THE BOOK OF
LAMENTATIONS
Most of us have been observers, not participants, in wars. Most of us have not experienced the death of our nation, and we know little of the agony of utter despair; but others in our world have experienced total devastation as their cities or nations have been destroyed by wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes. Reading the book of Lamentations can give us a point of entry into their experience. It can help us to face the darkest aspects of human existence.
A catastrophe had wiped out the kingdom of Judah, its capital (Jerusalem), its Temple, and most of its people. After a long siege, the Babylonian army breached Jerusalem’s defenses and took control. They deported many of the people of Judah to exile in Babylon, and they destroyed the city of Jerusalem, including the Temple of God. Only a few survivors were left in the land, including Jeremiah the prophet. Nothing else was left, and the hopes of God’s people were nearly dead.
The book of Lamentations is a collection of five highly structured and emotionally powerful poems that lament Jerusalem’s destruction. The first four poems are acrostics based on the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, with each successive stanza beginning with the next letter (a feature that is lost in translation). Chapter 5 has twenty-two verses but is not an acrostic.
Chapter 1 describes Jerusalem’s ruins. Jerusalem is personified as a woman who was once a famous princess but is now a wounded slave, lamenting the contrast between her past and present with intense agony and shame. The woman acknowledges that she has earned her distress, and she prays that the Lord will relieve her miserable condition.
Chapter 2 summarizes the shameful situation of the false prophets, city leaders, and young women. The author agonizes as he watches starving children and weeping mothers, lying prophets and mocking enemies. It happened because God withdrew his mercy and kept his promise to judge his people when they sinned against him.
Chapter 3 is an eyewitness account of God’s wrath. The author is sickened by the carnage; he is abused, without hope, and crushed by shame. Then hope suddenly floods his soul in the realization that God’s anger will not last forever. God’s faithfulness, love, kindness, and goodness are the ultimate, saving reality. The battered believer sings. Yet the hurt remains, and his tears flow abundantly as he pours out his repentant prayer.
Chapter 4 is a gloomy description of the devastation before and after the walls of Jerusalem were breached, in contrast to the city’s years of glory. God was justly punishing the vicious sins of his people, and they could not escape his judgment.
The prayer in Chapter 5 asks God to carefully consider the people’s plight; it ends with a plea for salvation, if salvation is still available.
In all five poems, pain and distress are paired with faith and hope. The suffering of the present seems more real than the possibility of redemption in the future, but God’s love and faithfulness remain.
The book of Lamentations does not identify its author. The poems take place within the context of the situation immediately before and after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, so the prophet Jeremiah has long been identified as the author. It was probably written with the help of Baruch, his assistant and scribe. Jeremiah also wrote laments at the time of King Josiah’s death (2 Chr 35:25). The five poems of Lamentations are thematically unified by the desolation of Jerusalem, and Jeremiah was in Jerusalem through all of its disasters, from its first defeat in 605 BC through its final destruction in 586 BC. The author of Lamentations freely pours out his emotions, as does Jeremiah in the book that bears his name. Both books are about the future of the nation.
There are a number of other parallels between the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations. Compare the treatment of the following themes: troubled widows (Lam 1:1; 5:3; cp. Jer 15:8; 18:21); weeping people (Lam 1:2, 16; 2:18; 3:48-49; cp. Jer 4:8; 6:26; 9:1; 13:17; 14:17; 25:34); sins (Lam 1:5, 10, 18, 22; 3:42; 4:13-14; 5:7; cp. Jer 2:34; 4:17; 14:20; 30:14-16; 31:29; 51:51); punishment (Lam 2:2-22; 3:39; 5:14-16; cp. Jer 6:11, 25; 7:14; 16:2-4; 18:21; 51:30, 34; 52:14); false prophets (Lam 2:14; cp. Jer 23:25-29; 29:8-9); bitterness (Lam 3:19; cp. Jer 9:15); pits (Lam 3:53, 55; cp. Jer 37:16; 38:6-13); and clay pots (Lam 4:2; cp. Jer 19:11). Such parallels support Jeremiah’s authorship. However, some OT scholars ascribe Lamentations to a much later author.
What positive meaning can be gained from staring at blackened stones hour after hour, or from walking among starving children and wailing mothers, or from remembering false prophets who promised rescue from the Babylonian army encamped around Jerusalem? What significance is there in watching priests, who had been confident that the sacrifices they offered would provide victory and success, wander the city searching for food? How can one believe in God’s goodness when corpses lie everywhere?
But the author did find meaning in the calamity. The false worship and immoral behavior of the leaders and the people had brought disaster upon them. God was angry because his people rejected his sovereignty and ignored his reality as the one, true God. They had violated their covenant with the Lord, and the Lord had judged them, as he had promised to do (cp. Lam 1:3, 5 with Deut 28:32-33; Lam 1:9 with Deut 28:43; Lam 1:16 with Deut 28:41; Lam 2:20; 4:10 with Deut 28:53; Lam 3:14, 45 with Deut 28:37; and Lam 4:16 with Deut 28:48-50). God’s punishment was righteous and just (Lam 1:18); he does not tolerate human rebellion.
But what about the future? Those in anguish can plead before God (Lam 1:20-22). They can understand that in catastrophe, God fulfills justice (Lam 2:17; see Lev 26:14-17). In the midst of utter sorrow, they can experience the Lord’s mercy. Those who truly seek God have hope. God is great in his faithfulness (Lam 3:21-26). Misery threatens to overwhelm the soul, but moments of hope bring light (Lam 3:29-33). God is eternal, and his throne forever dominates the universe. Though doubts and fears continue to assault the human spirit, God remains dependable. God’s anger, which has a just foundation, is temporary. God’s anger ceases when confession and repentance begin, and it becomes possible to sing of God’s great faithfulness. The ultimate goal is that each person, and each community, will experience God’s forgiveness and restoration.