Bent Bow, Right Hand, Slaying and Pouring Lamentations 2:4

We cannot begin to imagine the horrors that Judah and Jerusalem suffered when the Lord lifted His hand of protection from them. Jeremiah gave description after description about the atrocities that occurred among them, however, in chapter two and verse four, Jeremiah has even more to say about God's judgment upon this rebellious and wicked acting people. We read:

He has bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.

The verse begins, “He has bent his bow like an enemy:” Where God was once their greatest alias, He was now “like an enemy” or “foe, adversary, and opponent”. The Lord took aim at them with His drawn bow of destruction, and there was no defense against Him.

The verse goes on to say, “he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion:” God's “right hand” of power stood ready to strike like their greatest “adversary” which was like a “stiffened or hardened” foe, and the result of His stance was “all that were pleasant to the eye” or those who represented “youth, beauty and rank” in the “tabernacle” or “dwellings within Jerusalem” were slain by His actions against them.

Finally the verse says, “he poured out his fury like fire.” As a final example of the way God corrected Judah and Jerusalem, Jeremiah employs the phrase “fury like fire” to describe it. As though God was pouring from a picture His mighty wrath as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah, God was executing judgment upon them. As God was correcting the behavior and attitudes found within Judah and Jerusalem, the execution of His correction burned like fire among them.

Have we ever wondered if God is against us? Are there times when it seems that there is nothing that goes our way or seems less than correction after correction in our lives? What we must keep in mind is that when it seems that the Lord is “like an enemy” or “as an adversary” He is actually is a loving Father who corrects His children. Hebrews chapter twelve and verse six says, “For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.” The Lord corrected Judah and Jerusalem from their ways which were against Him, and though He “seemed” like an enemy, He was actually as a loving Father. May the Lord help us to keep this in mind as He corrects our path from time to time throughout our lives.

Next time we will see how the Lord was like an enemy, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

 

Until tomorrow...there is more...

 

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore