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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 Jerusalem. In the ancient Greek translation, the Septuagint, the Greek word for a funeral song is used as the title. In Jerome's Latin translation, the Vulgate, the Latin word for a funeral song is used. The English title has a similar meaning.

 

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 Temple, and upon the rule of David's family in Jerusalem.  The Babylonian conquest of Judah, and the destruction of Jerusalem put an end to these hopes.  The book makes no mention of any new circumstances that could bring hope to the Jews, so it must have been written before Cyrus rose to power and set the exiles free to return to Jerusalem, i.e. it must been written before 538 B.C.E

 

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 Jerusalem after the Babylonian attack. Lamentations 5, 1 and 3 were composed later in the period, possibly in that order.  It is not certain whether one writer composed all five poems, or whether several writers contributed to the book.

 

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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 Temple destroyed  (Jer. 7.45-7; Lam. 2.6-7).

 

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 Jerusalem, and serves as a perpetual reminder that God requires righteousness from His Chosen People, and will punish their wrongdoing.

 

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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 Jerusalem* and throughout the towns of Judah.  "Our princes are being hanged by their thumbs, and the old men are treated with contempt. (13) The young men are led away to work at millstones, and the children stagger under heavy loads of wood. (14) The old men no longer sit in the city gate; the young men no longer dance and sing. (15) The joy of our hearts has ended; our dancing has turned to mourning. (16) The garlands have * fallen from our heads.  Disaster has fallen upon us because we have sinned. (17) Our hearts are sick and our eyes and we grow dim with tears.  For Jerusalem* is empty and desolate, a place haunted by jackals.( 19) But LORD, you remain the same forever!  Your throne continues from generation to generation.  (20)"Why do you continue to forget us?  Why have you forsaken us for so long? (21) Restore us, 0 LORD, and bring us back to you again!  Give us back the joys we once had! (22) Or have you utterly rejected us?  Are you angry with us still?

 

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.)