World's most liveable city

"Astonished, passersby can't believe what they see. They rub their eyes, they shake their heads over Jerusalem. Is this the city voted "Most Beautiful" and "Best Place to Live"? Lamentations 2:15

When I read this I immediately thought of the line once bragged about by Melbourne - "Melbourne voted the world's most liveable city". So it also was with Jerusalem it seems. Yet eventually Judah was invaded and exiled to Babylon. It was the most horrendous time in its history. A classic case of price before a fall.

In the book of Obadiah we read of the judgement of Edom which was a mortal enemy of Judah. Obadiah wrote "you stood there & watched. You were as bad as they were. You shouldn't have gloated over your brother when he was down and out". And so on...

There are messages of pride and justice here.
Pride - Let's not think of ourselves better than we ought. No bragging. Times can change very quickly.
Justice - sometimes we stand, watch and gloat at an enemy's suffering. Eventually Judah ruled Edom. What goes around comes around.

God help me to leave pride behind and to help when another is suffering, not gloat over their suffering, especially if they are my enemies.