JEREMIAH/LAMENTATIONS | Lesson 10 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points
Read Lamentations 1-5
MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT
1/ We have now come to the last lesson in our current course of summary/survey of Jeremiah. So we will devote this last lesson to Lamentations. Rather than focus on a specific passage in Lamentations, I want to give us a ‘bird’s-eye’ overview of the book.
2 / Lamentations is a much-neglected book, but it shouldn’t be. There are so many personal and theological truths that are expressed here in the high-intensity theater of human suffering … and first-hand human suffering at that. Lamentations is written from the perspective of a real-time witness who was there, saw it, suffered with it, and then gives a personal account – all the while putting their suffering in the context of God’s perspective. The writer recognizes the hand and purposes of God in it all.
3/ So, we will learn at lest these lessons: [1] the unfailing character of God and how His character is consistent with all the Providences He brings into our lives; [2] how we should respond to God even in the bitterest experiences of life; [3] and how trusting in God’s renewed mercies and faithful promises gives us hope even while we are suffering the most excruciating losses and griefs.
I / Who wrote ‘Lamentations’?
1/ The truth is: we don’t know. It is called ‘The Lamentations of Jeremiah,’ but Jeremiah doesn’t identify himself as the author. It began to be called ‘The Lamentations of Jeremiah’ when the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Latin in the translation we call ‘The Latin Vulgate’ during the 400s AD.
2/ In fact, in the Hebrew Scriptures, it wasn’t even called ‘Lamentations.’ It was simply named by the first word in chapters 1, 2, and 4. That word is ‘Ekah,’ or ‘How.’
- “How lonely sits the city…” ch 1.1;
- “How Yahweh in His anger…” ch 2.1;
- “How the gold has grown dim…” ch 4.1.
This ‘How’ was a common word that was used in the Jews’ funeral dirges, or lamentations. See, for example, David’s lament over King Saul in 2 Samuel 1.19: “How the mighty have fallen!” or Israel’s taunt song against the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14.12: “How you are fallen from heaven!” This word “How” can also be understood as “Alas!” thus lending weight to these poems as ‘lamentations.’
3/ However, since these lamentations were written, we believe, shortly after Jerusalem had been destroyed in the graphic words and images written in this book, it stands to reason that Jeremiah is a likely candidate to have written it. Some have also pointed to 2 Chronicles 35.25 where it is written “Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments.”
4/ But, even though the text itself records nothing about its authorship, we do know its unnamed author was an eyewitness to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. And we know Jeremiah was there, felt it deeply, and mourned it grievously.
5/ Just a word here about the placement of the book right after Jeremiah. Again, in the Hebrew Scriptures, it was not placed where it is in our English Bible. It was placed rather in a collection called ‘The Writings’ or ‘Festive Scrolls’ which were set in a section by themselves to be read during special occasions. They were: Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. This book of Lamentations was read annually during occasions for commemorating and mourning for the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 587 BC, and then later by the Romans in AD 70 [yes! both destructions of the Temple more than 600 years apart happened on the same day of their calendar!]. Interestingly, modern-day Jews commemorate the Holocaust with the reading of Lamentations. NOTE: You cannot begin to appreciate the ‘voice’ and feeling of Lamentations unless you read it aloud with the same feeling with which it was written!!
II / The Event that inspired the writing of these Lamentations
1/ Of course, it is the writer’s and the nation of Judah’s response to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian armies in 587 BC and all its grievous aftermath. Those historical events are recorded in 2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 39.1-10 & ch 52 – immediately before the placement of Lamentations in our English Bible [see I, 5/ above]. But these historical accounts of Jerusalem’s fall, the massacre of their people, and the deportation into captivity don’t come close to the personal pathos with which the Lamentations are written by this eyewitness. It’s like the difference between a reporter’s stoic account versus live interviews with people who have personally experienced the same event and suffered losses and grief because of it.
2/ As the writer of the Lamentations will remind them, they had been forewarned of these disastrous events of Yahweh’s judgments against their faithlessness to His covenant as far back as Leviticus 26.14-46; Deuteronomy 4.28-31 & 28.36-68. We need to constantly remind ourselves about these forewarnings going all the way back to the days of Moses and the Exodus – even before they first entered the Promised Land.
3/ They had also been repeatedly and specifically warned by Yahweh’s faithful prophets during the preceding 200 years that this disaster was coming on them if they did not repent of their sins and return to Yahweh [2 Kings 21.10-15 & 24.1-4; 2 Chronicles 36.15-21; and many others].
III / The Purpose and Message of Lamentations
What I want to do here is include a lengthy quote from A Survey of the Old Testament by Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton. Although I will break up the quote into sections, it will be one quote:
1/ “In contrast with 2 Kings 24-25, which documents the historical data about the fall of Jerusalem, Lamentations captures the pathos of that tragic turn in Israel’s covenant experience with Yahweh. The poems preserve the Hebrew response to the unthinkable and inexpressible – the utter destruction of David’s Zion, the ruin of Yahweh’s Temple, and the divine abandonment of ‘the elect’ of God. (‘Zion’ is a favorite expression for Jerusalem in Psalms, Isaiah, and Lamentations. The origin of the term is uncertain, but the Hebrew ‘Siyon’ may be understood as ‘fortified tower.’)
2/ While the tragedy did confirm the prophetic message and vindicate prophetic interpretation of the relationship between covenant stipulations and curses, this was of little comfort to the stunned survivors of the Babylonian onslaught.
3/ Lamentations records ‘the day of the LORD’ for Judah enacted in all its terrible fury. The threat of covenant curse became a grim reality and an unforgettable nightmare. Moses’ admonition that covenant violations jeopardized Israel’s presence in the land of Canaan was revealed to be more than hollow theologizing. Yahweh had finally exacted punishment for Judah’s covenant transgressions. The people of God had been ‘vomited’ out of the land of Yahweh’s covenant promise (Leviticus 18.24-30).
4/ The only consolation for ‘the Daughter of Zion’ was the knowledge that one day the nations would also drink from the cup of God’s wrath (Lamentations 4.21-22; cf. 3.55-66).
5/ As funeral dirges, the poems of Lamentations were designed to offer a type of catharsis or purification to the survivors of Judah’s calamity. This expression of sorrow and venting of emotions could never fully answer the questions related to the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of God’s sovereign rule over human history. But it did allow the suffering Hebrews to deal honestly with their grief and to mitigate the trauma of Yahweh’s abandonment.
6/ The poet bared the soul of the penitent nation, bowed in shame and admitting her many transgressions and great rebellion (e. g., 1.14, 22). The purging of sin and guilt permitted the ‘widow of Zion’ to acknowledge that Yahweh was indeed just in His judgment of Jerusalem’s covenant unfaithfulness (1.18).
7/ Only this response of confession and repentance could give meaning and substance to the words of future hope prayed in chapter 3. The very wrath of God signaled His covenant love for Israel. The loving Father must punish His wayward child. The call to wait upon the LORD and His unfailing mercy instilled hope for Israel’s future restoration, because the nation’s history had demonstrated Yahweh will not cast off forever (3.21-29).”
8/ We might also state it this way: “…the historical context for the book cannot be overstated: the destruction of Zion (the city of God) and her temple (the dwelling place of God) were of cataclysmic significance for Judah (the people of God). In the desolation of both city and temple Judah’s world fell apart.” Jonathan Gibson, ESV Expository Commentary.
IV / The Poetic Structure and Organization of Lamentations
1/ Lamentations is comprised of five poems. Although none of the original texts of our Bible were written with chapter, verse, or even word divisions, the poet-author clearly demarcates his poems into distinct compositions.
2/ Three of the poems [chs 1, 2, and 4] are funeral dirges, and they open with the keynote of mourning and wailing that was customary in their culture: ‘How?’ [see I, 2/]. The other two poems [chs 3 & 5] are written as ‘lamentations’ or ‘complaints.’ And by ‘complaints,’ we don’t mean like griping or finding fault – but rather as an appeal to Yahweh as a merciful God for His Divine intervention in their desperate crisis. They are formal appeals of ‘Help!’ to Yahweh. And there is also a difference in the ‘voice’ of these two lamentations: ch 3 is a lamentation in the individual voice of the poet and ch 5 is a lamentation in the collective voice of the afflicted community.
3/ In addition, four of the poems are written in alphabetical acrostic form. Let me explain:
- There are 22 characters in the Hebrew alphabet.
- Poem/ch. 1 contains 22 verses of three sets of parallel lines. Each first word of the first line in each verse begins with a successive character of the alphabet: for example, the first word of v 1 begins with aleph, the first word of v 2 begins with beth, and so on until v 22 begins with tau.
- Poem/ch. 2 follows the same pattern.
- Poem/ch. 4 follows the same pattern also, except the verses have only two sets of parallel lines.
- Poem/ch. 3 is different in these ways: there are 22 stanzas of three verses – 66 verses. So there are three verses for every successive Hebrew alphabet character, and every one of those three verses begins with that character.
4/ What this shows us is that, even though every word and line of these poems were written with the deepest emotion and pathos, they are in no way random expressions, impulsive venting, or impromptu ‘streams of consciousness.’ The poet is not just writing ‘what popped into his mind’ or ‘how he was feeling.’ Every poem in Lamentations was intentionally crafted and even artistically stylized. Obviously, the reason for writing this way was to aid the hearer to remember these lamentations so they could more easily be recalled and recited … and also to give weight and gravitas to the seriousness of every expression.
V / Subjects, Themes, and Threads in Lamentations
1/ As we have noted before [IV, 3/], Lamentations contains 154 verses and 286 lines. And every one of them is pregnant with theologically-rich, emotionally-laden expressions. So, there is no way we can even begin to introduce, much less expound on, or even give all the references to the following subjects, themes, and threads that are woven into these poems.
2/ But I do want to at least itemize some of them and encourage you to look them over, get them into your mind, and then read aloud these poems to see how they are brought out from the poet’s heart and experience and put into words…
3/ Some of the broader themes are:
- The seriousness of sin
- Suffering as a consequence of sin
- The Providence of God
- Divine abandonment
- The justice of God
- The faithfulness of God
- The comfort of hope in God’s promises
- The place, purpose, and function of prayers of all kinds, and especially laments
4/ Here are some statements that will help itemize some of the ‘threads’ to look for in Lamentations. I pray they may serve as ‘markers’ for you to use to guide you through your reading and understanding of Lamentations [NOTE: these are copied from the ESV Study Bible and available to you also in it]:
- “It offers compelling prayers that confess sin, express renewed hope, and declare total dependence on God’s grace.
- It is the only book in the Bible written by a person who endured one manifestation of the divine judgment the Bible consistently calls “the day of the LORD” (cf. Joel 2.1-2; Amos 5.18; Zephaniah 1.14-16).
- The book’s authorship, setting, contents, and theology underline its value for understanding the nature of pain, sin, and redemption.
- Lamentations agrees with the theology of Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 27-30, Joshua-Kings, and Jeremiah in that it affirms that Jerusalem fell: [1] because of the people’s sins (Lamentations 1.18); [2] because they rejected God’s Word sent through the prophets (2.8, 14, 17); [3] because their leaders led them astray (4.13). God warned (2.17), but the people did not heed the warning.
- It affirms God’s faithful, never-ceasing mercy (3.19-24; cf. Deuteronomy 30.1-10). Therefore, readers can know that God is not finished with His people even when they sin greatly.
- The book agrees with Psalms in that it affirms that prayers of confession and petition are the means for restoring a broken relationship with God. These poems also coincide with the Psalms in their honest expressions of pain and their dismay at what God has allowed to happen. By attributing what has occurred to God’s will, the poems also share the Psalms’ emphasis on God’s sovereignty as King of creation (Psalm 103.19).
- Lamentations agrees with the emphasis on “the day of the LORD” found in the prophetic books. This “day” is the day God comes to judge sin. It can occur in historical contexts like 587 BC, or it can occur at the end of time and be the final “day of the LORD.” Regardless, such “days” do occur, and people need to take seriously the warnings about such days in Lamentations and the rest of the Bible.”
VI / Lamentations, Christ, and the Gospel
1/ Note the plaintive, yet hopeful, note Lamentations ends with:
“For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim, for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it. But you, O Yahweh, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations. Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days? Restore us to yourself, O Yahweh, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old – unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us! / ch 5.17-22
2/ With these words, they are still mourning over the dead bodies, smoldering ashes, desolate ruins, tarnished former glory, and dashed dreams. YET, they are waiting, longing, and hoping. “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope … therefore I will hope in Him … there may yet be hope” [ch 3.21, 24, 29]. And ALL their hopes will be finally fulfilled when Christ comes! The New Covenant has been made, and it will be accomplished in Christ and by Christ when He comes in the fullness of time!
~Dave Parks 