Lamentations
Feature 4 – July/August 2024 – Grace & Truth Magazine
Lamentations
The prophet Jeremiah had a ministry that continued for about 45 years or perhaps even 50. Like Ezekiel, Jeremiah was called as a young man, growing up in a priestly family. But unlike Ezekiel, Jeremiah was told not to marry (Jer. 16:2). God had set him apart for this ministry from before he was born (1:5), which emphasizes God’s sovereign control.
There is some similarity between Jeremiah and another servant whom God had called: Saul of Tarsus, who became known as the apostle Paul. However, great differences exist between them, including the meanings of their names: Jeremiah means “Yah is exalted,” Saul or Shaoul means “desired,” and the definition of Paul is “small.” Chosen from before the world’s foundation, the apostle was called to join the believers who are part of God’s Ecclesia – Assembly or Church – and enjoy privileges that Jeremiah did not know (consider Rom. 8:29-30; Gal. 1:15). Nevertheless, this faithful prophet, Jeremiah, devoted himself to God’s service with admirable dedication – an amazing example for us today. The LORD entrusted him with difficult tasks in his prophetic ministry, and the prophet sometimes wanted to give up. However, his words and example had a wonderful impact on the young godly king Josiah, through whom the Lord worked a great revival (2 Ki. 22-23; 2 Chr. 34-35).
Many in Judah opposed Jeremiah’s faithful ministry because they preferred their own agenda instead of following God’s thoughts. For this reason the LORD sent Jeremiah as His spokesman to His people, showing them what was wrong and desiring to bring them to repentance. However, after many years of Jeremiah’s devoted ministry, all seemed to have been done in vain. We cannot fathom the depth and intensity of grief that overwhelmed the prophet when he witnessed the fall of Jerusalem, just as we cannot imagine the grief of a young husband who loses the beautiful wife of his youth. This brings us to Jeremiah’s book called “Lamentations.”
The Hebrew Alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, and Lamentations 1 has 22 verses, each of which begins in the Hebrew text with a letter in the order of the alphabet – an acrostic. This suggests the complete alphabet is needed to express the prophet’s sadness as he describes God’s sorrows about His people’s failures. Keep in mind that for many years Jeremiah had been warning Jerusalem and the Jews, trying to bring them to repentance and restoration. Instead, Jeremiah saw the destruction of his beloved city Jerusalem, the “City of Peace,” and the sacrificial system centered in the temple. Irresponsible, failing and rebellious leaders desecrated it all, and then it was destroyed by the Babylonians. Unfathomable grief overwhelmed Jeremiah as he wept about what had been lost.
Lamentations 2 has the same alphabetic structure as chapter 1, whereas chapter 3 has 66 verses – 22 groups of three verses, each starting with a Hebrew letter in the order of the alphabet. Lamentations 4 has 22 verses, again in alphabetical order and with its Hebrew letter in front. Chapter 5 also has 22 verses but without the alphabetical structure.
A few psalms have a similar alphabetic arrangement. Psalm 119 is very remarkable, having 22 sections of eight verses. Each section starts with the letter of the alphabet in the exact order to which it belongs, repeated eight times at the beginning of each line. This is very ingenious, involving amazing concept and skill. Without a doubt, it is a work of the Holy Spirit!
Identification
Reflecting on Jeremiah and his ministry, our thoughts are drawn to a well-known verse in Isaiah: “In all their affliction He was afflicted” (63:9 NKJV). God identified with the condition of His earthly people Israel, something that Jeremiah did as well in his faithful ministry. The same principle applies to the believers the Lord has called today from among Israel and the nations – the Assembly of the living God. They too identify with God’s suffering people, wherever they may be.
The prophet Jeremiah identified with his own people and their condition, as we learn from his first book, called “Jeremiah.” In the Hebrew text of the Bible, the title of Jeremiah’s second book, Lamentations, is literally “Why?” or “How!” It conveys the intensity of the prophet’s grief and sorrow about their difficult circumstances (read Jer. 48:39). This specific Hebrew word occurs four times in Lamentations (1:1, 2:1, 4:1-2), as Jeremiah repeatedly expressed his sorrows with respect to his suffering people.
In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, Lamentations has the title Threnoi, which highlights the prophet’s intense sorrows. It is derived from a Greek verb meaning “to cry aloud, wail,” or “sing a dirge.”
The book’s first word, “How,” is a fitting term for this book that has five poems, each being one chapter. As a prophet, Jeremiah used poetry to express his feelings, which represented God’s thoughts; he used prose when writing historic accounts. Hebrew poetry differs from English poetry in that the Hebrew poetry expresses deep emotion. When facing tremendous failure among God’s people, Moses, in Deuteronomy 1:12, used the solemn Hebrew word rendered “how” (also translated “why”) with which Lamentations opens, as did Isaiah (Isa. 1:21) at another time.
After many years of warnings, God allowed the Babylonians to destroy the temple and most of the city of Jerusalem at the end of a siege that had lasted about nine years. This led to the third deportation of the inhabitants to Babel. Interestingly, Daniel and his friends were transported with the first deportation, probably in 605 BC, shortly before Nebuchadnezzar became king of Babylon. Ezekiel was part of the second deportation a few years later.
Second Chronicles 35:25 ascribes Lamentations to Jeremiah, through the tragic death of the faithful king Josiah. Several years later, after the successive reigns of Josiah’s sons, Jeremiah was led by God to accompany part of the Jews who, in rebellion to God, fled from their country to Egypt. The Spirit of God has linked together these sad events in Lamentations.
The rhythm of Jeremiah’s Hebrew text is different from usual Hebrew poetry and conveys an impression of sorrow. The short clauses in Lamentations 1–4 convey the sense of someone who seems to sob as the words are being uttered. The general message of sorrow is reinforced by features of Hebrew poetry used for funeral songs. In today’s Jewish world, Lamentations is publicly read in the synagogues on the Fast of the Ninth of Ab, usually in the beginning of August when the destruction of the temple is commemorated. As a proof of God’s control, the second temple was destroyed in the year 70 AD, on the same calendar day that the first temple was destroyed in 586 BC. Both tragedies are annually commemorated in Judaism.
In summary, Lamentations has five separate poems. Chapter 1 reviews the miseries causing the city to sit as a widow weeping sorely but confessing that the LORD is right in His discipline. Chapter 2 shows that these miseries were because of Israel’s sins. Lamentations 3 speaks of hope for the people because God’s chastisement was for their good, as a better day would soon come for them. Chapter 4 laments the ruin and desolation that had come upon the city and the temple because of the people’s sins. The fifth chapter is a prayer that Zion’s reproach may be taken away in the people’s repentance and recovery.
Sorrow And Sufferings
Intense mourning and sorrow as in widowhood characterized Jeremiah. In close communion with God he deeply felt his people’s failures after the death of the godly king Josiah and especially after the temple and Jerusalem had been destroyed (Lam. 1:1). In the silence of the night, the sorrow was even more intense (v.2) as the prophet reflected on those catastrophic events followed by the captivity (v.3). Realizing their helplessness (vv.4-17), the chastised people – a repenting remnant – turned to God, confessing their failures and recognizing God’s righteousness (v.18). The prophet made the people’s sufferings his own (v.14) and accepted His chastisement, acknowledging that it was necessary. Self-judgment and confession of our failures in God’s presence, seeing all from His perspective, is needed in view of true restoration and to be able to function again as His instrument.
God’s hand moves in discipline because He loves His people. However, we should realize that the day of grace in which we live does not necessarily follow the same principles applied in the Old Testament. God’s rights will be maintained, but the way in which God does so now may differ from His ways in the past and from how He will deal with His people in the future. That is why the Lord declared, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). When God disciplines His people, it always is to ultimately do good to them (see Dt. 8:1-9).
The apostle Paul explained this issue in different words, saying that discipline is not a pleasant thing, but its effects, exercised in love, are beneficial for His people (read Rom. 11). This is true whether it is in the context of God’s discipline of Israel or His chastisement of believers who belong to His present family (Heb. 12:11).
The New Testament shows how the Lord Jesus identified with those who suffered for God’s rights. This was in contrast to the leaders in the religious groups who were more concerned about their own perceived rights and only cared for their selfish interests. How this must have saddened our blessed Lord when He saw their hard-heartedness.
Lessons For Us Today
We can learn a lot from Jeremiah’s genuine mourning as well as from his example. Belonging to the Church of the living God, we must confess our shortcomings and identify with a history of tremendous failure. Yet, we may rejoice as we look up to our blessed Lord, whom we see crowned in glory. The writer of Hebrews said, “Thou hast subjected all things under His feet. For in subjecting all things to Him, He has left nothing unsubject to Him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to Him, but we see Jesus, who was made some little inferior to angels on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; so that by the grace of God He should taste death for every thing. For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the Leader of their salvation through sufferings. For both He that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of One; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing Thy praises. And again, I will trust in Him. And again, Behold, I and the children which God has given Me” (Heb. 2:8-13 JND).
In addition to other passages about God’s discipline, always in view of restoration and blessing, I recommend reading Revelation 1–3, 2 Timothy 4, 2 Peter 2, and Jude. May we all have a heart as Jeremiah had, deeply caring for God’s interests and His failing people!
By Alfred Bouter