How was Judah's nakedness exposed? (Lamentations1:8)
8
Jerusalem has sinned greatly
and so has become unclean.
All who honored her despise her,
for they have all seen her naked;
she herself groans
and turns away.
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Asked July 19 2019
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
In the verse cited in the question (as in other passages in Scripture), the city of Jerusalem is personified as a woman whose figurative "husband" is God, in the same way that the Christian church is personified in the New Testament as the bride of Christ. The city's sin (by disobeying God or worshiping idols) has caused its former glory to be lost by being conquered and taken into exile in Babylon, and the exposure of that sin (as well as the punishment that the city has received for it) have thus become sources of public humiliation for the city, just as it would be for a woman who had committed a shameful act (especially one connected with unfaithfulness) to be stripped naked, and to be exposed to the gazing and ridicule of everyone.
Al Mark
The book of Jeremiah, written by the same author as Lamentations, is a book about Judah forsaking the Lord as an unfaithful wife forsakes her husband. The peoples' constant straying to idols is akin to taking on lovers, who see her naked and soon despise her. 23 "How can you say, 'I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals'? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there, 24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving-- in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her. Jer 2:23-24 14 All your allies have forgotten you; they care nothing for you. I have struck you as an enemy would and punished you as would the cruel, because your guilt is so great and your sins so many. Jer 30:14
Jack Gutknecht
Judah stands for Jerusalem which was located there. Jerusalem became unclean (Lamentations 1:8) and just like a prostitute was shamefully exposed (Lamentations 1:17; Jeremiah 13:20-27). Due to the fact that Judah worshipped pagan gods, she was stripped of her dignity and became an object of scorn.
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