Welcome to Lamentations.

😐 Uh… that kinda has a weird ring to it. It’s like saying, “Welcome to my funeral.”

Good point.

The Lamentations or The Laments are sad songs of grief.

🤔 So… kinda like country music? 🤠

Honestly, I’d say more like the old Negro spirituals. The Laments express sorrow, but also faith in God.

We don’t know for certain who wrote them. Jewish and Christian tradition have Jeremiah as the writer, and he may have written the book, but the text doesn’t actually say so. All we can say for certain is that they were written after the fall of Jerusalem.

Whoever wrote them was a brilliant Hebrew poet. Many of the lines follow a meter pattern of 5 beats divided into 2 lines like this:

• 3 beats
• 2 beats

The meter exists only in Hebrew and does not translate into other languages but the conceptual aspects of Hebrew poetry translate easily into other languages.

Every chapter also contains Hebrew alphabet acrostic structures. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 each have 22 verses. Each verse begins a successive letter. Psalm 119 and Proverbs 31 also use this structure. Lamentations chapter 3 – the middle chapter – is a tripled acrostic. Each of the 22 letters gets 3 verses for a total of 66. Verses 1-3 are Aleph, 4-6 are Beth, 7-9 are Gimmel, and so on. My Holeman QuickSource Guide to Understanding the Bible has this to say on the triple acrostic structure of chapter 4:

“By this means, the author has said everything ‘from A to Z’ (or Aleph to Taw) on his subject.”

These songs are still sung on Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av) which is a national day of mourning for observant Jews even today. It’s the day on which BOTH the first and second temples were destroyed.

😲 The temples were destroyed on the SAME DAY?!?

Centuries apart, but yes.

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LAMENTATIONS 1

The first 11 verses are written speaking of the city of Jerusalem as she and her. The writer describes the situation and (importantly) ackowledges why it has happened:

“Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns her face away.”
‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The “terrible fall” in the context of verse 9 makes me think of the old phrase “fallen woman” to describe a promiscuous female who was shunned by society.

At the end of verse 11, the pronouns change to I and me and my for the remainder of the chapter. The poet is speaking as the personified city of Jerusalem.

The exiles who would’ve originally heard and sung this song would have the message reinforced that the reason for this horrible tragedy was punishment from Yahweh for their rebellion.

“The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering; my young women and my young men have gone into captivity.”
‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The exiles are having what we would call a “come to Jesus” moment. It’s a pity that people would be so stubborn as to need this extreme level of devastation in order to wake them up and bring them to true repentance. It makes me think of this verse written by David (who also had to learn a few things the hard way):

“Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭32‬:‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This is the Bible saying, “Don’t be a stubborn old mule.” There is a beautiful grace that comes when we submit to the LORD’s will and His way. We can pout and squirm, fight, fuss, and fidget until we look like a toddler having a tantrum.

In case no one has said it plainly lately, YOU WILL NOT WIN AGAINST GOD.

You might as well give up now.

The destruction of Jerusalem and the laments about it are meant to be a lesson for the ages. Their punishment was severe because that’s what it took to correct them. Yahweh had tried “the easy way” for over a century; sending prophets with signs and warnings. But since they wouldn’t do it the easy way, they had to do it the hard way.

“For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He punishes every son whom He accepts.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭6‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

This punishment is not the end. It is not God casting them off forever. It’s actually the mercy of God to bring them to repentance.

Even if you have been stubborn, there is One Who took “the hard way” on your behalf. Jesus is the Word-made-flesh. And look at what the Word said here in this lament:

“Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain which was inflicted on me, with which the Lord tormented me on the day of His fierce anger.”
‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

It sounds like something Jesus would’ve said from the cross.

He endured the wrath of God upon sin so that those who come to Him, trust in Him, and remain in Him already have their sins punished.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬