body of Messiah, when God's people do not follow his ways, God can blow on the light that they have had once and to reduce them into a scattered group of people.

How many a time have you heard of local assemblies that once have been situated in a certain city, in a certain town, in a certain street? And a few years later, you are coming, these local brothers and sisters of this local assembly and you find out they are no longer there. Well, why? There was a departure from God's will, the word of God has not been prominent, Jesus the Messiah was not exalted, and God can very easily scatter his sheep in judgment. And so, Jeremiah is amazed at this. Notice, now he find out and he is lamenting in verse 2, he says, "She whips a sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks.

Among all her lovers she has none to comfort her, and all her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies." In other words, when Israel came into the promised land, God said to the people of Israel, "Israel, you are not to affiliate with the nations of the world as we read it in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Don't mix with the nations of the world. Don't adapt their teaching. Don't adapt their gods and idols. Be a separated people unto me." But what happened is now Jerusalem's lovers, notice his expression in verse 2, that among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. Now, who are those lovers?

Those are the people around, the nations around, with whom she, you might say, had now relationship with them and affiliated with them, adapted their ways of life and then they turn against her. Those lovers who once were supposed to be so-called friends and lovers, they all of a sudden turn against her. She weepeth sore in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. Jeremiah lament over Jerusalem and notice all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they become her enemies. You know, what Jeremiah can see and he can share this with us, he says, listen, the people after whom the people of Israel sought to go after, turn against her.

And instead of being those lovers, they became their enemies. instead of comforting her, now they could not help her whatsoever. In verse 2, Jeremiah is pointing out, notice in verse 3, he continues in lamenting, he says, Judah is gone into captivity. That's where you get the Hebrew word galut, galta, the diaspora, the dispersion. It says in verse 3, 3, Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of a great servitude. She dwells among the heathen. She finds no rest and all her persecuted overtook her between the straits, between the narrow conditions that he have experienced. In other words, now she had been, the Hebrew word galut, she had been taken to captivity.

And you can just imagine, one after another, they are walking out of the city of Jerusalem and began their journey away from the promised land and to a land that is not theirs. Exactly as God had warned the people of Israel before even they entered into the land. He said, if you are going to follow other nations and go after I will remove you from your very own land. So, Judah is gone into captivity and she finds no rest. No rest. Beloved brothers and sisters, since 586 BC, when the times of the Gentiles have begun and God have removed moved from the authority and the rulership and the kingship from Judah and then headed over to the Babylonian, the time of the Gentiles began.

You have the Babylonian, the Middle Persian, the Grecians and the Romans and we are even up till today for Israel's sake are still in the time of the Gentiles. Gentiles. And when the time of the Gentiles will come into its end, then will be the time when God will restore Israel back to Israel's former glory. But now, verse 3, Judah is gone into captivity. What a sad experience, Israel experience. And you notice how Jeremiah interchanging the word Judah, Jerusalem, Zion or Zion or the city is speaking about the same group of people that are linked with the city of Jerusalem that God set his name there as he mentioned it to David, the king of Israel.

Notice in verse 4, the way of Zion is nothing but weeping and mourning. It says in verse 4, the way of Zion do mourn because none come to the solemn feasts. All her gates are desolate. Her priests and her virgins are afflicted. are afflicted and she is in bitterness. You know, this verse, Jeremiah is looking and he says, I remember the days when we used to come to celebrate the feasts of the Lord. We celebrated Pesach. We celebrated the unleavened bread. We celebrated the feast of first fruit. we celebrated Shavuot, Pentecost. We celebrated the feast of trumpet. We celebrated the day of atonement. We celebrated the feast of booze, the feast of Sukkot.

But now no one is coming anymore to celebrate the feasts that God had given to Israel in Leviticus chapter 23. Zion is mourning. none come to their solemn feasts. You see, it is a customary, it was God ordained, that at least three times a year all the Jewish people will come from all over the world to celebrate Pesach, Passover, to celebrate Shavuot, the feast of weeks, Pentacles, and to celebrate the feast of Sukkot, the feast of Booth. Deuteronomy tells us this very, very clearly in Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 16, three times in a year shall all thy male appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose and then he gives us in the feast of unleavened bread, this is Passover and Matzot, in the feast of weeks, this is Shavuot and Pentacles, and in the feast of tabernacles, this is Sukkot, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty.

But now they are not coming anymore. And Jeremiah sits there and he's mourning and he sees the fire rising up from the burnt temple. He's looking at the walls that are broken. He sees the Jewish people carried away to Babylon. And as they were carried away to Babylon, what does he see? He sees the condition. He says, what will be the time that the feasts will be continuing to be celebrated? celebrated. But now he says, no one is coming anymore to celebrate the solemn feasts. In Hebrew, we call it Moadei Adonai, the appointed feasts that God had given to Israel, the nation. And though he continues as he is mourning and he says in verse 5, Jerusalem's enemy became the head, you see verse 5, her adversaries are the chief.

Her enemies prosper. For the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgression. Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy. And you know, brothers and sisters, God gave Israel warning. He says, if you are going to obey my voice, you are going to be the head and not the tail. Deuteronomy teaches us this in chapter 28. And you know, in fact, just turn there to Deuteronomy in chapter 28 in verse 13. There the Lord said to Israel in verse 13, the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail. And thou shall be above only. And thou shall not be beneath. If that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I commended it this day to observe and to do it.

But they didn't. And because they didn't, they are no longer the head, they became the tail. Because, you notice, in the very same Deuteronomy in chapter 28, the Lord said to Israel in verse 43, the stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee. Very high. And thou shall come down very low. He shall lend to thee and thou shall not lend to him. He shall be head and thou shall be the tail. Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verses 43 and 44. And it came to pass. When there was a disobedience by the nation of Israel, now their enemies, according to verse 5, became the chief. In Hebrew it says, Rosh, the head.

They became the head. Her enemies prospered. But Judah and Zion had failed and they became captive. They went to be part, you might say, in the land of their enemies. In verse 6, beloved brothers and sisters of Lamentation chapter 1, all the beauty of Jerusalem have departed. The beauty that once was the beauty of the world. For the world to see when Jerusalem was in the right situation, the right condition with the Lord. It says, And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed. Her princes are become like half that find no pasture. And they are gone without strength before the pursuer. you know, what happened is that beauty.

You remember when King Shlomo, the queen of Sheba, Malchat Sheba, came to see Solomon in all his glory. And as she came, as he showed her, when she saw all the amazing ways in which Solomon conducted as the king of Israel, the manner whereby he conducted there in his kingdom, she was overwhelmed, the queen of Sheba. There was no breath in her hair anymore. And now, look at the situation. The situation was poor now, and all the beauty of Jerusalem is departed. It says, in 1st King, chapter 10, and verse 4, when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, this is the temple, and the food on his table, and the seating of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their appairs, and his cup-bearers, and his ascent by which he went into the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit within her.

And she said to the king, king, it is a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and thy wisdom. However, I believed not the words until I came, and mine eyes have seen it, and behold, the half was not told me. when King Solomon led Israel, and Israel was in the greatest of its glory, and the beauty of the nation, and the beauty of the city of Jerusalem, that was something to behold. People came from every nation, from every languages, tongues, and people to see the city of Jerusalem, and its beauty, but it all vanished away. Why? Because our own Jewish people have sinned against the Lord, and they were taken captive.

The beauty is no longer there, as verse 6 is telling us. In verse 7, Jeremiah said that Jerusalem remembers her days of old. She is looking back, and she remembers the days of old. Jerusalem remembers the days of her affliction, and of her miseries, all her pleasant things that she had in the day in the days of old. You know, it is so easy. You know, many times in my conversation with many, we always kind of speak, and we say, I remember those days of old when we used to have enjoyed the Lord together, when we preached the gospel together, when we read the Bible together, when we prayed together, when we saw people getting saved, come to know Yeshua, the Messiah.

I remember when. But it is too late, later on, to remember those things when you violated the word of God, and God had to allow another nation to take you captive. Then you are looking back at the days of old. And then you remember them, and then you feel sad, because I used to have such a wonderful time together. Brothers and sisters, listen, if you and I are going to turn away from the Lord, hopefully not, you will remember the day that we are sitting here at a meeting hall, and opening our Bible, and singing to the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. You will look back and you will say, oh, we may have not been a lot of people, but we're two or three, we're gathered together unto the name of the Lord, the Lord promised to be in the midst.

And you will look back and you will say, I remember those days, what a blessed time I had with my brothers and my sisters when I sat under the sound of the word of God. When the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, captured my heart. When he spoke to me, when I knew I needed to correct things in my life, when he had blessed me in so many ways. We will look back and we will see the blessing that God had been for us. This morning, I was speaking to my wife on the way to here, and I said to her, Irene, how quickly we forget what the Lord had provided for us and he took care of us and how he blessing us in so many ways.

And it's so easy to not appreciate what the Lord is doing for us in our life. It's so easy not to appreciate our parents and our friends and our husband or our wife or our children or our brothers and sisters. sisters. It's so easy to neglect and to say, well, I don't care. It's long that I have my own way. Well, sooner or later, the Lord will show us that he is not pleased with such an attitude. And that will happen, unfortunately, here nationally with our own nation, the nation of Israel, that it made it necessary for God to send the Babylonians to take the Jewish people captive.

And so, listen to this. In verse 7, look what it says. It says at the end of verse 7, "Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and her miseries all the pleasant things that she had in the old day, when her people fell into the hands of the enemies and none did help her." And listen to the end of this verse 7, "Her adversaries saw her and did mock her Shabbats." The enemies in Babylon mock at the Shabbats that God had given to the people of Israel. That is not only the weekly Shabbat that God had given because here the word is in plural, Shabbatot. It speaks about all that which God had given to the people of Israel the Shabbat, weekly Shabbat, the yearly holiday feast that God had given to Israel.

But even more. When God said to the people of Israel that their land supposed to have a Shabbat day every seventh year. But the people of Israel didn't follow through. And by not following through, according to Leviticus chapter 26, God had said that He will take them captive and that the land will have a Shabbat rest because they did not allow the land even to have its rest. When you have an opportunity, read Leviticus 26 verses 32 to 35 and you can see that even the land didn't rest and God said I am going to have the land rested when I will remove you out of the land. And then of course the adversaries they are mocking.

Where is your Shabbat rest? Not the weekly Shabbat rest. Not the monthly Shabbat rest. Not the yearly cycle of the feast, the Shabbatot, the high feast that God had given to Israel. And not even your land. You don't have your own land. Where is your God and where is your celebration of the rest that God had promised. That word for Shabbat comes also from the word rest. L'shevet. L'shbot. To rest. To sit. To rest enjoy the Lord and she did not enjoy the Lord already. By now they were taking to Babylon. So Jeremiah in the first seven verses and it is acoustically Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Daled, Hey, Vav, Zain.

Every verse began with a different letter of the alphabet progressively moving forward from Aleph all the way to Tav to the end of the chapter. chapter. So now Jeremiah tells us in verse 8 to verse 11 in the section that he is lamenting over the cause or the sins that brought about this destruction of the city of Jerusalem. And you notice in these four verses he mentioning the cause. the cause. Why in the world we find ourselves a time in such a situation disciplined by God? Why is it? It's because of the evil doing the sins of the nation. You and I too, when we willfully sin and rebel against the Lord, he will discipline.

whom the Lord loves, he chastens. So sometimes we suffer because of the world. Sometimes we suffer because of Satan. But sometimes we suffer because the Lord brings upon the people of God chastening. And you notice in these next verses, Jeremiah lamenting now over the sins that the nation have committed. So notice that. Verse 8, Jerusalem have grievously sinned. You see that verse 8? Jerusalem has grievously sinned. Therefore she is removed. All that honored her despised her because they have seen her nakedness. Yes, she shrieth and turneth backward. In other words, Jeremiah says, I know God why we are where we are. Jerusalem sinned. And as it says here, the people despise her because they have seen her nakedness.

In Hebrew word is arvata. That means that she who was separated unto the Lord God of Israel now has been exposing herself before the other nations of the world affiliating with them, adapting their idolatry and that expression as if she exposed her nakedness before the unbelieving world and caused her to be in such a shame. She sighs and she turned backward. In verse 9, Jerusalem filthiness brought her down. All the filthy lifestyle brought her only down, not up. You know, sometimes we think that sin because it is pleasurable that we can continue on and it will help us, it will lead us on and we find out as we have the Apostle Paul said in Galatians.

He said, "You remember that whatsoever man sows, that shall he also reap." As Moses said earlier, "Be sure your sin will find you out." Eventually, it's not going to be a blessing to you, Israel, Moses said. And so in verse 9, "Her filthiness is in her skirt, she remembers not hell last and therefore she came down amazingly." The English say he is wonderfully, but it really should be amazingly or plain. God have allowed this to happen. "She had no comfort that the Lord behold my affliction for the enemy has magnified himself." You notice, beloved brothers and sisters, here we see that Jerusalem because of her filthiness, because she didn't obey, like we don't obey a time because of this, not thinking about later and what's going to happen later on.

And then now, she realized that she should have thought before she acted in such a way. So we read here, "She did not remember the last end." She didn't think about what's going to happen later on. You know how it is, isn't it? When we leave the Lord, like the prodigal son, that we have a New Testament comparable. He was not pleased at home, he was not happy at the house with his father. He says, "Father, give me that which belonged to me." He took it and he left the house. Didn't think about the blessing that he had at the father's house. and then later on, time passes by, he wasted all that he had and he finds himself eating pig's food.

And even when he wanted to eat more of this pig food, they didn't even give it to him because they cared for the pigs more than for him. And then he came to his own sense and he said, "I will return unto my father." I played the fool. I was wrong. And you see here, Jeremiah shows us that Jerusalem mistakenly did not, as it says, they did not realize, they did not look and remember that the end, the last day, something is going to be coming out of it. Eventually, you are going to lose out when you turn away from the Lord. And sure, it did happen to Jerusalem.

In verse 10, we read that the adversary took Jerusalem's pleasant things. It says here in verse 10, the adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things. You see, Jerusalem had pleasantly many good things that God had given to the city, to the people, to the Jewish people. For she had seen that a heathen entered into her sanctuary whom thou discommend that they would not enter into thy congregation. see, what happened eventually, because Jerusalem did not stay put and stay close to the Lord, she ended up giving away all the many pleasant things that God had given to her, which eventually allowed the enemies and the people surrounding her to enter into the sanctuary, the temple.

temple. And you remember as we read in the book of Daniel, chapter 1, how Nebuchadnezzar came, and he took all the possessions that belonged to the city of Jerusalem, the Lord gave Yehoiakim, the king of Judah, unto his hand of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel chapter 1, verse 2, to his parts of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God. Nebuchadnezzar came, and he brought the vessels into the treasure of the house of his God. Nebuchadnezzar came, and he took all these good things, all these pleasant things that God had given Israel at the temple, and the many blessings that he gave the nations surrounding the temple.

And Nebuchadnezzar came, and the heathen, you know, this is amazing, he said, Nebuchadnezzar entered into her sanctuary. If you read in the book of Deuteronomy, the Moabite and the Ammonite will not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Why? Because they were unregenerated, they didn't believe in the true and living God. And they couldn't come into the sanctuary, until they had turned away like Ruth HaMuavia, the Moabite did have accepted the God of Israel, they could enter into the congregation of the people of Israel. Like Rahab, the prostitute, who accepted the God of Israel and entered in, like many others from among the nations of the world.

But unfortunately, they have entered into the sanctuary and they desolate the temple in Jerusalem. In verse 11, Jeremiah is saying, the people of Jerusalem experienced even famine, they didn't have food to eat. So all her people sigh, they seek for bread, they have given their pleasant things, as it says here in verse 11, for meat, in order to relieve the soul, see, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile. And here Jeremiah sharing the heart concerning the condition of the city of Jerusalem. So beloved brothers and sisters, in the first 11 verses, we can just see Jeremiah asking the word Eicha, Eicha. How? How is it possible that this happened to the city of Jerusalem and to the people of Judah?

But the answer that he gives us in verses 8, 9, 10, and 11, Jerusalem have sinned. And sin brought about the judgment of God. And God, who is just and holy, had to judge his people because unless he will judge his people, he will not express the fact that he is a holy and a righteous God. And so here we find the first 11 verses, Jeremiah lament over the city of Jerusalem. Now in the second half of this chapter, we find out that in the second half of chapter 1 from verse 12 to 22, Jerusalem herself lament over her own destruction. In the first 11 verses, it was Jeremiah who lamented over the destruction of Jerusalem.

He first of all was astonished at what happened. And then he said, why did this happen? Because of the sin of the nation. But now we see the city itself, the Jewish people themselves are expressing or lamenting or singing a sorrowful song over the city's own destruction. And you see, when they are lamenting, they would like people to understand why they are lamenting. And so you notice that in verse 12 to 15, Jerusalem now acknowledging the reason for her destruction. and you might say all the Jewish people collectively speaking personified. It's like Jerusalem, the city, become a person. And as a person, she, Jerusalem, the Jewish people as one single person express themselves and asking the question and this is very, very interesting verse, verse 12 on lamentation, chapter 1, verse 12, the question in, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?

Behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." Jerusalem, personified, is asking around and saying, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? How can you continue and pass by and you see what happened to me?" Jerusalem is speaking. And you don't care. And she's asking, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Look! Behold! See! What happened to me? Look! If there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, can you compare the sorrow that I am experiencing right now with any other sorrow?" And then she says the reason why.

"Which the Lord has done unto me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." Well, God had to afflict Jerusalem because he had righteous anger, righteous indignation against sin. You know, people sometimes wonder, "Why would God allow this to happen?" They talk about the flood. How can a holy God, how can God could allow the whole world to be destroyed in such a way? Well, God is righteous and sin had to be judged. And like Yeshua the Messiah in the book of Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, especially in Matthew chapter 26, he says, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death." He is, in a sense, we can see him as well in this verse that he himself who had these sorrows as he anticipated the judgment of God when he was judged for the sin of this world.

See, Jerusalem was judged because of her own sin. But Yeshua was not judged because of any sin that he had committed. He had none. But he was judged because of you and because of me. So when we read such a verse, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that passeth by, behold and see, if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger?" First, we think of Jerusalem because it applies specifically in the text to the city of Jerusalem. But by way of application, it clearly applies to the person of the Messiah who suffered the just one for the unjust in order to bring us to God.

1 Peter 3 and verse 18. And sometimes, brothers and sisters, isn't it true the Lord will ask us, "Is it nothing to you? Don't you think? Don't you remember? Don't you realize what I have done for you?" Jerusalem is asking here all the nations around, "Is it nothing to you?" Notice in verse 13 he continues, "Jerusalem is speaking is that Jerusalem is now acknowledged that it was because God have done it and nobody else." Notice verse 13, "From above he sent fire into my bones and it prevailed against them. He has spread a net for my feet. He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all the day." It didn't come from somebody else.

It's actually not Nebuchadnezzar who took the Jewish people to Babylon. It came from above. God is a sovereign God. He's in control over the affair of this world. He allowed things to happen to his people and sometimes he allowed them to experience justice and judgment. So, Jerusalem says, "I know why it has happened to me." If you ask our own Jewish people specifically, the conservative Jewish people of today, they will tell you the reason that we are in such a condition, it is because we have forsaken the ways of our God. And if you ask only true believers in Yeshua the Messiah, why is the church in such a condition, they will tell you.

We know why it is because we have failed to submit to the truth and to the teaching of our Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah. This is why from above he sent fire, the fire of judgment. And it is from above that he spread a net and he turned me back and he allowed me to be captive. In verse 14, he continues, in Jerusalem admit that her own transgression, he said, the yoke of my transgression is bound by his hand. They are woven and come up upon my neck. He has made my strength to fall. The Lord has delivered me into their hand from whom I am not able to rise up.

rise up. It is the Lord who has done it and it is because of my transgression. Here, in a sense, you can see the confession. Jerusalem acknowledged the reason for her destruction. And then we read in verse 15, in Jerusalem, mighty men are no longer enjoying what they have had before. The Lord has trodden underfoot all my mighty men in the midst of me. He has called an assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress. So the young man, the virgin, the daughters of Judah, does not have the enjoyment of the time, the days of old.

Because the Lord has trodden underfoot all the mighty men of Israel. That was judicial. That was judgmental. that was come from the Lord, from on high, from above. He came against His very beloved people whom He loved so much. And so, let's continue now in verses 16 on as we move along to remind you the chapter is acrostic. Every verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet from Aleph to Taf. And it shows us a complete the complete work of God, the complete ways of God upon His very own people, the people of Israel. Notice now the next verses. In verses 16, 17, 18, and 19, Jerusalem confess her sin and they confess her wrongdoing.

This is something that the Lord always desires to heal from His own people. And so, in verse 16, Jerusalem weep because her comforter is far from her. It says here in verse 16, for these things I weep. Mine eye, mine eye, enai, enai in Hebrew, mine eye, mine eye, runneth down with water. They were, as the tears are coming down like water, they are weeping before the Lord and notice what they said. In verse 16, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me. My children are desolate because that the enemies prevailed. You see, the comforter, the Hebrew word is menachem. Menachem became one of the Messianic titles.

Some of the rabbis which suggest that the word menachem is a name that is given to the Messiah. Menachem, the comforter. And here we can see here that now it says the comforter that you should relieve my soul is far from me. There is no one to comfort. No one lenachem to give comfort. God is disciplining his very own people. The comforter is not there to comfort them. In verse 17 Jeremiah speaks of Jerusalem's helplessness. It says here in verse 17, Zion spreadeth forth her hand and there is none to comfort her. The Lord has commended concerning Jacob that his adversaries should be round about him. Jerusalem is a monstrous woman unclean among them.

Unclean woman among the nations of the world. So they lift up their hands. You know, there is a very custom when we pray in biblical days, we lift up the hands, we look up to heaven. Say, God help me. God answer my prayer. But you see, Zion, she spread forth her hand and there is none to comfort her. comfort her. She prays and she asks God, answer my prayer. And God delays his answer. He will. He will eventually restore and bless the people of Israel. Zion, Zion, he will eventually restore. But they can spread their hands. And it's not sufficient to spread their hands externally.

There gotta be something internally that is working in their heart in order to bring a restoration for the nation. So the spreading of their hands is not sufficient. But therefore, as they spread their hands, Zion spread their hand, they still know one to help her. Jeremiah himself wrote how the people of Israel spread their hands and they did not receive an answer because they disobey the word of the Lord. And even though they spread their hands, their hands, they didn't receive the answer from the Lord because he was discipling them until he will eventually restore them. In verse 18, Jerusalem confessed that Jehovah is righteous in all what he's doing.

Verse 18, notice that, "The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his commandment. I pray you, all people, and behold, my sorrow, my virgins, and my young men are gone into captivity." You see, we have to come to a point as here we can see that Jerusalem is saying, "Look, the Lord is right in what he's doing." Not to blame him, to say, "Why God? If there is a good God, if you're really a good God, why do you allow this to happen?" No. In this verse 18, they say that the Lord is righteous. He is right in what he's doing. I have rebelled against him.

I rebelled against his commandment. He is righteous. In verse 19, they continue, "Jerusalem admits that when she called for her lovers, for people to help her, they didn't help her. I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders, they gave up the spirit in the city while they sought their food or their meat to relieve their souls." So, when they turned to the Lord and they didn't receive an answer from the Lord, so they turned to her lovers, to the people around to see whether they will help them. And all those lovers with whom she had, Jerusalem, had relationship, you might say, with, adapted their lifestyle, adapted their idols, adapted their ways of life, and turned away from the Lord when she turned to them for help.

The lovers, what did they were? They really deceived me. They deceived me to such an extent that even my priests and even my elders, the kohanim, deskenim, he says, they gave up the spirit in the cities, they were looking for themselves even for food to eat while they sought for food to relieve their very own souls. What an amazing situation we find here. So, beloved brothers and sisters, in chapter 1 of Lamentation, verses 12 to 22, Jerusalem herself lament over her own condition. In verses 12 to 15, Jerusalem acknowledged the reason for her destruction. in verses 16 to 19, Jerusalem confessed her sins and that she was wrong and that the Lord is righteous.

And so now, the last verses. Verses 20, 21, and 22, Jerusalem called upon the Lord in her distress. distress. When you have distress, where do you go? Do you make a phone call to your friends? Do you go to the neighbor or you go to somebody else? We should be able to share with each other and to help each other but do you pray? Do we talk to the Lord when we are in distress? And here, notice in these last verses of chapter 1, Lamentation 1, verses 20, 21, and 22. In verse 20, Jerusalem asked the Lord to look upon her condition. And it says in verse 20, Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress.

My bowels are troubled. Mine heart is turned within me. For I have grievously rebelled. Outside, the sword kills. At home, there is a death. Lord, they are asking the Lord in prayer, look, Lord, look at the condition. I am in distress. I have problems. Look at my situation. My bowels within me trouble me. My heart is turning around, turning around. I have a burden on my heart. My heart is heavy. And she said, I have grievously rebelled against you. I confess it. I realize that. That I rebelled against you. And then, Jerusalem is saying, outside, abroad, on the outside, there is nothing but sword that brings killing.

They were just looking at the enemies, the Babylonians, how they have killed you. Can you imagine when they destroyed Jerusalem? How many people of Judah have died there? Later on, when the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, how many million, over a million, one hundred thousand Jewish people, on the ninth of Av, died as well. Outside, there is killing. Sword and killing. Inside, in the same verse, inside at home, there is nothing but death. Emptiness. And so, in verse 21, the first part of verse 21, Jerusalem tell the Lord, that how her enemies, were glad because of this condition. They have heard that I sigh. This is the enemy.

There is none that comfort me. All mine enemies have heard of my trouble, and they are glad that you have done that. Israel's enemies were glad when God disciplined his very own people. You know, brothers and sisters, the world around us, when the body of Messiah is being under the discipline of God, they are happy. They say, where is your God? Where is your Yeshua, the Messiah, that you claim to believe in? Look at your situation. The unbelieving world says, like they have said it in the day of old, 586 B.C. And here's the conclusion of chapter 1 of the book of Lamentations, verses 21b. In verse 22, Jerusalem is assured that a day of judgment will also come upon all her enemies who were glad where God had punished his own people.

And so you see here the impercatory prayer. It's almost like praying for judgment upon the enemy. And it says here in verse 21b, "Thou will bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me." Jerusalem is saying about her enemies. "Let all their wickedness come before thee, and do unto them as thou hast done unto me. For all my transgressions, for my size are many, and my heart is faint." So at the end of this first chapter of Lamentation of Eicha, Jerusalem is now praying an impercatory, it's a very hard word to say, impercatory prayer. This is a prayer that we cannot pray today because we are to love our enemies, we are to wish well for our enemies, we are to do good to those who persecute us and cause all kinds of things against us.

This is what Yeshua the Messiah taught us when he came to finish the work of redemption. But before the Messiah came, under the law, the nation of Israel, were praying because of the behavior in which their enemies behave against them. And so they are praying, "Thou will bring the day when thou hast called, and they shall be like." In other words, like unto me, "Whatever situation I find myself in, eventually the enemies of Israel, the enemies of Judah will find themselves in this situation." God promised that whoever persecutes the people of Israel, eventually he will deal with the people who oppose and hate and cause all this, because they have gone beyond what God has allowed them to do.

And here we see that all the wickedness will come before thee, and you will do unto them as you have done unto me. And here is the impercatory prayer of Jerusalem in the day when they find themselves taking away to Babylon and that the city of Jerusalem is completely burnt and destroyed. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, chapter one of the book of Eicha, Lamentation, Jeremiah saying, "How is it possible that a city sits solitary that was once full of people, and how is she become as a widow, the one that was great among the nation and princess among the provinces, how is Jerusalem became a slave?" And the lesson for us today is this: when God's people turn away from God's way, God is right in disciplining His people.

You will notice in your personal life, you will notice in a collective life, in our family life, the Lord loves us, He wants the best for us, to turn away from Him, and where we willfully go against Him and not judge ourselves and repent and confess. The Lord will come in with His heavy hand, because whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and He scourges every son whom He receives. May the Lord help us to see it, and to acknowledge it, and to turn back when we go astray and serve the Lord in a way that He deserved to be served.