| Lamentations
BOOK
: Lamentations
Description
:
A cry of anguish for the state of Jerusalem after its destruction
Author:
uncertain although ancient
tradition suggests Jeremiah
Date
written : probably somewhere
after 586BC
Chapters
:
5
Brief
Synopsis:
•
A lament for the broken and desolate
city of Jerusalem after it has been burned to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar's
armies, and a plea for God's forgiveness.
Ch.1
Jerusalem 's Misery and Desolation
Ch.2
The Lord's Anger against His People
Ch.3
Judah 's Complaint--and Basis for Consolation
Ch.4
The Contrast between Zion 's Past and Present
Ch.5
Judah 's Appeal for God's Forgiveness
Key
Verses :
What
a picture – desolation!
1:1
How
deserted lies the city, once so full of people!
Once
full of life, now empty and still
1:4
The
roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed feasts.
It
was sin that brought this about
1:8
Jerusalem
has sinned
greatly and so has become unclean.
The
anguish for those of us who love Zion is almost too great to bear.
1:16
This
is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort
me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the
enemy has prevailed."
Even
our enemies have heard and now rejoice over our shame
1:21
People
have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies
have heard of my distress; they rejoice at what you have done.
It
is because of God's anger over our sin..
2:1
How
the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger
His
judgment has destroyed city and temple alike
2:6
He
has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place
of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and her
Sabbaths; in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.
I
cannot help but weep at the loss of the so-called people of God
2:11
My
eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out
on the ground because my people are destroyed,
No
one survived through this judgment
2:22
As
you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every
side. In the day of the LORD's anger no one escaped or survived; those
I cared for and reared, my enemy has destroyed."
It
seems like I am shrouded in darkness, my anguish is so great
3:1
I
am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He has driven
me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; indeed, he has
turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
Yet
still I will trust in God and will wait upon Him to see what He will
do
3:21-26
Yet
this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's
great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They
are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself,
"The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The
LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Repentance
is the key to the way back.
3:40-42
Let
us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. Let
us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: "We
have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
No
one believed that God's anger would take Him to these lengths, but it
did.
4:11-13
The
LORD has given full vent to his wrath; he has poured out his fierce
anger. He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations. The
kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the world's people,
that enemies and foes could enter the gates of Jerusalem . But it happened
because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed within her the
blood of the righteous.
I
have a glimmer of hope. we will be punished but it will not go on for
ever.
4:22
O
Daughter of Zion, your punishment will end; he will not prolong your
exile. But, O Daughter of Edom, he will punish your sin and expose your
wickedness.
Therefore
I will pray and ask for His mercy.
5:19-22
You,
O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore
us to yourself, O LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old
unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.
•
In these chapters there is anguish over
the loss of the city of David , Zion , Jerusalem , the dwelling place
of God, the heart of God's people.
•
It is a realistic anguish that accepts
that it was the ongoing sin of the people of Judah and the rulers in
Jerusalem that eventually brought this about.
•
There are little glimmers of hope and
a declaration of trust in the Lord, but either the anguish is too great
and has submerged it, or the writer doesn't know of the prophetic words
from both Jeremiah and Ezekiel that promised that the Lord would bring
back His people and restore the city and rebuild the Temple .
•
For the moment, this writer wallows in
the anguish of the present and that seems to hinder much hope for the
future.
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