Commentary - Lamentations 2:16

Bird's-eye view

Lamentations chapter 2 is a raw, unflinching depiction of the covenantal judgment of God upon His people. The prophet, traditionally Jeremiah, is not looking at a random tragedy but at the direct, disciplined, and devastating hand of the Lord against Jerusalem. This chapter meticulously details how God Himself has become the enemy of His unfaithful bride. He has dismantled her walls, destroyed her palaces, and silenced her prophets. The central theme is that this catastrophe is not a failure of God's promises but a fulfillment of them. God had warned for centuries, through Moses and the prophets, that covenant infidelity would result in exactly this kind of desolation. Verse 16 is a crucial pivot in the lament, shifting the focus from the actions of God to the reactions of the human instruments He has used. It portrays the gloating, arrogant contempt of the surrounding nations, who see Jerusalem's fall and mistakenly believe it is their own victory. Their taunts and jeers are a necessary part of the humiliation, yet they also reveal their own blindness to the fact that they are merely an axe in the hand of the divine Woodsman.

This verse, then, serves a dual purpose. It deepens the description of Judah's utter debasement, showing how they are not only punished by God but also mocked by men. At the same time, it sets the stage for the future judgment of these same enemies. Their prideful gloating is an offense against the God who was using them, and in their moment of apparent triumph, they are sealing their own doom. The Lord will not suffer His name to be mocked indefinitely, nor will He allow the instruments of His discipline to boast as though they were the ultimate power. The verse is a stark reminder that God is sovereign over the taunts of the wicked just as He is sovereign over the sorrows of the righteous.

Outline

Context In Lamentations

In the flow of Lamentations 2, this verse comes after a detailed account of the Lord's own actions in bringing about the destruction. The prophet has just described how the Lord has bent His bow like an enemy (v. 4), poured out His wrath like fire (v. 4), and swallowed up Israel (v. 5). The preceding verse (v. 15) describes the shock and mockery of passersby who cannot believe that the "perfection of beauty" has been so ruined. Verse 16 sharpens this focus from the general passerby to the specific, declared "enemies" of Judah. It gives voice to their malice. This is followed immediately by verse 17, which provides the ultimate theological interpretation of the event: "The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word." This juxtaposition is critical. The enemies say, "We have done this," but the prophet immediately corrects the record: "The LORD has done this." The human gloating of verse 16 is therefore framed by the divine sovereignty of the surrounding chapter, rendering the enemies' boasts hollow and ironic.

Key Issues

The Rod of Discipline Boasts

One of the central challenges to a robust doctrine of God's sovereignty is the problem of evil, and a subset of that is the problem of malicious human agents. What do we do with the Babylonians here? God raised them up to chasten His people, a fact He makes plain through prophets like Habakkuk. They are His "rod" of anger (Isaiah 10:5). And yet, they are not absolved of their guilt. They do not carry out God's judgment with a heavy heart, seeking the reformation of Judah. No, they do it with glee, with hatred, with a desire to "swallow her up."

This verse puts that wicked motive on full display. The hissing, the gnashing of teeth, the arrogant boasting, this is the very picture of sinful hatred. And yet, it is all happening within the determined counsel of God. God ordains the action (the destruction of Jerusalem) without ordaining or approving of the sinful motive behind the action. As Isaiah would later ask, "Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?" (Isaiah 10:15). This is precisely what is happening in Lamentations 2:16. The axe is boasting. The enemies of God's people think the victory is theirs, that their long-nursed hatred has finally borne fruit. They are utterly blind to the reality that they are nothing more than a tool, a rod of discipline that, having served its purpose, will itself be cast into the fire.

Verse by Verse Commentary

16 All your enemies Have opened their mouths wide against you;

The lament begins with the totality of the opposition: All your enemies. This is not one disgruntled neighbor; it is a universal chorus of contempt. The covenant curses in Deuteronomy warned that if Israel was unfaithful, they would be a byword and a mockery among the nations. Here is the fulfillment. The image of opening the mouth wide is primal. It is the posture of a beast about to devour its prey, a picture of ravenous, unrestrained hostility. It also signifies loud, unrestrained verbal assault, shouts, insults, and mockery. They are not holding back. Every ounce of their long-simmering hatred is now being poured out on the fallen city.

They hiss and gnash their teeth.

These are not just words; they are visceral, physical expressions of utter contempt and rage. Hissing is the sound of a serpent, a sound of scorn and derision. It's what you do when you want to communicate disgust without bothering to form words. Gnashing the teeth is a biblical picture of impotent fury and deep-seated hatred. The Psalms use it to describe the wicked persecuting the righteous (Psalm 35:16, 37:12). In the New Testament, Jesus uses it to describe the state of those cast into outer darkness, a condition of endless rage and regret. Here, the enemies of Judah are displaying the very character of hell in their reaction to God's judgment. They are filled with a venomous, hateful wrath, and they are not trying to hide it.

They say, “We have swallowed her up!

Here is the content of their taunts. The first boast is one of utter conquest. "We have swallowed her up." Jerusalem, the city of God, has not just been defeated; she has been consumed, annihilated, absorbed into the gullet of her conquerors. There is a finality to this boast. They believe she is gone for good, erased from the map. This is the arrogant assumption of every pagan power that sets itself against the people of God. They mistake a severe chastening for a final destruction. They cannot conceive that the God who handed His people over for discipline is also the God who will raise them from that grave.

Surely this is the day for which we have hoped; We have found it, we have seen it.”

This final clause is dripping with satanic irony. They declare that this is the day they have hoped for, longed for, and waited for. And in one sense, they are right. Their sinful, malicious hope has been realized. But they are completely blind to the larger reality. This day of Jerusalem's fall was not ultimately brought about by their hopes, but by God's holy Word. This is the day God had warned about through Moses. This is the day Jeremiah had prophesied with tears. The enemies see the fulfillment of their own petty desires, but the prophet, and the faithful remnant, are meant to see the fulfillment of God's covenantal warnings. The enemies' joy is therefore grounded in a profound ignorance. They celebrate their victory, not knowing that their "day" of triumph is but a prelude to their own day of judgment, when all their wicked hopes will turn to ash in their mouths.

Application

This verse is a hard morsel, but a necessary one. It teaches us several things. First, it reminds us that when we fall into sin, the consequences are often deeply humiliating. God's discipline is not a private affair. Part of the chastening for our disobedience can involve being exposed to the scorn of a watching world. When the church compromises its witness, we should not be surprised when our enemies open their mouths wide against us. This is a bitter medicine, intended to drive us back to God in repentance.

Second, this verse is a profound warning against gloating over the downfall of others. The spirit of the Edomites, who cried "Raze it, raze it!" against Jerusalem, is a spirit that God despises. When we see a brother, a church, or even an adversary fall, our first instinct must be one of solemn gravity, not of triumphant glee. We must recognize the hand of a holy God in judgment and examine our own hearts, saying, "There, but for the grace of God, go I." To hiss and gnash our teeth is to take on the character of the devil, not the character of Christ, who wept over the very city He knew would be destroyed.

Finally, this verse is a rock of comfort for the believer. It shows us that even the most malicious taunts of our enemies are within the sovereign plan of God. They can say nothing, they can do nothing, that is outside His control. Their arrogant boasts about having "swallowed us up" are always premature. Our God is the God of the resurrection. He can bring life from the most desolate of graves. The enemies of Christ thought they had swallowed Him up on Good Friday. They had their day of hope fulfilled. But the Lord of glory turned their triumph into everlasting defeat three days later. And so it will be for His people. We may face the scorn of a hostile world, but we know that the One who has the final say is not the one who opens his mouth to taunt, but the One who opened the tomb to bring forth life eternal.