Book of Lamentations

The Lamentations (of Jeremiah) speaks plainly for itself; nevertheless, I have chosen to reflect upon some of the themes and passages. Israel’s continual disobedience toward the Lord, idolatry, and perversion preceded Jerusalem’s destruction for multiple generations. We know this because Isaiah’s prophecies were written least 100 years beforehand. Were this a one-time season of rebellion, I may have a different outlook (which I’ll get to), but Israel repeatedly disgraces the Most High throughout history starting right at the conception of their religious identity. First, they forsook the One who delivered them from the hands of Pharoah almost as soon as they obtained freedom from the Egyptians. Second, they failed to drive out the Canaanites per God’s instructions. Third, everyone did what was right in his own eyes during the time of the judges. Fourth, their wickedness split the kingdom into two nations. Fifth, their impiety resulted in the Babylonians conquering of Judah (of which Lamentations is about). Sixth, their compromise with Greek culture leads to the Abomination of Desolation prophesied by Daniel. Lastly, Jesus condemned the spiritual leaders of His time and foretold of the destruction of Herod’s temple, which was accomplished in AD 70. Should we look at the history of the Jews since then, their situation has not improved. As a people, they still reject Jesus as the Messiah. They have enjoyed little peace in the last 2000 years as a result. Even now, as I write this, they are at war with Hamas. With all this in mind, I reflect on the following passages in Lamentations in hopes of gaining enlightenment.

Chapter 1 – I appreciate how Jeremiah lets the miserable conditions linger. He offers no hope but fully allows the despair of the situation to not only go unbroken but increase. Our American culture often encourages the sorrowful to rebound too quickly from their lowliness as if “feeling better” were the primary goal. However, I think recognizing the problem at its full extent and allowing oneself to feel the shame of those choices that have led to a grievous outcome will help that person to be wiser in the future.

Since my birth in 1978, the closest disaster to befall an American city caused by a foreign enemy in my lifetime would be the attacks on 9/11. I admit that this is hardly a fair comparison to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in many regards; however, I do feel that reactions to the events deserve to be contrasted. For instance, Jeremiah lays blame of Jerusalem’s fall at the feet of her own people rather than that of the Chaldeans, who responsible for the siege. By contrast, most Americans blamed the action of 9/11 on the Islamic organization known as Al-Queda. There were those, of course, who used the tragedy to promote their own aims (e.g., political, economic, social, or religious), which were somewhat positive to produce discussions on those issues but mainly presented in unhelpful or biased ways. Did anyone say that America had 9/11 coming because of sin? Naturally, there were those that took advantage of the situation to sell books, increase church attendance, and try to expedite quick salvations. But I wonder if there was a divine cause to that dreadful day, which got diluted among the various factions pushing their own agendas. Certainly, Jeremiah was drowned out by the amount of claptrap produced by the false prophets of his time. It is little wonder that he suffers so much in writing Lamentations since he knew from the beginning that total devastation would be the result no matter how much he warned his people to repent. And I doubt that all survivors accepted responsibility like he did, but the words he wrote make it clear that Jeremiah believed his own nation to be at fault. Examine these excerpts, especially the last one in which Jeremiah takes personal responsibility (all quotes in NASB).

“For the Lord has caused her grief because of the multitude of her wrongdoings” (1:5).

“Jerusalem sinned greatly, therefore she has become an object of ridicule” (1:8).

“Her uncleanness was in her garment’s seams; she did not think of her future” (1:9).

“The Lord has trodden as in a wine press the virgin daughter of Judah” (1:15).

“The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command (1:18).

Chapter 2 – I have little to say because this content is fairly direct in explaining how God’s wrath is carried out upon Jerusalem. However, there are two verses that I feel might especially be applicable to our times as follows: “Your prophets have seen for you worthless and deceptive visions; and they have not exposed your wrongdoing so as to restore you from captivity, but they have seen for you worthless and misleading pronouncements. All who pass along the way clap their hands in ridicule at you; they hiss and shake their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: ‘Is this the city of which they said, “Perfect in beauty, a joy to all the earth”?’” (2:14-15).

Like in the time of Jesus, the religious experts and leaders in Jeremiah’s day were full of arrogance and not wisdom. By reading Jeremiah, we learn that not only were the king’s prophets false because their predictions did not come true, but that the leadership failed to heed the word of the Lord, spoken by Jeremiah. This continued even after witnessing his messages to come to pass while the multitude of false prophets were caught in their lies (cf., Jer. 28).

We would do well to avoid arrogance in our day as well. Strong faith in God’s word is sadly leading to aversion from critical thinking about the scriptures in exchange for non-compromise to an establishment’s doctrine, which they have interpreted from the Bible. However, there is a crucial difference between what the Bible says and how it is interpreted, and Christians are often just as guilty as non-Christians at defending presuppositions and interpretations because we believe those are the same thing as what the Bible teaches. For example, an article was published only five days ago where a Baptist pastor and college president apologized to congregants for inviting a speaker to give a presentation without scrutinizing him closely beforehand. What were the speaker’s offenses, you ask? The president apologized that the speaker caused uncertainty in a particular creation model, compromised by using NIV references in his slideshow, and claimed, “a long-haired hippie teaching in the pulpit is in direct contradiction to Scripture” [referencing 1 Cor. 11:14]. This sounds like an extreme example, but, in reality, errors like this are being reinforced in many American churches, even if they are not so universally disagreed upon. All I have to do is write the letters, LGBT, and suddenly everybody knows what God really meant despite what’s in the Bible.

I also cannot help but notice a contrast between the reaction of the world following the destruction of Jerusalem versus the destruction of the metaphorical Babylon (Rev. 18:9-20). While the world marvels and mourns at the sudden loss of Babylon, it rejoices over Jerusalem’s destruction and mocks her people. Although I direct your attention to this contrast, I risk irritating you (the reader) because I don’t have a point. My head is too full of history, lessons on judging others, Israel’s war against Hamas, standards for incurring God’s wrath, and Josephus’ and Jesus’ condemnations of first-century Jews to know how I feel about Israel’s enemies celebrating her downfall. How do you feel about it?

Chapter 3 – This chapter sees the subject change several times between first, second, and third person. We normally associate the first person as Jeremiah. Although the book does not name its author, some descriptions lead scholars to believe that this clearly identifies Jeremiah. It is suggested that verse 4 indicates that this lament is penned by an elderly person. The burdens of Jeremiah’s life are typified through the suffering that the author has endured in verses 1-18 and 48-66. The specific complaints of being hunted and cast into a pit supports the likelihood of Jeremiah writing these details (3:52-55). Furthermore, the author’s grudge is not limited to the Babylonians but to his own personal persecutors. It wasn’t Nebuchadnezzar’s armies that hunted him without reason, created schemes against him, or mocked him (3:52, 60-63). This behavior only makes sense if Jeremiah’s own people were oppressing him.

Out of five chapters, this one alone contains hope but briefly. Jeremiah inserts, seemingly at random, three passages of wisdom. The first two, verses 22-25 and 31-32, ironically highlight how merciful God is. I would suggest that only true faith in God would cause someone to write, “For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion in proportion to His abundant mercy” (3:31). It would seem like these two actions contradict each other, but good parents know that they must occasionally cause their children grief out of a desire to express their compassion on them when the children return to obedience. I have heard portions of verses 22-23 quoted throughout my life far more than any other from Lamentations: “For His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning.” Although, this is of great encouragement and should prompt us to renew devotion to our heavenly Father each day, the opposite is true too. Israel chose each day to reject God and forfeit his compassion. May we not do likewise.

The third passage of wisdom, and perhaps the most impactful line to my theology in the whole book, is verse 39: “Of what can any living mortal, or any man, complain in view of his sins?” This cuts to the heart of faith. Can man judge God? Job questioned God’s motives for cursing him but was quickly humbled into silence once God responded. Although Jerusalem could be found worthy of punishment for a hundredth of her wickedness, Jeremiah is raising the bar to a New Testament level of understanding by offering his version of Romans 3:23. If only he could foresee verse 24, he might not have ended Lamentations so hopelessly.

Chapter 4 – The deplorable state of Jerusalem is described in graphic detail. Jeremiah has oddly shifted from the consequences of sin to the loss of worldly treasures. It feels like he is lamenting the loss of Jerusalem from an outsider’s perspective, noting the poverty, hunger, and filth. The contrast between jackals nursing their young while the mothers of Jerusalem boiled their own children for food would seem a new level of depravity in Judah’s history. However, their compromise to follow God had long made them seek their own gain. Judah followed God except when they wanted to follow other gods or when they idolized the practices of other nations. Likewise, Jewish mothers probably valued the lives of their young until it came to their own survival. We could reason that they killed their children out of mercy, but even if this is true, cannibalism should never be considered by God followers (in my opinion).

The last two verses also promote the idea that this chapter examines the losses from an outsider’s perspective. Jeremiah sarcastically encourages Judah’s enemy, Edom, to share their joy and be full of joy over Jerusalem’s fate because their turn is coming. It seems unchristian to want our enemies to suffer. God rebuked Jonah for having a bitter attitude toward Nineveh. Likewise, Jesus rebuked James and John for requesting permission to call fire from heaven to fall upon a village of Samaritans (Luke 9:54-55). Jesus taught, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). Considering this command, I believe Jeremiah had a wrong heart, in this instance, longing for Edom’s destruction. One might argue that Elijah’s slaughtering of Baal’s 450 prophets contrasted with “loving one’s enemies” (1 Kings 18); however, I think there is a difference. God’s wrath is repeatedly executed against those who mislead others in his name. It was Ahab, King of Israel, who permitted the prophets of Baal to mislead God’s people. Taking a violent stand against them aligns with Jesus’ aggressive reaction toward the Jewish money changers in the temple while he shows no aggression toward Romans or Samaritans (Matt. 21:12). We should love our enemies, but I would argue that we should never comply with those who mislead others in the name of God.

Chapter 5 – Scripture emphasizes the responsibility of God’s people to care for the widows and orphans. Now that Jerusalem has forsaken the Lord and is fallen, verse 3 likens her people to widows and orphans. This brings to mind how Jesus describes judgment day in Matthew 25:31-46. If we, as believers, can relate to the pain suffered by those who are hungry, thirsty, homeless, naked, and captive, our motivation to serve them should increase. Now that Israel has failed in obeying the statutes behind these principals, they have either been killed or suffer these same consequences.

I find verse 7 odd: “Our fathers sinned, and are gone; it is we who have been burdened with the punishment for their wrongdoings.” Jeremiah spent much of chapter 3 detailing his own failings as well as Jerusalem’s collective failings. How can he say, “We have done wrong and rebelled” and also claim fault belongs to their fathers? Although not completely satisfied with my own answer, I lean toward “fathers” meaning “spiritual leaders.” If my interpretation is correct, then Jeremiah is saying that “we, the people,” are victims of ungodly leadership. I certainly support the biblical teaching that leaders are more responsible than their students, but if this is what Jeremiah means, it still sounds like a contradiction to parts of the rest of Lamentations. Apart from mothers eating their children, Jeremiah himself rebelled against the Lord by his own admission (1:18). This continues to puzzle me.

Overall, I am grateful that this book is included in the Bible. There are seasons in our lives when there is nothing to be happy about, nothing to look forward to, and no one who can help. Lamentations can help those grieving to accept a situation instead of denying it or placing desperate and false hope in deceitful solutions. After all, that’s what the false prophets and wicked priests of Judah did that hastened their destruction (2:14; 4:13). True faith in God will prompt believers to persevere despite their sorrowful situation. As Paul wrote, “we celebrate in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope” (Rom. 5:2-4).

November 29, 2023