Lamentations 5:15

ALL GOD'S PEOPLE ARE HEARTBROKEN

"The joy of our heart is ceased;

Our dance is turned into mourning.

The crown is fallen from our head:

Woe unto us! for we have sinned.

For this our heart is faint;

For these things our eyes are dim.

For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate:

The foxes walk upon it."

"The joy of our heart is ceased" (Lamentations 5:15). "At last the community have come to realize the deep significance of her sin by its consequences."[15] Today if sinners walking in their own lustful ways in rebellion against the moral government of God Himself could only realize the eternal consequences of their sins, no doubt some of them, at least, would renounce the works of the flesh and obey the gospel of the Son of God. The failure of the modern pulpit to stress the true consequences of wickedness is part of the reason behind prevalent iniquity. The same reticence of the ancient prophets of the people of God to stress this same fact was also part of the reason for Israel's shameful apostasy.

"Woe unto us! for we have sinned" (Lamentations 5:16) Osborne offered the following as a better translation: "Alas, that we ever sinned."[16]

"For this our heart is faint ... our eyes dim, for the mountain of Zion ... is desolate: the foxes walk upon it" (Lamentations 5:17-18). The last clause here is better rendered, "The jackals prowl over it."[17] "These words are a transition to the final appeal. Although the thought of Zion's desolation is overwhelming, the prophet will lift himself up again when he recalls the sublime truth of the inviolable security of Israel's God."[18]

"The mountain of Zion is desolate" (Lamentations 5:18). This is the climax of all that is wrong in Israel. "Zion is the central symbol of God's presence, the visible sign of Israel's election, and it is deserted![19] This was the very ultimate of all the terrible things that had happened to Israel.