Persecute and Destroy Them Lamentations 3:66

As Jeremiah yielded the vengeance of his enemies to the Lord, he had specific requests as to how the revenge should appear. As we complete the third chapter of Lamentations, we see one more directive from Jeremiah as to how God should afflict his enemies. We read:

Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

The verse begins, “Persecute and destroy them in anger...” Jeremiah had two ideas in this verse as to how God should afflict them - “persecute” which means “to pursue, put to flight, chase, dog, harass or attend closely upon” them and “destroy” which means “to exterminate or annihilate” them. Not only does Jeremiah desire that they be persecuted and destroyed, but he also want this done “in anger” which means “nostril, nose or face” and refers to the snarling and crinkled face a person makes when he or she is angry.

The verse continues, “...from under the heavens of the LORD.” The idea behind “under the heavens” is that their destruction and persecuted be performed in such a manner that all who observe it will know that it is judgment from Almighty God. The vengeance Jeremiah had in mind was complete, without any exception, and fully seen by all who surrounded his enemy. Let their be no doubt about this – Jeremiah desired revenge upon his enemies, but he allowed the LORD to be the agent of judgment against them.

Perhaps people came to mind as we read through Jeremiah's requests of God. Maybe someone in our past has afflicted us so badly that we would desire they be persecuted and destroyed so that everyone could see their judgment. When we have feelings like this it will do us good to remember this – every sin that anyone committed against us Jesus, died for on the cross, and also, every sin that we have committed against others, Jesus died for as well. As we live in this world we will not only be offended and afflicted by others, but we will also offend and afflict others ourselves. When these times come it may help us to remember what Paul the apostle said concerning one of his enemies in the book of Second Timothy chapter four and verse fourteen:

Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:

May the Lord help us to allow Him to “reward” our offenders “according” to their “works”.

Next time we will begin a new chapter and see Jeremiah share about the city of Jerusalem, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

 

Until tomorrow...there is more...

 

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