The Sad Condition Of The People Of Jerusalem Due To The Anger Of YHWH (Lamentations 4:1-11).
(Aleph) How is the gold become dim!
How is the most pure gold changed!
The (precious) stones of the sanctuary are poured out,
At the head of every street.
What is in mind here are not the gold and precious stones of the Temple, but the gold and precious stones as representing the people of Israel (so Lamentations 4:2). Note how in Lamentations 4:2 the sons of Zion are ‘weighed as fine gold'. That is why it can grow dim and be changed. And that is why it can be poured out at the end of every street (compare Lamentations 2:19 where it is said of the children). The precious stones of the sanctuary may represent the priests.
Some do see it as signifying what happened to the Temple, but this lament is not about the Temple and what happened to it, but about the people.
(Beth) The precious sons of Zion,
Weighed out with fine gold,
How they are esteemed as earthen pitchers,
The work of the hands of the potter!
The thought is of the ‘precious sons of Zion', representing all the people of the city, who are YHWH's holy nation and kingdom of priests, a treasure wholly for YHWH (Exodus 19:5-6). When these sons of Zion were put in the scales the only thing originally which was suitable for weighing them was fine gold. But now they are simply esteemed as earthenware pitchers, something of little value, worked by the hands of the potter. The reference to the potter is a reminder of Jeremiah 19 where the city was to be broken like an earthenware pot.
(Gimel) Even the jackals draw out the breast,
They give suck to their young ones,
The daughter of my people is become cruel,
Like the ostriches in the wilderness.
(Daleth) The tongue of the sucking child,
Cleaves to the roof of his mouth for thirst,
The young children ask bread,
And no man breaks it to them.
The sad condition of the people is brought out by the fact that they are not even on a par with the despised jackals. The jackals breastfeed their young, but, like the ostriches in the wilderness, renowned for their casualness with their young (compare Job 39:16), the women of Jerusalem (the daughter of my people) are unable or unwilling to do so because they are so starved of food. They hold back their milk because they are starving.
In consequence the tongue of the normally breastfed child cleaves to the roof of its mouth because of its dryness, and when the young children ask for bread no one provides it for them, for there is none to give.
(He) They who fed delicately,
Are desolate in the streets,
They who were carried in scarlet,
Embrace dunghills.
The rich are affected equally with the poor. Those who were used to rich food are now starving in the streets, those who had once been borne in scarlet cloth (cloth dyed with Tyrian purple or crimson), the cloth of the rich, now clung to dunghills, possibly as their only source of food.
(Waw) For the iniquity of the daughter of my people,
Is greater than the sin of Sodom,
That was overthrown as in a moment,
And no hands were laid on her.
And all this because the sin of Jerusalem was greater than the sin of Sodom, and Sodom had been overthrown in a moment with no one touching her. In other words she was overthrown by a greater than an earthly hand. But she had been fortunate, for her people had perished without suffering, in contrast with the people of Jerusalem. Note the emphasis on the fact that the overthrow of Jerusalem was due to its sins.
(Zayin) Her nobles were purer than snow,
They were whiter than milk,
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Their polishing was as of sapphire.
Her aristocrats had once been noble, they had been purer than snow, whiter than milk, ruddier than rubies, more polished than sapphires. The idea was of the red and white complexion which was seen as the ideal (Song of Solomon 5:10).
It is possible that we should translate the word for ‘princes' as Nazarites. In that case there is the added point that even those sanctified by YHWH suffered with the rest.
(Cheth) Their visage is blacker than a coal,
They are not known in the streets,
Their skin cleaves to their bones,
It is withered, it is become like a stick.
But now their faces were blacker than coal, and they themselves were unrecognisable, as a result of their lack of food and drink. Their skin clove to their bones, and had become withered and thin like a stick. They had reached the last stages of starvation.
(Teth) They who are slain with the sword,
Are better off than they who are slain with hunger,
For these pine away, stricken through,
For want of the fruits of the field.
Their condition was such that those who had been slain with the sword were better off than they. And this was because they were suffering a slow and painful death, pining away and stricken through, as a result of the lack of food.
(Yod) The hands of the pitiful women,
Have boiled their own children,
They were their food,
In the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Worst of all was the fact that pitiful women boiled their own children in order to eat them. This was their food during the period of the destruction of ‘the daughter of my people'.
(Kaph) YHWH has accomplished his wrath,
He has poured out his fierce anger,
And he has kindled a fire in Zion,
Which has devoured its foundations.
And all this was the consequence of YHWH having accomplished His wrath on them and His having poured out His fierce anger. He had kindled a fire in Zion which had devoured its very foundations. Whilst fire certainly had its part to play in the destruction of the city, this description is metaphorical indicating total destruction. It was the fire of His wrath. Compare Deuteronomy 32:22.
Humanly speaking, of course, such conditions as have been described were normal during protracted sieges. Many cities had suffered like this while seeking to ward off invasion. But the point here is that this was happening to the people of God, and to the holy city of Jerusalem. It could only have happened to them because YHWH was wrath with them.