Lamentations 2: Active God

When Christians attempt to explain the problem of evil and suffering in the world, we often paint God as passive, merely permitting or allowing bad things to take place.  Jeremiah describes God in starkly different terms: as the primary actor who Himself purposes and directs the tragedy that befalls Judah.

Consider the active verbs that Jeremiah employs in the first several verses of this chapter:

• "the Lord...has humiliated...he has thrown down...he has not remembered..." (vs. 1).
• "The Lord has destroyed...he has broken down...he has brought down..." (vs. 2).
• "He has cut down...he has withdrawn his right hand...he has burned..." (vs. 3).
• "He has bent his bow...he has killed...he has poured out his fury..." (vs. 4).
• "he has destroyed...he has destroyed..." (vs. 5).

It is clear who Jeremiah holds responsible, and it's not the Babylonians.  The destruction of Judah wasn't merely "allowed" by God; it was orchestrated by Him.  Verse 8 is a stinging indictment of God's active participation in Jerusalem's downfall: "The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of daughter Zion; he stretched the line; he did not withhold his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languish together."

The rest of the chapter details the horrible suffering that has come upon the Jews.  There are descriptions of destruction, grief, extreme hunger, starvation, and even cannibalism (vs. 20).  Jeremiah exemplifies his reputation as "the weeping prophet" as he surveys the misery of his destroyed city.  "My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city" (vs. 11).

Again, what may strike us as most tragic is that these actions are perceived as wrought by God: "The Lord has done what he purposed, he has carried out his threat; as he ordained long ago, he has demolished without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you, and exalted the might of your foes" (vs. 17).  We might well be left with the questions, "Why?  Why would God treat His people like this?  If He would treat His chosen nation like this, what will He do with the rest of us?"

Yes, sometimes God allows pain in life.  But if Lamentations 2 is to be believed, sometimes God actively brings forth the suffering we find in this world as well.  Understanding His reasons is part of our theological task.