THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS

Like an eulogy at a funeral the book of Lamentations is meant to mourn a loss, the loss of a nation.

Author, Recipients.

Jeremiah, the author was of priestly descent and lived in the little village of Anathoth, a short distance north of Jerusalem. He was called whiles still young. The prophet’s call took place in the 13th year of the reign king Josiah, 626 B.C. and five years before the Book of the Law was found in the Temple. He is also the author of the book that bears his name, Jeremiah.

The Prophet’s mission was a sad one; his office was like a minister obliged to accompany a criminal to the scaffold. Judah had disobeyed God and turned a death ear to all invitations and warnings to return; the end was approaching.

Divisions.

The book consist of five independent poems, each an expression of grief. It deals with the calamities that befell the people of Judah and Jerusalem in consequence of the siege and capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans.

I.                   Chapter 1. The misery and affliction of Jerusalem.                                                                    

Her treasures and glory had departed; her people are in exile. She acknowledges the righteousness of God and the justice of her destruction.

II.                Chapter 2. The cause of the people’s suffering.                  

Jehovah has become their enemy. The nation is urged to entreat the favour of God.

III.             Chapter 3. The ground of consolation.

We have before us the image of the deepest suffering passing on to the confession of sin, the acknowledgement of God’s justice and the prayer of faith for forgiveness.

IV.              Chapter 4. The present and past contrasted.

There is no escape from the punishment of the peopled sin; but with repentance will come restoration.

V.                Chapter 5. The final appeal for God’s compassionate restoration.                                                          The nation’s sufferings are acknowledged as the fruit of sin. An earnest prayer is made to God for restoration of favour

Purpose.

The latter half of chapter 3 implies that the purpose behind the books graphic depictions of sorrow and suffering was to produce hope in the God whose compassion is “new every morning” (v. 23) and whose faithfulness is new even to a people who have been condemned by their own unfaithfulness. The call of Jeremiah was not just to Judah but to the nations and kingdoms “to root out and pull down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.” An old order of things was to pass away and a new one to begin.

Application.

God’s mercies and compassion are available for all who will turn from their sins.