HEBREW WORD STUDY – FAILED – KALAH  כלה

Lamentations 4:17: “As for us our eyes yet failed for our vain help, in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.”

In Lamentations 4:17 we see where the hearts of the people laid. The Assyrians were ready to march on Judah and instead of turning to God for help; they looked to the nation of Egypt to deliver them. Yet Egypt had their own problems, they would not come to deliver Judah. The people placed their hope of salvation in the arm of the flesh.

The words “our eyes yet failed for our vain help in our watching” is a very sad picture. A clearer rendering would be “our eyes have become exhausted watching for the help that never arrived.” The word failed is kalah which has the idea of becoming exhausted after putting every part of your being into something. Kalah is like waiting for that phone call that never comes, that letter, or that e-mail that would signal you deliverance from stressful situation.

The people of Judah could not trust in an unseen God they could see Egypt and their strength and put there trust in what they could see and yet, it failed them. For many Christians they pay lip service to God delivering them, they will say it is all in God’s hands but they will look for an Egypt that they can see to deliver them. But if that deliverance is not God’s way of escape, then the arm of the flesh will fail.