In the Book of Lamentations, Eicha, the prophet Jeremiah records his impressions of the destructions of Jerusalem and the First Temple, and the exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel. It is a very emotional book in which the prophet expresses feelings of intense loneliness, a sense of utter abandonment, desolation, desecration of that which was sacred, pain and suffering. There are times when he even seems to challenge God for allowing it to happen, yet it also contains elements of prayer, faith and hope.
The shock of the devastation of Jerusalem is so great mainly because so many were convinced that it would never happen (Lamentations 4:12). Even the Jews themselves chose to believe the false prophets who told them that God would never destroy His Temple nor exile His people from the Chosen Land, rather than place their trust in Jeremiah and in the Lord (see for example Jeremiah 26). Furthermore, the contrast between what Jerusalem had been, and what it had become, is so shocking that even the other nations are astonished by what they see: “Is this the city that men called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?” (Lamentation 2:15).
How did it happen? What led to the great destruction of the Holy Land and the exile of the Jews? Jeremiah answers “It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her” (Lamentation 4:13). Throughout the Bible, the Jews are told that the Land of Israel is their eternal inheritance, but living in the land is dependent upon following God and his Torah. The prophets warn over and over again that continuing to sin, abandon God, and treat other inappropriately will lead to destruction and exile from the land. And ultimately that is what happened. However, Jeremiah also reminds us that God did not abandon His people and His land, even though He destroyed the place where they connect to Him most. Their new challenge is to find God and rebuild their connection with Him, even in the exile.
Reprinted with permission from The Israel Bible