The nursing infant's tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any. The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth.This phrase vividly depicts the dire conditions during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. The image of a nursing infant suffering from thirst highlights the severity of the famine and the breakdown of societal structures. In ancient Near Eastern culture, the well-being of children was a reflection of the community's health. The mention of thirst is significant, as water scarcity was a common issue during sieges, and it underscores the desperation of the situation. This imagery is reminiscent of Deuteronomy 28:48, where God warns of the consequences of disobedience, including hunger and thirst. The suffering of the innocent, such as infants, emphasizes the depth of the nation's calamity and serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of turning away from God. Little children beg for bread,
The plight of the children begging for bread illustrates the extreme poverty and hunger experienced during the siege. Bread, a staple food in the ancient world, symbolizes basic sustenance and life. The fact that children, who are typically cared for and protected, are reduced to begging indicates a complete societal collapse. This situation fulfills the curses outlined in Leviticus 26:26, where God warns that disobedience will lead to a lack of bread. The image of children begging also evokes compassion and highlights the moral and spiritual decay of the society that fails to provide for its most vulnerable members. but no one gives them any.
This phrase underscores the hopelessness and despair prevalent in Jerusalem during the siege. The lack of response to the children's pleas indicates a community overwhelmed by its own needs and unable to extend help to others. It reflects the fulfillment of prophetic warnings, such as those in Jeremiah 19:9, where God foretells the dire consequences of the people's unfaithfulness. The absence of compassion and aid is a stark contrast to the biblical call to care for the needy, as seen in passages like Proverbs 19:17. This situation serves as a sobering reminder of the spiritual desolation that accompanies physical suffering and the importance of maintaining faithfulness to God's commands. Persons / Places / Events 1. Jeremiah- Traditionally attributed as the author of Lamentations, Jeremiah is known as the "weeping prophet." He laments the destruction of Jerusalem and the suffering of its people. 2. Jerusalem- The city that has been destroyed by the Babylonians, leading to the suffering and starvation described in this verse. 3. Babylonian Siege- The event that led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, causing severe famine and hardship for its inhabitants. Teaching Points The Consequences of SinThe suffering of the children in Lamentations 4:4 is a direct result of the nation's disobedience to God. This serves as a sobering reminder of the far-reaching consequences of sin. Compassion for the VulnerableThe imagery of children begging for bread calls believers to have compassion and take action to support the vulnerable in society. The Importance of Spiritual NourishmentJust as physical hunger is devastating, spiritual hunger can lead to spiritual death. Believers are encouraged to seek and provide spiritual nourishment through God's Word. Trust in God's ProvisionDespite the dire circumstances, believers are reminded to trust in God's provision and faithfulness, even in times of trial. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the suffering described in Lamentations 4:4 reflect the consequences of the nation's disobedience to God, and what can we learn from this about the importance of obedience in our own lives? 2. In what ways can we, as a church community, respond to the needs of the vulnerable and suffering in our society, as highlighted by the plight of the children in this verse? 3. How can we ensure that we are spiritually nourished and not spiritually starving, drawing parallels from the physical hunger described in Lamentations 4:4? 4. Reflect on a time when you experienced a "famine" in your life, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. How did you see God's provision during that time? 5. How can the themes of judgment and hope in Lamentations be related to the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, particularly in the context of future tribulations? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 28This chapter outlines the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, including famine and suffering, which are realized in Lamentations. Isaiah 3Describes the judgment on Jerusalem and Judah, including the removal of sustenance and support, similar to the conditions in Lamentations. Matthew 24Jesus speaks of future tribulations, echoing the themes of suffering and desolation found in Lamentations. People Jeremiah, NazaritesPlaces Edom, Jerusalem, Sodom, Uz, ZionTopics Beg, Bread, Breaketh, Breaks, Breast, Child, Cleaved, Cleaves, Cleaveth, Crying, Dealer, Drink, Fixed, Gives, Infant, Infants, Infant's, Mouth, None, Nursling, Ones, Palate, Roof, Sticks, Sucking, Suckling, Thirst, TongueDictionary of Bible Themes Lamentations 4:4 4418 bread
5193 tongue
5230 beggars Library A Message from God for Thee
Our two messages we will try to deliver in their order; we shall then want your attention and patience for a minute while we answer the question--Why the difference? and then we will press upon each character the force of the message, that each may be led to believe what is addressed to him. I. Our FIRST MESSAGE IS ONE OF COMFORT. "The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity." 1. We find, at the outset, a joyous fact. Read it …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 18631875-1877. Mrs. Way's Sewing --Class for Jewesses --Bible Flower Mission --George Clarice --Incidents in Home Work --The Lord's Day --Diary at Sea -- Letters of Cheer
Mrs. Way's sewing--class for Jewesses--Bible Flower Mission--George Clarice--Incidents in home work--The Lord's Day--Diary at sea-- Letters of cheer from Canada. The Home of Industry has been already likened to the Pool of Bethesda with its fine porches. Many sights there have been peculiar to itself, and in no instance has this in past years been more remarkable, than in the meeting for Jewesses, which has been carried on ever since the year 1870. From fifty to seventy daughters of Israel are gathered …
Clara M. S. Lowe—God's Answers The Children of the Poor.
THE CHILDREN OF THE POOR. The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.--LAMENTATIONS iv., 4. The writer of these words bewailed a state of War and Captivity--a state of things in which the great relations of human life are broken up and desecrated. But it is strange to find that the most flourishing forms of civilization involve conditions very similar to this. For, if any man will push beyond the circle of his daily associations, and enter the regions of the abject poor, he will …
E. H. Chapin—Humanity in the City It Will be Attempted to Give a Complete List of his Writings In
chronological order; those included in this volume will be marked with an asterisk and enumerated in this place without remark. The figures prefixed indicate the probable date. (1) 318: *Two books contra Gentes,' viz. c. Gent. and De Incarn. (2) 321-2: *Depositio Arii (on its authorship, see Introd.) (3) 328-373: *Festal Letters. (4) 328-335? *Ecthesis or Expositio Fidei. (5) Id.? *In Illud Omnia, etc. (6) 339: *Encyclica ad Episcopos ecclesiæ catholicæ. (7) 343: *Sardican Letters (46, …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Sermons of St. Bernard on the Passing of Malachy
Sermon I (November 2, 1148.)[1005] 1. A certain abundant blessing, dearly beloved, has been sent by the counsel of heaven to you this day; and if it were not faithfully divided, you would suffer loss, and I, to whom of a surety this office seems to have been committed, would incur danger. I fear therefore your loss, I fear my own damnation,[1006] if perchance it be said, The young children ask bread, and no man offereth it unto them.[1007] For I know how necessary for you is the consolation which …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh The Great Shepherd
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. I t is not easy for those, whose habits of life are insensibly formed by the customs of modern times, to conceive any adequate idea of the pastoral life, as obtained in the eastern countries, before that simplicity of manners, which characterized the early ages, was corrupted, by the artificial and false refinements of luxury. Wealth, in those …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 The Holy Spirit and the Incarnation of the Word. ...
The Holy Spirit and the Incarnation of the Word. We have seen how Justin declared that it was not permissible to regard "the Spirit" and "the Power" that came upon the Virgin as any other than the Word of God Himself. And we also noted in passing that Theophilus of Antioch spoke of the Word as being "Spirit of God" and "Power of the Highest," the second of which designations comes from Luke i. 35. We have now to ask whether the language of Irenæus corresponds with this interpretation and makes …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching That the Ruler Relax not his Care for the Things that are Within in his Occupation among the Things that are Without, nor Neglect to Provide
The ruler should not relax his care for the things that are within in his occupation among the things that are without, nor neglect to provide for the things that are without in his solicitude for the things that are within; lest either, given up to the things that are without, he fall away from his inmost concerns, or, occupied only with the things that are within bestow not on his neighbours outside himself what he owes them. For it is often the case that some, as if forgetting that they have …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great What Messiah did the Jews Expect?
1. The most important point here is to keep in mind the organic unity of the Old Testament. Its predictions are not isolated, but features of one grand prophetic picture; its ritual and institutions parts of one great system; its history, not loosely connected events, but an organic development tending towards a definite end. Viewed in its innermost substance, the history of the Old Testament is not different from its typical institutions, nor yet these two from its predictions. The idea, underlying …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life Lamentations
The book familiarly known as the Lamentations consists of four elegies[1] (i., ii., iii., iv.) and a prayer (v.). The general theme of the elegies is the sorrow and desolation created by the destruction of Jerusalem[2] in 586 B.C.: the last poem (v.) is a prayer for deliverance from the long continued distress. The elegies are all alphabetic, and like most alphabetic poems (cf. Ps. cxix.) are marked by little continuity of thought. The first poem is a lament over Jerusalem, bereft, by the siege, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Lamentations 4:4 NIVLamentations 4:4 NLTLamentations 4:4 ESVLamentations 4:4 NASBLamentations 4:4 KJV
Lamentations 4:4 Commentaries
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