The LORD determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together.
God did not merely think about destroying Jerusalem's walls; He resolved and decreed it. Men deceive themselves through false imagination, believing calamity happens by chance, but the Prophet teaches that Jerusalem fell by divine decree, not accident. The Chaldeans were God's instruments; He was the chief agent.
AI summary
The weight of these verses falls entirely on God's hand in the affliction. What cuts deepest is not that Jerusalem suffered, but that God made her suffer in His anger as an enemy. To those who prize His favor, His wrath is the true bitterness; His corrections in love wound most deeply because they come from Him.
AI summary
Commenting on Lamentations 2:1-9
The Lord stretched out His measuring line and would not withdraw His hand until destruction was complete, exact as if done by rule. Every stone that fell was marked by His purpose; nothing was left to chance or the enemy's whim alone.
AI summary