This section of the poem consists of two parallel parts (vv. 1-6, 7-11). The Judahites had become despised (vv. 1-2, 7-8), and both children and adults (everyone) suffered (vv. 3-5, 9-10). This calamity was the result of Yahweh's punishment for sin (vv. 6, 11).
4:1 This lament resumes the characteristic "How"introduction (cf. 1:1; 2:1). The gold and precious stones that had decorated the temple no longer served that function. Jeremiah compared the precious inhabitants of Jerusalem (cf. Exod. 19:5-6) to gold and gems. They now lay in the streets of the city defiled and dead.
"For those who esteemed themselves as high-quality gold, the kind of experience which reduced them to the level of base metal in the opinion of their enemies was of harrowing psychological and spiritual proportions."50
4:2 The enemy had regarded the citizens of Jerusalem, more valuable to it than gold, as worth nothing more than earthenware pots. The Chaldeans had smashed many of them. Earthenware pottery was of such little value in the ancient Near East that people would not repair it but simply replaced it.
4:3 The horrors of the siege of Jerusalem had turned the once compassionate women of Judah into selfish creatures unwilling to give of themselves for the welfare of their young. Like ostriches that do not care for their offspring (cf. Job 39:14-18), these women had abandoned and even eaten their children. They behaved worse than loathsome jackals, which nurse their young.
4:4 Infants in Jerusalem during the siege did not have enough to drink or to eat because their parents were looking out for their own needs first (cf. 2:11-12, 19).
4:5 The rich people who were accustomed to eating delicacies had to try to survive by finding anything at all to eat in the streets. The royal and wealthy among the people resorted to ash heaps, probably because they were sick (cf. Job 2:8).
4:6 Jerusalem's sin, and her prolonged punishment, were greater than Sodom's, which God overthrew quickly. No one came to Jerusalem's aid during the siege.
4:7-8 Some of the residents had dedicated themselves to the Lord and were of the highest quality of people. However, even they had become victims of the siege and had suffered terribly along with the other ordinary citizens. Their fine complexions and healthy bodies had become black and shriveled.
4:9 Some had died in battle, but others had starved to death. Those who had died by the sword were more fortunate because a swift death is better than a gradual one.
4:10 Previously compassionate women boiled their own children and ate them to sustain their lives during the rigors of the siege (cf. 2:20; 2 Kings 6:25-29; Jer. 19:9).
4:11 Yahweh had executed His wrath by punishing Jerusalem (cf. 1:12; 2:2-4, 6; 3:1). Like a fire His anger burned among His people (2:3). Ironically, He consumed the city with fire.
