איכה, פרק ב׳, פסוק ה׳

A painful picture of divine destruction emerges, where God takes on the role of an attacker moving against His own people and their strongholds, leaving behind a trail of heavy grief. However, God did not become a true enemy. Instead, He acted in the manner of an opponent, striking like a destructive storm wind [צאינה וראינה]. This distinction reveals an underlying element of mercy, showing that God deliberately chose not to wipe out the Israelites entirely [פלגי מים].

The exact sequence of this ruin reflects different aspects of divine judgment. One approach suggests that God directed His anger toward wood and stone—the physical palaces and fortresses—in order to calm His wrath and spare human lives [פלגי מים]. Conversely, another perspective argues that the events unfolded in direct opposition to God's usual standard of mercy. Typically, God strikes physical property first and only later affects human lives. In this tragedy, however, God brought ruin to the people first and only afterward destroyed their palaces and strongholds, a reversal that caused the pain to multiply intensely [אלון בכות].

The devastation also highlighted a clear difference between the fate of the ten tribes of Israel and the fate of Judah. When striking the northern tribes, God acted only like an enemy, leaving survivors even as He brought down their defenses. In Judah, the destruction was far more severe, tearing everything down to its very foundations. Furthermore, as long as Judah remained standing, the earlier fall of the ten tribes was not felt with its full force. But once Judah also collapsed, the two historical tragedies merged into one, doubling the collective sorrow [לחם דמעה].

Ultimately, God greatly magnified the feelings of mourning within the assembly of Judah [רש״י, אבן עזרא, מנחת שי]. The aftermath was defined by an overwhelming increase in cries of sorrow, deep mourning, and endless wailing [רש״י, ביאור שטיינזלץ, אבן עזרא].