While the lament for Judah
and Jerusalem continued, Jeremiah considered the “grievous sin”
and its results to be the reason for their destruction. He continues
that thought in chapter one and verse nine where we read:
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
verse begins, “Her filthiness is in her
skirts; she remembers not her last end;” The
word “filthiness”
is the Hebrew word “tum'ah” which means “uncleanness
or pollution”, and this
uncleanness is “in her skirts”
or flowing robes. The result was that she “remembers not”
or “did not consider or call to mind” “her last end”
which means the “after part or end result” of her actions. In
other words Jerusalem sinned grievously and did not consider the
consequences of her sin.
The
verse goes on to say, “therefore she came down
wonderfully: she had no comforter.” Because
she had no forethought about the result of her sins, “therefore”
which denotes a conclusion, “she
came down wonderfully” which
means she “descended, declined, marched down or sunk down” in a
way that made people “wonder, marvel, and look on in a manner which
was hard to understand”. In addition, “she had no
comforter” which means no one
was there to “to be sorry, console, pity, comfort, or be a
solace” for her. When sin was played out fully, no one came
alongside to comfort her in the consequences.
The
verse continues, “O LORD, behold my affliction: for the
enemy has magnified himself.” In
a desperate plea, Jeremiah states the prayer of Jerusalem after the
results of her sin are manifested. Because she is
“afflicted” and no one is
there to help her, she cries out to the only one who may have pity
upon her “O LORD”. She also notes her affliction and the reason
why she is in such a state - “the enemy has magnified
himself” which means
Jerusalem's foes have “grown, become great or important,
been promoted, made powerful, and done great things” against her.
Jerusalem turned away from God, sinned, did not consider the
consequences, acquired the penalty for sin, had no comforters, and
cried out to God afterwards.
When we consider these words
of Jeremiah, we may be inclined to think only of poor Jerusalem and
their historical plight, but what about us? Are there areas in our
lives where “the enemy has magnified himself”, and we have
not “remembered our last end”? Sin has its results. Sin has its
consequences, and Jerusalem's troubles should be a great example of
what happens when the ending point of sin is not considered. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to the earth to be the substitution for the penalty
for sin, and those who place their faith and trust in Him will not
receive the final consequence of sin – separation from God. May the
Lord Jesus help us as we think about the sequence of events which
occurred to Jerusalem, and lead us to consider areas in our own lives
which will leave us without comforters in our miserable state.
Next
time we will see what the enemy did to Jerusalem's sanctuary, 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
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