Concise Bible Dictionary:
This book shows the compassion and interest God has in the afflictions of His people, and that these are not lessened even when the afflictions have been brought about by Himself because of their sins. It is declared of the Lord that “in all their affliction He was afflicted” (Isa. 63:99In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. (Isaiah 63:9)); and this was seen when the Lord was on earth in His weeping over Jerusalem. Jeremiah had a like spirit and lamented over the calamities that had fallen upon his beloved people and their city Jerusalem. He appealed to the passersby: could they see such sorrow, caused by an affliction sent by Jehovah in His fierce wrath, and be unmoved by it? (Lam. 1:1212Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. (Lamentations 1:12)). Then he adds that Jehovah in these dealings was righteous, for they had rebelled against His commandments.
Lamentations 3. The prophet details his personal sufferings: they were like the sympathetic sufferings of Christ spoken of elsewhere; but in Lamentations 3:22He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. (Lamentations 3:2)2 The prophet remembers the mercies of Jehovah, and expresses his hope in Him. Because of His compassions they were not consumed; and it was good to wait and hope. Jehovah will not cast off forever, and He does not afflict willingly. The prophet then calls for repentance and a turning to Jehovah. He has confidence that God hears, and he asks for the destruction of their enemies.
Lamentations 4. Jeremiah as in the presence of Jehovah spreads out all the humiliating reverses that had fallen upon them, mentioning separately the Nazarites, the prophets, the priests, and the people; and then he foretells that God’s wrath should pass also unto Edom, who had doubtless rejoiced at the calamities of Jerusalem. He could add that the punishment of the daughter of Zion was accomplished, she should no more be carried away.
Lamentations 5. An affecting appeal is made to God. All had been confessed, and hope in God had been expressed; yet the afflictions pressed heavily upon the prophet. His last words are: “Turn thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. But Thou hast utterly rejected us: Thou art very wroth against us.”
The composition of the Lamentations is uncommon. The first four chapters are arranged in alphabetical order and the chapters contain 22 verses each, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, except that Lamentations 3 has 22 stanzas of three verses, making in all 66. In Lamentations 1, 2, and 4, verse 1 begins with A; verse 2 with B, and so on, as in some of the Psalms. In Lamentations 3 each verse in a stanza begins with the same letter, thus verses 1, 2, 3 begin with A; verses 4, 5, 6 with B, and so on to the end. The prayer in Lamentations 5 is not alphabetical. In the Hebrew Bible the “Lamentations” form a part of the Hagiographa (Holy Writings), and is placed between Ruth and Ecclesiastes. In the Jewish Liturgy this book was appointed to be repeated on the Fast of the ninth of Ab (fifth month), to commemorate the destruction of the city and the temple by the Chaldeans and also by the Romans.
Bible Handbook:
588 B.C. – 5 Chapters – 154 Verses
This is an exceedingly touching book as recording the feelings of the prophet over the awful desolation of Judah and scattering of her people. The predictions of Jeremiah had been fulfilled to the letter, and Jerusalem — the city of the Great King — lay ruined before the prophet’s eyes, her palaces, her glorious temple, her walls, gates, and bulwarks being utterly destroyed. He had witnessed the assaults of the enemy, the capture of the city, the slaughter of the inhabitants, and the captivity of others. Judah was without a king, throne, or temple, the ruin was complete; the destruction thorough and unsparing. The strains in which all this is told, express intense anguish of spirit. The misery, consequent upon the Chaldean’s successful capture of Judah, leads the prophet to bewail and lament over the scene of desolation, in which “every letter is written with a tear, and every word is the sound of a broken heart.” How touching the language! — ”How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not His footstool in the day of His anger!”
But while here we have a heart breaking itself over the afflictions of God’s people, it is important to note, that the weeping prophet fully recognizes God as having in righteous judgment effected the terrible desolation, whoever had been the means instrumentally in accomplishing it (ch. 2:1-8); it is well to recognize this principle, namely, to withdraw the eye from the instrument in accomplishing the disciplinary work and purpose of God, to ascribe righteousness to Him, with full confession of personal sin, while feeling for the miseries resting on others.
Both Jeremiah and Christ wept and lamented over guilty Jerusalem (Matt. 23; Luke 19:4141And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, (Luke 19:41)); but in this, as in all else, Christ exceedeth.
The first, second, and fourth chapters, each containing 22 verses, are alphabetically arranged, according to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; the third chapter of 66 verses, mostly consisting of one clause, is singularly arranged, every third verse beginning with the Hebrew alphabet in alphabetical order — a letter for every three verses; the fifth chapter contains 22 verses, but is not arranged as the others.
These lamentations originally constituted one book with the prophecy of Jeremiah, but their importance demands an examination apart.
General Divisions
Chapter 1 — Jerusalem’s utter desolation.
Chapter 2 — The Lord the author of Jerusalem’s desolation.
Chapter 3 — The prophet identifying himself with the miseries and afflictions of God’s people.
Chapter 4 — The Lord as having judged His people and will judge their enemies is before the mind of the prophet.
Chapter 5 — The Lord’s tenderness, compassion, and unchangeableness are appealed to in confidence.
Note
The Chaldean were a “bitter and hasty” people; and Zedekiah — who had sworn by Jehovah to be a true and faithful vassal of the mighty heathen monarch, Nebuchadnezzar — certainly stirred up the slumbering passions of the Babylonian. Relying upon Egypt’s help, Zedekiah despised the name of Jehovah by whom he had sworn, and threw off his allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar. The Chaldeans commenced the siege of Jerusalem in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign (2 Kings 25:11And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. (2 Kings 25:1)). The defence was a bold and protracted one. Egypt, the only hope of the despairing people, did march an army to the relief, which compelled Nebuchadnezzar to raise the siege, but the respite was but of short duration (Jer. 37), and the siege was renewed with increased vigour. The city was completely invested on all sides. Even then, had the king and nobles accepted the counsels of Jeremiah and gone out, submitting themselves to the clemency of the Babylonian, the city and people would have been spared (Jer. 38:22Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. (Jeremiah 38:2)); but, alas! the word of Jehovah was set at naught, and the weeping prophet committed to the filthy dungeons of Jerusalem. Soon, however, famine and pestilence desolated the city, and the besiegers making a breach in the walls, the invaders poured into the doomed city, wreaking their vengeance on the truly miserable and infatuated people. No mercy was shown. The streets of Jerusalem ran with blood, and her sanctuary courts were polluted with the slain of her people. Neither youth, beauty, age, or sex, moved the heart or arrested the relentless arm of the Chaldean. The city was taken after a siege of about eighteen months (Jer. 39:1-21In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. 2And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. (Jeremiah 39:1‑2)). The king and princes vainly attempted to escape. They were captured, and Zedekiah’s sons cruelly slain before him; and, by a refinement of cruelty, made the last object he ever beheld. His eyes were then put out, and he was taken, heavily fettered, to Babylon, where he lingered in prison till his death. Upwards of threescore of the nobles and chief men were cruelly massacred at Riblah. A month after the capture of the city (compare 2 Kings 25:33And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. (2 Kings 25:3) with 2 Kings 25:88And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: (2 Kings 25:8)), the captain of the Chaldean army burned the temple and the palaces, and laid the whole city in ruins. The desolation was complete; hence these mournful elegies.
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Narrator:
Chris Genthree
Duration:
1hr 2min