What is the meaning of the writer’s reference to his “eyes,” “stomach,” and “bile” as an expression of his deep sorrow?
The writer uses figurative language to express his own sorrow. It is not only the city, its buildings, and its people that lament (Lamentations 2:8–10), but the author is also devastated. This is conveyed in the following expressions:
1.My eyes are spent with weeping.
With this expression he conveys the idea that his grief is so intense that he even hast lost the capacity to weep.
2.My stomach churns.
With this expression the experience of Jerusalem in Lamentations 1:20 is repeated. It highlights the writer’s pain as shared with Jerusalem.
3.My bile is poured out to the ground.
This conveys the writer's grief from the very seat of his emotions. It is a metaphorical expression that depicts a state of complete physical and emotional exhaustion.1
11 My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.