Many people of Judah only saw the human side of the destruction of their land and city. They were furious at Babylon, which attacked them, and Egypt, which left them to themselves. But Jeremiah shows them what God has done—and what he is still doing. That is the theme of the second song of lament: God’s burning wrath had destroyed Judah.
In his anger God also destroyed his own residence: Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the “daughter of Zion” and the “splendor of Israel.” In Jerusalem, the ark of the covenant was kept in the temple. This ark was the “footstool” of the Lord—but he did not spare it. It is as if he broke all relations with his people.
1 How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.