Lamentations was written by Jeremiah as a lament over the destruction of Jerusalem. While the book of Jeremiah looks ahead to the destruction, Lamentations looks back in mourning over what has come to pass.
Lamentations is a masterful piece of literature. It is designed as five lament poems. The first four laments are alphabetic acrostics, using each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Though Lamentations shows passionate emotion, it was composed with studied care.
In the book's third (and middle) lament there is a clear hope for the future: "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22, 23)
What does it say?
This second book written by Jeremiah is a dirge or funeral song sung over the wasted remains of Jerusalem. The book of Jeremiah looked forward to the coming destruction. The book of Lamentations looks back and mourns.
In this short book of five chapters, Jeremiah describes Jerusalem's miserable situation. "All the splendor has departed from the Daughter of Zion," Jeremiah writes in chapter 1 verse 6, "in weakness they have fled before their pursuers." He describes the anger of God against his people and he contrasts Judah's glorious past with their present desolation: "How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull!" (4:1)
But this carefully constructed literary masterpiece of mourning has its light of hope in God. In chapter three, the literary center of the dirge, Jeremiah recalls the great love of God and calls the people, even in exile, to place their hope in God. "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." (3:25-26)
Faces & Places
The center of attention in this book is the desolated city of Jerusalem, the capital of all Israel during the united kingdom and the capital city of Judah after the kingdom had split in two. The lament is written in the first person, expressing the great sorrow of Jeremiah, who had prophesied for over 40 years of the destruction that had now come upon them.
Key Verses & Themes
The Consequences of Sin:
Lamentations 2:17 "The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago."
Mourning:
Lamentations 2:11 "My eyes fail from weeping, I am tormented within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city."
Mercy:
Lamentations 3:22-23 "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Hope:
Lamentations 3:25-26 "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."
So what?
Have you ever noticed what moves a person to tears? Have you ever thought about what moves you to tears? Does sin and rebellion against God move you to tears? Does the consequences of sin in the lives of other people move you to tears? How about injustice, war, and poverty? Do these move you to tears? They did Jeremiah.
Many of us are prone to mourn because things aren't going our way. But the book of Lamentations is a picture of a man who grieved with God. The things that make God grieve brought tears to Jeremiah.
Jesus was the same way. As he anticipated yet another destruction that was to come on Jerusalem for their sin, he stood overlooking the city and mourned for her: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate." (Matthew 23:37-38)
Do you see the world through the eyes of God? If you do, you will find yourself more and more like Jeremiah and Jesus, mourning over sin.
