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THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH
On the Title
Originally this
book had no title. The Jews used the first word of the book as a title: 'How!'
In Hebrew, this is a special word used
to express grief in funeral songs. The word is found again in the first verse of
Lamentations 2 and 4, showing that the book is a collection of funeral songs
mourning the 'death' of the city of
A Historical Background
There is no
doubt that the book contains funeral songs composed shortly after the
Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587 BC. The hopes of the Jews had been centred upon
the
Outline
The book is composed of five separate poems, each contained in a separate chapter. In the Hebrew the first four poems have the form of acrostics, each verse or group of verses beginning with a different letter in alphabetical order. The poems in Lamentations 2, 3 and 4 make one alteration in the order of the letter, which suggests that the final order of the Hebrew alphabet had not been fixed when the poems were written. Lamentations 5 is not in the form of an acrostic, but it does have the same number of verses as the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, i.e. twenty-two.
1. Lamentations 1: Jerusalem mourns her destruction.
2. Lamentations 2: National lament over the fall of Jerusalem.
3. Lamentations 3: A personal lament.
4. Lamentations 4: National lament over the fall of Jerusalem.
5. Lamentations 5: A prayer for Deliverance.
Sources
All five poems
are clearly to be dated between 587 and 538 BC.
Probably Lamentations 2 and 4 were earliest, as they give the most
detailed description of life in
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A close examination shows that the writer or writers of these poems had known the prophecies of Jeremiah. At first they had rejected his message, but then they had seen his words fulfilled. The poems express their horror and sorrow that these things could be true.
Notice especially:
1. Jeremiah had warned the people not to trust the leadership of Zedekiah as a defence against the Babylonians, and they had seen him taken captive ( Jer. 21.1-7; Lam. 4.20)
2. Jeremiah warned them not to suppose that they were safe because God's Temple was in
Their city, and they had seen the
3. Jeremiah had warned them that false prophets were misleading them, and they had
Discovered that this was true (Jer. 14.13-16; 23.16-17; Lam 2.14).
4. The people had rejected Jeremiah's warning that God would withdraw His inspiration from their leaders, and they had lived to see his words fulfilled (Jer. 18.18; Lam. 2.9-10).
But these writers did not simply take up and use Jeremiah's words. They still refused to believe some of the thing that he had proclaimed:
· They believed that they were suffering as a result of the sins of their fathers, even though Jeremiah rejected this idea (Lam. 5.7; Jer. 31.29-30).
· They believed that God would give them an early deliverance from the rule of Babylon, even though Jeremiah had warned that the rule of Babylon would continue for a long time (Lam. 3.64-66; Jer. 29. 1 0).
Message (Lamentation Book)
The poems are attempts to answer the urgent Questions of the people of Judah: How could God allow His city to be destroyed, His royal line of kings to be defeated, and His Temple to be destroyed? It was because of the sins of His people (Ch. 1.8-9, 18). God's anger had led Him to hand them over to their enemies (Ch. 2.2-8). But God is merciful, and so there was hope for the future (Ch. 3.31-33). What He required of His people was repentance (Ch 3.40-42, 55-58). He would then overthrow their enemies (Ch. 3.64-66). The book ends with less confidence, for the writer of the final poem feared that the people's sin might have led God to reject them finally and completely (Ch 5.19-22).
The book of
Lamentations is read at a Jewish festival that commemorates the fall of
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Prayer for Restoration
Oh Lord, remember everything that has happened to us. See all the sorrows we bear! (2) Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We are orphaned and fatherless .Our mothers are widowed. (4) We have to pay for water to drink, and even firewood is expensive. (5) Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are exhausted but are given no rest. (6) We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough food to survive.(7) It was our ancestors who sinned, but they died before the hand of' judgement fell. We have suffered the punishment they deserved!
Slaves have now
become our masters; there is no one left to rescue us.( 9)We must hunt for food
in the wilderness at the risk of our lives. (10) "Because of the famine,
our skin has been blackened as though baked in an oven. (11) Our enemies rape the women and young
Girls in
Response to the Bible-message.
1. What situation in your country (your people) similar to the book of Lamentations? Share with your friends in your group.
2. What ' inheritances' in you own situation is turned to strangers?
3. Who are the Babylonians in your situation?
4. What would you do as the Leader in this situation?
( The participants were made to divide into Region wise to trace out the issues in their respective places and to share to all the groups with presentation.)