Lamentations

Lamentations describes the fulfillment of what Jeremiah and Ezekiel were speaking of regarding starvation of the people. I can't put my finger on it, but know we recently read that God had promised that the people would experience one of three outcomes. They would either be led away to Babylon in surrender, would die in battle, or would die by starvation. God instructed the people through Jeremiah, to surrender to the Babylonians, assuring them that this would be the better outcome. This was why Jeremiah was so hated and eventually imprisoned by the King and his officers. He was preaching surrender when they wanted the people to rally and fight. But as it turned out, God was right! Duh. Jerusalem would not hold off the Babylonians, and her citizens would die by the sword or die slowly of starvation. We read predictions about women eating their children and according to Jeremiah's report in Lamentations,conditions were so bad that this did occur. Knowing that the exiles in Babylon were treated well, Jeremiah's advice had been right all along.

Tomorrow's reading: Lam. 5; Obadiah 1:1-21; 2 Kings 25:22-26; Jer. 40:7-16, 41:1-18