Rabbi Steinsaltz writes that Lamentations 2 focuses on God’s affliction of “the daughter of Zion.” It is God Who acts as the enemy and destroys Israel, its leaders, and its property.
This is in contrast to Lamentations 1 which focused on the enemy sent by God against Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
Here’s how Lamentations 2 begins:
1. How the Lord has clouded the daughter of Zion in His anger. He cast from heaven to the earth the glory of Israel, and remembered not His footstool on the day of His anger.
Lamentations 2:1 Meaning
Let’s start by looking at some of the commentaries on each phrase of Lamentations 2:1.
How the Lord has clouded – that is, brought darkness [Rashi].
Rashi’s explanation is followed by most commentators.
But, Ibn Ezra has a different understanding. He writes the phrase means God raised up Zion in His anger in order to cast it down. (According to Ibn Ezra, it’s not that the Jewish people deserved to be raised up. God raised them up in order to bring them down.)
daughter of Zion – the congregation of Zion [Rabbi Saadia Gaon].
from heaven to the earth – Rashi explains that after He raised them to heaven, He cast them to the earth in a moment, not bit by bit.
the glory of Israel – According to Rabbi Yosef Kara these are the things and groups mentioned in verse 2:
- the habitations of Jacob
- strongholds of the daughter of Judah
- the kingdom and its princes
His footstool – this is the Temple [Rashi].
Rabbi Yosef Kara disagrees and says it’s the earth and its inhabitants. He quotes Isaiah 66:1 as support:
1. Thus says the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool …
Rabbi Hirsch (Collected Writings Vol 4, page 118) writes that though the reference is to the entire earth, it is also a specific reference to the Temple.
Now let’s look at some of the themes in this verse and the rest of the chapter.
3 Stages
It seems to me that Lamentations 2:1 describes 3 stages of God’s dealing with Jerusalem and its sins.
In the first stage God “clouded the daughter of Zion.” He obscured His presence from His people.
The second stage is called “He cast from heaven to the earth.” Those people and places that God had brought close to Him, He now sent them away. As it were, He made them like the other nations without a close relationship with Him.
The third and final stage is He “remembered not His footstool on the day of His anger.” This is the destruction of the Temple and exile from the Land of Israel.
In these 3 stages, God pushes the Jewish people away from Him.
By way of contrast, the prophet Ezekiel had a vision of God’s presence gradually leaving the Temple and Jerusalem. The Gemara records the 10 stages of God’s departure:
Rav Judah bar Idi said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: The Divine Presence [so to speak] left Israel by ten stages … [it went]
- from the Ark-cover to the Cherub
- from the Cherub to the threshold [of the Holy of Holies]
- from the threshold to the courtyard
- from the courtyard to the altar
- from the altar to the roof [of the Temple]
- from the roof to the wall
- from the wall to the town
- from the town to the mountain
- from the mountain to the wilderness
- from the wilderness it ascended and abode in its own place
as it says, “I will go, I will return to my place” (Hosea 5:15).
If I’m correct to link these ideas, we see that at the time God was departing from the Temple, He was also pushing His people away from Him.
Lamentations 2 – The 4 Daughters
The word “daughter” (Hebrew: bat) appears 11 times in Lamentations 2, connected to four different subjects:
- daughter of my people, verse 2:11
- daughter of Judah, verses 2:2, 5
- daughter of Jerusalem, verses 2:13, 15
- daughter of Zion, verses 2:1, 4, 8, 10, 13, 18
The commentators I’ve seen don’t say much about these phrases.
On our verse Rabbi Saadia Gaon writes “daughter of Zion” means the congregation of Zion.
Then on verse 2:13, he writes “daughter of Jerusalem” means the congregation of Jerusalem.
Writing on Lamentations 1:17, Ibn Ezra distinguished between Zion and Jerusalem: Jerusalem is the general name for the city; Zion is that part of the city where the king resides.
Based on this approach, we can say that “daughter of Zion” are the elites of Jerusalem. The regular citizens of Jerusalem are referred to as “daughter of Jerusalem.”
Following this pattern, we can say that “daughter of Judah” means all the residents of the Kingdom of Judah.
But how do we understand “daughter of my people”?
11. My eyes are spent with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the babies faint in the streets of the city.
Jeremiah is speaking in this verse. He is overwhelmed by a vision of infants and children dying in the streets. It is clear that “daughter of my people” are the women of Jerusalem, specifically the mothers of young children.
God’s Anger
There are many mentions of God’s anger in the Bible. The first mention of His anger as a punishment for sins is here:
20. You shall not wrong a stranger, nor oppress him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
21. You shall not afflict any widow, or orphaned child.
22. If you afflict them in any wise, and they cry to Me, I will surely hear their cry;
23. And My anger shall burn hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children orphans.
The sins mentioned here seem rather ordinary. Such actions are easily ignored and would seldom get any publicity. And yet wronging, oppressing, and afflicting are enough to provoke God’s anger.
Day of the Lord’s Anger
Though God’s anger is mentioned many times in the Bible, the day of God’s anger is mentioned only a few times.
The first mention of the day of God’s anger is by the prophet Zephaniah.
1. Gather yourselves together, gather together, O undesired nation!
2. Before the decree is brought forth, before the day when you pass away like chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you.
3. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who have performed His judgment; seek righteousness, seek humility; it may be that you shall be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.
Malbim writes that though the verse indicates that the day will come, it’s not necessary that the wrath and anger will come. That can be avoided by performing real repentance.
God’s Anger Unleashed
Unfortunately, we have seen times in Jewish history when God’s anger has been unleashed.
We do not know what sequence of events will unleash God’s anger bit by bit or result in a day of God’s anger.
However, we have seen in the past what such events look like.
Lamentations 2 ends with Jeremiah foreseeing what eventually happened in Jerusalem on the day of God’s anger:
21. The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; you have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered without mercy.
22. You have called as in the day of an appointed feast my terrors in every side, so that in the day of the Lord’s anger none escaped nor remained; my enemy has consumed those whom I have cherished and brought up.
May we be spared from seeing such a day again.
Further Reading
Here’s a summary of Lamentations 1 explaining the phrase “none comfort her.”
Lamentations 3 contains a message of hope and faith.