How does Lamentations 2:17 connect with Deuteronomy 28's warnings and consequences? Setting the scene Jerusalem has fallen. Survivors watch their city smolder while Jeremiah pours out grief in Lamentations. In 2:17 he writes: “The LORD has done what He purposed; He has fulfilled His word which He commanded in days of old. He has thrown down without pity; He has made the enemy rejoice over you; He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.” Those “days of old” point straight back to Moses’ covenant warnings in Deuteronomy 28. The Deuteronomy 28 blueprint When Israel prepared to enter Canaan, God spelled out two paths: • Blessings for obedience (vv. 1-14) • Curses for rebellion (vv. 15-68) Key threats included: – National humiliation (v. 37) – Foreign siege that breaks city walls (vv. 49-52) – Starvation so severe parents eat their own children (vv. 53-57) – Enemy victory and exile to a distant land (vv. 64-68) These were not vague possibilities; they were covenant stipulations. Echoes in Lamentations 2:17 Jeremiah recognizes Babylon’s invasion as the exact outworking of those stipulations: • “fulfilled His word” ties Lamentations to the Deuteronomic covenant. • “thrown down without pity” mirrors siege descriptions (Deuteronomy 28:52). • “enemy rejoice over you… exalted the horn” mirrors humiliation (v. 37). Point-by-point comparison Deuteronomy 28 " Lamentations fulfillment –––"––– “The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar… a nation whose language you will not understand.” (v. 49) " Babylonians descend on Jerusalem (Lamentations 1:3; 4:19). “They will besiege all the cities throughout the land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down.” (v. 52) " “He has broken down the walls of daughter Zion.” (Lamentations 2:8) “You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.” (v. 53) " “With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children.” (Lamentations 4:10) “You will become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples.” (v. 37) " “All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they hiss and shake their heads.” (Lamentations 2:15) “The LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other.” (v. 64) " “Judah has gone into exile under affliction.” (Lamentations 1:3) Theological takeaways • Covenant faithfulness cuts both ways. The same God who keeps promises of blessing also keeps promises of judgment (Numbers 23:19). • Sin’s consequences are not random; they are covenantal cause-and-effect (Galatians 6:7). • Lamentations 2:17 assures us that Scripture’s warnings are as reliable as its comforts (Hebrews 10:30-31). • Even in judgment God’s purpose is ultimately redemptive, preparing the way for restoration foretold in Deuteronomy 30:1-3 and realized after the exile (Ezra 1:1). Lamentations 2:17 stands as a sobering “I told you so” from the covenant document of Deuteronomy 28, proving that every word God speaks—whether promise or penalty—comes to pass. |
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